Estrella Mums on Cabinet Post BBM will give Him

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The grandson of a government Minister of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos would not tell this writer what cabinet position a Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. Administration will give him in case the latter becomes the Philippines President in the May 9, 2022 election.

“Ayaw ko naman siyang pangunahan ayaw ko naman sabihin sa kanya. Hayaan mo na lang siyang magdesisyon, di ba?” Abono Partylist Congressman Conrad Estrella, III said here to Northern Watch Newspaper before the start of the proclamation rally of the opposition party in Pangasinan.

SEASONED PANGASINAN POLITICIAN Congressman Conrad Estrella, III (left, photo) and political ally’s presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.

Estrella, an exiting Representative of the Abono Partylist, is the grandson of former Agrarian Reform Minister Conrado “Condring” Estrella, Sr. His father and namesake used to be the Assemblyman of Pangasinan.

Condring Estrella Sr. (August 19, 1917 – May 31, 2011) was the mayor of Rosales, Pangasinan in the early 1950s. He served as the governor of the gargantuan province from 1954 to 1963. Secretary and Minister of the Department of Agrarian Reform from 1971 to 1986. In 1976 to Marcos ouster in the EDSA Revolution in 1986 he was an elected Assemblyman of the Dictator's controlled Parliament.

The young Estrella told this newspaper that ever since he was loyal to the Marcoses.

“Matagal na saka hindi ako bumitaw sa kanila kahit kalian,” he retorted when told that his family was a loyal political allies of the Marcoses.

Radio Reporter Renato “Atong” Remogat told this writer that during a sortie in San Manuel, Pangasinan – a town under the solon when he was a regular congressman – a person closed to the Abono Partylist lawmaker told the crowd there that Estrella has moist eye on either the top helm of the Department of Public Works & Highway or the Bureau of Customs in case Marcos Jr. becomes President of the country almost a month from now.

Op-Ed Writer Mortz C. Ortigoza (left,photo) and the consequential and prolific veteran politician Congressman Conrad Estrella, III during the proclamation rally of the Opposition Party in Pangasinan against Governor Amado Espino, III and political allies.

P1.5-B Budget for Infras in the 3rd Cong. District – DPWH

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – Including the infrastructure project being bidded in the regional office of the Department of Public Works & Highway in City of San Fernando, La Union, the budget this year of the national government to the Third Congressional District is P1.5 billion.

Because of this fund, Pangasinan 4th District Engineering Office District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales told Northern Watch Newspaper that his office will be using the appropriation from the national government in the widening of the highways and roads and the solution of the flooding in his area.

DPWH EXEC. Pangasinan 4th District Engineering Office District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales (left) poses for posterity with Northern Watch Newspaper’s senior writer Mortz C. Ortigoza after the latter interviews him at his office in the Department of Public Works & Highway based in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.  

“Mga widening of roads mga national road. Sana ma solve ko na iyong sa Calasiao flooding sa Calasiao papunta na ng Parongking”.

Gonzales said the new drainage canal in the burgeoning town will mitigate the flood around the periphery of the Bureau of Internal Revenue particularly after its widening and deep excavation have been done by the contractor.

The reason why the area was flooded every time there was downpour because flood in Dagupan City compete with the egress of water in Calasiao going to the Ramos Bridge where the Banaoang River passes.

It resulted for the water there to be stuck that resulted to the flood in the vicinities, he explained.

Despite the construction of the new water canal last year from the BIR to the Ramos Bridge, the DPWH funded an P18 million drainage system that would exit to the Parongking River.

“Doon pumupunta sa Ramos ginawa naming dalawang exits papuntang Parongking P18 million approved last year”.

D.E Gonzales said there is a gate on the mouth of the exit of the drainage in the Ramos Bridge where barangay officials can close it when the water swell in the Banaoang River.

Its closure means water from the river will no longer flow to the poblacion area in Calasiao town.

Poll Winners: Pogi Espino, Brian Lim, Bona Parayno, Others

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

It was just a casual three hours’ conversation yesterday between the amiable San Fabian Mayor Danny Agbayani and I inside his air-conditioned office while the scorching heat of the sun king (the real sun king not George Harrison’s Sun King) outside which according to media heartthrob the bronze skinned Atong Remogat could hit 50 degrees Celsius.

