Sual, Dagupan, Binalonan P’sinan Richest LGUs on PCI

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

At first blush, the present and the proposed budget for 2024 of the following local government units (LGUs) in Pangasinan mentioned below showed that those with bigger budgets are the richer than those with the others.

They are not true however.

 Dagupan City (P1.3 billion 2023), Sual (P520 million proposed 2024 budget), Bayambang ((P699,218,002 (2022 budget), Malasiqui (P503 million proposed 2024 budget), Mangaldan (P430 million proposed 2024 budget), Lingayen (P408, 222, 843 proposed 2024 budget), Binalonan (almost P400, 000, 000 proposed 2024 budget), Calasiao (P380, 000,000 plus proposed 2024 budget), Binmaley (P324, 360, 000 proposed 2024 budget) and Manaoag (P268 million proposed 2024 budget).

MAYORS of rich local government units in Pangasinan. From left photo and clockwise: Sual Mayor Liseldo D. Calugay, Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez and Binalonan Mayor Ramon Ronald V. Guico, IV.

The newspaper used the data of 2023 for Dagupan and 2022 for Bayambang because of the lack of information for the following years’ budget.

If we based on the per capita income (PCI) where income of each of the LGU is divided by its population the miniscule demographically first class towns Sual and Binalonan could eclipse all of the towns mentioned above.

Here the rank and computation of the 10 richest LGUs in Pangasinan by PCI from the highest to the lowest:

1)      Sual                            P13, 302 PCI

2)      Dagupan City                  7, 458

3)      Binalonan                       7, 094

4)      Bayambang                     5, 419  

5)      Mangaldan                      3, 515

6)      Lingayen                         3, 789

7)      Calasiao                          3, 782

8)      Binmaley                         3, 733

9)      Manaoag                         3, 524

10)    Malasiqui                         3, 515

Sual (P520 million divided by 39, 091 (2020 Census) equals P13, 302 PCI); Dagupan (P1.3 billion (2023 budget) divided by 174,302 (2020 Census) equals P7,458 PCI); Binalonan (P400 million divided by 56,382 (2020 Census) equals P7, 094 PCI; Bayambang (P699,218,002 (2022 budget) divided by 129,011 (2020 Census) equals P5, 419 PCI); Mangaldan (P430 million divided by 113,185 (2020 Census) equals P3,799 PCI); Lingayen (P408, 222, 843 divided by 107,728 (2020 Census) equals P3,789 PCI); Calasiao (P380 million divided by 100,471 (2020 Census) equals P3,782 PCI); Binmaley (P324, 360, 000 divided by 86,881 (2020 Census); Manaoag (P268 million proposed 2024 budget); and Malasiqui (P503 million divided by 143,094 (2020 Census) equals P3,515 PCI)

 

Bayambang then Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao told this newspaper in 2019 that one of the sources of the LGU’s revenues came from the P80 million yearly taxes his family controlled corporations like Stradcom pay to the coffer of the municipality.

Sual has its monolith San Miguel Corporation runs 1,200 megawatt coal power plant that pays more than half of its yearly budget.

When this writer asked Governor Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III – the former three-term mayor of Binalonan - during the State of the Municipality Address of the Mayor of Mangaldan if the town’s local El Dorado comes from the business tax of the renowned Japanese owned Sumitomo North Philippines Wiring Systems Corporation, he instead said that it was the University of Eastern Pangasinan (UEP).

He cited that the 11,500 population of the college are beneficiaries of the hundreds of millions of pesos yearly from the national government.

Binalonan piggy backed on Republic Act 10931 otherwise known as Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. The law provides that all eligible Filipino students enrolled in courses leading to a bachelor's degree in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs) and technical-vocational schools will be exempted from paying tuition and other school fees. They are also exempted from admission fees and fees for the use of library, laboratory and computers

All of the towns and city above have no tertiary institution like UEP that becomes the goose that lays the golden eggs for Binalonan.

The governor said that the NTA – the successor of the internal revenue allotment (IRA) – of Binalonan is P191,264,614.00 while it has a bigger collection of P201, 289, 386 from the local taxes and revenues.

When this writer asked decade ago Urdaneta City former mayor Amadito Perez, Jr. why the eastern Pangasinan city was almost neck and neck with the annual budget of Dagupan City, the seasoned politician – a former congressman and ambassador – cited the LGU owned Urdaneta City University that gave the public coffer the golden eggs.

His son Mayor Bobom Perez told this writer in 2014 that one-third of the P600 million budget of the previous year came from the tuition fees collected from the 15, 000 students of the UCU, the others come from the local taxes and the allotment from the national government.

The other LGUS like the highest populated Dagupan have their goose cooked because of their leaders lack of initiative to spike their revenues unlike what the visionary then Binalonan Mayor Monmon Guico had done to the eastern Pangasinan's town.

As governor of the gargantuan province, Guico is opening anytime from now the provincial government owned Pangasinan Polytechnic College (PPC) to cater to poor but deserving students of the province.

Can one imagine how hundreds of millions if not billions of pesos’ revenue this new tertiary institution could churn-out and buttress the yearly provincial budget (proposed 2024 appropriation is P5.73 billion)?