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By Ricky T. Gallardo
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Fiesta
colors representing the
harvest rituals come alive during
thecelebration and streetdancing
competitions have become more
colorful and exciting through
the years |
There is certainly more to Iriga City than being
the birthplace of the country’s one and only superstar Nora Aunor.
But no one seems to really know about the many invaluable resources
that make up this quaint city.
Particularly this month, Iriga beams with a
myriad of festivities as it celebrates the ancient rite of offering
the bounty of its first harvest called the Tinagba Festival. Every
11th of February, the main streets come alive as a caravan of
colorfully-decorated bull carts laden with fresh farm products along
with revelers in their most colorful Mardi Gras outfits and native
costumes gather together to pay homage to the gods of the bountiful
land.
Mayor Madelaine Alfelor-Gazmen takes a few bold
steps this year to promote the festivities of the Tinagba festival
and to showcase the beauty of Iriga. “It’s about time that
people unravel the secrets of our little city. For the Tinagba, the
street dancers are already in the thick of rehearsals and
everyone’s spirit seems to be in an all-time high. We hope that we
will be able to impress not only the foreign visitors but also our
fellow Filipinos alike.”
Iriga, located 478 kilometers south of Manila
and situated between Naga and Legazpi cities, is a fast-growing
urban center in the Bicol Peninsula that offers breathtaking natural
wonders, a safe community, and the warm company of creative people.
Like most places in the Philippines, Iriga experiences dry (but
never humid) weather from January to May.
The lady mayor shares that the city has more
than 30 natural springs that is why it became known as the City of
Crystal Clear Springs. She adds that the city and its neighboring
municipalities get its supply of mineral water from three of
Iriga’s crystal clear springs for private and irrigation purposes.
Although not as celebrated as Mayon, Mount Iriga
is also a prominent landmark of the city, an extinct volcano that
offers a captivating view of the entire Bicol River basin area and a
favorite mountain-climbing destination of many mountaineers and
hikers. The area where Mount Iriga stands is famous for its wild
berries and a local specie of pine called agoho which grow
abundantly in the cold climate surrounding the mountain ranges.
For flora and fauna enthusiasts, Iriga is also
home to different endemic species like the Rafflesia Irigaense, one
of the smallest Rafflesia flowers for its smell and size. Rafflesia
is a genus of parasitic flowering plant whose flowers look and smell
like rotting meat. Right at the foot of Mount Iriga is Ilian Hill, a
natural wonder that provides a splendid view of the city of lakes
Baao Sabang and Tubigan Falls found in Waras River, the Tubigan
Falls, and the tiered Sabang Falls.
A new tourist attraction is the Gawad Kalinga
Character Village built by the local government unit and the Gawad
Kalinga Foundation to ease poverty in the city. “Our vision is to
have a slum-free, squatter-free Iriga by providing land for the
landless, homes for the homeless, and food for the hungry,” Mayor
Alfelor-Gazmen adds.
For successfully keeping an almost crime-free
community, Iriga City’s police force has consistently been awarded
as the best police station for three consecutive years now. As it
envisions becoming a premier agro-ecotourism center in the
Philippines, the mayor and her team is working doubly hard to keep
the peace and order situation at bay.
“We would like to attain economic prosperity
without sacrificing the environment and ensure a peaceful and happy
life for the people of Iriga,” she stresses, adding that Iriga
will truly boom if the local government will support its local
entrepreneurs. “I believe in the capacity of the Irigueños to set
up their own businesses,” she continues. “We actually have a
program that aims to support local businessmen by giving them
financial grants and other support systems.” This program is in
line with the One Town, One Product (OTOP) program of the national
government. OTOP aims to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs by
identifying, developing and promoting a specific product or service
using indigenous raw materials and local skills and talents.
Indeed, so many things are happening in Iriga—Nora
Aunor might not be able to recognize the place at all when she comes
back from her long, self-exile.
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