Anyway, here's one video clip for memories' sake.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Palawan Travel
It used to be that traveling from Puerto to Taytay was difficult, if not uncertain, especially when one gets to the Ibangley portion of the National Highway -- around an hour before Taytay. But not anymore.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Palawan Live Fish Trade
lifted from http://oneocean.org/overseas/200103/live_fish_trade_threatens_tourism_in_el_nido,palawan.html
EL NIDO, Palawan -- Local investors and government officials are at odds over the entry of traders in live food fish, an industry that is often linked with the illegal use of sodium cyanide and destruction of coral reefs, in this picturesque tourist haven.
In a public hearing held last Feb. 24, supporters of the trade insisted that they only use the environment-friendly hook-and-line method in catching groupers, but opponents said it would lead to overfishing in the already degraded reefs of this popular tourist destination.
Around 50 supporters of besieged Mayor Edna Lim, who granted a permit to a live fish trader last January, attended the hearing and cheered every time live fish proponents spoke.
Along with neighboring Taytay municipality, El Nido was proclaimed a Managed Resource Protected Area in October 1998. The reserve covers 90,321 hectares of forest and marine habitats that harbor endangered species such as hawksbill turtles and the dugong.
"If you allow live fish trade in El Nido, the resorts here should consider closing down in five to ten years," said Joselito Alisuag, chairman of the Protected Area Management Board that oversees the nature reserve.
He cited the experience of Coron town, center of the live fish trade in northern Palawan, where live coral cover dropped to zero when the industry flourished in the last decade. Many resorts in Coron can now only offer wreck diving as coral reefs in the Calamianes island group have suffered much damage.
Aside from its scenic rocky isles and white sand beaches, El Nido relies on its abundant marine life to attract tourists. Coral bleaching, or dying out of reefs due to extremely warm waters, during the El Niño phenomenon in the last two years has already damaged much of El Nido’s extensive coral reefs.
In a meeting following the public hearing, the Management Board affirmed its resolution last Sept. 25 to ban the catching of coral-dwelling groupers locally known as the "suno" and "señorita" varieties, wrasse, and ornamental fish inside the protected area. However, they allowed limited catching of green groupers, lobster, and bangus fry.
Despite the restrictions, some local investors doubt the capability of local government agencies to patrol the area effectively due to lack of boats and personnel.
"Allowing live fish trade without strict regulations is a mockery of the law that made El Nido a protected area," local business woman Romilyn Maggay dela Cruz said.
The local Protected Area Office has been receiving funds from the European Union for the conservation of El Nido for the past five years, but the project is scheduled to end in March. So far, the Management Board has only raised P99,000 to continue its operations.
SPECIAL REPORT:
Live fish trade threatens tourism in El Nido, Palawan
By Yasmin D. Arquiza, Bandillo ng Palawan News Service
EL NIDO, Palawan -- Local investors and government officials are at odds over the entry of traders in live food fish, an industry that is often linked with the illegal use of sodium cyanide and destruction of coral reefs, in this picturesque tourist haven.
In a public hearing held last Feb. 24, supporters of the trade insisted that they only use the environment-friendly hook-and-line method in catching groupers, but opponents said it would lead to overfishing in the already degraded reefs of this popular tourist destination.
Around 50 supporters of besieged Mayor Edna Lim, who granted a permit to a live fish trader last January, attended the hearing and cheered every time live fish proponents spoke.
Along with neighboring Taytay municipality, El Nido was proclaimed a Managed Resource Protected Area in October 1998. The reserve covers 90,321 hectares of forest and marine habitats that harbor endangered species such as hawksbill turtles and the dugong.
"If you allow live fish trade in El Nido, the resorts here should consider closing down in five to ten years," said Joselito Alisuag, chairman of the Protected Area Management Board that oversees the nature reserve.
He cited the experience of Coron town, center of the live fish trade in northern Palawan, where live coral cover dropped to zero when the industry flourished in the last decade. Many resorts in Coron can now only offer wreck diving as coral reefs in the Calamianes island group have suffered much damage.
Aside from its scenic rocky isles and white sand beaches, El Nido relies on its abundant marine life to attract tourists. Coral bleaching, or dying out of reefs due to extremely warm waters, during the El Niño phenomenon in the last two years has already damaged much of El Nido’s extensive coral reefs.
