By Leonardo Micua

 

GREAT things are definitely going to happen in Dagupan despite the slow-paced approval of the city’s P1.33 billion annual budget for 2024, which by the way is no longer a surprise. It already happened last year.

And for sure if God will not intervene again, this prolonged scrutiny of the proposed annual budget through the motion of endless committee hearings will happen again in 2025 as long as the tyranny of the majority in the Dagupan Sanggunian Panlungsod does not stop.

God is on the side of Mayor Belen because, aside from the on-going elevation of city’s main roads, the new concrete bridge across the Dawel River parallel to the old Dawel Bridge, is now in the final stage of its construction and billed to open soon.

Funding of this bridge came from the Department of Public Works and Highways at the request of Fourth District Rep. Toff de Venecia.

We all knew that this was necessary when the old Dawel Bridge built sometime in 1974 was weakened by a strong tremor that rocked Abra in July 2022, which was felt in the city at Intensity 5.

Cong Toff was also instrumental in continuing his diking of both sides of the Pantal River, aside from the Esplanade that he earlier caused to build in the southern bank of the Pantal River, and also his pet project, Tondaligan Baywalk, from Gueset to Binloc, as well as the elevation of some low-lying barangay roads.

Then there was the bicycle lane funded at P5 million by Senator Jinggoy Estrada. OIC City Engineer Josephine Corpuz told me at the sideline of the inauguration of the Balay Silangan in Poblacion Oeste, and was built west of the Jose de Venecia Expressway Extension.

Then there were also projects generously given to Dagupan by other senators like Francis Tolentino, and the soon-to-be-built multi-purpose building in Bonuan Boquig courtesy of Senator Sonny Angara.

And now, construction of the One Bonuan Pavillon in Bonuan Binloc, funded by P25 million given to Dagupan by Senator Riza Hontiveros, has just started

To complement the One Bonuan Pavillon  Fernandez said a skateboard  will be built soon near the structure , to be funded by the city government.

Also in Bonuan Binloc, a Filipino-Chinese Garden is already set to be built by the Chinese consulate based in Laoag whose officials recently invited Mayor Belen to attend their advanced Chinese New Year celebration.

And there is also Super Ate Imee Marcos. also a senator, who never stops giving Dagupan’s fair share from the national government, particularly in helping the redevelopment of the Tondaligan Ferdinand Park named after her late father.

As earlier confided to us by Mayor Fernandez she had to visit all the senators in their offices as she then had little faith that the seven majority in the Sanggunian will ever pass the 2023 annual budget, a suspicion which turned out to be true.

In doing this, she deemed that with or without the annual city budget, projects must be built for the people of Dagupan.

With 28 local projects funded by the 20 percent development fund, bankrolled by the 2023 annual budget which the majority councilors are still insanely questioning today, there is no mistake that under Mayor Belen’s watch, Dagupan has finally reached the crossroad of development it never enjoyed at any time in the past.

Many say that no other place in Region 1 or perhaps in the Philippines has all these big number of multi-million peso projects going on simultaneously at the same time, except in Dagupan today.

But all these could just be a blessing in disguise or God’s gift to the people that were forsaken by their seven councilors, who by fate just happened to be in the majority in the sanggunian, but never became an asset to the city. It’s painful but true.

Kong Hei Fat Choi, Mayor Belen.

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