By Mar Supnad
SAMAL, Bataan – This once sleepy town, with a measly annual budget of P50 million, has since soared economically, with an annual budget of P200 million.
Samal Bataan (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
In her State-of-the-Municipality Address (SOMA) over the weekend, Mayor Gene Malibiran dela Fuente reported to her constituents that when she was forst elected in 2010, Samal only had a P50 million budget due to lack of investors, income and poor collection of taxes.
But she cited that due to effective governance, the municipality earned the trust and confidence of investors, eventually opening up employment opportunities and generaitngf millions of pesos in income.
"We are expecting an additional P60 million income next year," said Mayor dela Fuente, drawing cheers from the public.
She said that this year alone, a total of P330 million worth of infrastructure projects were implemented
"We were also able to construct a 10 - kilometer road worth P106 million.”
She also gave credit to Vice Mayor Aida Macalinao and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan fopr supporting development initiatives that spurred economic progress.
"Vice Mayor Aida played a major role in my administration and she did not leave me behind during my ups and downs; I admire her loyalty to my administration that resulted to the better services to the people of Samal,"pointed out dela Fuente.