The Hizzoner jolted me when he said that his Missus Marlyn Espino-Agbayni got 80 percent versus her two opponents exiting Board Member Liberato Z. Villegas and former Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Director Juvenal B. Azurin while he garnered 81% versus vice mayoralty rival Dr. Maria Rolyn Gubatan of the scientific poll commissioned by a family of a national politician last week.

“What? Meron ng survey hanggang saan ang coverage kaninong poll iyan? I quipped while pulling out from my pocket the android phone and setting it to recording mode.

 POLL LEADERS  in the 1,200 respondents scientific commissioned survey done recently in the Fourth Congressional District of Pangasinan. From left photo and clockwise: Pangasinan Goverenor Amado "Pogi" Espino, III, Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim, and former Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe D. Parayno.

“Ito ang news ko bukas sa blog scooped ito!” I added with zeal as I put on the top table of the hizzoner my mobile phone.

Mayor Danny (real name is Constante of PDP-LBN (mine damn is Marcelo hahaha!) was interrupted once-in-a-while by indigent constituents who picked up their P20,000 burial expenses from the wads of currency given to him by an aide) told me and Atong that the poll was commissioned by the family of Fourth District Congressman Toff de Venecia and the infos there were verbally given to them Mayors last week. He said it covers the four towns district.

“Kay Manay Gina (de Venecia) ang survey ito?” I posed.

“Oo,” he retorted.

Here are the WINNERS of the 1,300 (probably 1,200 –Mortz) respondents’ polls with some with their corresponding percentages among electoral players in the Fourth Congressional District of the gargantuan Pangasinan province according to Mayor Agbayani:

1)      Reelective Governor Amado “Pogi” Espino, III: 80 percent

2)      Dagupan City reelective Mayor Marc Brian Lim with a little edge against former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.

“Slight hehe. Ayaw namang sabihin sa amin. Parang lamang si Mayor (Brian) ayaw sabihin sa amin,” an amused Agbayani said.

Former Mayor Fernandez is an ally of Congressman De Venecia.

3)      Former Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe D. Parayno.

4)      Manaoag Vice Mayor Domy Ching.

5)      San Jacinto Mayor Leo de Vera

6)      San Fabian Mayorship Bet Marlyn Espino-Agbayani.

7)      Provincial Board candidates from high to the low scored candidates (top two are to be taken by the provincial legislature): 1) San Fabian Vice Mayor Marinor B. De Guzman, 2) Dr. Jerry Rosario,  3) Kapitan Ritchie Abalos, 4) Lawyer Gerald Gubatan, 5) former San Fabian Mayor Jaming Libunao, and others.

8)      Reelective Dagupan City Vice Mayor Bryan Kua.

9)      Vice Governor Mark Lambino.

***

If Guico had this lethargic performance in the Fourth District – the smallest congressional area with more or less 300, 000 (where the more than 100,000 voters of Dagupan City didn't vote for the Guv electoral derby) registered voters among the six districts in the Land of Princess Urduja -, does his pathetic poll performance reflects in the other congressional districts?

L-to-R PHOTO: Political Columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza, amiable San Fabian Mayor Danny Agbayani, and consequential and prolific Radio Man Renato "Atong" Remogat during the visit of the duo to the hizzoner in his office.

“What is the equation of Monmon versus Pogi, fifty-fifty? Sixty – forty?” I asked Abono Partylist Rep. Conrad Estrella before the starts of the proclamation rally of the Opposition against Governor Espino and his political allies in Bayambang, Pangasinan last March 26.

He told me that Monmon was behind Pogi Espino.

Do the three to four expensive 30 seconds political ads of Guico during the Balitang Amianan news at the regional television networks of GMA-7 only show that he was hell bent to eclipse Espino in the highest elective post in Pangasinan more than a month before election day?

THIS COLUMNIST: Guico versus Pogi, fifty-fifty, sixty-forty anong tingin ninyo?

CONGRESSMAN ESTRELLA: We would always want to look at this way: Kami ang humahabol!

THIS COLUMNIST: May survey na kayo?

CONGRESSMAN: Inilalagay namin sa isip naming kami ang humahabol.

