Giant Restos, Supermarket, Hospital in Bugallon to Snare Market Shares

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

WHILE  waiting for the hundreds of millions of pesos of business taxes the first class town could be collecting from the two energy providers whose solar power plants are still being constructed at the 1,200 hectares’ industrial lands, the administration of Mayor William Dy in Bugallon, Pangasinan has been frantic to host giant franchise fast food stores’ Jollibee, McDonald, and Mang Inasal and the supermarket’s Puregold.

The urgency, according to a source inside the town hall, is to snare the market in the eight municipalities 2^nd District.

“Mahirap na maunahan ng karatig bayan pag sila ang naghost nitong mga fastfood franchise food chain kaya minadali na iyan na makapagpatayo dito sa Bugallon”.

The three giant quick serving fast food chains will be constructed near the new public market that will be perched at the more than one-and-a-half-hectare land purchased by the administration of Mayor Dy.

100-BED HOSPITAL

Recalled that the present administration borrowed P400 million from the Land of the Philippines to buy more than three hectares of land where half was donated to a Level-II hospital to be constructed by the Department of Health.

The wisdom of the construction of the 100- bed hospital was quite similar to the strategy of the Dy Administration: Snare the market not only of the expanding population of the Second District but in the neighboring congressional districts that have similar demographic situation.

As what the healthcare institution proponent Pangasinan 2^nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco argued on May 26, 2026 in the House of Representatives in Quezon City on his House Bill 9416 titled: “An Act Establishing in the Municipality of Bugallon, Province of Pangasinan, a Level II General Hospital with a Capacity of at Least One Hundred (100) Beds, to be known as the Bugallon Medical Center and Appropriating Funds therefor”.

“The proposed location in Bugallon is central and highly accessible, situated along the Romulo Highway. This ensures rapid transit and reduced travel times from any point within the Second District. Crucially, the primary catchment area of this facility extends across the entirety of the First and Second Districts, with a maximum potential catchment capable of serving the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Districts of Pangasinan. By significantly reducing travel time to a fully equipped hospital, this measure directly mitigates the risks of preventable mortality and morbidity caused by delayed medical intervention,” excerpt of Cojuangco justification on his Bill for a Level-II hospital here.

P450M- P500M BUDGET IN 2027

Mayor Dy told this writer that the national tax allotment (NAT) (the successor of the Internal Revenue Allotment) of this first class thriving town will be P425 million in 2027.

With more or less P50 million local tax, the total budget of this town next year roves between P475 and P500 million.

Eight Pangasinan towns with P500 million or more annual appropriation budget (AAB) for this year are Bayambang (P637, 691, 050), Malasiqui (P609, 290, 748), Mangaldan (P539, 035, 506), Lingayen (P531, 290, 646), Calasiao (P517, 181, 838), Sta. Barbara (P510, 000, 000), Binalonan (P750 million), and the tiny town’s Sual (P505, 000, 000).

THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS

Bugallon will be hosting two giant solar power plants in a probable 1,300 hectare lands that could give her another P250 million or less business tax per year. That will be P750 million (P500 million plus P250 million) AAB in the near future.

The 1,300 megawatt coal power plant in Sual generates P250 million business tax annually for the local government unit there – making it one of the richest towns in Pangasinan with its P505 million income this year.

Early this year, Bugallon lawmakers and Mayor Dy approved the land conversion from agricultural to industrial of 3 Barracuda Energy Corporation—under Singapore's Vena Energy Company and MGreen (of Meralco PowerGen) -- which will operate 650-megawatt solar power plants across a 600-hectare jurisdiction covering the barangays of Cayanga, Salomague Norte, and Salomague Sur. There is also an impending approval of a 600-megawatt project by Ixus Solar Energy Corporation across a 600-hectare jurisdiction covering the barangays of Gueset and Laguit Padilla.

Mayor Dy also told this writer that the renovation of the P28 million municipal hall will be opened to the public this coming December.