Rich Towns, Poor Towns of RP

Cloudy day and partial view of the metro area as seen from Sumulong hi-way in Antipolo city.

They are the cream of an elite group unto themselves. If they are human, they could be living “la vida loca.” But since they are neither, then they could be comparable to virtual money machines, search engine optimized, sucks every single centavo that comes near their sphere.

They are a source of envy to many, too. They don’t launder money but simply stay put as source of good financial juice that keeps a good squeeze of annual income into the coffers. They are the rich 18 towns of the country in 2005, which earned between P200M and P607M. These towns’ total earnings for the year was P6.198B.

The list is topped by San Juan (became a city on June 16, 2007) with a minuscule land area of 7.77 square kilometers, its being located in Metro Manila was a positive factor for making money more than any other town hereabout.

Not surprising enough, majority of these LGUs gain the enviable benefit of being within the sphere of economic influence of mega Manila with 4 from Rizal province, 3 from Laguna, 6 from Cavite, and 2 from Bulacan.

Two municipalities which are considerably far from the metro made it to the list: Bauan (Batangas) and Mauban (Quezon).

Some of these towns are now cities like Navotas, with a land area of 10.77 sq. km (10th on the list, Metro Manila) gained city status on June 24, 2007; Binan (3rd, Laguna) was converted into a city on February 5, 2010.

Then, Dasmarinas (4th, Cavite, with land area of 90.10 sq. km. gained city status on November 25, 2009; Meycauayan (9th, Bulacan) with land area of 32.10 sq. km. converted into a city December 10, 2006.

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Nationwide Rank Province Municipality Annual Income

1

 Metro Manila San Juan 2005 650,136,000
2 Rizal Cainta 2005 520,526,101
3 Laguna Biñan 2005 493,243,588
4 Cavite Dasmariñas 2005 421,017,000
5 Laguna Cabuyao 2005 419,538,491
6 Cavite Gen. Trias 2005 387,409,304
7 Cavite Bacoor 2005 344,517,427
8 Cavite Rosario 2005 335,333,237
9 Bulacan Meycauayan 2005 323,895,000
10 Metro Manila Navotas 2005 323,733,627
11 Cavite Imus 2005 300,689,742
12 Cavite Carmona 2005 273,631,109
13 Quezon Mauban 2005 250,336,449
14 Batangas Bauan 2005 249,606,971
15 Rizal Taytay 2005 245,846,337
16 Laguna San Pedro 2005 236,973,015
17 Rizal Binangonan 2005 214,176,569
18 Rizal Rodriguez 2005 207,449,672

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Lucky thirteen towns followed the lead group with earnings that ranged from +P150M but lower than P200M. Mati (Davao Oriental) was the lone Mindanao town that came in the 30th place.

Formerly converted to a city but was reverted together with fifteen others after the final decision of the Supreme Court. Except for Sual (Pangasinan), Nasugbo and Sto. Tomas (Batangas), the rest in the group are within the Central Luzon region.

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Nationwide Rank Province Municipality Annual Income
19 Bulacan Sta. Maria 2005 188,738,000
20 Cavite Silang 2005 187,673,258
21 Bulacan Norzagaray 2005 185,774,881
22 Nueva Ecija Pantabangan 2005 180,121,648
23 Batangas Sto. Tomas 2005 180,101,947
24 Batangas Nasugbu 2005 178,501,057
25 Pangasinan Sual 2005 169,197,911
26 Bulacan Marilao 2005 162,642,000
27 Pampanga Mabalacat 2005 159,754,389
28 Bataan Limay 2005 153,599,244
29 Bataan Mariveles 2005 153,319,246
30 Davao Oriental Mati 2005 153,304,260
31 Nueva Vizcaya Alfonso Castañeda 2005 150,783,600

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The top earning Bicol towns are listed on the 32nd (Daet, Camarines Norte), 39th, Labo (Camarines Norte), 50th (Daraga, Albay), 158th (Libmanan, Camarines Sur), 164 (Bulan, Sorsogon), 200th (Guinobatan, Albay), 212th (Pilar, Sorsogon), 213th (Pili, Camarines sur), 228th (Polangui, Albay), 241st (Aroroy, Masbate), 243rd (Tiwi, Albay),.

Then, 247th (Calabanga, Camarines Sur), 262nd (Virac, Catanduanes), 287th (Nabua, Camarines Sur), 288th (Buhi, Camarines Sur), 300th (Libon, Albay), 304th (Oas, Albay), 316th (Sipocot, Camarines sur), 329th (Milagros, Masbate), 335th (Tinambac, Camarines Sur), 350th (Ragay, Camarines sur), 360th (Camalig, Albay).

There were 1,501 municipalities in 2005, with the newly created town of Lumbaca Unayan (Lanao del Sur) on the bottom;  Baleno (1,498th- Masbate);  Gainza (1,469th- Camarines Sur);  San Vicente (1,428th- Camarines Norte), Bombon (1,411th- Camarines Sur); Panganiban (1,400th- Catanduanes); Batuan (1,398th- Masbate).

(Starting this 10th instalment blog post of the series on annual incomes of Bicol LGUs, we go outside the confines of the region and check out other LGUs beyond the confines of Bicol region. To be continued.)

Bicol Street Journalist
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