THERE is a town in Camarines Sur, about 50 kilometers from Naga City, that many of us mention in passing but rarely stop to understand. Its name is Tinambac. It is less than an hour’s drive from the capital city, yet for years it seemed farther than the map suggested.
Not anymore.
I was a keynote speaker in the first-ever Tinambac Business Summit 2026. And I opened by saying, when God showered his blessings, in this place “tinambak ni Lord” ang maraming biyaya.
Mayor Edward Albert “Bobit” Prades did not open with promises. He opened with four plain sentences: The resources are here. “The producers are here. The market is growing. The LGU is ready.”
Four sentences. No decoration.
The summit’s theme, “Tinambac Unlimited: Unlocking Opportunities, Inspiring Investment,” rests on an idea I have long believed in. Progress is never the work of one office. It is a circle: farmers, fisherfolk, entrepreneurs, investors, workers and government. Each holds a part, and none is complete without the others.
Start with the numbers
In business, vision matters. Numbers matter more. Mayor Bobit knew this, so he let the data speak first.
Tinambac has 69,860 people as of the 2024 census, more than 35,000 hectares of land and 44 barangay, half of them coastal. Over 21,000 hectares are devoted to agriculture. The town has 4,901 registered agricultural stakeholders and 3,818 registered fisherfolk. Agriculture and fisheries make up 44.23 percent of the local economy. Manufacturing, supply and construction account for another 38.35 percent.
Electricity reaches all 44 barangay and 82.56 percent of households. Casureco II is building an additional substation to steady the three-phase power that processing plants and cold storage will need. The local government unit (LGU) is also pushing farm-to-market roads and road links to Goa and Lagonoy.
Then came the detail that, to me, matters most. Tinambac has been declared insurgency-free by the Philippine Army. ”Walang matatag na negosyo kung walang kapanatagan.” Capital goes where there is peace, and it stays where there is trust.
The problem with raw
The mayor named an uncomfortable truth that applies to so many of our provinces. For years, much of what Tinambac produces has left the town as raw material. When the raw product leaves, the jobs leave with it. So do the income and the value.
Consider the coconut. Tinambac produces an estimated 66,160 metric tons of copra a year from some 16,000 hectares of coco land. The mayor asked the question every Filipino coconut farmer should be asking: “Bakit hanggang copra lamang?”
Why stop at copra when the coconut can become food, oil, fiber, product lines and brands? ”Huwag lang nating ibenta ang niyog. Gawin nating industriya ang niyog.”
The same is true of the sea. Tinambac has 97 kilometers of coastline, roughly the driving distance from the town to Legazpi. Its waters yield blue crab, mud crab, lobster, grouper, prawn, squid, abalone, sea cucumber and seaweed. Annual fish production reaches about 22,450 tons. Yet most of it leaves fresh or barely processed.
Imagine instead frozen, packaged and branded seafood from Tinambac. That is where the value grows, and that is where the fisherman’s income grows, too.
So, the town’s investment thesis fits in five words: Produce. Process. Move. Sell. Experience. Tinambac needs cold storage, ice plants, seafood processing, coconut processing, warehouses, trucking and last-mile logistics. Every one of those gaps is a door.
The tourists are already coming
In 2020, Tinambac recorded only 821 tourist arrivals. By 2025, the number had climbed to 31,950, almost 40 times more. In the first half of 2026 alone, 22,948 visitors came, and the tourism office projects the year could end past 40,000.
The tourists are already here. The question now is harder and more interesting. Where will they sleep? Where will they eat? What will they do? What will they bring home?
The town is not starting from zero. It has 38 beaches and private resorts, 12 accommodations, four agri- and aquafarms, and about 3,000 hectares of mangroves spread across 17 coastal barangay. But it still lacks quality rooms, eco-lodges, tour operators, island-hopping services, restaurants and pasalubong outlets. The LGU is pushing a tourist rest area, an integrated transport terminal on land it already owns and a coastal-maritime connectivity program across San Miguel Bay.
In business, a gap is not a weakness. It is an invitation.
One local economy
What moved me most was not any single sector. It was the way the mayor connected them.
Picture a visitor. She eats seafood caught by a Tinambac fisherman. She buys coconut products processed in town. She visits a farm, goes island-hopping, dines in a local restaurant and sleeps in a local resort. Before leaving, she buys pasalubong made in Tinambac.
The farmer earns, and so do the fisherfolk. The processor earns, as do the restaurant, the resort, the tour operator and the small entrepreneur.
That is the circle. Agriculture feeds tourism, tourism buys from processing and processing lifts the farmer. When the circle turns, the whole town turns with it.
Partners, not passengers
Every investor asks the same question: “Mayor, if we invest, what will the LGU do?”
The answer was refreshingly clear. Government will not run your business, and business will not replace the government. Each has its role. The LGU offers investor coordination, site, and supply matching and guidance on local permits. It will link investors with farmers, fisherfolk, cooperatives and MSMEs. It will also keep building roads, irrigation, postharvest facilities, digital services and climate resilience.
Investors bring the capital, the technology and the market access. The town brings local knowledge, coordination and partnership.
He also drew a line I respect. Every serious investment must be viable, legal, environmentally responsible and genuinely good for the community. Investment is not measured only by the size of the capital. It is also measured by the jobs it creates and the lives it improves.
From summit to substance
I have attended many summits, and too many end in speeches, handshakes and photographs. Mayor Bobit asked for something different. He challenged every investor to identify one opportunity before leaving Tinambac: one commodity, one facility, one tourism project or one partnership. Then validate it by checking the site, the supply and the market. Structure it. And if it works, build it together.
From introduction to conversation. From conversation to commitment. From commitment to investment.
That is how intention becomes infrastructure.
Builders, not spectators
“Naghahanap kami ng builders, hindi spectators. Partners, hindi passengers.”
I think of this line beyond Tinambac. So many of our towns have the land, the sea, the people and the stories. What they often lack is someone willing to believe early, to invest not only in what the town is today but in what it can become tomorrow.
Behind every business is a dream. Behind every investment is hope. Behind every opportunity is a family that will benefit. This is the spirit of Banwaan
Progresibo: a community that does not wait for progress but works for it, believes in it and builds it together.
Tinambac is ready. Tinambac is rising. Tinambac is unlimited. And like a circle, what we invest inour towns will always come back to us
