#VPY2015 - Weekend at Puerto Galera

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PUERTO Galera is the northwesternmost municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. It is located at the southwestern end of the Isla Verde Passage, about 130 kilometers (81 mi) south of Manila.

PUERTO GALERA

The biggest excitement in joining the Malasimbo Music Festival is discovering the place – Puerto Galera, the northwestern most municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines.

From Manila, we arrived the Batangas Port, to board the outrigger boat. As we were on the ocean, gladly I noticed many people in the boat, are also exciting to join the Malasimbo party.

We arrived at the Muelle Port, Puerto Galera and we were assist by the jeepney driver as we proceed to the Marco Vincent Dive Resort.

Nice place, friendly people, Marco Vincent Hotel is located near the White Beach, the clean, quiet side of Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

There are many fun-filled activities to spend your time while in Puerto Galera. 

We visit the Talipanan Mangyan Village. 

The Talipanan Mangyan Settlement is one among the few Mangayan villages that are welcoming to tourists. The settlement comprises about 70 nipa houses, and growing, with the help and support of the Ayala Foundation, Inc.

Upon entering the community village, travelers would be greeted by a bamboo-designed Mangyan gift shop. Products are from the livelihood program with the Mangyans themselves. 

Tamaraw Falls

Island Hopping  - snorkel with friends at the Coral Garden

Lunch at the Elizabeth’s Hideaway

Hiking up Mt. Malasimbo and joined the party.

White Beach

Puerto Galera is listed by the Club of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World, and is the only bay in the Philippines to be listed there.

Among the famous beaches in Puerto Galera are Sabang Beach and White Beach, which have an active nightlife with numerous bars and restaurants. Both beaches also have an array of first-class and economy-class accommodations.

Sabang beach is the main destination for foreign tourists, while White Beach remains popular with local travelers. Big La Laguna Beach and Small La Laguna Beach are considered part of Sabang with resorts lining the beaches. Big La Laguna Beach is popular for local swimmers and snorkelers. Since 2001 White beach has seen uncontrolled development. New restaurants and places to stay are rapidly encroaching on the beach itself and little remains of the once charming beach. Puerto Galera town is a pleasant but sleepy Philippine town with few attractions. It has a large central catholic church and a Pier area, with a selection of bistros and cafes.

Behind the beaches are the huge and generally unexplored mountain ranges of central Mindoro. A particular local attraction is the nine hole golf course perched on the hillside above White Beach which commands spectacular views over Puerto Galera’s natural harbor and the Verde Island Passage.

Mangyan tribes are scattered over the mountain sides - some of the more remote tribes have virtually no contact with the outside world. Of the eight tribes on Mindoro, the Iraya are the largest. They are based in the Puerto Galera area.

Puerto Galera is among the top diving destination in the Philippines. Excellent diving is found less than 5 minutes from Sabang Beach. The diving generally focuses around the areas either side of Escarceo Point, which is famous for its current rips. Strong currents are a feature of the diving in Puerto Galera and it is good advice to employ the services of an experienced local guide or dive centre. There are more than thirty dive sites all within a 5-10 minute banca ride from Sabang Beach. Marine life is highly diverse. 180+ species of nudi branches are found in the area and many species of fish can be seen. A variety of wrecks have been sunk over the years in addition to the one wreck of an engine of a WWII Japanese patrol boat.

The National Statistical Coordination Board of the Philippines characterizes the municipality of Puerto Galera as first Class based on household income. The population was 32,521 at the time of the 2010 Census of Population conducted by the National Statistics Office.

Economy

The town has a number of business and commercial establishments in the province, and is either the major market or resort&hotel, agricultural and commercial products. Candava Supermarket, New Virgo Grocery, Parkway Supermarket, Castillo Store are the popular supermarket in Puerto Galera. Major banks include Allied Bank, Rural Bank of Puerto Galera, Maxbank, and other microfinance banks.

In addition, Mindoro is quickly becoming key location in the development of renewable energy in the Philippines. With several large wind farms, hydroelectric, and geothermal projects under construction, the island hopes to be a net exporter of electricity by 2016. Telecommunication services are provided by Digital Telecommunications (Digitel), Smart Communications, and Globe. Cable and satellite television operators provide access to local and international broadcasts. Broadband Internet services are likewise available through the numerous internet cafes located in all barangay

Environment

In the summer of 1998 there was extensive coral bleaching around Medio Island and a large section of a shallow coral reefsystem (referred to as the “Coral Gardens”) died. Since then the coral has regrown with a larger diversity of coral species replacing the prolific table corals. Corals in Puerto Galera were largely unaffected by the 2010 El Niño event.

