Puerto Galera: Shoring up tourism, marine ecosystem

For centuries, the bucolic town of Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro has been one of the archipelago’s proverbial best-kept secrets, with its lush forests, powdery beaches and rich underwater world. Literally meaning “port of galleons” in Spanish, Puerto Galera then hosted ships that would drop anchor on its coves for shelter before proceeding to its Manila-Acapulco route. The world would hear first of its allure in 1973, when it was declared by the Unesco as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, a prestigious global list of places known for their exceptional biodiversity. Another accolade came in 2005 when it was inducted into the Most Beautiful Bays of the World Club, a 27-nation Paris-based non-government organization. With its remarkable profusion of aquatic life, Puerto Galera would be named by conservationists as the “center of the center” of marine biodiversity with its strategic location in the heart of the world’s “Coral Triangle” in Southeast Asia.