LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN—Governor Ramon V. Guico III has once again proven its excellence in local governance and financial management.
The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) awarded two certificates of achievement to Pangasinan as the region’s top performer in terms of highest locally sourced revenues in nominal terms and top 1 in year-on-year growth in locally sourced revenues, both for the year 2023.
In addition, the province was also awarded as Top 2 in terms of Collection Efficiency on Locally Sourced Revenues for Fiscal Year 2023 and Top 2 as regards Ratio of Locally Sourced Revenue to Total Current Operating Income for the same year.
Provincial Treasury Office head Cristy Ubando accepted the awards during the BLGF Region I Year-end Assessment Conference and Recognition of Top Performing LGUs of Region 1 on November 27, 2024, at the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Quezon City.
Under the leadership of Governor Guico, the provincial government endeavored to increase revenues through improvement of tax collection, thereby boosting economic enterprises to become self-reliant and not just rely on tax allocation from the national government.
As earlier stated by Gov. Guico, the biggest challenge handed down on him when he took over as the provincial chief executive in 2022 was how to make Pangasinan progressive.
“We have set clear directions for investors and instituted policies that would be beneficial to them,” Governor Guico said.
His administration likewise capitalized on the province’s abundant mineral resources, and this involved the launch of automated digital apps to modernize and boost the collection of revenues from mining and quarry operators.
It can be recalled that from the total quarry collections that ranged from P12 million to P15 million during the previous administration, the present administration managed to collect an unprecedented amount of P224.33 million.
Based on a report from the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, the province’s collection totaled to P15,518,952.48 in 2022. This rose to P185,822,262.49, or about 1,097.39% collection growth rate in 2023. The latest report showed that the province has collected P224,334,849.81, or an increase of 20.73% from the 2023 collection. (Ruby F. Rayat, Photo: Cristy Ubando Facebook page, Joey F. Olimpo/PIMRO)