A pal in the United States of Mayor Bona Parayno reacted when I told him that the former led the poll versus incumbent Mayor Marlyn Lambino and former PNP Chief Director General Art Lomibao:

“Sa Mangaldan, ang word is it’s becoming Bona vs. Lomibao na…..Sabi sa kanya (Bona whose husband is a kin of Espino – Mortz) ni General Spines dapat daw umabot mga seventy percent para medyo sigurado”.

“How can the Agbayanis be defeated with 80 percent of the polls they dominated against their opponents,” a political kibitzer, who asked with a condition of anonymity, told me.

Aside from the P100 bill they give to each individual (geez hundreds of em'!) every time they have morning sorties and soirees, the spouses give monthly payroll of P10,000 for the 33 Kapitans out of the 34 village chiefs who are their ardent supporters, the P5,000 and P2,000 to the SK (Sangguniang Kabataan Presidents) and the Kagawad of the Barangays, respectively.

When Atong lauded that he and wife significantly dominated the survey, Danny said he would slow down now on his patronage politics by just sleuthing how many kilos of chicken Villegas and Azurin (a PMYer) put in their arroz caldo (chicken rice porridge).

“Kung magpa arroz caldo sila titingnan na lang namin kung ano ang sahog ng arroz caldo. Kung nilagyan nila dalawang kilo (chicken meat) gagawin naming dalawampung kilo (chicken meat) hahahaha!” Agbayani, who endearingly called by constituents as Buddha, humored.

***

Here’s my take on that survey where the winner like Brian, Pogi, and Bona can still lose the election to be held almost a month as of this writing.

Granted that up to the May 9 election, Dagupan Mayor Lim - salamabit he is running without a new set of infra projects in a new budget for this year thanks to the dissent, procrastination, and stonewalling of ex-Mayor Belen’s Dads who are the majority in the Legislature – maintains his miniscule lead but Fernandez dangles say P5,000 to each voter and he (Brian) offers P3,000 – Brian lost the D-Day.

It happened in the past where a national candidate who was 20% in the poll while the incumbent was 80% - as seen on the scientific poll - but still lost because the former flood the district with tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos for the ecstatic more than hundred of thousands of voters.

P5,000 versus P5,000 and Brian gets the more than 7,000 command votes of the Iglesia ni Kristo - just like in the 2019 election, he wins the Pyrrhic poll that could undermine his and Belen’s chains of malls especially if Atong R. info materializes that each of the candidates will flood, gee whiz, the coastal city with P15,000 per voter.

“Kawawa ang mga outsiders ng Dagupan City niyan Atong pag magkatotoo ang hypothetical prognosis natin na may vote buying,” I said.

“Why To’ (Atong an ex-Army man calls me on my Ilonggo nickname Toto)?”

“Wala na namang tricycle drivers na papasada, tatlong araw na naman na sarado ang McDonalds, Jollibees, 7-11, Chowkings, at iba dahil inubos ng mga masa except ang Fish-O-Filet ng McDo dahil hindi nila alam kung anong pagkain iyang French sounding food na iyan!”  

 My analogy on Brian still losing the poll can happen with those other poll winners more than a month before the survey was commissioned as long as their rivals have the superior wherewithal they can sow during the pakurong – Pangasinan word of vote buying in the eve of the election.

With bobotantes dominating the Flip (brevity for Filipinos) Politics today – everybody is for sale to the highest bidder.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Belen Leads Poll vs. Brian

 

 

Actress-Mayoralty Bet Crows her Grand Economic, Social Plans

 By Jigger Ortigoza and Mortz Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The actress-mayoralty candidate of this burgeoning town bared in a mammoth rally here one of the few grand election platforms one can hear in Pangasinan politics.

Candidate Mary Clare Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao explained before the tens of thousands of crowds that converged to the family owned Saint Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park how she will turn- around the economic, social, and medical plights of her constituents if elected as the chief executive of this more or less 75,000 registered voters’ town.

ACTRESS-MAYORALTY BET Mary Clare Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao explains before the tens of thousands of crowds that converged to the family owned Saint Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park in Bayambang, Pangasinan how she will turn-around the economic, social, and medical plights of her constituents if elected as Mayor.

She is the wife of exiting Billionaire-Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao.

