PUERTO GALERA, Oriental Mindoro—This resort town, labeled by the United Nations as a “man and biosphere reserve,” is undergoing a major rehabilitation and transformation back to the Spanish era, Mayor Rockey Ilagan said.
The initial budget of P190 million will kickstart the construction of the Puerto Galera Cultural and Heritage Park (PGBCHP), a maritime museum in Muelle Cove housing a full-size replica of a Spanish galleon and the addition of an eco-tourism park with a crocodile farm and a butterfly garden in the 10-hectare roadside location of the Tamaraw Falls.
“We’ve to do this major facelifting in our town because we’re being left behind by neighboring provinces in terms of tourist arrivals. We have to revive our once-vibrant tourism industry,” Ilagan said.
Three national government agencies, the Department of Tourism, through the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, the Department of Health, and the Department of Public Works and Highways provide most of the funds for these projects.
“We’ve to rely on their funding assistance since the Puerto Galera municipal goverment has limited budget to realize their construction. The environmental user’s fee we collect from arriving tourists is spent on environmental protection and conservation only,” the mayor explained.
“That amount is just an icebreaker as our local government is urging other government agencies to shell out more financial support. Investors in the hotel, resort and restaurant businesses are also helping us right now,” he said.
A technical working group, composed of local architects and engineers and foreign expatriates, has submitted to the mayor the final design of the PGBCHP. The sum of P60 million has been allocated for this project.
Shoreline villages, including structures inside the Muelle Cove, will be rebuilt in the style of the Spanish period when it was occupied by both the “ilustrados” the “conquistadores.”
An integral part of the PGBCHP is the Maritime Museum where a full-size replica of a four-masted galleon used by the Spaniards in the 16th century will be constructed. It will be 25 meters long and will be constructed by the end of this year.
The ancient ship will also be seen by visitors floating in Muelle Bay inside the cove. “Once completed, it will be the first and only galleon ship in the Philippines,” says Keeas Koornstra, 62, a Dutch seafarer who designed the replica.
The 400-meter Tamaraw Falls will become an eco-tourism park with a crocodile farm and a butterfly garden that will be added in its ten-hectare location, Ilagan said. The cost of the eco-tourism park project is estimated at P50 million.
The DPWH, through District Engineer Nestor del Rosario, also announced that it will start paving the P50-million six-kilometer Poblacion-Sabang Road. Barangay. Sabang hosts 23 dive sites frequented by foreign divers and tourists all-year round.
The sum of P30 million from the DOH will be used for the improvement of the municipal fresh-water system and the Puerto Galera Hospital, the mayor said.
The local chief executive also announced the annual celebration starting this year of the “feast of the galleys” or the “Galleon Festival.” The first week of December commemorates the feast of the Virgin Mary, a religious event which coincides with a historical event.
Reports said the Spaniards gave the natives a statue of the Virgin and a cross as a gesture of thanksgiving. The natives received the Spaniards when the latter sought refuge and made the island their sanctuary when their flotilla encountered a powerful storm in the middle of their journey.