I am recently amazed by the improvements of the City of Urdaneta. Financially, the Commission on Audit for 2005 released that Urdaneta City is the leading city not only in Pangasinan but the entire Region I in terms of income.(see). It overtakes Dagupan City which considered to be a highly urbanized city( Cities with a minimum population of two hundred thousand (200,000) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office, and with the latest annual income of at least Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00) based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the city treasurer) while Urdaneta is only a component city of Pangasinan.
The days are gone when the people of Eastern Pangasinan used to travel hours to go to Dagupan to transact business and experience the city life. Department and variety stores, business and professional offices, hotels and theaters can now be found here. Jollibee, McDonald's, Shakeys, Cindys, Chowking and KFC are minutes away from San Nicolas, Tayug, Natividad, Sta Maria, Asingan, Binalonan, Villasis, San Manuel, Rosales, and other nearby towns.
In the past years, one of the biggest problems is the traffic in MacArthur Highway. Those days of slow movement of transportation will be over soon. There is no flyover built but the road widening is now complete. There will be a smooth flow of vehicles. And the irritations of thousands will be gone. It will save time to reach the city.
I believe that Urdaneta city, not long from now, will be considered a highly urbanized city. The economy will boom as business opportunies will grow.
