DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco joins divers in Puerto Galera for a scuba diving activity at La Laguna Point.
𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 Municipality of Puerto Galera
Frasco vows gov’t support for Or. Mindoro tourism industry
IN a show of support to the local tourism industry of Oriental Mindoro, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco joined divers in the town of Puerto Galera on Wednesday (April 12) for a scuba diving activity at La Laguna Point, a popular dive spot at the local travel destination.
Secretary Frasco, who sits as chairman of the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD), said the DOT’s presence in Puerto Galera shows the commitment of the current administration to help the industry recover not only in times of crisis, but also during challenging situations.
“𝑃𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐺𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑜, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑜𝑟𝑠, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,” said Secretary Frasco.
The tourism chief also said the visit is also to encourage more tourists to continue visiting the destination as it remains unaffected by the oil spill caused by the sunken tanker MT Princess Empire off the coast of Oriental Mindoro.
“𝑁𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎! 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑃𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎,” enthused the tourism chief.
Sec. Frasco was joined by DOT Dive Committee alternate chairperson and Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Shalimar Hofer Tamano, Region 4B Director Zeny Pallugna, and Puerto Galera Mayor Rocky Ilagan.
Apart from its white beach, Puerto Galera is famous for its scuba diving spots offering diving veterans and even enthusiasts a diverse view of the underneath, combining an impressive view of shipwrecks, corals, and other marine life.
Puerto Galera’s local economy is heavily reliant on tourism.
Local tourism data also showed that total tourist departure from April 3 to 10, 2023 was 17,776.