In a meeting following the public hearing, the Management Board affirmed its resolution last Sept. 25 to ban the catching of coral-dwelling groupers locally known as the "suno" and "señorita" varieties, wrasse, and ornamental fish inside the protected area. However, they allowed limited catching of green groupers, lobster, and bangus fry.
Despite the restrictions, some local investors doubt the capability of local government agencies to patrol the area effectively due to lack of boats and personnel.
"Allowing live fish trade without strict regulations is a mockery of the law that made El Nido a protected area," local business woman Romilyn Maggay dela Cruz said.
The local Protected Area Office has been receiving funds from the European Union for the conservation of El Nido for the past five years, but the project is scheduled to end in March. So far, the Management Board has only raised P99,000 to continue its operations.
Five fish in two days
A live fish trader from Taytay has been making shipments using the plane of the upscale Ten Knots resort for about a year now, but the issue only became controversial in the last few months when an investor from Coron called Ko’s Aquamarine started operating in El Nido.
Last October, the company set up a storage plant in the coastal village of Corong-Corong and started catching and shipping live fish in violation of protected area regulations.
“There is no other livelihood in Palawan which can give fishermen a better life than the live fish trade,” said Pedro Timbancaya, local manager of Ko’s Aquamarine.
He said fishermen can get up to P1,200 for every kilogram of live red groupers, compared to P80 per kilo for fresh (but dead) fish of the same species. The live fish are brought to expensive Chinese restaurants in Manila and abroad, where they can fetch up to P5,000 per kilo in Hong Kong, according to Alisuag.
Due to the demand for the luxury food fish and the prospect of quick profits, many fishermen have resorted to the use of sodium cyanide to stun the fish near coral reefs, making them easier to catch. The poisonous substance kills coral reefs, creating underwater graveyards devoid of fish and other marine life. The practice has decimated reefs in many parts of Palawan where the live fish trade was introduced.
El Nido Protected Area Superintendent Loreto Rodriguez reported the violations of Ko’s Aquamarine to Alisuag, who threatened to cancel the company’s accreditation for live fish trading in Coron if they continued to operate in El Nido despite lack of permits.
Timbancaya reasoned out that the company was merely training local fishers and conducting demonstrations of their techniques while waiting for their permits to be granted.
To prove that the company was not using sodium cyanide, he asked a group of live fish catchers to accompany a media group out to sea and test their hook-and-line method. The group traveled an hour by boat to reach a coral reef 20 fathoms deep, where five fishers tried to catch groupers with fish bait tied around a fist-sized stone that served as a sinker.
Because of the depth of the reef, boat owner Cesar Diago said illegal fishers who use cyanide often have to use compressors that make it possible for them to breathe underwater. This is why many municipalities in Palawan, including El Nido, have banned compressor-aided fishing in their waters.
After an hour, the fishers only managed to catch one 250-gram red grouper, which is not among the target species in the live fish trade. Diago said his catchers often average five good-size, or about one kilo each, of fish in two days of fishing. One-third of the revenues go to the boat owner while the catchers split the expenses and remaining amount.
Normally, the fishers travel up to three hours towards the deep sea, near the oil drilling areas, to catch live fish, Diago said. He believes the trade will not pose any conflict to tourism as the coral reefs in areas where their target species are found average a depth of 20 to 40 fathoms, beyond the range of most recreational divers.
Most of the coral reefs where they operate are also outside the waters of the protected area, Diago says.
Three sacks of stones a day
During the public hearing, community organizer Rolando Olano of the environmental group Haribon-Palawan asked the live fish catchers how many sacks of stones they use during a normal operation. The fishers said they bring about three sacks a day on the average.
At this rate, Olano said substantial damage is done to the reefs from the dumping of stones. He also questioned how fishers can sustain the trade, especially with catchers flocking to El Nido from Coron and other parts of Palawan where there are no more fish to catch.
Very few fish, mostly small ones, were seen during a brief snorkel survey in a popular coral reef in El Nido over the weekend, indicating that the area is overfished.
The record of shipments from the private El Nido airstrip last November alone showed that between 40 to 280 kilos of live fish, mostly redgroupers, are transported to Manila daily from traders in Taytay.
In many coastal towns with a burgeoning live fish industry, most coral reefs no longer have target species such as groupers and wrasse. The prospect of easy money often drives fishers to exploit even near-shore areas for live fish instead of going out to deeper waters.
Even then, very few live fish catchers are able to improve their lives.After earning a thousand pesos in two days, most fishers spend their earnings on drinking binges, then go back to the sea to catch more fish, Diago says. His story indicates that the live fish industry cycle breeds poverty and not
prosperity.
