PUERTO GALERA, Oriental Mindoro—The incoming mayor of Puerto Galera, declared by the United Nations in 1973 as “Man and the Biosphere Reserve,” will face tourism challenges when he assumes office at the end of this month, residents said.
Outgoing chairman Rockey D. Ilagan of Barangay Sabang, an international dive site, was elected mayor on May 9 on a campaign pledge that he “would bring back the old glory days of Puerto Galera as one of the world’s major tourist destinations.”
“But, it’s not a walk in the park for Mayor Rockey when he takes over his new post. There’s a lot of house cleaning to do when he assumes office on June 30, but certainly he will prevail over it,” says King Marasigan, his chief-of-staff.
Mayor Ilagan will tackle, among other numerous complaints being regularly aired by resort owners and residents, the neglected and ill-maintained fresh water supply system, frequent brownouts, high taxes and fees, unsafe sea transportation system, slow internet service, and poor garbage collection.
“There is uncollected garbage and trash along the beaches and roads,” said Kees Koornstra, an expatriate from The Netherlands and a long-time resident of this municipality.
Other issues are the stalled construction of the multi-million peso waste-water treatment plant and environmental issues, such as lack of landfill areas or dump sites for waste management and effective garbage collection.
But Koornstra, who served in the Royal Dutch Navy for seven years, said he is fully supporting the incoming administration of Ilagan to “make Puerto Galera a better place.”
Ilagan will meet with resort owners, hotel and restaurant managers and members of Puerto Galera Business, Tourism and Trade Enterprises Association and other allied organizations to get their cooperation and to thresh out long-time and festering complaints being aired by them.
Mayor Ilagan presented to national officials the challenges facing the town’s tourism industry that “drove away tourists that spent so much money that made the travel industry so lucrative in the past.”
He got the support from the heads of concerned national offices who assured the new administration that they would help the LGU to immediately address the issues besetting the resort town.