Much like the province of OrientalMindoro to which it belongs, Puerto Galera
is very rich in history. Literally meaning “Port of Galleons,”. it became popular
among seafarers during the prosperous years of trade beginning in the 10th
century.
This popularity was due to its excellent natural harbor. Today this harbor is
one of the most beautiful and safest in the world
However, the history of Puerto Galera goes far beyond the introduction of the
Spanish. Its story dates back to the metal age and probably beyond.
Pre-Spanish History
Occasional Chinese records from as far back as the 10th century suggest frequent trading with the
indigenous Mangyan peoples.
Puerto Galera was an important port for these two peoples and an important center of trading.
Chinese merchants bartered with natives. Exchanging glazed porcelains for gold recovered from
the rivers and streams that cascade down the towering mountains.
In addition to gold, the islands are abundant with jade, corals, shells, birds, rattan. And other
forest products abundant on the island, all of which attracted foreign traders.
An excavation of an ancient gravesite near Minolo lends proof to this. The antiques unearthed
from the graves were traced back to the 10th and 15th centuries. Mostly from China, Thailand,
and Vietnam.
Puerto Galera became a regular stopover for merchant vessels. Sailing along the important trade
routes of the Near East, Indian coast, Indo-Chinese coast, China, Philippines, Sumatra, and Java.
In 1983, an Australian diver, Brian Homan, discovered a 15th Century “Balanghai”. A Malay-
edge sailing vessel containing hundreds of pieces of blue & white Ming Dynasty pottery in the
Manila Channel approach to the harbor. This propelled Puerto Galera into prominence within the
dive community. After the National Museum-directed salvaging operations, several dive resorts
were opened along the coast adjacent to the town.
The Muelle Bay area, in particular, was used extensively for dock repairs and as a safe anchorage
for all types of sailing vessels. Here, too, a lot of merchant ships docked to trade with the natives
making this area an important part of Philippine history.
Spanish Discovery
History shows that Puerto Galera was discovered by the Spanish during one of the explorations
made by Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo on their way to Manila in 1570. The Spanish
referred to it as Mina de Oro (meaning “gold mine”) from where the island got its current name,
Mindoro.
As one of the oldest settlements of religious missionaries. The Augustinians founded Puerto
Galera in 1574 as the original capital of Mindoro. Originally, the town was located at the
Lagundian, chosen by the Spanish authorities as the provincial capital due to its excellent harbor
and natural beauty. But due to its susceptibility to Moro (Muslim) raids. The Spaniards were
forced to transfer the town from the Lagundian to the present site. Which they named Puerto
Galera.
The town is “Puerto Galera” (Port of the Galleons). Spanish galleons coming from Mexico and
Spain used the presence of an excellent port. Or berthing place to take refuge during stormy
weather before proceeding to Manila. It’s one of the safest, most convenient natural harbors in the
world, and still is today. Legend has it that once sailors set foot on the island. They never wanted
to leave without a promise to come back.
The mountains and the good harbor nearby served the Spaniards well as shields from the Moro
pirates and other marauders. Several guard houses and watchtowers was built at the top of the
surrounding mountains. The biggest was at Dampalitan Point, north of the town facing Batangas
Channel. Public and Military headquarters, hospitals, warehouses and a convent made of stone
were also erected through the efforts of both the church and the state. A wharf was also built at
Muelle Bay.
Puerto Galera
Puerto Galera Port
Guarding the coasts of Puerto Galera was a Spanish warship, named
“Cañonero Mariveles”. However, on November 18, 1879, the ill-fated
battleship was hit by a powerful storm. Which caused it to sink outside the
West Coast of Muelle.
As a tribute to the lost ship and its crew, a wooden cross was erected right
at the center of Muelle with the following inscription: “Ultima tierra que
pesaron los tripolantes del Cañonero Mariveles el 18 de Noviembre de
1879, Memoria de sus campañero”. As one of the greatest relics of the
past century, this cross was renovated in 1938 by a Spanish national
named Luis Gomez y Sotto.
