Bayambang: Emerging Investment Magnet of North Luzon v2

 

 

 

Bayambang: Emerging Investment Magnet of North Luzon

 

In its 410^th year, Bayambang is ripe for attracting various investments from different fields for various reasons.

 

Our Edge

Geographic Features. Our location – at the southern central tip of Pangasinan and Region I – is the perfect location for businesses that target the Ilocos Region to the north, Central Luzon to the south, Western Pangasinan towns to the west and eastern Pangasinan towns to the east. We are not just a random pit stop but at a strategic crossroad, and we maximize this advantage by strengthening the major arteries that provide ingress and egress to the four directions.

Today, Bayambang is known for its new major tourist attraction – the St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park located in a 67-hectare proposed New Town Center. It is, of course, so-named because it is here where the Guinness World Record’s tallest bamboo sculpture (supported) towers like a beacon at a 50.23 meter height.

To date, owing to its ambience and perfect location, the area has become the breakfast capital and dinner capital of the pilgrimage circuit and beach tourism circuit of Northern Luzon.

Demographics. Bayambang’s resident population of 129,000-plus (PSA, 2022), on top of its sizeable transient population, comprises an untapped market for all sorts of products and services. Instead of viewing our population as liability, we see high foot traffic and considerably diversified demographic segments (youth, retirees, et al.) with disposable income. Indeed, Bayambang has a vast potential for every type of investment looking to satisfy unmet needs and to create new needs or opportunities.

Its commercial products profile – from rice, corn, onion, vegetables, etc., down to spaces for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) – is also ripe for possibilities.

Unique Brand. In a multitude of options faced by investors in the area of Pangasinan and Region I, we are the proverbial ‘little town that could’ because our ambition is pretty boundless. Outsiders can easily see this in the little and big details in our town’s current narrative. …For where else can one find a former backwater achieving so many unbelievable ‘firsts’ in the annals of its history and beyond (provincial, regional, national, international) within so short a time?

We are the first in the country to have the aforementioned Guinness world records, the biggest Christmas animation display, the first in Region I to stage a Disney classic (“Beauty and the Beast”), just to get started.

Not content with updating our mandatory Comprehensive Land Use Plan, we had to hire the services of world-renowned urban planner, Felino ‘Jun’ Palafox Jr. and Associates, too, to assist our little town at crafting this important blueprint of progress and development.

As our very own governor in Pangasinan (Hon. Ramon V. Guico III) once exclaimed, “Bayambang is always setting the trend” not just in the province and region, but in the entire country. The innate passion and innovative spirit of Bayambangueños makes the town a place where the best things happen.

Fast-tracked Infrastructure Projects. Infrastructure-wise, the transformation of our town happened at lightning speed the minute businessman Cezar T. Quiambao -- known for big-ticket IT and infra projects that pioneered BOT and other PPP schemes -- transferred the headquarters of his flagship company, STRADCOM, from Manila to our town, a creative move on his part driven by his boundless love for his hometown. …More so when he eventually got elected as a most unlikely mayor in 2016. What used to be impossible in our humble, sleepy town suddenly became possible. The dividends of that move to transfer headquarters are now being reaped by our incumbent local chief executive, and now we have a tradition of lightning-speed transformation to keep up with.

For one, our circumferential concrete road network has become vast and well-paved, a huge turnaround from being virtually nonexistent before. No barangay was spared from the feverish pace of construction of core local access roads connecting all 77 barangays in the nine districts. Road safety and traffic regulations are, of course, taken care of by the Bayambang Public Safety Office.

Being a crossroads town at the junction of Northern Luzon and Central Luzon, we are connected to the east, west, north, and south of adjoining provinces and regions via national and provincial roads and bridges. Any point in Bayambang is only about three to four hours away from Metro Manila by car. Recently, we have won an P80-M grant from the World Bank and Department of Agriculture-PRDP for the construction of the Pantol-to-San Gabriel Farm-to-Market Road with Three Bridges Project, a major artery with three connecting bridges that will connect a distant barangay of our town to the center and giving our onion farmers there a direct and easy access to markets. Construction is ongoing.

