Ligao City — Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has drawn up measures to make this city a “tourism giant,” by bringing in massive government investments in tourism infrastructures and facilities, and embarking on programs that will promote agri-ecotourism.
Salceda, whose nine-year term in Congress ends in June, is now gunning for governor of Albay, a position he once successfully held for nine (9) years. He currently leads local election surveys with a wide margin.
Ligao City is the newest of the seven cities in Bicol and the 2nd largest in land area, with a population of about 111, 400. It is a 4th class city with an economy largely dependent on agriculture, with a significant portion of the population working in farming and related industries.
Salceda was principal author and sponsor of the Cityhood of Ligao (RA No. 9008) during an earlier stint as Congressman, representing Albay’s third district. He now plans to continue maximizing the “immense potential of Ligao City as the primary center of economic development in the district” with tourism as a banner program beside agriculture.
“The overwhelming advantage of Albay’s 3rd district with Ligao City at the center, is its natural beauty… it offers a scenic view of the province’s three volcanoes – Mounts Masaraga, Malinao and Mayon,” explained Salceda.
Ligao is at the center of the Albay West Coast area, surrounded by ports and beaches, caves, rivers, and other natural attractions. “It has immense potentials that need to be pursued, considering that the West Coast is the most economically underdeveloped area of Albay,” he noted.
Salceda said that as previous governor of Albay, and even earlier when he was congressman of the third district, he had initiated major road projects that all linked up Ligao with the key areas of the province, among them, the Albay West Coast Road and the Ligao-Pioduran Road.
As he stages a comeback as governor, he said he would create a new network of tourism roads to be known as the Ligao Tourism Circuit, stretching from Herrera and Nasisi resorts, to the provincial campsite, to Paulog and the Kawa-Kawa Park, through the Ligao highlands, and finally to the beaches of Cabarian and Catburawan.
Salceda said he aims to expand Ligao’s external road access to Tabaco City via Polangui, and through it, enhance the agro-ecotourism industry, similar to what has been developed in Daraga and Camalig towns through TESDA [Technical Skills and Development Authority] farm school grants.
Through Salceda’s initiatives during the past nine years, TESDA has poured in as much as P560 million in grants to farm schools in Albay, mainly in Albay’s 2nd district, which he currently represents.
He said “this has allowed farm schools to reinvest government grants towards becoming tourism destinations.” He plans to tap and the same resources to further push Ligao City’s development.
Salceda said he also aims to capitalize on Ligao’s cultural heritage and practices, to promote its native products such as the now famous puto and makapuno industries, and possibly explore new products from the city farms and cottage industries.
Salceda believes windfarms that will soon be built in Barangay Tiongson here will become another tourist draw-in, as they are in Bangui, Ilocos Norte.
He said he plans to work with Polangui Mayor Adrian Salceda, who is currently running for Congressman of Albay’s 3rd district, to legislate key tourism sites and destinations such as the Tigbao Highlands, and develop the resorts in Tastas, Camp One Tree Hill, and other locations in his district as ecotourism sites.
