INFRASTRUCTURES LAND USE AND TENURE
Roughly ninety-five percent (95.66%) of the total land area of the town is generally used in farming or agricultural activities. Built-up areas are mostly gathered along the roads and within the town proper or poblacion.
Built-up areas are distributed in the following uses:
Residential Commercial Institutional Open Space Road Networks
The above mentioned built-up areas have an aggregate area of 483.8 hectares constituting 4.07% of the total land area. The general pattern of built up areas follows the ribbon-type of development where residential, commercial and other urban establishments are mostly found along major roads and intersections. ROAD NETWORKS AND TRANSPORTATION
Provincial road is built to access the neighboring city of Tarlac and other municipalities. Municipal and Barangay roads on the one hand are generally farm-to-market infrastructures. The road network of the town is approximately 149.76 km., characterized as follows:
Table 1: Existing Roads by Type of Classification
Total Road General Type of Pavement Road Classification Length Concrete Asphalt Earth Fill National 11.6 11.6 100
Provincial 16.2 16.2 100
Municipal 37.25 37.25 100
Barangay 85.71 20.42 25 8.5 10.4 53.11 65.45 Total 149.76
IRRIGATION
Records from the Department of Agriculture show that the total land area planted to Agricultural crops is estimated to be 9,558.44 hectares. With this figure, 2,495.03 hectares or 26.10% are rain-fed and are to be found in upland areas. About 6,649.02 hectares constituting 69.56% is being irrigated by water pumps.
The Municipality had provided a total number of water pumps of about 2,409 units. Through these water pumps, the farmers can increase their cropping patterns from first up to third cropping per year. WATER FACILITIES
The primary source of water supply in the Municipality is its ground water. The type of existing source of water is shallow wells and artesian wells. Most of the household especially in the rural areas fetch their water in shallow wells for drinking, laundering, bathing and for domestic use.
Victoria water system is being run by the LGU through the NAWASA system. This serves the poblacion area, Sta. Lucia, San Fernando, San Vicente, San Nicolas, San Gavino and Sta. Barbara. It has a total house connection of about 1,316 household combined with water metered and non-metered connections.
Barangay San Gavino has the largest household connection of about 328 -house connection constituting 60 %, followed by Barangay San Fernando with 307 house connections equivalent to 50 %. Other poblacion areas with water connections are as follows: San Nicolas, Santa Lucia, Santa Barbara, and San Vicente. POWER AND ELECTRIFICATION
Tarlac Electric Cooperative (TARELCO) serves at least 11,877 (91.20%) households served by the cooperative. The remaining 1,146 (8.2%) households make use of kerosene or candles as source of light.
The current power requirement of Victoria today is 1.0 megawatt for 13,028 households.
Table 2: Number of Connection and Average Power Consumption by Type of Consumer
Residential Commercial Industrial Government Number of 11,877 269 35 660 Connections Average Power 912,709 kw 87,114 kw 177,482 kw 52,320 kw Consumption COMMUNICATION FACILITIES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS The Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) plays as the major telecommunication provider of Victoria. It is currently expanding the number of subscribers in the municipality. It serves the 6 urban barangays and 3 of the rural barangays namely, Balbaloto, Bangar and Bulo.
The presence of mobile systems is significantly affecting the number of landline subscribers. To date, PLDT has only around 227 subscribers while mobile phones are estimated at an average 2 units per household. Table below shows the number of landline subscribers in the municipality.
Table 3: Number of Landline Telephone Subscribers
Domestic Commercial Barangay Total Connections Connections Balbaloto 3 0 3 Bangar 2 0 2 Bulo 12 1 13 San Fernando 40 2 42 San Gavino 71 14 85 San Nicolas 28 4 32 San Vicente 10 0 10 Sta. Barbara 18 3 21 Sta. Lucia 19 0 19 Total 203 24 227
POSTAL SYSTEM
Philippine Postal Corporation caters postal service to the locality. It is situated at the Municipal Compound. Letter carriers are equipped with motorcycle for fast delivery.
