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| ==[[Mindoro Oriental News]]== | | ==[[Mindoro Oriental News]]== |
| '''Puerto Galera cashes in on booming tourism sector'''
| | ==15 barangays in Oriental Mindoro town submerged in floods== |
| *Source: http://business.inquirer.net/50751/puerto-galera-cashes-in-on-booming-tourism-sector | | *Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/03/27/12/15-barangays-oriental-mindoro-town-submerged-floods5 |
| *6:38 pm | Saturday, March 24th, 2012 | | *03/27/2012 2:21 PM | Updated as of 03/27/2012 6:49 PM |
| :by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor | | :by Dennis Datu, dzMM |
| Philippine Daily Inquirer
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| “There is more to Puerto Galera than White Beach,” claims Mayor Hubbert A. Dolor in a recent briefing with Manila media in his office.
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| “We are now promoting Puerto Galera as the heart of Asia, center of the center,” he adds.
| | MANILA, Philippines – At least 15 barangays in Baco, Oriental Mindoro have been submerged in floods due to persistent rains, the town’s mayor said Tuesday. |
| The fabled coastal town—with its resorts, beach coves, waterfalls, abundant marine life, limestone cliffs, rock formations, coral gardens, dive sites and mountains—is at the northern tip of Oriental Mindoro. | | |
| It lays claim to having one of the most beautiful bays in the world.
| | Mayor Graciano dela Chica said rains have caused the Dulangan and Alag rivers and several creeks to overflow. |
| As the international map puts it in French: “Les plus belle baies du monde.”
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| Dolor, who is also a physician and holder of a Master’s degree in Public Administration, says “the Philippines is part of the Coral Triangle and we are at the center of the center of marine biodiversity.”
| | He said flood waters in some areas are now neck-deep. Some farmers also lost their crops to the floods. |
| Talking about biodiversity, shouldn’t Palawan lay claim to that? The mayor doesn’t think so.
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| “It (Palawan) is not in the center of the center,” he says.
| | The town of Naujan in Oriental Mindoro is also suffering from flooding, according to Mayor Maria Angeles Casubuan. |
| Puerto Galera attracts two million tourists every year and its income is boosted by the Environment Usage Fee (EUF) of P50 per visitor.
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| By 2020, the town (now a first-class municipality) hopes to become a city, with its own airport.
| | Evacuation of residents in low-lying areas in the affected areas is now ongoing. |
| The construction phase is starting, with an assist from the Department of Transportation and Communication.
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| Puerto Galera will likely have to wait a while to attain the status of a city, and in the meantime, it is bent on boosting its coffers through tourism.
| | In its latest weather bulletin, PAGASA said the active low pressure area that was last spotted west northwest of Palawan has exited the Philippine area of responsibility, while the LPA east of southern Mindanao has dissipated. |
| “We have no other income except tourism,” the mayor says. “We have agricultural lands but our cooperative farmers have become tourist guides and boatmen.”
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| What about the dark side of tourism, as in sex tours and pedophilia?
| | However, a new shallow LPA has formed 160 kilometers east of Borongan, Eastern Samar. |
| “Gone are the days of human trafficking,” Dolor claims, “We have bars in Sabang but bars are part of tourism. There are regular checkups, and regular visits by doctors. So the bars are regulated and controlled.”
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| Gold also still exists in Puerto Galera and other parts of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro (the big island was known to the Spaniards as “mina de oro”).
| | PAGASA weather forecaster Jori Loiz said this weather system is expected to bring rains over Samar, Leyte, Masbate, Sorsogon, Mindoro and Northern Palawan. |
| Small-scale panning is tolerated but mining is a no-no.
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| “There is only one industry in Puerto Galera and that’s tourism,” the mayor declares.
| | The tail-end of the cold front, meanwhile, is the main weather system over southern Luzon and eastern Visayas. |
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| | Residents in low-lying areas were warned of flash floods and landslides. |
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| ==Misamis Oriental Zip Codes== | | ==Misamis Oriental Zip Codes== |