Mayor Lim has vowed to crack down on illegal fishers, but admits that her government does not have regular patrols that can protect El Nido’s municipal waters.
Some residents suggest the organization of fishers’ cooperatives and setting up of hatcheries so that target species do not have to be caught from the wild. One drawback is that most hatcheries only breed green groupers, which is half the price of red groupers.
“We keep harvesting from nature, but if we have hatcheries, we can say to God that we also helped nurture and make the fish grow,” parish priest Msgr. Edgardo Juanich said.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Araceli Resolution
Republic of the Philippines
PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
(R.A. 7611)
Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
PCSD RESOLUTION NO. 97-104
"RESOLUTION ENDORSING THE REQUEST OF THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN OF ARACELI PALAWAN TO THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO APPROVE THE LAND CLASSIFICATION PROJECT ARACELI, PALAWAN."
WHEREAS, Republic Act 7611, known as Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan has sustainable development as its general philosophy, which is the improvement in the quality of life of its people in the present and future generation through the use of complementary activities of development and conservation that protect lie-support ecosystems and rehabilitate exploited areas to allow generations to sustain development growth;
WHEREAS, Dumaran Island, comprising two (2) municipalities, Dumaran and Araceli is unclassified in status;
WHEREAS, the areas subject to land classification for Araceli are presently occupied and cultivated by farmers;
WHEREAS, the said classification is not covered by the prohibition under section 4 (a) of RA 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) of 1998;
WHEREAS, the endorsement of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development is the requirement for DENR Secretary's approval for the said land classification project for Araceli, Palawan;
WHEREAS, in the PCSD 47th regular meeting held on January 24, 1997, the Honorable Mayor Danilo Rodriguez of Araceli, Palawan sought the endorsement of the Council for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to proceed with the processing and approval of the Land Classification Project for the Municipality of Araceli, Palawan;
THEREFORE, on unanimous motion and duly seconded by the Council Members present, the Council;
RESOLVED, Finally, that a copy of this resolution be furnished to DENR Scretary, Honorable Victor O. Ramos, Diliman, Quezon City, The Director of Forest Management Bureau, Diliman, Quezon City and His Excellency President Fidel V. Ramos, Malacañang Palace, manila and Mayor Danilo Rodriguez of Araceli, Palawan for their consideration, information and appropriate action;
APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 24th day of January 1997 in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
| Certified True and Correct: | Approved: |
Liminangcong Executive Order
MALACAÑANG
Manila
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
EXECUTIVE ORDER No. 416 March 22, 2005
DECLARING AND DELINEATING THE MALAMPAYA (PANGULATAN) PORT ZONE UNDER THE ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION OF THE PHILIPPINE PORTS AUTHORITY
WHEREAS, the port of Liminangcong is one of the busiest port in the country particularly at the northwestern areas of the province of Palawan which includes Malampaya Sound, the fish bowl of the Philippines and other related areas;
WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of a seaport in Sitio Pangulatan, Barangay Liminangcong, Municipality of Taytay, Palawan which will serve as a hub of a sea borne commerce and trade in northern Palawan, the gateway to other municipalities, cities, provinces and other countries and to accommodate projected increases in port traffic and program the development of the port facilities to support the increasing demands of the shipping trade within the region;
WHEREAS, the existing port of Liminangcong has a very narrow maneuvering and anchorage areas for calling vessels and cannot accommodate, bigger, longer and deeper drafted vessels which may call in the area, and its back up areas are surrounded and occupied by unaccounted informal settlers hence, there is a need to have an alternative site for port of Liminangcong to be developed;
WHEREAS, the areas in Sitio Pangulatan in Barangay Liminangcong, Taytay, Palawan, a three (3) kilometer distance from the existing port of Liminangcong is an aidel are to be developed and to be constructed with bigger port facilities as it has a naturally all weather protected harbor , deeper entrance and exit channel, has an existing access road leading to the other municipalities and deeper draft to accommodate bigger and luxury liner vessels.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:
Section 1. The territorial jurisdiction of the port of Malampaya in Sitio Pangulutan, Liminangcong, Taytay, Palawan is hereby defined, declared and delineated and particularly described as follows:
"Beginning at the point marked 1 on the plan, thence to point 2 at a distance of 2,450.00 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees West, thence to point 3 at a distance of 850.00 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees East, thence to point 4 at a distance of 5,300 meters with bearing at South 45 degrees East, thence to point 5 at a distance of 850 meters with bearing at South 45 degrees West, thence to point 6 at a distance of 2,650.00 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees West, thence to point 6 at a distance 2,650.00 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees West, thence to point 7 at a distance of 450.00 meters with bearing at South 45 degrees West, thence to point 6 at a distance of 2,650.00 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees West thence to point 7 at a distance of 450.00 meters with bearing at South 45 degrees West thence to point 8 at a distance of 200 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees West, thence to point 1 or the beginning at a distance of 450 meters with bearing at North 45 degrees East, all in all comprising a total area of 4,595.000 square meters more or less".
