Jagna Mayor Joseph Rañola sees it fit to focus on agriculture in order to power tourism efforts as the two industries are seen as the primary economic drivers of the town.
He mentioned this during a radio interview over Open Forum on Jan. 17, 2023, hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Dave Albarado.
He said that the town has plenty of advantages to offer when it comes to agriculture and fisheries and eventually these segments of the economy will power the tourism industry of the town.
He said that the town is refocusing its efforts to rekindle its religious traditions and in so doing the local government unit initiated its support to the faith-based tourism aspect of the town.
Rañola supported the efforts of certain groups to raise funds for giant monuments erected in the town as part of faith-based tourism.
At the same time, the local government unit committed itself to develop the areas dedicated to faith-based tourism.
The mayor is pleased that Jagnaanons based in different parts of the country are throwing support to the tourism project of the town.
The mayor said that he made sure that this faith-based tourism project will not be tainted with politics by allowing the Diocese of Talibon to take the lead while the local government unit is just providing the needed support.
The goal of the Jagna faith-based tourism project is to build monuments such as statues of the Birhen sa Barangay, San Pedro Calungsod and St. Michael the Archangel.
Moreover, Rañola’s political will is centered on the fact that he is only focused on serving for 3 years.
He believes that a politician who thinks about re-election could be hampered by politics and will achieve nothing. Thus, he never thinks about the next election. Rather he is focusing on the task at hand which is the further development of the town of Jagna.