By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
CAR, together with Muslim Mindanao, pride themselves as the only regions in the Philippines that were not subjugated by colonial Spain. Yet, the name of the capital town of Benguet province is called La Trinidad. It is definitely a curiosity.
The name was in honor of the wife of a former Spanish governor general, given at a time when Spain was still holding sway here. Makes you wonder the meaning of the phrase, “not subjugated”. But this is not the point of this piece.
To those outside of CAR, La Trinidad is “part” of Baguio which is quite understandable given that Baguio is really the only progressive part of CAR for so long. It was always second fiddle. This makes promotion of La Trinidad as a tourism hub a little bit more challenging. I was always asking those manning local tourism-oriented shops why they are not selling T-shirts emblazoned with the town’s name. Their canned answer is that suppliers are not making them as such.
Of course times have changed. The municipality had already metamorphosed into a first class municipality. It had already shed its rural tag and is now actually bigger than many local cities in terms of area, population and income.
Even the town’s tag had changed, or multiplied depending on somebody’s. It was a salad bowl before, but it had transformed into a house bowl. It’s called strawberry capital of the Philippines, also christened by Dr. William Dar, a former secretary of agriculture, as the rose capital of the country. Just recently, it was called the valley of colors to capture its geographical location, and all those names appended earlier. The present local tourism officials favor the last monicker.
La Trinidad could actually offer more than what Baguio could show. For one, the town has much bigger area making its potential for tourism bigger. It has more varied tourist attractions, from agri-tourism, to caves (at least 5), to nature-style and culture-style spots. It has also its own museums, and now even has specialized gardens in natural settings.
Before 2016, the top ten tourist attractions in the town based on tourist appeal, accessibility, activities and products, facilities and services and site infrastructures are the following (as contained in the book, La Trinidad: Valley of Colors compiled and edited by Valred Olsim, the tourism officer of LT): 1. Strawberry farm in Betag 2. Benguet State University 3. Bell church in Balili 4.Cutflower farms, especially in Bahong 5. LTVTP-BAPTC 6. The Master’s garden 7. Lily of the Valley organic farm, Puguis 8. Mt. Kalugong Ecopark, Tawang 9. The Benguet Museum 10. Jeffrey’s Visaya Ornamental Landscape.
That ranking may not be the same now due to the establishment of new sites or improvement of the existing ones.
Going by the above-quoted book, tourism in La Trinidad will indeed be very rosy if the potential attractions mentioned will be developed. The book does not even mention some of other attractions like the recently opened Mount Costa, conveniently located along the Pico-Lamtang road, Arabica coffee plantation (the biggest in CAR) within the BSU reservation in Puguis, a private dragon fruit farm, homestay establishments, and many others that have historical and cultural significance.
Maybe, local tourism officials should also consider medical tourism where there is at least one lying-in hospital, and establishment of other pasalubong centers catering to local produce. Crafting of relevant agri-ecotourism ordinances should be a big help, and should therefore be encouraged.
According to official estimates, tourists in the town stay for only 15-45 minutes then go, spending more elsewhere. This will eventually change sooner than expected if more hotels and better restaurants will be established in the town, and tourist attractions are developed, improved, maintained, and promoted accordingly. La Trinidad will then shed its unwanted tag as second fiddle and actually stand on its own “tatak” as a separate tourist destination.
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