Section 2. The Malampaya Port Zone as defined is hereby placed under the administrative jurisdiction of the Philippine Ports Authority, which shall, consistent with the regional industrial plans of the government, implement a program in the proper zoning, planning development and utilization of the port.
Section 3. All orders, proclamations and issuances or portions thereof which are inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby amended, repealed or modified accordingly.
Section 4. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of March in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand Five.
(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
By the President:
(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary
Monday, June 22, 2009
4 Mayors Sued
Palawan mayors sued for leveling mountain
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc Updated June 19, 2009 12:00 AM
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc Updated June 19, 2009 12:00 AM
SAN VICENTE, Palawan — Four local leaders and an international filmmaker have been linked to the environmental ruin in this seaside town touted as the next Boracay. So the provincial conservation movement has sued them for graft and illegal quarrying.
Charged last week before the provincial prosecutor were Mayors Antonio Gonzales of San Vicente and Samuel de Jesus of Busuanga, Vice Mayor Joseph Armstrong Palanca of Coron, and former mayor Iber Chou of Española. Also accused of illegally leveling a mountainside to make way for a tourist resort were world-famous producer-director Michael Gleissner and 56 workers identified only as John Does.
Allegedly in April and May equipment owned by de Jesus, Palanca and Chou bulldozed trees, backhoed slopes and trucked off 36,000 cubic meters of rocks, gravel and soil to fill up a six-hectare fishpond downhill. The 14-hectare mountainside was real property co-owned by Gonzales and sold recently to Gleissner, along with the fishpond and beachfront property beyond, for conversion into a high-class resort and yacht club. Gonzales supposedly allowed the woodcutting and quarrying without permit from provincial authorities.
In the complaint, Kilusan Sagip Kalikasan (KSK) head Atty. Nesario Awat said the accused conspired to extract quarry resources worth P1.8 million belonging to the state. He also said the local leaders took advantage of their position and gravely abused their authority to give Gleissner undue favor and advantage to level the mountainside. Not only was the quarrying illegal, but the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB) also had earlier ordered Gonzales to “cease and desist” from abetting it — to no avail.
The KSK is composed of government and private environmentalists. It serves as the enforcer of the PMRB, which was formed under a special law, the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan (Republic Act 7611), to preserve the country’s last frontier.
A team of newsmen and staff of the PMRB-KSK visited the site Wednesday and witnessed a backhoe, a bulldozer, and two trucks at work in the land-filled fishpond. Billboards of Gonzales rallying the townsfolk to report and fight illegal quarrying abounded. But the PMRB-KSK personnel point out to newsmen at least two other illegal quarries, aside from the Marina Yacht Club project.
Because it was a Wednesday, sabong (cockfight) day, other heavy equipment on the nearby slopes were idle, and Gonzales was unavailable for interview. At press time he had not returned calls although he said he would. Gleissner could not be immediately contacted by e-mail.
Gonzales reportedly had told the PMRB-KSK that the leveling of the mountainside, land-filling of the fishpond and consequent construction of the Marina Yacht Club were covered by an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Moreover, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development supposedly had cleared the tourism project. The San Vicente municipal council too had passed a new land-use ordinance to encourage the construction of tourist resorts and an international airport.
Told by the provincial team yesterday that the illegal quarrying was going on despite the cease-and-desist order, Gov. Joel Reyes consulted with capitol lawyers on how to make the San Vicente municipal police enforce it. He said he will also sue the town officials and the quarry operators with theft of minerals on top of Awat’s charges. “I am for development of our province, but it has to be done right,” he said. There is a process for securing tree cutting, quarrying and large-scale construction permits, and part of it is the study of environmental impact.