In 2006 two super typhoons damaged the shallow reefs around Escarceo Point. Many of the faster- growing coral species were destroyed to a depth of

Puerto Galera was designated a Man and Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO in 1973 and has some of the most diverse coral reef diving in Asia.

6 metres (20 ft). This represented about 5% of the coral reef in the area. Extensive signs of new coral recruitment were noted in mid-2008. Acroporaspecies (staghorn and table coral) rapidly recolonized the area so that most of the damaged coral has been replaced with new growth.

The Batangas/Puerto Galera area forms the center of the golden triangle - The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia - renowned for their coral and fish species. A study by the University of the Philippines in the 1980s found that this area has one of the highest diversity of marine species in the world.

Puerto Galera is also one of the main technical diving destinations in Asia. Technical Diving International - [TDI] has many dive centers in the area, offering the full range of TDI courses from Basic nitrox to advanced trimix. -- Source: Wikipedia

Tourism

This coastal town is well known among tourists for its numerous pocket beaches and many snorkeling and Scuba diving spots. The area was designated a Man and Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO in 1973 and has some of the most diverse coral reef diving in Asia. The marine environment has benefited in recent years from the influx of tourist dollars. This has seen a huge reduction in the number of fishermen in the area, as they gain higher revenue from tourists.

We stayed in Marco Vincent for three days and two night. With pool, the hotel management and all staff was so friendly and incredibly amazing, where ever they see you there smile and greet us and ask us if we need anything or how they can help us.

Thank you to the entire staff for making our trip to Puerto Galera and thank you Tourisn Promotion Board (TPB http://tpb.gov.ph/) for such an incredible and memorable weekend.

Looking forward to be back, with my family and friends, and to spend more time to have our days more enjoyable and experience something different and unforgettable.

Puerto Galera has the natural asset for attracting tourists. It still has the unspoiled environment, tropical climate, an agricultural setting, numerous beaches, interesting mountain areas, lakes, rivers, rain forests, wild animals, rare fora and fauna and the existing cultural minorites. Special interest tours in the province such as mountain climbing, trekking, hiking, camping, butterfly watching, game fishing, adventure trips to the wilderness, visiting Mangyan settlement areas, natural caves and waterfalls exploration, island hopping, scuba diving, snorkeling and swimming could be conceptualized. - puertogaleratrip.com

PUERTO Galera is located at the southwestern end of the Isla Verde Passage, about 130 kilometers (81 mi) south of Manila.

HOW TO GET THERE: 

By Public Transportation

Go to any of the following bus terminals in Metro Manila: 

- Bus Terminals near the corner of Taft Avenue and Gil Puyat Avenue (formerly Buendia), Pasay City – nearest Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Domestic Airport.

- Bus Terminal near Ali Mall, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City.

- Bus Terminal in EDSA corner Kamias Street, Quezon City.

- Bus Terminal in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

-Ride the air-conditioned bus going straight to Batangas pier via CALABARZON Expressway.

Travel time: Less 2 hours and the fare is less than 200 pesos.

Upon arrival in Batangas pier, go to Terminal 3 and find the ticket booth of the ferry going to Puerto Galera. Passengers are required to pay the Terminal Fee worth 30 pesos per person and the Environmental User Fee for tourists going to Puerto Galera worth 50 pesos per person.

Puerto Galera 4 major points of entry: Sabang Pier, Muelle Pier, Balatero Pier and White Beach.

#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines #VisitPhilippinesYear2015 #VPY2015

Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival on Feb 27 - March 3, 2014

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“Malasimbo, this is where fun rocks in the Philippines” - Tourism Secretary James Jimenez 

Malasimbo Festival returns for 2014 for a spectacular fourth magical adventure outing from 27th February – 3rd March in the jaw-dropping setting of Mount Malasimbo in Puerto Galera nestled in the beautiful islands of the Philippines coast. 

The Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival is a celebration of all art forms. The Sculpture Garden at Malasimbo is a witness to the festival’s love for the visual arts. The grounds have been blessed by the amazing works of talented contemporary Filipino artists. In three years, more than 30 artists (including Agnes Arellano, Gus Albor, Alwin Reamillo, Leeroy New, Denis Lagdameo, Niccolo Jose) have used the venue as their canvas for their art installations. Whether permanent or degradable, loud or discreet, phantasmagoric or natural, interactive or silent, the works all have a synergy with the mountain, the landscape, the wind, the ocean or the festival’s creative energy. The Malasimbo Visual Artists family is growing, welcoming new faces for 2014 as the likes of Ling Quisumbing Ramilo and designers Jinggoy Buensuceso, Wataru Sakuma and Daniel Latorre Cruz. The Sculpture Garden at Malasimbo is definitely a platform to watch out for in the Philippines. 

The Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival only made its debut in February 2011 but it has already established itself as the first of its kind and calibre in the Asia-Pacific. 

With little fanfare, the festival that debuted to about 1,500 people saw its attendees doubling each year, reaching close to 6,000 people in 2013, drawing both local and foreign tourists to the foothills of Mt. Malasimbo in Puerto Galera for a bit of an adventure and life-changing experience, as most of them would end up describing being there. Now on its fourth year, the numbers is expected to be bigger still. 

Described as a passion project by the brains behind the festival, Volume Unit Entertainment – the company that takes care of booking performers, logistic and promotions –holds on to its principles of bringing high quality, mostly soul-jazz-influenced music. The d’Aboville Foundation is Malasimbo festival’s partner in pursuing its advocacies and corporate social responsibility projects for the protection of the environment both land and sea, the preservation of the indigenous Mangyan culture and heritage, the protection of the Tamaraw, Mindoro’s indigenous wild animal species that is fast disappearing, among others.

The organizers, along with the musicians that have graced its stage and the artists whose works have been displayed on festival grounds, work to promote music, preserve Filipino culture and promote tourism in Puerto Galera though the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival.

THE MALASIMBO EXPERIENCE

The sun begins to set and the dusk settles slowly across the verdant hillside, bringing with it the sweet smelling fresh air from the bay that comes with a bit of chill. Music wafts over from the stage, up the gentle slope of terraces carved into the earth to the hilltop of this beautiful, natural amphitheater. 

People who have become faithful followers of Malasimbo all come here for the magic and a life-changing experience.

The Four Pillars of Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival 

I. THE MUSIC

Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival has welcomed to its stage artists the likes of New York-based Fil-African American Latin soul musician Joe Bataan, local artists Grace Nono and Bob Aves, to its most “commercial” headliners to date: Jimmy Cliff and Joss Stone, who both performed at Malasimbo just last year. 

Volume Unit Entertainment’s Miro Grgic, a Croatian-Australian Musician, Sound Engineer & DJ who came to Manila for a job but ended up pursuing his vision of organizing a world-class music festival here in the country, notes that this year’s lineup “has been regarded by taste-makers as the best lineup to date in Asia, ever.”

On its fourth year, Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival 2014 will see on its stage the likes of American jazz, soul and funk legend Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith (the latter known to many as Miles Davis’ keyboard player); the Swedish indie folk singer/songwriter and guitarist José Gonzáles; American jazz pianist, record producer and Grammy Award winner Robert Glasper; British Neo Soul pioneer Omar, UK's dub legend Mad Professor who has collaborated with the likes of Sade and Massive Attack; the young Australian Jordan Rakei who is often described as a mix of Stevie Wonder, d'Angelo, Bob Marley & Fat Freddy's Drop and many others.

II. ARTS

“So far we’ve had about 30 artists exhibiting at Malasimbo ever since Year 1 in 2011. And the family is actually growing,” notes the young Filipino-French artist and designer Olivia d’Aboville, who is actually the director and curator of the arts part of the festival whose own works have been exhibited at the festival. 

With art installations described by attendees as inspiring by day and mysterious, even somewhat eerie by night, especially seen in the light of the moon, the works have enthralled those who’ve seen them. From beautiful tree lights made from recycled materials and the twig sculpture of a giant man four meters high by Niccolo Jose, to Billy Bonnevie’s Ifugao-inspired Dap-ay, a ceremonial meeting place with a bonfire at the center, Agnes Arellano’s embedded ground sculpture, Haliya Mantra’s pregnant Moon Goddess, and Gus Albor’s “Presence”, the visual feast only adds to the uniqueness of the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival. 

This year will be no different, promising a glorious display of creative works designed in synergy with nature and the landscape that will take your breath away.

III. THE ENVIRONMENT

The majestic Mt. Malasimbo, part of a series of mountains of Northern Mindoro, towers over the famed Puerto Galera beach. The festival’s location on the pristine mountainside is, in large part, the source of its magic – the setting overlooks the breathtaking Puerto Galera Bay, one of the only 40 members of The Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club.

“It’s hard to put something superficial in that venue when it’s gorgeous,” Grgic notes. “We’re just visitors to that mountain. So we’re just grateful to have the opportunity to utilize that mountain; make something of it. Malasimbo is a magical experience because there’s something happening there that has nothing to do with us – it’s the place. We are grateful to be able to express ourselves on it.”

