CLARK, Pampanga—Teeming with old churches and religious traditions and practices, this province in Central Luzon is encouraging devotees to come and experience the Capampangan way of reflecting the Passion of Christ this Holy Week through the “Visita Iglesia Pampanga” (VIP) campaign, an initiative led by former president and current Second District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo aimed at rekindling the Roman Catholic faith of tourists, both local and international.
“Through Visita Iglesia Pampanga, and in support of Mrs. Arroyo’s drive to make 2018 the Visit Pampanga Year, we commit to make our beloved province one of the centers of faith tourism in the country,” Creative Travel and Tour International Managing Director Ruby Rose Rustia said during the VIP launch at Comercio Central in Clark Parade Grounds.
Pampanga has a long and strong history of being the seat of faith, especially during Semana Santa (Holy Week), with various churches proclaimed as historical landmarks built since the 1500s during the Spanish era.
While Visita Iglesia (Church Visits) is a once-a-year practice in the Philippines, the lead organizer noted that VIP is an open call “to take a spiritual journey and walk the way of the cross, not just during the Lent, but all year-round.”
“Our province is the ideal place to offer this invitation to Filipinos and the rest of the world. Our rich history is deeply rooted in the Catholic traditions dating back hundreds of years. Many of our customs and beliefs still reflect this influence to this very day,” she said.
As part of the promotional activities for VIP, various media organizations and tour operators in Metro Manila and other parts of the country were invited during the VIP kickoff to tour the province and visit seven of its many centuries-old churches.
These include Saint Augustine Parish in Lubao; Santa Lucia Parish, Sasmuan; Immaculate Concepcion, Guagua; Santa Rita de Cascia, Santa Rita; Saint James Parish, Betis; San Guillermo Parish, Bacolor; and San Fernando Cathedral, San Fernando.
Rustia told the BusinessMirror they are collaborating with the invited travel-agent companies to include these religious sites and the whole province in their offerings.
“They can offer Pampanga as a destination not just for faith tourism, but we have rich history, culture, food, arts and crafts,” she said. “We will offer very interesting packages and tailor-made them based on their place.”
Apart from the stakeholder partnership, she said a lot of municipalities have already shown their interest to cooperate, participate and collaborate with them for the VIP in the coming years.
Elated by the support of both the public and private sectors, Rustia is positive they will achieve their goal to push further and make the province the hub of faith tourism nationwide.
In fact, she said a priest told her their church has started to receive at most five batches of pilgrims daily—of which each group has around 200 people—from Aurora province, Batangas, Bicol, Cavite and other areas within and outside of Central Luzon.
“We’re just starting to promote and develop Pampanga as a faith-tourism destination and it’s happening now. We expect a lot more [tourists to come],” she said. “So I’d like to invite everybody, the people around the Philippines, especially the Pinoys abroad. Come, visit and revisit Pampanga because we have so much to offer.”