DIPACULAO, Aurora—This third-class municipality in central Aurora is being groomed to be the next tourist haven after the nearby capital town of Baler.
Mayor Joanna Cabauatan-Salamanca, the first female mayor in the town’s 66-year history, said that investors are seeking tourism investments in this town, particularly in Barangay Dinadiawan.
“A group of businessmen in Cavite province is eyeing to put up a zip line in the area to make it more inviting,” Salamanca said.
She also said that the municipal government is prioritizing the development of tourist attractions to generate additional income for the people of Dipaculao, which is adjacent to the booming Baler.
“We are grooming Dinadiawan as the center of our tourism activities because of its vast tourism potentials,” she said.
Dinadiawan is where white sand beaches—a long stretch of clean, fine golden white coastline—abound, including the Ampere Beach, Borlongan Beach and Ipil-Mijares Beach.
The town also hosts the Dibutunan Marine Protected area and the Baul, Mano, Nas-nas and Lusso Falls.
“We are also eyeing to develop the Dibutunan Falls, some 12 kilometers from the town proper. If feasible, then we will make full use of it,” Salamanca said.
She also said that Leticia Ombis, municipal tourism officer, is presently drafting the tourism plan for the town which has already formulated a tourism code during the previous administration.
Bounded in the northwest by Quirino province, on the southeast by Baler Bay and Casiguran Sound, on the northeast and southwest by the towns of Dinalungan and Maria Aurora, Dipaculao is composed of 25 barangays, 11 of which are located along the Pacific Ocean and the rest in a portion of the Sierra Madre mountain range from where are sources of rivers, streams and mountain springs.
Salamanca said the municipal government is eyeing a sisterhood agreement with the city government of Makati led by Mayor Abigail Binay to enhance the town’s ties with the outside world.
Twin towns or sister cityhood ties are a form of legal or social agreement between towns, cities, provinces, regions and even countries in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.
Salamanca’s father, former board member Joselito Cabauatan, is a relative of Binay’s father, former vice president Jejomar Binay.