The festival’s core ethos is sustainable development. As such, even some of the installations being planned adhere to this, including the Liter of Light, an ecologically and economically sustainable non-electric light source made of bottles with purified water and bleach that refract light into rooms. Plans are also being made for workshops on how to make these lights. The D’ABOVILLE Foundation, which is helping provide electricity to the Mangyan people, is also in talks of developing solar lamp posts that may also be used to light the access road to the festival grounds.

With the aim to keep Mt. Malasimbo clean and green, attendees are encouraged to pick up their trash and plastic cups are pretty much banned at the venue. The organizers are, in fact, studying the possibility of making hard cups that can serve as both souvenir and something people can use during the event. These and other efforts – including the fact that the festival has helped make Puerto Galera a plastic-free municipality – are being put in place by to ensure the sustainability of the land and the festival itself. 

IV. INDEGINOUS PEOPLE

To help preserve the indigenous culture of the Mangyan tribes of Mindoro and that of the Philippines, the festival is highlighted by a life-size Mangyan Village exhibit on festival grounds. “I want the people and the Filipino that never seen a Mangyan hut or house to understand how these people live,” says Hubert d’Aboville, president and co-founder of Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival Inc., and president of D’ABOVILLE Foundation & Demo Farm, Inc.

Heritage workshops are also part of the festival lineup, as well as performances from the T’boli people of South Cotabato, Mindanao, showcasing their various traditional musical instruments. T’boli items are also being sold on festival grounds. 

Listed on the festival’s website are the different ways that proceeds from the event contribute to the eco-cultural development and sustainability of these tribes, including the preservation of the Mangyan’s traditional poetry and written language. 

“I don’t want the (concert) lineup to be why people come at the festival. I want the people to come to festival because of the Malasimbo experience, which is not just the music but the culture, the arts, (and) the environmental part of it,” Grgic says. 

This is what truly sets the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival apart from many others; a distinction that the organizers hope would help push their goal to “position the Philippines as a top destination for festival tourism.” As Tourism Secretary Jimenez says: “Malasimbo, this is where fun rocks in the Philippines”.

The Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival 2014 happens from February 27 to March 3. The event is presented by VUE and D’ABOVILLE Foundation, with the support of the DOT, VISA, Shell, TicketWorld, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Stagecraft, Royal Cargo, Lafarge, Chinabank, the Local Government of Puerto Galera and the Province of Oriental Mindoro, the Philippine Coast Guards Auxiliary, the Most Beautiful Bays in the World, and media partners. Myx, Lifestyle Network, Fox, StarWorld, Metro Society, Metro Magazine, Chalk, Food Magazine, The Manila Times, Business Mirror, When In Manila, Philippine Concerts, Splinter, Philippine Tatler.com.

FESTIVAL & LOCAL ACTIVITIES: 

BOAT PARTIES / SUN / SEA / ISLAND HOPPING / STARS / NATURE / ANCIENT TRIBAL CULTURE / LOCAL WORKSHOPS / JUNGLE TRAILS / WATERFALLS 

27 FEBRUARY – 3 MARCH 2014 

MOUNT MALASIMBO - PUERTO GALERA - PHILIPPINES 

FESTIVAL TICKETS PACKAGES: 

3 day full festival pass at PhP 6,300. Check website for other bundles or single day tickets.

Aside from one-day passes, 3-day festival weekend passes are also available through www.malasimbofestival.com and TicketWorld.

For more details, visit www.malasimbofestival.com 

or http://www.puertogalera.org. 

Check us out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Malasimbofestival 

http://www.puertogalera.org

Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival 2014

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The Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival is the first international music and arts festival of its calibre in the Asia-Pacific. It is set amidst the tropical gardens of Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines; truly one of the world’s most enchanting backdrops for a festival.

The festival grounds is situated on the foothills of the majestic Mount Malasimbo where its most prominent feature is a grass-terraced amphitheatre that overlooks the bay, renowned as one of “The Most Beautiful Bays in the World.”

Malasimbo Festival 2014 featuring performances by: Jose Gonzales, Robert Glasper Experiment, Roy Ayers & Lonnie Liston Smith, Mad Professor, Osunlade, Omar, Greg Wilson, Mark De Clive-Lowe, Low Leaf, June Marieezy, Jordan Rakei, Heavy Boogie. 

Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival from February 27 to March 3, 2014 in Puerto Galera, Mindoro. 

More info at http://malasimbofestival.com/

Tickets now available at ticketworld.com.ph/malasimbo2014