Global City

“Ito po ay kabilang sa isang 67 hectares’ development projects natin dito sa Barangay Bani. At dito po natin itatayo ang Bayambang Global City,” she rabble roused in the night of March 26 on a high stage amid the cheering and applauding of supporters, politicians, and sea of spectators – drawn by two big Manila bands’ Side A and Rock Steady - that filled up the swanky immense area that hosted the Guinness record breaker taller than the Statue of Liberty the P250 million’s 50.23-meter statue of Saint Vincent Ferrer.

Quiambao's speech preceded the proclamation of the opposition party’s governorship and mayorship candidates and their slates in the forty-four towns and three cities of Pangasinan province.

Jose-Quiambao cited the gargantuan projects she and her husband will implement - when she will be catapulted to office after the May 9 election - like the Bayambang Global City that will host a town center, coliseum, super malls, villages, and government center.

“At sa pamamagitan po dito mas marami pong trabaho sa ating mga Bayambanguenos, mas maraming magbubukas at opurtunidad pa sa ating mga kababayan”

10,000 Jobs from the Quiambaos’ Bamboo Industry

Because of the family’s bamboo plantations in the four towns in Pangasinan, the Quiambaos need 10,000 workers to be part of them.

“Kailangan po namin ng sampung libong trabahante kasi pag may trabaho na po iyon po ang pangarap ng Team Quiambao –Sabangan (vice mayoralty candidate Raul-ic Sabangan) ang rebulusyon sa kahirapan”.

She said that in year 2028 each of the families here should be earning not less than P10,000 a month in case this town, where President Emilio Aguinaldo declared it as the 5th capital of the Philippines in 1899, which has a population of 129,011 (PSA 2020).

Protection Against Abuses to Women and Children

Jose-Quiambao declared too her pet project on the protection of abused women and children.

“Abong na Aro (House of Love) na mag huhubog sa ating mga kababayan na inaabuso. Ngunit sa tingin ko kulang pa tayo sa concrete na programa na ganito”.

Good Governance

She trumpeted the good governance passionately advocated and vigorously implemented by her mayor husband where entrenched and perennial corruption acts committed by the administration of his predecessors here have been eliminated in the last five years.

“Kitang kita ninyo naman po ang mga buwis ninyo. Di ba lalong umunlad ang bayan ng Bayambang at lalo pa po nating papaunlarin patungo sa mas magandang Bayambang".

New Town Owned University

This coming August the local government unit will open the Bayambang Polytechnic University. Quiambao said the free education given by the BPU to the youth here will be their pass for employment that can eventually help their family.

Spiking Agriculture

She crowed about the online computer application concocted by her husband and friends that can jack-up the stocks of the rice, onion, and other farmers here.

“Ibig sabihin noon dapat po ginagamit po natin ang teknolohiya para maka innovate ng mga bagong paraan sa pagsaka. Kaya po ang aking asawa at si Tito George Yulo at iilang pang team ay gumawa po ng isang application ng apps sa phone”.

She called it e-arrow ecosystem embedded in the android phones of the farm workers where its functions can be compared with those offered by online stores’ Lazada and Shopee.

“Sa pamamagitan po ng e-arrow at system na puwede na pong bumili ng (murang) binhi ang ating mga magsasaka at bumili ng fertilizer”.

She hoped the youth will have interest in farming after she will implement her programs in agriculture.

“Dahil naniniwala po kami sa Team Quiambao-Sabangan No. 1 force ng ating ekonomiya ay agrikultura kaya mabuhay po ang ating magsasaka”.

Hospital

Jose-Quiambao cited the being constructed Julius K. Quiambao Medical and Wellness Center that could treat the health problems of the people here.

Quiambao said the medical center will be the first hospital in Region-1 that has mental health facilities.

“Ito pong hospital na ito ay donasyon ng aming pamilya para sa mga minamahal naming Bayambanguenos at Pangasinense”.

This 77 villages' town for this year has an annual appropriation budget of P700 million.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

How Other Mayors Create Economics Opportunities to People

 

BIR: Pay Annual Income Tax Return before or on April 8

 

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) based in central Pangasinan exhorts taxpayers to pay their annual income tax return (ITR) until the deadline in April 18 this year.

