A PHP10 million Tourist Rest Area (TRA) will soon rise in upland Barangay Aningalan in San Remigio, Antique, following its groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday.

“The TRA is intended to provide convenient amenities for tourists with clean restrooms that they can use for free with a coffee and souvenir shop,” said Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, who led the groundbreaking of the first TRA in Antique.

The TRA is a project of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., she added.

In her message, Frasco said that Senator Loren Legarda requested the facility in Antique to help boost the tourism industry in the province.

“We anticipate the returns of the TRA to be 10-fold because of the amenities for tourists not only benefitting the TRA site but also the other neighboring areas,” Frasco said.

She said other local government units (LGUs) in Antique could also request a TRA through the senator and Antique Rep. Antonio Agapito Legarda.

Rep. Legarda, in an interview, said San Remigio was chosen as the first site in the province because it has an available area for the project.

“We intend to have the next TRA in the northern part of Antique,” he said.

San Remigio Municipal Mayor Margarito Mission said they intend to make the 2.6-hectare TRA site an event center to host other tourism-related activities and important occasions.

With the facility, more tourists would be attracted to visit Barangay Aningalan, dubbed as the “Little Baguio,” because of its cool climate and beautiful mountain scenery.

“As of last summer (2023), around 3,000 tourists visited the place, and we expect it to further increase with the amenities already,” he said.

Frasco, Rep. Legarda, and Mission signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the local government to maintain and operate the TRA. (PNA)