Urdaneta’s local economy overtakes Dagupan in 2022
URDANETA City has overtaken Dagupan in point of income, jumping from fourth in 2019 to first among all four cities of Pangasinan in 2022, according to Mayor Julio Parayno III.
In a press conference last Tuesday at his office, Parayno said Urdaneta City Hall only had P24 million in 2019, and has since now ballooned to P700 million, deposited in Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines.
In the 2022 audit of the Commission on Audit, Urdaneta was credited to have posted an income of P1.49 billion, the highest in Pangasinan and in Region 1. That year Dagupan had only P1.3 billion income.
He said the P1 billion city government borrowed funded planned infrastructure projects, and the amortization of the loan came from six to seven percent yearly increase in revenue collection of Urdaneta, so its effect to the fiscal position of the city is practically nothing.
He said to date, Urdaneta City is in fact alternating with San Fernando City as the richest in Region 1.
Parayno responded to criticisms that the P1-billion loan of the city is not being well spent and cited the developmental projects that resulted in better life for Urdanetans.
He said Urdaneta is the only city in the Philippines today with all of its villages having their own barangay halls. Some of the loans, he said, were spent for farm-to-market roads so that agricultural products of every barangay can easily reach the markets of the city, making Urdaneta not only an agricultural city but is also the center of trade and commerce and education in Eastern Pangasinan.
With six to seven percent increase in revenue collections each year, Urdaneta City won national acclaim from various national government agencies, including the Commission on Audit.
Dagupan City during the prior term of Mayor Fernandez was the richest city in Region 1, and the first city in Region 1 to have joined the ‘Billionaire Club’ of cities with more than P1.1 billion in 2019. (Leonardo Micua)
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