ASINGAN—It is not only Governor Amado Espino Jr. who is saying that Pangasinan is one giant in deep slumber.

Former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, now working with a non-government organization promoting the welfare of women in the countryside, said she is glad Espino sustained her previous observation before.

Shahani, who ran for governor in 1998 but lost, was the first to claim that while other provinces were counting their blessings, all that Pangasinan was doing was to sleep.

“Didn’t I tell you that before,” Mrs. Shahani said in a talk during the Regional Taekwondo Championship held on Sunday at the Francisco Sapigao Memorial Sports Center here.

“The question is,” she said, “Even the media did not believe me.”

Shahani concurred with the statement of Espino that although Pangasinan is the biggest province in the country in terms of population, it is lagging far behind in development among many and even smaller provinces.

The former senator and her son Ranjit, former congressman of the Fifth District, are Espino’s close allies in eastern Pangasinan.

The former senator lamented that Pangasinan native products, like mangoes, “bagoong” (fish paste), bucayo and even bangus are not getting anywhere.

They are the same old products of old that did not grow big with the times, she said.

Espino blamed the Agbayanis who ruled theprovince for 29 years, for the sluggish performance of the province  in all aspects as Pangasinan remained having the highest poverty incidence despite its size.

“I felt bad when I learned that although Pangasinan has the biggest IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) share among all provinces in the entire country, it also has the biggest incidence of poverty,” said Shahani.

In her message to the participants of the sporting event, Shahani urged them that “when you go back to your respective towns, you should help make our province and region great again”.

The former senator expressed hope that Pangasinan would soon be a part of Information Technology with Urdaneta City as the hub.

Although she and son Ranjit are now out of the government, they are still helping the province and are expected to play a lead role in bringing IT technology in Pangasinan.

The Shahanis are all set to make their high-rise commercial building in Urdaneta as home for several call centers.

“Information technology is one way we can modernize Pangasinan,” the former senator said.

At the same time, the former senator called on local officials to get rid of the old traditional way of politicking, including the numbers game jueteng which many people depend on for a living.

“We should instead create additional wealth by developing the resources of our big, big province,” she said— LM

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