Pangasinan town to stage first Asin Festival

DASOL, Pangasinan, Philippines – This town, whose salt industry has been thriving for the past 80 years, is preparing to launch the province’s 1st Asin Festival.

Mayor Noel Nacar said the festival aims to showcase the importance of salt and its 101 uses.

Pangasinan is derived from the word asinan, which means “where salt is made.” Dasol aims to be the province’s salt capital.

Nacar said the province’s salt industry started in this town through an experiment made by a certain Don Jeconias Bunao of Barangay Hermosa. 

He said to this day, Bunao’s family is still engaged in producing salt.

Of the town’s 18 barangays, eight are engaged in commercial salt production – Uli, Malacapas, Magsaysay, Bobonot, Poblacion, Gais-Guipe, Amalbalan and Hermosa.

“It’s the number one livelihood of our people. We are proud of the quality of our produce. It has better salinity,” Nacar, who is also the president of the Pangasinan Mayors’ League, told journalists during a press briefing last Friday.

The festival, set on Feb. 17, 2015, is also aimed to showcase the municipality’s white sand beaches.

Nacar said the municipal council has passed an ordinance banning any mining activity and the operation of fish cages to protect the salt industry and their beaches.

“We have salt, beaches, more than 300 caves, five of which were identified for development,” he said.

The mayor said a businessman was in town recently to take samples of their salt, for possible export.

Aside from Dasol, the towns of Anda, Bani, Bolinao, located in the western part of the province also produce salt.

The mayor said his town still uses the traditional way of producing salt, which undergoes seven stages of processing before it reaches the salt beds.