STRATEGIC LOCATION

San Enrique is the point of convergence of three major routes: eastern, northern and interior routes   (coastal and interior highways) . These routes originated from the Provincial Capital –Iloilo City, which branches –out to three different routes that connects the interior and coastal municipalities in the province and   converging in the Municipality of San Enrique. As a converging point, San Enrique becomes a convenient trading center for the various municipalities. Products from the coastal municipalities (specifically marine products) were bartered for crops and other agricultural products of the interior municipalities. Because of the routes , products from outside the province – specifically Cebu and Leyte, handily found its way to San Enrique to be traded.

THE JALAUR RIVER

The Jalaur River is a waterway vital to the commercial activity of the municipality. It is one the top ten watersheds in the province of Iloilo. The many islands of the coastal municipalities in the northern part of the province are noted for its various marine products. Islands traders conveniently transport these products to Jalaur River, for local trading starting Saturday in preparation of the market day which is every Sunday.

FACILITIES

Commercial activity is largely concentrated in Poblacion, where almost 70 % of the total numbers of commercial establishments are located.

INDUSTRY

Although San Enrique is said to have both metallic and non- metallic mineral deposits such as gold, copper, iron , silica, manganese and guano, there were no activities or investment towards the development of these resources. 1,100.00 hectares of public lands in the northwest part of the municipality is being registered as a mining claim, but no efforts had been made to develop or extract its resources.

There are no large – scale industrial establishments in the municipality. Cottage, small to large medium –scale industries, however, is prolife rating.  These include weaving, mat weaving and basket making.

Agricultural post-harvest facilities, such as rice and corn mills, cold storage, etc., are the only major industrial establishments in the municipality.

Agro – industrialization proposed to have work potential for development as the municipality has enough raw materials for agri –based industries, namely: coco oil mill and Ethel alcohol processing from cassava and camote.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND UTILITIES

 

  • TRANSPORTATION

    San Enrique is strategically located at the converging point of the three (3) major roads leading to Iloilo City, the capital of Iloilo Province.  The eastbound road is via San Enrique – Passi, the westbound road is through the San Enrique-Dingle and the southbound using the interior road via San Enrique-Banate.  These major road networks are concretely paved highways which provide safe and convenient travel except for some sections which are under rehabilitation.

    Based on the latest inventory of the Municipal Engineering Office (MEO), 17.725 kilometers or 98.04% of all national roads are concreted while only 354 meters are paved with asphalt.  In case of provincial roads, all seven kilometers are paved with gravel. Most municipal roads are paved with gravel with 60.77%. Only 19.62% or 1.7876 kilometers are concreted while 1.7874 kilometers or 19.61% are paved with earth. Of the 116.595 kilometers of barangay roads, only 3.18 kilometers are concreted, 16.50 kilometers are earth and mostly are gravel with 96.915 kilometers or 83.12%.

    The primary mode of transportation in the municipality is the use of four-wheeled vehicles going to the neighboring barangays and municipalities and using motorcycles in going to other remote areas or hinterland barangays.

  • POWER

    The Iloilo Electric II Cooperative (ILECOII) provides electricity to the municipality. Most of the household with electrical supply connections are living in the urban areas. Some of the households in the upland barangays due to its poor accessibility and wide dispersed households (low density) are not served with electrical connections. A total of 84.43 % of the households were energized and the remaining 15.57 % are without electricity.

  • WATER SUPPLY

    Ground water, rain, rivers and creeks are common sources of water both for domestic and agricultural uses for urban and rural barangays.  Per PDMS survey, 76.84% of the total households have access to safe drinking water; the remaining 23.61% derived their water supply from unsanitary and unsafe water sources.

    The rock formation of San Enrique which is predominantly of a Barotac Viejo Formation contributed much to the availability of water sources. This rock formation has a low groundwater potential which primarily provides water supply for Level 1 systems. Major sources of drinking water are shallow dug wells and deep wells in which 81 % of the total households of the entire municipality depend on this type of water source. However, majority of these dug wells are not properly covered and have poor drainage system, thus contribute health risk on water borne diseases especially during rainy season.  There are 169 improved springs recorded for the entire municipality in which 861 households or 3 % out of total population depended from this type of waster source. Other water sources are undeveloped springs, open dug wells and rainwater. Other water sources include open dug wells, undeveloped spring and rainwater. Some barangay residents usually collect rainwater for drinking purposes. Water from shallow dug wells is generally used domestic consumption rather than drinking.

    There is only one (1) locally managed piped distribution system, the San Enrique Water District which is presently serving four (4) barangays, however, its water supply is insufficient during summer.

    There are 677 deep wells operating in the locality which served 11% of the total households. Existing deep wells are generally hand pump operated. Only few especially those who are well off, uses electric powered water pumps,. Two (2) barangays enjoyed the level 2 type of water system. However, only 2 % of the total households were served because of the limited supply of water source. In the advent of new technology, bottled and purified refilling stations become more popular even in rural barangays. Most of the populace prefers to buy mineral or purified water drinking water for health and safety reasons in spite of family budget constraints.

  • COMMUNICATION

    • TELEPHONE

      The Municipality of San Enrique has three cellular site providers that are established in barangay Poblacion. Globe, Smart, Sun Cellular are the three giant telecommunication companies which have a municipal wide coverage, although some hinterland barangays still experienced weak signals.

      The municipality has its own communication facilities using UHF and VHF radios and a reliable repeater system located in Barangay Sto. Tomas. All barangays have handsets which usually carried by the Barangay Captains, Barangay Kagawads or the Barangay Police Heads (Chief Tanod). This communication has been the most reliable means of communication among Municipal Officials, Department Heads, Heads of Offices, including the Philippine National Police-San Enrique Station and Rural Health Station and all the Barangay Officials especially during emergencies and occurrence of vehicular accidents, disasters and incidence of pity crimes.

      The newly formed San Enrique Emergency Action Team or TREAT professionally showed the effectiveness of the said communication system by responding almost all emergency calls which earned them numerous praises and thanks from the public.

  • POSTAL

    The advancement of technology affects the bulk of mails and other postal services that reached the post office nowadays. The Philippine Postal Corporation has only one personnel assigned in the municipality. The same person performs different functions and is considered as one man office.