The monthly averages of incoming and outgoing letters are 4,972 and 851 respectively.
CULTURE
With its people of diverse language draws a cultural array rich in its own way. Just like any town in the province, Fiestas still abound in this community in celebration of Feasts of Saints and Thanksgiving Festivals. The open doors during fiestas signal an invitation for anyone to join the festive bouquet of local delicacies from the original menu of Victorian tastes. Home to quality diket – a variety of rice that is the original ingredient to native rice cakes, kakanin like patupat, palitaw and tupig among other sweet cakes are some of the learned and passed on culture of food delicacy in the town. Up to the present time, new generation kept the recipe with its tastes that never parted on its original texture. Being an agricultural community, customs associated in farming are equally maintained. The vast green fields in barangays San Andres and Sta. Lucia, among others have preserved some of their customary farming equipments such as the “kabyawan― (sugar mill) and “ulnas― (carabao-driven cart). Despite the introduction of modern farming facilities to augment traditional means, some of the local farmers have lived up for their practiced method that had existed over time.
Visit barangay Sta. Barbara and their well-preserved culture of pottery-making. Candid shapes of “dalikan― (clay-stove), cooking and ornamental pots are displayed as if boasting its continuous existence in the place. The culture of pottery-making had contributed not only in maintaining a Victorian culture, but also in economic boost of some households.
The religious aspect of local culture comes alive during Lenten season where “kalbaryos― are put up in every corners of each Barangay singing in various versions (Kapampangan, Tagalog, Ilocano, English and Latin) the“pasyon†of Jesus Christ. “Panata†is still practiced by many wherein penitents carry the cross, inflict wounds on themselves in repentance of their sins, while tracking Brgy. Palacpalac, where the gathering of the believers takes place in a small church beside a century-old acacia tree.
Come summer season, when flowers are in bloom, young ladies once again enjoined to wear their gowns for the Santa Cruzan as the highlights of May Festival.
Some performing artists from schools and veterans are once again reviving cultural presentations for the town fiesta. It may be a quiet town, not eminent so to speak, but this is an analogue to the humility of the town folks. Victorians would rather act than speak; they are people of performance and achievements, rather than pronouncements and empty talks.
PEOPLE
Local Historians of the province all agree and believe that the people of the town coincided with the emergent Ilocano immigration process undergoing, with its route from the Norther Ilocos Region to its southern neighboring areas in search for a land to till, roughly in the 16th to early 19th century. And so is the progression of Kapampangan immigration happening northward, from Pampanga to Tarlac.
Victoria, indeed is a veritable melting pot with its Kapampangan people mostly residents of Western Victoria while the Ilocanos, in the town’s eastern part. Despite the differences of languages, Victorians have coped up with communication barrier with Tagalog as the general language for conversation.
Being Christianized by the Spanish colonizers, Immaculate Concepcion became the town’s Patron Saint. Other religious sects that are actively growing and are faithful believers include Iglesia Ni Cristo, Born Again Christian, Jehova’s Witness, and Mormons. Victoria may not be a prominent town but it is gradually becoming one. The magnetism it holds because of its people’s smiles will absolutely drive one visitor to linger longer. The creativity as manifested in their industry and resiliency as shown in their ability to contest challenges of everyday practical aspects of living is a distinguishing trait which they are very well-known for.
Among the list of famous sons of Victoria, that the present Victorian populace may be proud of could include the past administrators of Tarlac Capitol, being duly elected as Provincial Governors. Once became the Father of Tarlac Province, Candido L. Guiam, and Jose V. Yap (now member of the House of Representatives) are only among those figures that could be added to Victoria’s Hall of Fame, include in them the present Governor, Victor A. Yap. These names have once echoed inside the Municipal Hall of Victoria as Municipal Mayors and Vice Mayor respectively, showing that the silent town named Victoria is not just ordinary, but a land of leaders, constituted by a citizenry of hardworking and painstaking constituent.