Pangasinan is top investment area in the Ilocos Region

LINGAYEN–Pangasinan is now the top investment destination in the Ilocos Region, according to data on investments in the last three years.

Governor Amado Espino Jr. said of the P14 billion investments recorded in the entire region in 2008, Pangasinan registered at least P11 billion.

The remaining P3 billion were shared by other provinces in the Ilocos Region, namely La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

Espino, who assumed the governorship in 2007, said this development is consistent with the vision he outlined at the start of his administration to make Pangasinan as “the best place to live, invest and raise a family”.

Espino also said that in 2009, several groups of Korean investors visited the province to scout for possible sites for their investments.

One group of Koreans is interested in building a $55 million modern hospital in Sta. Barbara town and is eyeing a portion of the Pangasinan Provincial Nursery for the project.

Another group is keen on putting up a retirement village in Mangatarem while another plans to build an assembly plant for electric cars.

Still another group is interested to build an industrial park to complement the Sual Port Development Project now being constructed in Sual town.

A 300-hectare eco-tourism zone also broke ground in Lingayen on April 5 during the province’s 430th founding anniversary.

It is being planned to be the home of a world-class 18-hole golf course, hotels and restaurants and a marina for tourist boats plying along the Lingayen Gulf.–LM

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Gov. Espino supports “Pangasinan is for CHAMP elections.”–Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. leaves his white handprints on a black wall to signify his full support to a Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful (CHAMP) May 2010 Elections.  The activity, organized by the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, demonstrates greater involvement of the Catholic Church in the mission of social transformation according to the spirit of the Gospel. (PIO Photo by Bob Sison)

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Irrigators hits Agbayani’s irrigation projects

Contrary to the claims of the previous administration to numerous irrigation projects for the welfare of Pangasinan’s agriculture sector, Oftociano Manalo, president of the Provincial and Regional Irrigators’ Association, said the irrigation projects did not serve the farmers.

“Hindi napakinabangan ng mga farmers, minsan lang umulan washed out na. Sayang yung ginastos, people’s money yun, taxpayers’ money yun tapos ganon lang ang nangyari,” he said.

At one point, when asked by media if the TV ad (on irrigation projects of the previous administration) is a lie, Manalo said “sa palagay ko dahil ako ang president dapat ako ang signatory doon sa MOA, wala akong matandaan” noting that the former governor even included in his accomplishment a non-existent irrigation project in Managos, Balungao.

“Dapat alam ko kasi ako ang presidente ng asosayon dun kaya dapat ako ang pumirma sa MOA,” Manalo disclosed.

“80 percent pataas ng project ng Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG) under Balikatan Sagip Patubig Program under the previous administration, hindi natapos, pero nakolekta nila lahat 100 percent,” he added.

“Maraming complaints ang aming asosasyon na maraming hindi natapos na mga projects na inimplement, tulad ng ginawa sa Balungao, pero hindi napakinabangan ng farmers.

In contrast, Manalo praised the productive working relations between the agriculture sector and the provincial government today.

“Very open ang dialogue namin ngayon with the Governor and the Provincial Agriculturist kaya nasasabi namin ang aming mga pangangailangan, unlike before na hindi kami binibigyan ng pagkakataon na masabi ang mga pagkukulang ng OPAG noon,” he said.

Manalo also commended Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. for his timely intervention to help farmers hit by the on-going El Niño phenomenon with the purchase and distribution of some 500 units of water pumps to various irrigators’ associations in the province.

Manalo said the provincial government distributed 5-hp gasoline-fed units with complete accessories, free to the recipients unlike with national government agencies’ intervention program where farmers had to provide counterpart for the cost.

Farmers who urgently needed water for irrigation or those at the tail-end of water supply were prioritized, he said.

He said recipients were also given technical briefing on how to maintain and prolong the life of their units.

“Malaking tulong po ngayon dahil sa mga water pumps na ibinigay nila, lalo na ngayong El Niño, maraming pananim ang napatubigan,” Jun Nandin, president of Don Isidoro Dam Irrigators’ Association, said.

Meanwhile, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) in Pangasinan said it is busy rehabilitating the irrigation systems of the national government in the province during the planting season break.

Engr. Ceferino Sta. Ana, division manager of the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARIIP), said when wet season cropping starts on July 16, the agency’s irrigation facilities will be opened to cover 12,000 to 15,000 hectares.

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Pangasinenses march for clean and honest poll—Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. (center) and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas (right) share a light moment as they join 2,000 Pangasinenses and some candidates for solidarity walk dubbed “Lakad Pangasinan, Malinis na Halalan” last April 17.  The activity was organized by the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in partnership with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the Provincial COMELEC.  Also shown in photo is Congressional bet for second district, Leopoldo Bataoil (left). (PIO Photo by Bob Sison)

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Espino chides Agbayani on absence of residence

Do the Agbayanis really love our province?

Governor Amado Espino Jr. posed the question about the Agbayani family whose members he said do not even reside in houses here that they can truly call their own.

“Who among them reside in Pangasinan?” Espino asked, pointing out that he felt constrained to raise the issue out because Congressman Victor Agbayani has been less than honest in criticizing the governor’s pet projects his radio advertisements.

Gov. Espino and the congressman appeared in a debate in “Candidates’ Forum” over GMA television and on Bombo Radio where they accused each other as “lying” on many issues.

To Espino, it is the construction of a house, which is one’s best proof that he or she really loves the province.

He added, “Tell me if he or any of his, not him, has a company providing employment to our people in Pangasinan.”

To prove his affinity with the province, Gov. Espino said he owns a house and a farm in Barangay Portic, Bugallon and a house in Poblacion, Bautista.

His siblings all live in Bautista where they were all born and raised.

The governor said in an interview, that the congressman lives in the family’s ancestral home in Lingayen and does not have a house of his own in the province, but that he owns a house in Metro Manila.

Espino went further and asked where the Agbayani patriarch is buried and in comparison said his late father is buried in Bautista, the Espinos’ hometown. The late governor is buried in Quezon City.

“The late governor served the province for so long and I even served under him as a former police provincial director of Pangasinan. Our people would have wanted to see him buried in Pangasinan,” he said.

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