Rosario Tweets DOT: Makes Manaoag a Pilgrims’ City

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 MANAOAG, Pangasinan – The mayor here appeals to the Department of Tourism (DOT) to make this pilgrimage town a city through a congressional special proclamation.

“Actually we’re appealing to the D.O.T para hingin naming magkaroon ng special proclamation that they’ll make Manaog as pilgrimage city. Special proclamation not through the usual (regular) congressional legislation dahil hindi kami papasok, ” Mayor Jeremy Agerico Rosario told Northern Watch Newspaper.

MANAOAG MAYOR Jeremy Agerico Rosario (2nd from right, photo) meets in his office with representatives of Sta. Lucia Realty leads by Businessman Joey de Venecia (extreme right, photo).

Rosario explained the reasons why the landlocked central Pangasinan municipality should be converted to cityhood. The rustic town’s population (76, 045 in 2020 Census) vary in the weekend, daytime, and nighttime.

Pilgrims burgeoned more or less eighty percent of the above population during Tuesday and weekends in the first class town dubbed, according to Rosario a surgeon – as Blessed Capital of the Philippines. Its flourishing demography bode well because land travel from Metro Manila to here is shortened because of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).

“We are blessed because we are being gifted by a lot of pilgrims. Based on our survey 54,000 to 55, 000 weekly arrivals in Manaoag. That’s a great advantage of the people of Manaoag”.

During his visit here, DOT Region-1 Director Joseph Francisco Ortega told this writer that there were 8, 000, 000 tourists that visited the town in 2019.

“Here in the province of Pangasinan the most producing in the region. In fact ang Manaoag sa stat (statistics) noong 2019 produced eight million visitors and in fact Bolinao is one of the biggest producing traffics as destination in the region”.

Ortega said the DOT advocated for the cityhood of Manaoag through special congressional approval.

According to Republic Act No. 9009 the two requirements for a regular cityhood are the following: (a) locally generated income of at least ₱100 million (based on constant prices in the year 2000) for the last two consecutive years, as certified by the Department of Finance, and a population of at least 150,000, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA); or a contiguous territory of 100 square kilometers, as certified by the Land Management Bureau.

To boost more police visibility in the town, the Mayor appealed to the Philippine National Police to convert the police classification of the municipality from second class to first class so the chief of police here becomes a Lieutenant Colonel from the present lower ranked Major. Under the present category this town is only allowed to maintain up to 35 policemen that Rosario wanted to be increased.

“Kasi undermanned talaga ang aming bayan hirap ang mga police dahil mga there are 34 -35 (policemen only)”.

He sees too the construction of the old public market this year to start so it can be transformed to modernity.