Doña Remedios Trinidad, officially the Municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad (Tagalog: Bayan ng Doña Remedios Trinidad), known by its acronym as DRT, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,656 people, making it the least populated municipality in the province.[3]
It is known as "Bulacan's Last Frontier" because of its natural environment and as it is the least travelled town in the province.
Etymology
The town was named by Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos after Remedios T. Romualdez, mother of his wife Imelda Romualdez Marcos, whose family was from the town of Baliuag (now a city since 2022).
Marcos, having absolute authority using dictatorial powers, grabbed larges swaths of lands from nearby town to create the present borders of Doña Remedios, despite opposition. Historians have noted that Marcos named the towns to honor a person without much significant historical value, with only family ties as actual reason.[5] Some locals have called for the changing of the town's name in honor of actual heroes from Bulacan.
History
On September 13, 1977, under martial rule, president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1196 creating the municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad as a personal namesake gift to his wife's family.[6]
The municipality covers seven barangays, originally part of Angat, Norzagaray, and San Miguel. These are Pulong Sampaloc and Camachile of Angat; Bayabas and Kabayunan of Norzagaray; Talbac, Camachin and Kalawakan of San Miguel.
Geography
Doña Remedios Trinidad is the largest municipality in Bulacan, occupying almost 1/3 of the total land area of the province. It lies on the southern edge of the Sierra Madre mountain range, and partially embraces three major conservation areas: the Angat Watershed Forest Reserve, Biak-na-Bato National Park, and Doña Remedios–General Tinio Watershed Forest Reserve, comprising 327.3 km2 of alienable and disposable public land.
In the 2020 census, the population of Doña Remedios Trinidad was 28,656 people,[3] with a density of 31 inhabitants per square kilometre or 80 inhabitants per square mile.
Doña Remedios Trinidad is the least populated of all the municipalities and cities of Bulacan, with less than one percent of the province's population.
Municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad is a mainly agricultural town. Agricultural products, such as pineapples, are the main source of income of the town and its residents.
On December 12, 2007, the Province of Bulacan and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) signed an agreement for the development of an P11-billion bulk water supply project. Ayala-owned Manila Water Co. Inc. will implement the project. MWSS and Manila Water will provide a financial package of an infrastructure grant, a P10-million development assistance and a P10-million royalty fee to the towns of Norzagaray and Doña Remedios Trinidad, which will host the water supply project.[20]
Education
One of the main secondary schools in DRT is the Laura De Leon Halili High School, located in Barangay Pulong Sampaloc. Most of the students in this school come from three barangays of DRT (Pulong Sampaloc, Camachile, and Bayabas) and some from the adjacent barangay of Banaban in Angat.
The San Ildefonso-based Bulacan Agricultural State College opened a branch campus as Bulacan Agricultural State College-DRT located in Barangay Sapang Bulak.
Gallery
D.R.T. Welcome Arch
D.R.T. Police Station and Office of the Sangguniang Bayan