LINGAYEN – The province of Pangasinan ranked ninth among the provinces in the country with substantial amount of cash in bank, sixth highest in gross income and fifth with highest net income.

This was contained in the “Financial Highlights for Local Government Units for Financial Year 2006 recently released by the Commission on Audit.

The financial report listed Pangasinan during the administration of then Governor Victor Agbayani, now congressman of the second district, as among the top 10 provinces in financial and fiscal performance.

This confirms, Agbayani’s statement that when he was governor of Pangasinan, the provincial economy was strong and the provincial government’s financial condition was excellent.

Agbayani was governor from 1998 to 2007. He ran and won as congressman of the second district of Pangasinan in the last elections.

“We are proud to say that during my administration as governor, I and my team, through sound and efficient practice and revenue collection, built and left a legacy of a strong provincial economy,” Congressman Agbayani said.

He said that since his first to last term of office, the province attained increasing yearly budget surpluses averaging P39 million from 199 to 2000 and exceeding P150 million yearly from 2004 to 2006.

At the same time, he also pointed out that the loan taken out by the province was efficiently and effectively utilized to fast track infrastructure projects such as irrigation dams, roads and bridges and the rehabilitation of the hospital.

These projects boosted farm income and commerce in the countryside and the provincial economy in general,” he pointed out.

“The loan undertaken by the province was conservative and less than half of the borrowing capacity of the province and the province has the capacity to pay out its loan earlier than its due date,” he added.
“