By Dong de los Reyes December 19, 2022 Calauag councilor Al Francis Loria (Photo from his FB) CALAUAG, Quezon - The gateway town to the Bic...
December 19, 2022
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| Calauag councilor Al Francis Loria (Photo from his FB) |
CALAUAG, Quezon - The gateway town to the Bicol peninsula reminds one of its cherished sons, the late Manuel “Manoling” Morato, fiery of tongue yet gentle, generous of spirit who spent sums helping the needy of the Metro Manila, including paying for the medical needs, food, and an entire basement room of an urban hospital plus the services of its select staff to care for an ailing genius of a writer who wasn’t even a next of kin.
Morato hails from Calauag where the Morato ancestral home was frequented by President Manuel L. Quezon; it was where the Bicol-bound PNR train made a special stop in front of the property built on a hilltop overlooking Calauag Bay. Like the delicacies that Calauag seeks to offer to Metro Manila markets, the Morato home had been moved and restored in a new setting in San Pablo City.
The Morato hometown- a first-class municipality- takes pride in the Calauag Association of Micro-Entrepreneurs that, not unlike Baguio City’s Good Shepherd nuns famous for their jams, turn up delicacies in small batches to ensure better quality control over their products.
Calauag councilor Al Francis Loria cites that local micro-entrepreneurs have the LGU-managed Pasalubong Center as showcase of their produce and delicacies.
Travelers and tourists from the Bicol peninsula and Metro Manila flock to Calauag for their fill of local delicacies and take-home souvenirs.
Pretty soon, Calauag produce and their sought-after delicacies would be invading Metro-Manila’s malls and outlets, according to Loria, as plans are afoot for such an invasion.
Loria notes that such expansion of markets for Calauag produce is aimed to bolster the local economy and sustain income of micro-entrepreneurs.
While business is turning robust in the town’s poblacion that boasts of better hotel and lodging accommodations for guests and visitors, Calauag has an agricultural-based economy from which provide steady stream of ingredients and condiments for foodstuffs.
Most agricultural products are coconut-based; rice, corn, fish, crabs and other seafoods buoy up the Calauag economy, with a single digit poverty incidence and a yearly revenue averageing P248 million.
Most economic activity happens in Municipal Market and its vicinity. Most agricultural products are coconut-based and followed by rice, corn, fish, crabs and other seafoods.
Already, celebrities have invested in potential high-growth areas like the Bapor-baporan rock formation in Barangay Maligaya, according to Loria.
Too, the Pulong Pasig sandbar in Sitio Pangahoy, Santo Angel has the longest sandbar in the entire Quezon province and has been classified as a tourism site. Loria adds that all roads leading to the site had been specially built and are classified as tourism roads where curbside stalls showcase local produce.
Foremost concern of this thriving town, according to Loria, is education for its youth.
He expressed thanks to ex-Vice President Leni Robredo who provided equipment that are in use at the local tutorial center where the young are encouraged to go into Alternative Learning Systems and acquiring readily employable skills at the TESDA.
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