Failure to pay the ITR, the BIR will mete the delinquent taxpayer with three penalties as based on the Internal Revenue Code. A one-time surcharge of either 25% or 50% of the basic tax, 20%/12% annual interest, and a onetime compromise penalty.

To bolster the tax target for this year, the personnel of the Revenue District Office No. 4 continue their tax campaign to get the attention of the taxpayers.

“Iikot po uli kami caravan po uli kami to continue on tax campaign for this year. We will continue on campaigning para sa ating mahal na taxpayers to file their annual income tax on or before April 18, 2020,” Assistant RDO-4 Chief Susan Cabanayan told GMA-7 Regional TV.

RDO-4 is under the watch of RDO-Chief Gil Vinluan.

It covers the cities of San Carlos and Dagupan and towns like Alcala, Basista, Bautista, Bayambang, Calasiao, Laoac, Malasiqui, Manaoag, Mangaldan, Mapandan, San Fabian, San Jacinto, Santa Barbara, and Urbiztondo in central Pangasinan.

RDO No. 4 had collected its P4.038 billion target last year.  

With the customary 17% hike on the preceding year’s total collection, it is estimated that the RDO-Chief and his personnel here will have to collect P4.68 billion for year 2022.

Modern Western Weaponry V. Poorly Armed Russian Army

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

While sitting with some media men on our chairs in a dinner table at the opposition proclamation rally last Friday's night in Bayambang, Pangasinan, some congressman and congressional bets, mayors and mayoralty candidates dropped by at our table and exchanged pleasantries (we missed each other, by golly, since the pandemic in 2020 saw us scampered away from the public scenes).

My son ZJ was wide eyed and quipped to me: Pa' madami pala magaganda dito akala ko sa Dagupan City lang ang mga classy.

"Siyempre classy rin sila dito kasi mga anak ng pulitiko iyan at nagtatapon sila ng pera pag election dahil ang politics is game of the moneyed," I retorted.

When the debonair young Alaminos City Mayor Bryan Celeste passed by our table sorrounded by five bodyguards, I called him.

JAVELIN. The FGM-148 Javelin (AAWS-M) is an American-made portable anti-tank missile system in service since 1996, and continuously upgraded. It replaced the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile in US service.[10] Its fire-and-forget design uses automatic infrared guidance that allows the user to seek cover immediately after launch, as opposed to wire-guided systems, like the system used by the Dragon, which require the user to guide the weapon throughout the engagement. The Javelin's HEAT warhead is capable of defeating modern tanks by hitting them from above where their armor is thinnest, and is also useful against fortifications in a direct attack flight. (Wikipedia)

"Bryan nabasa mo iyong Northern Watch Newspaper I sent sa office mo?"

My son whispered to me: Pa' iyong nakapulupot na maganda sa tabi niya artista iyan.

"Sinong artista iyan?" I asked him since I only watch foreign news outlets CNN, BBC, Fox, and Al Jazeera.

"Pauline Mendoza," he quipped.

When the young well-built Sual's Vice Mayoralty candidate John Christopher Arcinue saw me, I called him: Chris, kamusta ang laban mananalo na tayo sa Mayo?

We exchanged some brief pleasantries.

Jigger told me: Artista din iyang ex. Gf niya si Nadine Lustre.

"Alam ko sinabi ni Lolo niya si Mayor Bing".

When the tall, slim, and goddess looking multi-millionaire actress and mayoralty bet Nina Jose-Quiambao passed by sorrounded by lady aides and brawny bodyguards, I hollered:

"Mayor Nina!"

"Ay Tito Mortz!"

"Fist touch," I quipped

She reciprocated it by extending her right hand and her pricey diamond ring crowned fist touch mine.

***

Damn, how Davids with their U.S and U.K made shoulder fired Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missiles and armed cheap drones' Bayraktar from Turkey routing a deteriorating nuclear power in this war.

I was ecstatic in high school reading broad sheets (Yes Virginia, this probinsiyano read newspapers already at that age) when pajama clad and sandals' wearing Mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan were armed by the Yanks with their shoulder fired heat seeking Stinger missiles that saw Soviet Russia pilots cowed in horror as they saw their colleagues in their mighty combat jets like MIG -21s and lethally armed helicopters like Mil Mi-24s - yes the one you saw in a Rambo's flick - fell from the skies in fireballs.

