MANGALDAN – The mayor of this burgeoning first class town invites investors to put shops here instead of doing business in nearby Dagupan City. Mayor Herminio Romero said that his municipality is “tsunami-free, flood-proof, and earthquake free”. He cited that Dagupan City is flood prone. “There is no recurring floods here,” he chuckled. This happened because he saw to it that infrastructure projects like dikes are being followed up in Manila for their immediate implementation here. Romero explained that because of the economic spillover in nearby urbanized Dagupan City,this town will inevitably become a host to the influx of investors. “Nandiyan na iyan. Ang sinabi ko ngayon ay palapit ng palapit ang spill-over kaya isagad at paluwagin na ang kalsada. Pati drainage, isagad na rin para maluwag ang flow ng transportation and traffic,” he stressed in the vernacular. He explained that if the highway is wide, businessmen follow suit. With the ongoing multi-million of pesos road shoulder-expansion from the Poblacion Area to Brgy. Anolid that border’s Dagupan, this town will not only become conducive to businesses from the nearby towns and city but bode well for those prudent businessmen who want to avoid the wrath of nature that gobbled the main thoroughfare of Dagupan every time there is a strong downpour and high tide. Eng. Rodolfo Dion, chief of the 2nd Engineering District of the Department of Public Works & Highway in Lingayen, who supervised the expansion explained that his men are preoccupied these days monitoring the private contractor who are doing re-blocking and concreting there He said he gives the contractor a deadline to finish the project until November this year. This Central Pangasinan municipality is millions of pesos richer in terms of appropriation for the fiscal year budget of 2012 not only compared on her neighboring towns like San Fabian, San Jacinto, and Santa Barbara but even to other major towns in Pangasinan. According to Dr. Rose Ramirez R. Hulipas, executive officer of Mayor Romero, this town will have a P145 million appropriation for next year. Based on data acquired by this paper, this 4thcongressional district municipality appropriates P145 million for her next year’s budget, followed by the P138 million of Santa Barbara, P132 Calasiao, and P130 of capital town Lingayen. Dr. Hulipas said that one of the major sources of revenues here are the laboratories of renowned pharmaceutical companies that buttressed her coffer. “The other sources of revenue (here) is the teeming businesses here that shame the lethargic market of the nearby towns,” a source, who asked for anonymity, said. Meanwhile, Romero exhorted Pangasinan congresswomen Ma. Georgina de Venecia, Kimi Cojuangco, Ma. Rachel Arenas, and Marlyn Primicias-Agabas to intercede for a fund in Malacanang to rebuild the earth dikes in Sison, Pangasinan to be converted into a concrete dike. He explained that present dikes made of soil needs regular maintenance that endangers persons and properties in the four congressional districts of the province. Mr. Nelson Sotto, a private contractor, said that concreting of the dikes in Sison would cost the national government billions of pesos (Mortz C. Ortigoza).
