Mangaldan Chalks Up P55-M from the Nat’l Gov’t

TO FUNDS THOSE FARM-TO-MARKET ROADS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – Through the leadership of the mayor of this progressive town, a new P55 million funding for farm-to-market roads (FMR) here have been accessed from the national government.

TOKYO TREATS. Mangaldan mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno treats a friend and village chiefs at a Japanese restaurant’s Tokio by Hagemu in Brgy, Banaoang, Mangaldan. (Left top photo, from left and clockwise): Mayor Parayno, Editor Mortz Ortigoza, Osiem Kapitan Alberto P. Llena, Landas Kapitan Bernardo Salayog, Jr. Salay Kapitana Celedonia Lim, Maasin Kapitana, Liga ng mga Barangay President, and ex-officio Councilor Florida Abalos.

Those in the other pictures are Poblacion Kapitana Vilma Quinto Galban and Malabago Kapitana Myla Muyarga.

“Ang ginagawa namin ina-access namin ang Ugnayang Bayan Portal (of the Department of Budget and Management) kung saan may mga budget sa farm-to-market roads na pwedeng maaprubahan at maibigay sa Mangaldan,” Agriculture Technologist Manny Aquino of the Municipal Agriculture Office told this writer.

Aquino said that the Portal evaluates if this town is qualified for funding. The Portal is composed of the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reforms, the National Irrigation Administration and others.

“Nakakuha kami ng P55 million na inaantay namin na mai-download na dito sa LGU,” Aquino said.

The FMR roads would be distributed to five to eight villages here.

Municipal Administrator Atty. Teodora Cerdan said that the staff of the local government like Aquino have to meet first the farmers for a dialogue like how they would donate a portion of their land to be converted to a roadway. She said that most of them welcome the move of the the government and did not oppose it and did not insist to be paid for their loss.

“Gusto rin nila Sir kasi mapapabilis ang pagpunta nila sa kanilang patutunguhan dahil sa kalsada at tataas ang appreciation ng mga lupa nila dahil sa bagong kalsada,” Aquino said.

Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno told this writer before that this town has a P40 million (during her term in the middle of 2010’s) and the P150 million (contracted by Mayor Marilyn Lambino during her stint in years 2019 to 2022) loans. The LGU paid P34 million yearly from 2022 and a reduced amortization of P28.50 million for this year.

The two loans went to the renovation and construction of the public market and other local infrastructure projects here.

“I have to lobby projects from the national government because we are paying amortization to the Land Bank through some parts of our local budget here,” Mayor Parayno stressed.

This first-class town has a ₱539,035,706.00 for this year – one of the highest in the forty-four towns’ Pangasinan.

Lawyer Cerdan lauded the national government for allowing this town to get its payment from the general fund instead of the twenty percent of the Development Fund (DF).

The 20% DF or P70 to P80 million for this central Pangasinan town is a mandatory budgetary allocation from the LGU’s annual National Tax Allotment (NTA)—formerly Internal Revenue Allotment—strictly for development projects outlined in the town’s Annual Investment Plan (AIP). It focuses on social, economic, and environmental capital investments rather than personal services.

“Because of that we could use the (P70 to P80 million) of the development fund for infrastructure and other projects,” she said.

This town has a P300 to P400 million loan capacity to borrow and pay if it wants to contract a loan again at the Land Bank of the Philippines based on its present and previous budgets.