APARRI

          Looking at the geographical location of Aparri on the Philippine Map, you can see that it is situated in the Far North. Where if not because of Batanes, Aparri would be the farthest and tip most place in the Philippines. I would simply describe Aparri as the town of legends and a town of character. This is in the perspective of ancient cultures and local governance why it is called such. The emergence of early settlers here had left very significant memories and important cultural heritage to the present-day inhabitants. This makes Aparri to be unique among all other towns in the Philippines.

          If  I am to describe Aparri, I would say that It is a multi – awarded town, and has received several Hall of fame awards. To name a few, Most Outstanding Local Government in Region II and in the entire country, Best Implementer of Clean and Green, Most Peaceful Municipality, Gawad Saka Award, and many others. Aparri also produces individual awardees from its agricultural folks and fisherfolks. Last year, it warranted recognition of two GAWAD SAKA winners from Aparri, Villamor Pascua was awarded the Most Outstanding Farmer at the regional level while fisherman Antonio dela Cruz won the Outstanding Fisherfolk Capture Category at the national level.

 These make Aparri as popular in the entire nation. Aparri is never far from other municipalities because of the effective governance of Honorable Ismael V. Tumaru, M.D. As an evidence, it is classified as a First class municipality.

                  I can never compare nor exchange Aparri from other places because I have learned to love it not because this is my hometown but because people who live in here are of good character. This is manifested by the mantra, A Character Town. Let’s have a walk through to its 12 character traits; January- Discipline, February- loyalty, March- Gratefulness,  April- Forgiveness, May-Hospitality, June- Determination, July-Cleanliness, August- Patience, September- Responsibility, October- Faith, November- Resourcefulness, and December- Benevolence. As part of the Mayor’s mandate that each Aparriano must have all these character traits so that we can also promote Aparri as a tourist destination. Aparri has been governed by competent Local Chief Executive and people here are well – disciplined.

          In terms of tourism and cultural heritage, Aparri brags its beautiful sunset at the pier in Punta. It has calm and very attractive beaches along its coastline and of course the Cagayan river ends here at it meets the sea. So, the meeting point of the Cagayan river and the sea is in the Aparri. This is the reason that it is pronounced as a town where the river meets the sea. There are many good thing you can see in Aparri, it is abundant with both agricultural crops and aquatic resources. Aparri has a lot of historical imprints just like the Loriga Gallaza St where the early Spanish first landed. We do also have some cannons that are still present hundred years ago.