Several artifacts discovered in the 1980s from a Spanish shipwreck
discovered in the harbor of Puerto Galera were also excavated. Many of
the artifacts recovered were put together and can be seen today in the
Excavation Museum.
In the early days, the Spaniards thought it would be nice to make Puerto
Galera a productive place by cultivating the farmlands to become rice
fields. They put up a rice granary where rice grains ready for shipment
were stored.
It was believed that the rice granary caught fire in the 18 th century and
the whole place broke down. Burned rice grains were also believed to
have been tossed to the sea. Following the natural process of
decomposition, the burned rice grains should have decomposed after a
period of time. But no, the salty waters of Puerto Galera sea preserved the
rice grains instead. Until now, the Black rice grains continue to surface as
the tide changes.
Politics
1700s – The Spanish colonizers recognized Mindoro as a territory with Puerto Galera as its
capital.
1837 – The seat of government was transferred to Calapan which was geographically blessed
with wide agricultural lands and the Spaniards opted to stay there. When Puerto Galera was no
longer the seat of government, the Spanish government officials left the town and only the friars
remained.
1898 -1900 – Revolutionaries from Puerto Galera participated in the overthrow of the Spanish
Government in Mindoro.
1902 Nov 2 – Puerto Galera was again made the capital of the province until…
1903 – During the American regime, a military governor was appointed.
1905 – It was annexed to Calapan as a barrio.
1919 – It was made a Municipal District
1927 Dec 7 – the Philippine Congress passed Act 3415 creating the independent municipality of
Puerto Galera.
1942 Feb 27 – the Japanese air force and naval auxiliary occupied the town until 1946.
1946 – After the liberation, Rafael Garcia was appointed as the municipal mayor of Puerto
Galera.
1948 – Estanislao Brucal, an officer of the guerrilla unit in Mindoro during the Japanese
occupation, became the first elected municipal mayor of Puerto Galera under the Republican
form of Government.
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Puerto Galera History
By BADLADZ
Posted on October 15, 2015
7:00 pm
Much like the province of OrientalMindoro to which it belongs, Puerto
Galera is very rich in history. Literally meaning “Port of Galleons,”. It
became popular among seafarers during the prosperous years of trade
beginning in the 10th century.
This popularity was due to its excellent natural harbor. Today this harbor is
one of the most beautiful and safest in the world
However, the history of Puerto Galera goes far beyond the introduction of
the Spanish. Its story dates back to the metal age and probably beyond.
Pre-Spanish History
Occasional Chinese records from as far back as the 10 th century suggest
frequent trading with the indigenous Mangyan peoples.
Puerto Galera was an important port for these two peoples and an
important center of trading. Chinese merchants bartered with natives.
Exchanging glazed porcelains for gold recovered from the rivers and
streams that cascade down the towering mountains.
In addition to gold, the islands are abundant with jade, corals, shells,
birds, rattan. And other forest products abundant on the island, all of
which attracted foreign traders.
An excavation of an ancient gravesite near Minolo lends proof to this. The
antiques unearthed from the graves were traced back to the 10 th and 15th
centuries. Mostly from China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Puerto Galera became a regular stopover for merchant vessels. Sailing
along the important trade routes of the Near East, Indian coast, Indo-
Chinese coast, China, Philippines, Sumatra, and Java.
In 1983, an Australian diver, Brian Homan, discovered a 15 th Century
“Balanghai”. A Malay-edge sailing vessel containing hundreds of pieces of
blue & white Ming Dynasty pottery in the Manila Channel approach to the
harbor. This propelled Puerto Galera into prominence within the dive
community. After the National Museum-directed salvaging operations,
several dive resorts were opened along the coast adjacent to the town.
The Muelle Bay area, in particular, was used extensively for dock repairs
and as a safe anchorage for all types of sailing vessels. Here, too, a lot of
merchant ships docked to trade with the natives making this area an
important part of Philippine history.