With our lofty ambition to become a city, and a global city too, we take care of other infrastructures to make our town an inviting, livable place to invest in.

For medical needs, we have 6 Rural Health Units (with 3 being fully functional), 1 district hospital (Bayambang District Hospital), 1 private hospital, dozens of private clinics, dental clinics, and pediatric clinics, and soon, a tertiary hospital, the Julius K. Quiambao Medical and Wellness Hospital, a Medical City-Managed hospital scheduled to be operational by 2024. It will be the first hospital of its kind in the region to have psychiatric services, aside from the suite of medical services, plus a room devoted to indigent patients.

Additionally, the Bayambang Water District (BayWad), together with the LGU, are facilitating the implementation of the Bayambang Septage Management Project, which will soon upgrade our sewerage system into a proper sewerage and septage management system, with updated infrastructure for connectivity, sewage disposal, and sludge treatment.

We also have an upgraded fire station, the Bayambang Fire Station, which serves other towns in the district.

Soon to open is the Bayambang Central Terminal conveniently located at the PSU-Bayambang grounds in the Poblacion area.

In the works are the Municipal Public Bonery and another public cemetery to address the decades-long challenge of an overcrowded public cemetery to cater to the majority of our constituents’ need. For those who prefer private memorial parks, we have the Hands of Heaven and Forest Lake memorial parks to meet their preference.

Financial Transparency. The LGU's data on its financial transactions are properly reported for transparency and accountability purposes, resulting in an unmodified opinion from the Commission on Audit based on a report released in 2023.

Management with Integrity. A transparent and accountable leadership is in place, as attested to by the LGU’s unending winning streak in almost every aspect of governance: SGLG for several consecutive years, DSWD’s GAPAS Award for Microentrepreneurship, Gawad Kalasag for disaster resilience, consistent passer in Good Financial Housekeeping, consistent placer in National Competitiveness Council’s Competitiveness Index, DICT’s Digital Governance, Child-Friendly Governance, Anti-Drug Abuse Council Awards, and so on.

On top of these, a Quality Management System is also in place, with a hard-won ISO 9001:2015 certification, ensuring an established and validated framework in which to perform each and every LGU task at an international level of standard.

New Spaces for Business. Formerly nonproductive and moribund spaces have been and are being revitalized to attract significant new players and to create jobs. The Bayambang Commercial Strip in front of the parish church, for one, has resulted into the transformation of entire strips of neighborhoods suddenly bustling with economic activity where there was none before. Neighborhood revitalization has resulted in the almost overnight sprouting of many new business enterprises in these areas.

Similarly, as a result of the construction of the Saint Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park, several new businesses have sprung up and now serve as a catalyst for adjacent spaces to accommodate the burgeoning business enterprises where there used to be zero presence.

The Public Market has also been expanded, and this project has produced new stalls, creating opportunities for the Special Economic Enterprise’s long waiting list of hopeful stall owners.

With the impending construction of the Bical Norte Circumferential Road-Tanolong-Urbiztondo Road, a new P30-M DOT-DPWH grant, the area is set to become a new city within a city.

Most recently, Bayambang attracted big investors such as Sta. Lucia Realty (through Centro Verde), Forest Lake, and CitiHardware. A battery manufacturing firm is also scheduled to construct a plant here and is bound to hire hundreds of workers.

At the 67-hectare new town center in Brgy. Bani, among the big projects lined up are a new SM mall, a theme park, a Promenade inspired by the one at BGC, and a Convention Center.

Beefed-up Security. Our perennially award-winning Municipal Police Station is no slouch in ensuring peace and order, together with the force multipliers, the Bayambang Public Safety Office, CVOs, and CSO volunteers.

We have hundreds of CCTV cameras spread out in the most crowded and strategic areas to monitor any vehicular accidents and other untoward incidents, including incidents of criminality.

The local chief executive conducts surprise drug tests as part of her zero tolerance policy against drug users in the LGU, addiction to illegal drugs being a major cause of both petty and heinous crimes.

Disaster-Readiness. Bayambang is visited by typically 10-15 typhoons per year, a few of which can cause flash floods in some areas, and rarely with damaging winds, but these floods generally subside a lot faster compared with other towns and cities that tend to be submerged for long periods for time. In case of a strong earthquake that can trigger a tsunami, the town is situated in a safe zone, its inland location several kilometers away from the shores.

