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In
1991, the Department of Tourism
identified Victorias Milling
Company as one of the major
tourist attractions in
the city with its 18 hole
golf course sprawling over
a 30 hectare area, the
Saint Joseph the Worker
Parish, famous for its
Angry Christ mural, antique
locomotivepopularly known
as the
“Iron Dinosaur”.
Aside fromVMC, Victorias
City is proud of its public
plaza known for its imposing
landscape and grounds that
features a skating rink,
SK and Senior pavilion,
children’s
playground and a mini lagoon
ringed by plants and flowers;
the seat of local government,
the City Hall of Victorias
has quite an imposing facade.
Inside, the second floor
lobby has elicited appreciation
from visitors for its hotel-like
ambience. Victorias City
is home to one scenic place
that has great potential
as a major tourist attraction.
This is the Seven Natural
Falls of Gawahon, located
at Barangay XI. It's clear
waters provide excitement
and enchantment to those
who would like to take a
plunge in icy cold and invigorating
water. In addition, Gawahon
is a pristine forest with
assorted flora and fauna
to delight nature lovers.A
beautiful view of man-made
rice terraces may also be
glimpsed in the area.
Gawahon was the subject
of a bill filed by
former Congresswoman
Edith Yotoko-Villanueva
for creation as an
ECO-TOURISM zone once
in operation, the tourism
potential of the place
will be enhanced and
its natural beauty
preserved, further
boosting the tourism
industry of the city.
Communications
Aside
from the state-owned telecommunication
station, RCPI and PT&T
offer telecommunication services.
The Victorias Telephone System
(VTS) has a franchise with
PLDT, providing most of the
services of the huge telecommunications
carrier. VMC has its own
telephone system while ISLACOM,
SMART, PILTEL and GLOBE mobile
phone service carriers provide
coverage for wireless microwave
communications. The city
post office serves the general
public while VMC has its
own postal service. Fast
Pak, LBC and ABOITIZ Express
provides express edlivery
service for urgent postal
requirements. Malihao Cable
Corporation offers cable
services to the community.
Radyo Natin of MBC is the
sole radio station operating
in the city.
Water
The
Victorias Water District administers
the supply of water to the community.
There are communal faucets and
all barangays are provided with
both shallow and deep wells
for those not covered by individual
subscriptions. Victorias has
several pumping stations and
one elevated concrete reservoir.
The City is expanding its water
supply and delivery system through
the proposed construction of
Barangay XI water impounding
facility.
Power
The
Victorias-Manapla-Cadiz Rural
Electric Service Cooperative
(VRESCO) established in 1967
as the first electric cooperative
in the country, supplies
98% of the city’s energy
requirement. VMC has its
own power generator on standby.
Topography
The
City of Victorias has a sloping
and rolling terrain. The steeply
descending hills from Barangay
Gawahon gradually level off
as they approach San Jose Estado,
thus forming some sort of a
plateau. Rolling hills can also
be found in Hacienda Maria and
Nasipunan. There is a forest
glade at the northeast end of
Mt. Silay with deep rivers,
streams and creeks. The land
pattern of the city as a whole
has plenty of sloping land in
mid-section going toward the
mountains.
The
terrain from Barangay Gawahon
down to Hacienda Teson is sloping
with steep ascent, but from
San Jose Estado it is plain
and forming a sort of plateau.
The
City proper site is impressive.
The lay of the land can be
appreciated as you walk along
Osmeña
Avenue (a portion of the national
highway) formerly called Calle
Real. The newly developed city
plaza which is reputed to be
one of the most beautiful (plaza)
in Negros Occidental, features
a skating rink, SK Pavillion,
Senior Citizens Pavillion and
the children’s playground.
The flowering plants such as
anthuriums, roses, the verdant
vegetation and manicured landscape
are meticulously cared for
by staff of the Victorias City
Plaza Development Authority
directed by its President,
Mrs. Remedios P. Bantug, now
City Mayor of Victorias.
Predominant
rolling hills where the present
renovated city hall now stands
are bounded in the north by
the winding Magnanud River and
in the south by the Guinpana-an
Creek. The city is composed
of valleys, rolling hills and
the ever present small streams
and rivers that wind along the
vast sugarcane plantations.
While the southern portion enjoys
humus sandy loan soil because
of the flat terrain, the northern
portion of the city is hilly
and has a sticky Guinbala-on
clay soil. Fortunately, these
types of soil are suited for
sugarcane plantation.
In
1990, the NSO reported a total
population of 69,892, then Municipality
of Victorias with the annual
growth rate of 2.2%. The preliminary
report of the 1995 Census of
Population reported 77,558 which
resulted to a reduction in the
annual growth rate to 2.1% assuming
that the annual growth rate
will remain at 2.2%, its population
will reach 96,870 in the year
2005.
The
city work force is composed
mostly of professionals, skilled
and unskilled labor including
sugarcane workers. Some are
employed in offices and industries
while others are self-employed.
Of this group, a good number
is working abroad. Some of the
city overseas workers are semi-skilled
and have developed themselves
through hard work and experience.
As a whole, the combined population
of the city is 78,283 (1995
Census) and the average density
of the city is 5:21 persons/hectare.
Population
distribution by mother tongue
a total of 68,689 persons (about
98%) in the city has been reported
to speak Ilonggo;ollowed by
Cebuano (1.13%) and Tagalog
(0.32%). Other anguages/dialects
are Aklanon, Waray, Chinese,
Chavacano, Maranao and others.
