Tourism Packages
Location and Land Area
The Southern Tourism Circuit is composed of the municipalities of Caba, Aringay, Agoo, and Santo Tomas. It is located at the Southern part of the Province. It is bounded by Central Eastern Circuit (part of Bauang, Naguilian and Burgos) in the North, Province of Benguet and part of the South-Eastern Circuit in the East, the Municipality of Rosario in the South and West Philippine Sea in the West. It has a land area of 25,628 hectares with the municipality of Santo Tomas as the smallest with 3,424 hectares land area and the Municipality of Aringay as the largest with 12,207 hectares land area.
The circuit is composed of almost equally lowland and highland areas wherein 129.91 hectares of land is under the 0-18% slope category and 124.21 hectares is under the 18 to over 30% slope category.
Coastal and Water Resources
The Southern Circuit has a long coastal line of 36.65kms along all its municipalities. Aringay River, one of the major river basins of La Union, is located in the circuit. It is a Class B River Basin with a length of 45km, which is intended for primary contact recreation (e.g. bathing, swimming, skin diving). It also has a drainage area of 469sqm. Apart from La Union, it also caters to the Province of Benguet.
Climate and Weather
The circuit, just like the province as a whole, has two (2) distinct seasons: the wet season which is characterized by abundant rainfall brought about by the southwest monsoon, and the dry season which is characterized by the striking low rainfall due to passing of the northeast monsoon over the Cordillera Mountains.
Natural Hazards
The Western side of the circuit is bounded by the Lingayen Gulf and the West Philippine Sea which makes it prone to tidal surge due largely tostorms. Eastward are the flatlands and the agricultural areas which aresusceptible to floods due to the overflowing of rivers.
The southern circuit in the most prone to Liquefaction in the whole Province.This includes all areas of Sto. Tomas, Agoo, Aringay, and part of Caba.
Sto. Tomas is highly susceptible to flooding. Caba and Agoo have moderate to high while Aringay has low and high susceptibility.
Demographics
I. Population
The total population of the circuit is 162,520 in which the Municipality of Agoo holds the largest number of population i.e. 60,390.
II. Poverty Incidence
The average poverty incidence in the circuit is 13.175%, with the Municipality of Aringay which has the highest poverty incidence: 14.60%
Utilities
I. Power
The La Union Electric Cooperatives (LUELCO) provides electricity in all the circuits. Its main office is located in Sta. Rita East, Aringay, La Union. All barangay are already covered by said electric cooperative.
II. Water
Each municipality in the circuit hasits own water district. Crystal Liquid Philippines supplies water to some parts of Caba; Metro Agoo Waterworks, Inc. (MAWI) in some parts ofAgoo; Aringay Water District that only caters to Poblacion,Aringay; and Damortis-Rosario Water District which at the moment only caters toDamortis, Santo Tomas area.
Households not covered by said water districts are still using Deepwell and Shallow well sources of water.
III. Telecommunications
In terms of connectivity, Smart and Globe 3G connections already covered the whole circuit. As for the LTE, Smart Telecom only covers Agoo and Santo Tomas while Globe Telecom covers all the municipalities.
Commodities
All Central Circuit member LGU have the same commodities, namely Rice, Legumes, Leafy vegetables, Fruit vegetables, Root crops, Fruits and Fish.
Accessibility
I. Gateways
The South Circuit can be accessed either by the AspirasPilapilHiway (formerly called Marcos Highway) entering the Municipality of Agoo from Benguetor the Mc Arthur Hi-way entering the municipality of Santo Tomas. The Municipality ofAgoo hosts most of the accessible tourist service centres such as accommodation establishments, tourist sites and amenities such as restaurants, banks, department stores, and hospitals.
II. Transportation
From Manila, air-conditioned big buses offer transporation service passing to the circuit, which are bound for La Union, Vigan, Laoag, Abra, Candon such as Partas, Viron, Victory Liner and Dominion. These bus stations can be commonly seen in Cubao or Pasay. Non-airconditioned buses are also available
From Benguet, only Victory liner offers direct transport service going to the circuit. These are buses bound for Dagupan.