We have an MDRRMO that is a recipient of the prestigious KALASAG Award from the Office of Civil Defense, the highest award a local DRRMO can attain from the national government. Our MDRRMO is well-equipped and adequately manned to take care of disaster mitigation and disaster resiliency initiatives and rescue operations during natural disasters. Under its wing are 11 Evacuation Centers spread out in the 9 districts of town and an activation of Barangay DRRMCs.

An ongoing project is the Agno River Rehabilitation Project, which restores the bamboo forest that once covered the entire length of the riverbank on both sides of Agno River.

Empowerment of Young Workforce. An old center of learning, Bayambang is a respected university town, being home to the venerable 101-year-old institution, now called the Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus, plus the newly founded and LGU-operated Bayambang Polytechnic College (BPC), and at least one private institution. On top of that, it has a total of 12 high schools (9 public, 3 private), 58 grade schools (50 public, 8 private), and 74 Child Development Centers (daycares) managed by 77 Child Development Workers.

The LGU’s establishment of a Polytechnic College, in particular, has been offering opportunities for disadvantaged local youth to enroll in a ladderized system of education, designed to make them employable for every TESDA-accredited course they finish in one or two years and in succeeding years. BPC fast-tracks the capacitation of our young workforce for urgent industry needs while drastically reducing our number of out-of-school youths (OSYs) and all the attendant problems of OSYs.

Pump-Priming the Local Economy. The untold amount of funds being poured into this town by Dr. Quiambao and Mayor Jose-Quiambao’s household, their locally headquartered firms (STRADCOM, LARES, 1Document Corp., 1Food Corp., etc.), and local foundations (Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation, Inc. and Niña Care Foundation), are pump-priming the local economy in yet undetermined ways, pending serious studies.

And with the charismatic, transformational, visionary, and even unorthodox (because nontraditional) leadership of the Quiambao-Sabangan administration, the town now has assured a high name recall among would-be tourists and investors. Prudent management of projects and resources has certainly created an attractive environment to the enterprising in spirit.

As a result of these reforms and initiatives, the number of registered businesses keeps on increasing year by year. Based on data from the Business Processing and Licensing Office, a total of 210 new businesses have been registered during the first half of 2023, with more still expected in the following quarters, a 24.26% jump over the same period last year. This is an addition to the 1,291 business renewals, recording a 21.91% increase in the number of businesses from the previous period.

Convergence with the Private Sector. We recognize the fact that government resources are limited, if not scarce, compared to our concrete goals, that is why we need the help of the bigger community.

There is active engagement with the business community through collaboration and partnerships. With the help of the Bayambang Integrated Business Association (BIBA) and other accredited CSOs, we routinely consult with affected individuals in the business sector to address their concerns and come to a consensus, particularly the tricycle drivers, transport cooperatives, market vendors/stall-owners, and unregistered sidewalk vendors.

PPPs. Public-Private Partnerships are especially resorted to as alternative options, to jointly address barriers to business growth.

Going Solar. We also see a need to step out of our jurisdiction, if we are to see some of the most pressing problems get resolved. To help address the less-than-ideal services of electricity and water providers, we have made the following proactive initiatives:

We have started addressing the high electricity bills by going solar, particularly in our streetlights and other public infrastructure, with the private sector closely following suit. Most notably, our Special Assistance to the Mayor (SATOM), Dr. Cezar T. Quiambao, brought over Chinese investors to the Capitol to partner with the provincial government in building solar energy-generating plants very soon outside of Bayambang for the benefit of not just Bayambang but the entire province. We stand to benefit immensely very soon from this major partnership move.

Compelling Our Water Provider to Step Up. We are constantly coordinating with the Bayambang Water District (BayWad) so they could keep up with our pace of progress and development and step up to the demands of the times, in consideration of the ambitious plan of the town to become not just a smart town (i.e., ICT-enabled) but a global city.

As a result, BayWad has improved its performance and expanded its operations through new pumping stations.