Spanish Discovery
History shows that Puerto Galera was discovered by the Spanish during
one of the explorations made by Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo on
their way to Manila in 1570. The Spanish referred to it as Mina de Oro
(meaning “gold mine”) from where the island got its current name,
Mindoro.
As one of the oldest settlements of religious missionaries. The
Augustinians founded Puerto Galera in 1574 as the original capital of
Mindoro. Originally, the town was located at the Lagundian, chosen by the
Spanish authorities as the provincial capital due to its excellent harbor
and natural beauty. But due to its susceptibility to Moro (Muslim) raids.
The Spaniards were forced to transfer the town from the Lagundian to the
present site. Which they named Puerto Galera.
The town is “Puerto Galera” (Port of the Galleons). Spanish galleons
coming from Mexico and Spain used the presence of an excellent port. Or
berthing place to take refuge during stormy weather before proceeding to
Manila. It’s one of the safest, most convenient natural harbors in the
world, and still is today. Legend has it that once sailors set foot on the
island. They never wanted to leave without a promise to come back.
The mountains and the good harbor nearby served the Spaniards well as
shields from the Moro pirates and other marauders. Several guard houses
and watchtowers was built at the top of the surrounding mountains. The
biggest was at Dampalitan Point, north of the town facing Batangas
Channel. Public and Military headquarters, hospitals, warehouses and a
convent made of stone were also erected through the efforts of both the
church and the state. A wharf was also built at Muelle Bay.
Puerto Galera
Puerto Galera Port
Guarding the coasts of Puerto Galera was a Spanish warship, named
“Cañonero Mariveles”. However, on November 18, 1879, the ill-fated
battleship was hit by a powerful storm. Which caused it to sink outside the
West Coast of Muelle.
As a tribute to the lost ship and its crew, a wooden cross was erected right
at the center of Muelle with the following inscription: “Ultima tierra que
pesaron los tripolantes del Cañonero Mariveles el 18 de Noviembre de
1879, Memoria de sus campañero”. As one of the greatest relics of the
past century, this cross was renovated in 1938 by a Spanish national
named Luis Gomez y Sotto.
Several artifacts discovered in the 1980s from a Spanish shipwreck
discovered in the harbor of Puerto Galera were also excavated. Many of
the artifacts recovered were put together and can be seen today in the
Excavation Museum.
In the early days, the Spaniards thought it would be nice to make Puerto
Galera a productive place by cultivating the farmlands to become rice
fields. They put up a rice granary where rice grains ready for shipment
were stored.
It was believed that the rice granary caught fire in the 18 th century and
the whole place broke down. Burned rice grains were also believed to
have been tossed to the sea. Following the natural process of
decomposition, the burned rice grains should have decomposed after a
period of time. But no, the salty waters of Puerto Galera sea preserved the
rice grains instead. Until now, the Black rice grains continue to surface as
the tide changes.
Politics
1700s – The Spanish colonizers recognized Mindoro as a territory with
Puerto Galera as its capital.
1837 – The seat of government was transferred to Calapan which was
geographically blessed with wide agricultural lands and the Spaniards
opted to stay there. When Puerto Galera was no longer the seat of
government, the Spanish government officials left the town and only the
friars remained.
1898 -1900 – Revolutionaries from Puerto Galera participated in the
overthrow of the Spanish Government in Mindoro.
1902 Nov 2 – Puerto Galera was again made the capital of the province
until…
1903 – During the American regime, a military governor was appointed.
1905 – It was annexed to Calapan as a barrio.
1919 – It was made a Municipal District
1927 Dec 7 – the Philippine Congress passed Act 3415 creating the
independent municipality of Puerto Galera.
1942 Feb 27 – the Japanese air force and naval auxiliary occupied the
town until 1946.
1946 – After the liberation, Rafael Garcia was appointed as the municipal
mayor of Puerto Galera.
