Come and explore one of today’s most promising municipality—Piñan–the Fruit and Flower Haven of Zamboanga del Norte. A developing town situated in the northwestern portion of Zamboanga del Norte, blessed and nurtured by Mother Nature.

The rich soil and even rainfall distribution made the town suitable for fruit trees, corn, vegetable production and flowering plants propagation. It is a home to thousands of coconut trees. And since farming is the town’s major source of livelihood, high quality vegetables and crops are also grown.

The municipality is also bestowed with natural wonders such as Boboringan Hills, which overlooks the neighboring city of Dipolog and the pristine water of Luzvilla falls in Barangay Luzvilla.

Visit and experience for yourself the beauty and peaceful town of Piñan. Discover its wonderful places, invest into business and meet the warm people Piñan!

Barangay Silano was hailed winner of the recently celebrated Agri-Industrial Fair 2011 of the Municipality of Piñan last August 20, 2011.

They received a cash prize of P50,000 pesos for presenting the best communal garden of vegetables. It was followed by Barangay Poblacion North which received P30,000 pesos cash prize as the second winner, and P15,000 pesos for Barangay Lower Gumay which placed third in the event.

The yearly celebrated occasion which was held from August 18 to 20 was participated by 23 barangays which competed for the coveted title and huge amount of cash prize. All presented a communal garden which vegetables like eggplant, bell pepper, etc. were planted.

With the theme “Makugihong Batan-on…Kasigurohan sa Pagkaon”, each barangays were provided a portion of a lot where they could plant their desired plants whether assorted or not but should represent the healthy agricultural products of the municipality.

The event was made successful through the efforts of the local government of Piñan which spearheaded the said event.

The Piñan LGU contingents of the recently celebrated 4TH ZNFGEU (Zamboanga del Norte Federation of Government Employees Unions) SPORTSFEST, on September 27-29, 2011, held in Dapitan City made proud of winning some of the occasion’s events. The sports fun was held at JRMSU, in Dapitan City; participated in by some of the Province’s LGU’s which have UNIONS, of which, Piñan is one.

Engr. Julieta EI. Aniñon, from the Municipal Engineering Office; Engr. Elvie G. Limoshero, from HRMO, and the Hon. Cecilia J. Carreon, herself, from the Municipal Mayor’s Office grabbed the 4th place of the DART for WOMEN event. While winning the QUIZ BOWL event were: Engr. Elvie G. Limoshero, Maria Celeste Canoy, Juliet F. Granada, Luzminda S. Go and Letty S. Dela Cruz. Over the others, the Piñan’s Cheerdance team victoriously won the CHEERDANCE event. Wearing their youthful uniforms; the LGU women shone as if they were yet unfinished of grace, zest or even beauty challenge. Yet, their efforts were worth it as they successfully got the goal of everybody—to be the champion of the category in the celebration.

Other events in the Sportsfest were: Volleyball (men and women), Marathon (M&W), Kickball (M&W), and Basketball (M&W).

DIPOLOG CITY- Zeroing in on the potentials of each local government unit (LGU) is the key to achieving sustainable growth and development.

This is the guiding principle which led the public officials of Zamboanga del Norte to form the Dipolog-Dapitan-Polanco-Katipunan-Roxas-Manukan (DDPKaRoMa) growth corridor that seeks to promote sustainable economic and investment opportunities to uplift the quality of life of the people in the area.

Each LGU in the DDPKaRoMa growth alliance has its unique contributions to making it a bustling economic corridor through the development of agro-industrial and eco-tourism programs and projects. Although the LGUs are basically agricultural, some of them possess certain advantages over the others. Dipolog City, for example, serves as the central business center in Zamboanga del Norte. This is where most of the commercial and government banks are situated. It is also known as the “bottled sardines capital” in the country.

Dipolog also beckons local and foreign tourists to its 3,003-step Linabo Peak where one can get a full view of the twin cities of Dipolog and Dapitan atop a hill.

A very unique feature of the growth corridor is the historical city of Dapitan, the place where the national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, spent four years of his life as an exile in 1892-1896. It is one of the “must see” historical sites in the country with its Rizal Shrine and old Spanish-style buildings which serve as a living imprint of the Spaniards, the country’s first colonizers.

Dapitan is the province’s cultural heritage and eco-tourism destination. Aside from the historical relics which abound the place like Rizal’s house, water system and clinics at Rizal Park in Barangay Talisay and the map of Mindanao the national hero built on the grounds across St. James Church near the city plaza, it is also home to the famous Dakak Park and Beach Resort. Its Selinog and Aliguay islands also boast of long stretches of pristine white sand beaches and clear blue waters.

The Shrine city also boasts of a long stretch of boardwalk along its boulevard leading to a privately-owned Gloria de Dapitan where a modern theme park, Fantasyland, is located.

The agricultural town of Polanco, on the other hand, helps supply the food requirements of the corridor. It has vast tracks of rice and corn lands as well as coconut and orchard plantations.

This municipality also produces handicrafts, novelty items and processed foods through its “Kabuhayan” project for women. These products are made available and on sale not only during trade fairs but even in ordinary days.

The other towns of Katipunan, Roxas and Manukan serve as main producers of commercial crops like mango, cassava, coffee, coconut and many others for food manufacturers/processors inside and outside the province. Katipunan and Manukan have also ventured into eco-tourism industry with their waterfalls and caves.

Zamboanga del Norte’s 52-hectare Provincial Agri-Industrial Center (PAIC) is situated in Roxas town. PAIC can accommodate light and medium industries and presently houses two food processing industries: the Poms Mango Processing Plant and the Dipolog Coconut Oil Mill.

This town has also one coconut oil mill which has been operating since 1970s, catering to copra traders in the province.

“DDPKaRoMa’s location buoyed by its rich natural resources offers enormous opportunities to the public, government and private sectors, as it is envisioned to be Western Mindanao’s trade link to the rest of Mindanao, the Visayas and Luzon,” said Project Management Officer Ma. Teresa B. de Jesus.

For his part, Provincial Governor Rolando E. Yebes has encouraged the active participation of the private sector in the DDPKaRoMa growth corridor by “making the process a collective undertaking and not a competitive feat.”

Today, the DDPKaRoMa is ready to spread its wings and soar to great heights thereby uplifting the province from being the poorest in the country.

Source: http://pia.gov.ph/?m=7&r=r09&id=55361
By: Franklin P. Gumapon
September 21, 2011