LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN—With his dignified demeanor, Governor Ramon V. Guico III has what it takes to be one of the country’s most brilliant leaders and perhaps one of the best provincial chief executives Pangasinan has ever had.
His brilliance was exuded in his recent interview on ANC’s Business Roadshow by ABS-CBN ace journalist, Mr. Stanley Palisada. In the interview, Gov. Guico predominantly discussed the provincial board’s approval of an unprecedented P7.1 billion budget for 2025.
“We focused on the other function of the local government unit. One, of course, is according to Republic Act 7160 Sections 15 to 21. The LGUs have political and bureaucratic functions as service providers and as tax-oriented political organizations, but equal to that is the corporate function, which is more empowering and is focused on community creation of wealth and creation of profits and incomes,” Gov. Guico stated as he further said that this kind of premise is what his administration has charted to do since he assumed office in July 2022.
The governor shared that he didn’t do it alone and that the entire community/organization was involved. “It takes the whole community or the whole organization to do it. You need the support of Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the local chief executives, and all of your department heads and employees of the provincial Capitol,” he said.
When asked about the challenges he met when he decided to shift the traditional way of running the provincial government into a business-oriented style, Gov. Guico emphasized that before he ran as the highest official of the province, he first assessed what to prioritize and do for Pangasinan.
During the campaign, Gov. Guico vowed to the more than 3 million Pangasinenses that his administration would bolster the province’s economy through various big-ticket projects such as the establishment of the Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEX) and the provision of free college education for deserving youth. Likewise, he disclosed his other priority programs and projects, notably job creation, health care, social services, agriculture, and housing.
During the interview, the governor stated his desire to swiftly realize the PLEX project in due time. Thus, the provision of a standby loan and business proposal to some private corporations that are into tollways became an option for the province.
Then San Miguel Corporation (SMC) came in the nick of time, and without a single centavo investment for Pangasinan, the big-ticket project will be realized in due time. “There was a connection; it happened so fast, we signed a Memorandum of Agreement (pertaining to the province and the SMC) without a single centavo investment for Pangasinan,” Gov. Guico said.
As such, the groundbreaking of the P34 billion PLEX Phase 1 took place at Barangay Balligi, Laoac, on March 21, 2024, with no less than Gov. Guico and Mr. Ramon S. Ang, President and Chief Executive Officer of San Miguel Corporation. The historic Gargantuan project will not only improve connectivity between the eastern and western parts of Pangasinan but will likewise enhance the road networks in Central and Northern Luzon.
Among the priority projects for the 2025 provincial budget is education.
With its class opening in August 2024, PPC offers various baccalaureate degrees to 700 initial scholars. Before this, the educational facility started offering technical-vocational courses through its Center for Lifelong Learning (CeLL) last April of the current year. “Soon we would like to expand it into three other campuses. That’s free education, but we reimbursed the cost and the tuition from the CHED Unifast,” Gov. Guico said.
On agriculture, the governor mentioned corporate farming as his administration’s signature project. “We are promoting corporate farming, so we are asking the farmers to consolidate their land holdings so they can have bigger areas of production,” he cited.
The Corporate Farming Program, which was launched in July 2023, aims to enhance food production. Said program is in line with the province’s strategic objective to uplift the socio-economic status and well-being of every Pangasinense. “There should be a scientific approach to farming. With all those ingredients, as we have economies on scale, you get better discounts on your inputs,” he explained in the interview.
With the whopping P7.1 billion budget for Pangasinan in 2025, the governor is optimistic that more projects will be realized. “The national tax allocation is something that the national government gives you, but you have to do something with your local taxes and income,” he said.
“We passed some ordinances, we revised our revenue code, we amended quarry ordinances, and then we employed technology like apps so that we can monitor the operations of quarry in our rivers,” he stated, further revealing that the provincial government targeted a collection of P120 million for 2024 but has already exceeded its target by hitting P218,379,000.00 as of November (this year).
Based on records of the Provincial Treasurer’s Office (PTO), tax collections on quarry during the past administration (Espino administration) were from P12 million to P15 million only, a far cry from the present collections for quarry under Gov. Guico.
The governor attributed the remarkable feat in revenue collections to the “honest-to-goodness” thrust of his administration. (Ruby F. Rayat/Carlo dela CruzPIMRO)