1948 – Estanislao Brucal, an officer of the guerrilla unit in Mindoro during
the Japanese occupation, became the first elected municipal mayor of
Puerto Galera under the Republican form of Government.
Conservation
1973 Dec 26 – PD 354 was issued by President Ferdinand E. Marcos
making Puerto Galera a reservation area under the Man and Biosphere
Program of UNESCO, naming it as a nature research center. That same
year, the town’s reefs were declared a marine sanctuary.
1980 Nov 21, Ferdinand Marcos issued PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1605-A
“DECLARING THE ENCLOSED COVES AND WATERS EMBRACED BY PUERTO
GALERA BAY, AN ECOLOGICALLY THREATENED ZONE AND FORBIDDING
THEREIN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MARINAS, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS OR
ANY STRUCTURES ALONG ITS COASTLINE, AND APPOINTING A SPECIAL
COMMITTEE TO STUDY THE ECOLOGICALLY ENDANGERED ZONE’S
REHABILITATION AND PRESERVATION.”
Playground of the Gods
As an interesting side note: The Grand Scheme of Ferdinand Marcos was
to create a “Playground of the Gods” in this beautiful bay. Close to Manila
and unspoiled, it would be the perfect vacation spot for Manila’s elite.
Whether by design or not, Leandro Locsin (a favorite architect of Imelda
Marcos) bought up much of the land surrounding this beautiful bay, other
nearby beaches, and roughly a third of White Beach shoreline.
Construction began in Muelle on a Grand Casino with ballrooms, a pool,
rooms, and villas. The Puerto Galera Yacht Cub was built on donated land
and construction of 75 condominiums began above it. However, once
Marcos was deposed and fled the country these projects abruptly halted.
Luckily his friends, the Locsins, turned the land ownership into a
foundation to preserve the beauty of the bay and that is the reason for its
pristine nature to this day.
Fame
2004 – Puerto Galera was awarded exclusive and prestigious membership
to the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club. A UNESCO affiliated
international non-government organization based in Vannes (France)
which aims to promote, protect and develop marine and bay sources.
2005 – Puerto Galera & the Verde Island Passage were found to be the
center of marine fish biodiversity. And the home of the most diverse
marine ecosystem in the world by American biologists Kent Carpenter and
Victor Springer. Most of the endemic species in the Philippines are found in
the Verde Island Passage between Mindoro Island and the main island of
Luzon.
Beauty is what you will find. Entering the bay through either the Manila
(West) or Batangas (North) channel for the first time. It is impossible not
to be showered by the residue from eons of nature’s rich evolution that
has elevated Puerto Galera into a metaphor for paradise.
Puerto Galera is a 1st class municipality, classified as partly urban and
occupies an area of 247.85 km². At the end of 2010, Puerto Galera was
the home of 32,521 residents.
Puerto Galera has made OrientalMindoro a popular tourist destination. It
has numerous fine beaches with enchanting, sheltered coves and
turquoise waters beneath a green mountainous backdrop.
Spreading out about 10 km. Around the coast, the town’s focal point is the
Poblacion (town proper) and its ferry dock. People consider it as the “Little
Baguio” of Mindoro due to its zigzag roads and steep ravines. Its excellent
natural yacht harbor is effectively protected by Medio Island at the mouth
of the picture-perfect Muelle Bay.
The 160.5 km long by 84.5 km wide island of Mindoro was first mentioned
in Chinese annals when merchants from Cathay on ships carrying native
products traded on the island in 982 AD. Ship captains and their men
often referred to the island as “Mai”, which was later corroborated by the
Chinese historian Chen-Jua Kuan in the first known description of Mindoro
in 1225 AD.