We have also partnered with BayWad to implement the Bayambang Septage Management Project. Very soon, we will have proper waterworks, sewerage, and septage systems that are modernized and up to global standards.

Contract Enforcement. Contract enforcement is given special priority, and LGU-Bayambang takes care of this by being one of only four LGUs with a Legal Office and Legal Officer in the entire province of Pangasinan. Free legal services are given to parties that request assistance in contract enforcement and dispute resolution. The Office creatively comes up with alternative mechanisms to expedite resolution of business disputes.

All in all, a business-friendly climate – through excellent governance, improvement in quality of life in our town, and an environment that uplift general wellbeing – ultimately work together to create an encouraging environment for investors.

 

Other Business-Friendly Best Practices

LGU-Bayambang makes use of the 3S framework as part of its Ease of Doing Business (EODB) practices: Speed (through computerization and use of Internet), Security (through inhouse safety and protection measures), and Structure (through both software and hardware).

            We believe that technology, e-business, and innovation are social equalizers, that is why there are many undertakings in place to take advantage of emerging technologies. We are especially pushing for digitalization because it provides income opportunities for MSMEs and other sectors.

With our aspirations to become a global city and a ‘smart town’ (i.e., ICT-enabled town), our ICT Office has automated the LGU’s major work processes. This has improved our work efficiency, eliminated red tape, and prevented the likelihood of irregular activities, in keeping with R.A. 11032 or Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018. 

With Bayambang’s EODB through digital and logistics integration, infinite opportunities are created for all.

Update of Citizen’s Charter and Full Disclosure Policy Boards. For this purpose, we have updated our Citizen’s Charter and posted this in conspicuous points in the town, along with Full Disclosure Policy boards to inform the public on the details of our financial transactions.

ILGUS. We have the Integrated Local Government Unit System (ILGUS), which digitalized local government operations throughout its revenue-generating departments.

iBPLS. Most recently, we also have an ongoing data migration with the DICT’s iBPLS or Integrated Business Permits and Licensing System.  

DMS. Our usage of an award-winning system, DMS or Document Management System, has simplified, standardized, and centralized inter-office communications, with features of coding and archiving for easy search and data retrieval at the service of our constituents and clients, of course including new business owners and potential investors.

BOSS and e-BOSS. Bureaucratic hurdles are addressed by minimizing red tape through streamlined business registration and licensing processes. This simplification process is carried out through the digitization of the process for registering business and obtaining licenses. Our Business One-Stop Shop (BOSS) and its online version, the e-BOSS, reduce administrative burden and processing by streamlining and automating the approval process for various permits and licenses, such as environmental permits.

Online Payment System. Another form of our compliance to the EODB Law is the establishment of an online payment scheme by partnering with LandBank and GCash, making it very convenient for our clients to attend to their obligations – at their fingertips and on their own sweet time.

Simplified Assessor's Office Procedures. To help improve the process toward land titling, our Assessor's Office has a registration process which ensures that property rights are secured, but the procedure for property transfer is simplified. The Office also conducts regular data cleansing to update and fix land and property assessment records, and this enables the Municipal Assessor team to make accurate property assessments and tax declarations.

Other Award-Winning Systems. On top of these, we also have established the Full Revenue Generation System, Input-Output Management System, and Motor Tricycle Operator Permit System with e-Tagging Technology, which bagged first place in the Best in eGov Systems for Global Competitiveness category of the Department of ICT’s Digital Cities PH Awards.

All this coincides with the digitalization of LGU documents and data into a secure cloud data storage space.

In addition, we also have the Bayambang Community Service Card, a smart card for bona fide residents that ensures the prioritization of local residents in government services and has many business linkup potentials (discount card, cash card, etc.).  

Update of Local Investment and Incentives Code. We have also updated our Local Investment and Incentives Code to keep up with the times.

Investor After-Care. Investor after-care services are also offered, such as funding that is made available through loans, grants, venture capital, and angel investors.

By leveraging these digital and non-digital tools, we are able to enhance customer satisfaction through efficient, time-saving, no-physical-contact transactions.

 

With all the right ingredients, Bayambang is ready to enter into the next phase of its development history en route to being a smart town and a global city: as a newly emerging investment magnet in North Luzon.