Despite being "dehado", technologies like these anti tanks and anti-aircraft can be a game changer.

The hated Russians in Afghanistan withdrew humiliated in the late 1980s because of the Stingers.

After that withdrawal, the once invincible super power Soviet Union crumbled into pieces (where countries like Ukraine was independently created) as the Communist economic system proselytized, er, taught to them by Karl Mark and Vladimir Lenin failed to sustain them.

The American system fed by the ideas of Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, and others burgeoned as profit motivation (the best factor to better up the general welfare) among Capitalists like those arm manufacturers I mentioned only spruced up their superior products drawing more customers around the globe and creating more employment wherever the plants of that product are located.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Blunders on the scrapped AFP's Missile Systems; Lessons from the Yom Kippur War

Pampanga BIR Lady Chief Soldiers on the P10-B Tax Goal this Year

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Almost ten billion pesos (P10, 000.000) of funds needed by the national government to fund its trillions of pesos’ expenses is feasible under the efficient leadership of the new Revenue District Office No. 21-A Chief here.

RDO Chief Charmaine C. dela Torre told Northern Watch Newspaper that based on the customary seventeen percent (17%) increase to the overall collection in the preceding year of 2021, she will have a tax goal this year of P9.5 billion (as of press time she told this writer that it is P9.7 billion).

TAX PAYER. A 3.6-hectare mixed-use community in Angeles City, Pampanga developed by Rockwell Land.

This burgeoning enterprise pay taxes to the Revenue District Office  No. 21-B of the Bureau of Internal Revenue based in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

“Wala pa ang tax goal (2022). More or less 17 % ang increase. P9.5 billion ang magiging goal ko. Kasi P8.1 billion (of last year’s collection) multiplies by 17% more or less P9.5 billion ang magiging goal,” she cited.

Dela Torre is optimistic to hit the huge amount – the second highest among the dozens of RDOs in Central Luzon – because of the positive outcome of her collection in November and December last year and January and February this year.

“I arrived in November. I’ve been hitting our goals for four consecutive months already November, December, January and then February”.

She was ranked No. 1 in the region with the highest collection in November last year.

Of the P6.6 billion last year’s target given to RDO 21-B, it collected P8.1 billion or an increase of P1.5 billion.

“Two months lang sa akin dito,” she quipped by citing her assumption to the huge office in November 3, 2021.

Revenue District Office No. 21-A Chief Charmaine Caday dela Torre

Her performances in January and February 2022 were laudable too where she collected P718 million of the P489 million goal in January and P570 million of the P498 million target in February.

“I think we were be ranked No. 2 (among the 11 RDOs in Pampanga) in February when we exceeded our goal P72 million as of today,” she said about topping on that month when this writer interviewed her early of March this year.

Upon assumption of office here, Dela Torre tasked the 101 personnel where more or less 35 of them are Examiners to revise the Zonal Valuation of the real properties in her jurisdiction.

RDO-21-A cover the towns of Arayat, Magalang, and Porac and the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat.

“At present we have projects in line. We are in the process of revising our zonal valuation. It was last revised in 2018 so every three years there should be a revision. Last December 2018 nag revised na so noong 2021 December nag expand na ng three years. Pagdating ko dito iyon ang tinutukan ko,” Dela Torre, who used to be the RDO Chiefs of Western Pangasinan and La Union Province, said. She is a native of Calasiao, Pangasinan.

She could benefit on the swell of her collection based on the new zonal valuation that will boost the tax rates of the real properties in the towns and cities she supervises.

Dela Torre recalled how she soldiered on the revision of the zonal valuation of RDO-3 in La Union Province in 2018 and rode on the spike of the robust collection of taxes there until her transfer here in November 3, 2022.

Aside from the amended zonal valuation, she compared how burgeoning the economy of this central Luzon province in terms of high paying taxpayers than those in Region-1 where she had a long stint since being an Examiner there.

“Ang industries natin we have telecommunication. Actually we have a very big taxpayer whom I cannot divulge because of the data privacy. Malaki talaga ang contribution noon”.

She cited too how those traders in the Philippines Economic Zone Authority and the thriving businesses under her jurisdiction here help buttress her collection.

READ MY OTHER BLOG: 

How the Economic Zone catapults Tarlac City