The name “Mindoro” was derived from Minoro, sometimes spelled Minolo –
a small coastal settlement northwest of the poblacion of present day
Puerto Galera. Captain Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo explored
Western Mindoro on their way to Manila on May 8, 1570. After fighting
with the Moro pirates and capturing the island of Lubang, Legaspi imposed
Spanish rule upon natives of Northern Minforo the following year. While
Moro piracy was in existence during the 17 th century, the island was
organized into a corregimiento, with Puerto Galera as the capital. The
island became part of Bonbon (Taal, Batangas) under the encomienda of
Calilaya (Unisan, Quezon Province).
Since the 10th century, Puerto Galera was known to seafarers as a trading
port and a strategic harbor along the important trade routes to and from
Near East, Indian coast, Indo-Chinese coast, China, various points within
the Philippine archipelago, and the kingdoms of Sumatra and Java. The
Muelle Bay area, recognized as one of the safest natural harbors in Asia,
was used extensively for dock repairs and as a safe anchorage for all
types of sailing vessels.
Sixteen century reference to Mindoro often only meant to harbor of
Minolo, which was then the center of trading between the Chinese and the
natives. Chinese merchants bartered glazed porcelains for gold, jade,
corals, shells, birds, rattan, and other forest products that were abundant
on the island. The antiques unearthed from an ancient gravesite near
Minolo were traced back as early as the 10th and 15th centuries. Most are
Chinese, but substantial quantities from Thailand and Vietnam have also
been excavated.
When the Spaniards discovered the island of Mindoro in the early 17 th
century, the natural beauty and safe heaven that is Muelle Bay astonished
them. They thus named the land Puerto de Galleon or Port of Galleon. It
was later called Puerto Galera.
When the Spaniards conquered the whole island, they made Puerto Galera
the capital of the province. Due to the regularity of the Moro attacks, the
Spaniards built watchtowers and stationed battleships outside Muelle Bay
to deter the Moros. One such battleship was the Cañonero Mariveles,
which sunk due to a violent storm in 1879. The Spaniards also built a rice
granary in Puerto Galera that was used to stash grains ready for shipment.
This grain storage was believed to have caught fire in the late 18 th
century, but the carbonized palay grains were preserved by the sea water
and remain scattered along Muelle Bay to this day.
The natives primarily lived by fishing, crude farming and hunting. They
raised animals, planted rice, corn, sweet potatoes and other root crops –
using the slash and burn method to clear and prepare the land for
planting. Then the Spaniards introduced the plow – increasing the
productivity of the land. However, the tributes and taxes imposed by the
Spanish government discouraged farmers, causing them to seek other
means livelihood.
After more than two centuries the capital of the province was transferred
to Calapan (the present capital of Oriental Mindoro), which was
geographically blessed with wide agricultural lands. Puerto Galera became
a barrio of Calapan. It was only on December 7, 1927, when the Philippine
Congress passed Act 3415, that the municipality of Puerto Galera was
created.
The people of Puerto Galera engaged in shipbuilding and repair, mat
weaving, fishing, and crude farming before the advent of tourism in their
town. It was only in the early 1970’s that Puerto Galera, by word of mouth,
was established as a tourist destination. The earliest tourists would stay in
the homes of the locals for periods of several weeks to several months.
This was the origin of backyard tourism in Puerto Galera. This type of
hosting, called “bed and breakfast” in other settings, became the
backbone of the thriving tourism program. In Puerto Galera the trade
benefited not only private homes turned pensioned houses, but local
traders, market vendors and stall owners as well who found new and brisk
markets from visitors. The local transport operators had to expand their
fleet to accommodate heavier volumes of visitors, particularly during the
peak tourist months of March to June and November.
The Province of Oriental Mindoro in the eastern half of the Mindoro Island
is Southern Tagalog’s primary food basket and tourism destination.
Awaiting the brave and adventurous is a network of towering mountains,
labyrinthine caves, unspoiled waterways and captivating shores. Oriental
Mindoro is situated 140 kilometers south of Manila and the Philippines’ 7 th
largest island. With its largely unspoiled natural beauty, the province has
much to offer in terms of tourism and investment.