Climate
The
city is endowed with an invigorating
climate which accounts for
its healthy population and
vigorous economic activity.The
hot days of summer in the
months of April, May and
1st days of June are offset
by the cool North westerly
wind from Guimaras Strait.
In the upper portion, the
weather is suited for crops
and other farm vegetables.
More farm animals are produced
with such climate.For annual
rainfall distribution, there
are 217 wet days and 148
dry days in the city based
on the prevailing records.
The city has a “type 3”
rainfall having the months
of June, July, August, September
and October as the rainy periods
and starts subsiding the month
of November.
Transportation
The
total road network of the city
is 72.53 km. Jeepneys, passenger
buses and taxi units are the
main transport modes through
the highways. Inland barangays
can be reached through locally
owned and operated Jeepneys,
tricycles. 3 local public utility
buses ply the Bacolod Victorias
route, namely ALKO Lines, Rainbow
Lines and Victorias Royal Transit.
Port
There are 2 ports in the city,
the Daan Banwa wharf and the
privately owned port of VMC.
The VMC dock handles shipping
requirements of the sugar central
such as loading of its produced
sugar into barges for distribution
to various parts of the country,
while Daan Banwa wharf caters
to passengers bound to and from
Culasi Ajuy, Iloilo City. There
are 2 passenger vessels: the
ROVI Navigation and Seven Seas
which operate with frequency
trips of 2 to 3 times daily.
Thus, Daan Banwa wharf serves
as the entry point of numerous
agricultural products particularly
rice coming from the various
town of Panay Island.
With
devolution of the management
of Daan Banwa port to the Local
Government Unit, rehabilitation
of the port for a wider accommodation
of goods and passengers will
be realized.
Sports,
Recreation, Culture and Festivals
Amusement
places can be found in several
nooks and corners of the
city. Places of entertainments
are Senior Citizens Pavilion,
Public Plaza judged as the
most beautiful plaza in the
province, SK pavilion, skating
rink, and children’s
playground, city gymnasium
where basketball and boxing
tournaments are held occasionally.
The
VMC golf course and country
club is a nice place for relaxation
because of its quiet and invigorating
atmosphere.At present, Victorias
City has 3 gymnasiums (city
gym, La Salle gym and DBTI gym);
18-hole golf course, 21 basketball
courts, and 2 athletic fields.
Victorias City hosted a number
of municipal (city), district,
provincial and regional athletic
meets.
The
city celebrates its Charter
Anniversary with Kadalag-an
Festival – a dance drama
as old as the city, conceptualized
during the 1st charter anniversary.
It is an emerging festival of
Victorias that showcases streetdancers
in colorful costumes. It is
a week-long activity in celebration
of the city’s Charter
Anniversary that ends March
21.
Halaran
is a festival in honor of
Our Lady of Victory (the
city’s
Patroness) with a fluvial parade
of images of the Patroness
along the shoreline of the
City as one of the highlights.
This festivity ends April
26.
The
history of Victorias reminds
us of the colorful and victorious
past of ictoriahanons characterized
by a culture and tradition that
spans several generations.
KADALAG-AN
symbolizes the many victories
achieved by the people against
adversities in life. This is
in addition to the literal translation
of Victorias which is victory.
Even
before its proclamation as
a separate town from Sarabia
(now E.B. Magalona) Victorias
struggled to become a wholesome,
peaceful and progressive
community. But the journey
to development was beset
with such problems as poverty,
crime, disease and other
obstacles to progress. Particularly
devastating were the frequent
raids of Moro pirates who
carted off valuables, food
and even women. For quite
a time, the Malihao settlers
faced this problem bravely
but being ill-equipped, they
were always vanquished by
the pirates. The desperate
settlers pleaded with Heaven
as their last recourse. Their
prayers were not left unanswered
because a mysterious and
beautiful lady accompanied
by a big man came to their
rescue. It was later acknowledged
that the mysterious lady
was Nuestra Señora
de las Victorias while the
Man with her was St. Casimiro.
It was a victory of the people
with the help of God's Saints.
The
assumption of Severo A. Palanca
as Municipal Mayor in May 1992
was another Kadalag-an or victory
for the people of Victorias.
With his skillful management
of resources, he engineered
progress and development in
Victorias. Roads cemented municipal
hall renovated, public plaza
beautified, making it one of
the most beautiful public plazas
in the whole province with its
greenery and landscaping; housing
programs for the homeless populace
developed, first class public
market and slaughterhouse constructed
and many other important infrastructure
projects started and completed.
With the upsurge of progress
and development making Victorias
more than qualified to be called
a city, the campaign to secure
Cityhood could begin.
After
2 years of anxiety and hope,
Victorias became a city when
Rep. Act. No. 8488 was signed
into law by Pres. Fidel V.
Ramos last February 11, 1998
at Malacañang
Palace and unanimously ratified
by the people through a plebiscite
last March 21, 1998. With
the conversion of Victorias
into a component city, Victoriahanons
were now ready for the sweet
taste of victory of Kadalag-an.
Today,
Victorias City adopted the
word
“KADALAG-AN” festival
to celebrate its yearly city
Charter Anniversary which falls
on March 21. Truly Kadalag-an
is the right word to crown
the perseverance, hard work,
cooperation and victory of
ictoriahanons in facing the
challenges of life. |