Investors and local officials have been talking of putting up tourist facilities here, especially along the 16-kilometer
A total logging ban was imposed in Palawan in the early ’90s, thus allowing the province’s mountains to regain its lushness. But San Vicente’s prospects as “the new Boracay” is a long way off, according to tourism experts. It took two decades from the ’80s to the ’90s to develop Boracay, and it is only beginning to boom, and will continue to, they say. There’s not even a power plant in San Vicente to electrify the airport, much more the high-end resorts. And that power plant could prove to be another environmental issue.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Agutaya Fort
Lifted from muog.wordpress.com
In 1622, Palawan (Paragua) and the neighboring northern islands collectively known as Calamianes were entrusted to the spiritual care of the Augustinian Recollects by the Bishop of Cebu, Pedro de Arce OAR. Friars Francisco de San Nicolas, Diego de Santa Ana, Juan de Santo Tomas and lay brother Francisco de la Madre de Dios were assigned to this mission area. By 1623, the friars had crossed to the Palawan mainland but failed to succeed in conversion because of the strong influence of Muslim communities. Quite a contrast to the easy acceptance of Catholicism by the people of Cuyo and neighboring Agutaya. These fledgling Christian outstations were subject to attack by slave raider: 1632 Cuyo; 1636 Cuyo and Calamines; and in 1646 the raiders planned a concerted and massive attack on this frontier. In 1638, while serving as parish priest of Cuyo, Juan de Severo, OAR conceived of the idea to fortify the churches of Cuyo, Agutaya and Culion. While the friars built churches and residences and were advancing in their work, continued slave-raiding and lack of resources forced them to abandon Palawan briefly, except for Cuyo and Agutaya. This retrenchment set back the growth of the missions. In 1659, they returned determined to stay and so begun the construction of more durable defensive fortifications at Cuyo, Agutaya, and Culion, and also at Linapacan, Taytay and Dumaran, Malampaya, Calatan and Paragua (Puerto Princesa). In 1692, the mission at Agutaya was raised to the status of parish under the advocacy of San Juan Bautista. This is the same name given to the fort at Agutaya.
The fort built in 1683 was remodelled in the 18th century. It is not certain if the 17th-century fortification was a palisade or a stone fort. The plan for Agutaya appears in the Valdes Tamon report of 1738. Whether the fortification was built immediately is uncertain. A date given for the completion of the fort is 1784 and is attributed to the encomendero Antonio de Rojas who delineated the plan of the fort. Apparently, the earlier fort of Fray Juan was greatly modified.
Landor (1904: 65) describes Agutaya “a fort with four battlements was the principal structure, and inside its quadrangle was to be found a simple and modest church, the windows of which were cut into the east wall of the fort. This house of God possessed a choir-balcony and the usual cheap images of the altar. On the northeast battlements, which was crumbling away were the remains of a high tower.”
The degradation of the Agutaya fort continues to this day.
In 1622, Palawan (Paragua) and the neighboring northern islands collectively known as Calamianes were entrusted to the spiritual care of the Augustinian Recollects by the Bishop of Cebu, Pedro de Arce OAR. Friars Francisco de San Nicolas, Diego de Santa Ana, Juan de Santo Tomas and lay brother Francisco de la Madre de Dios were assigned to this mission area. By 1623, the friars had crossed to the Palawan mainland but failed to succeed in conversion because of the strong influence of Muslim communities. Quite a contrast to the easy acceptance of Catholicism by the people of Cuyo and neighboring Agutaya. These fledgling Christian outstations were subject to attack by slave raider: 1632 Cuyo; 1636 Cuyo and Calamines; and in 1646 the raiders planned a concerted and massive attack on this frontier. In 1638, while serving as parish priest of Cuyo, Juan de Severo, OAR conceived of the idea to fortify the churches of Cuyo, Agutaya and Culion. While the friars built churches and residences and were advancing in their work, continued slave-raiding and lack of resources forced them to abandon Palawan briefly, except for Cuyo and Agutaya. This retrenchment set back the growth of the missions. In 1659, they returned determined to stay and so begun the construction of more durable defensive fortifications at Cuyo, Agutaya, and Culion, and also at Linapacan, Taytay and Dumaran, Malampaya, Calatan and Paragua (Puerto Princesa). In 1692, the mission at Agutaya was raised to the status of parish under the advocacy of San Juan Bautista. This is the same name given to the fort at Agutaya.
The fort built in 1683 was remodelled in the 18th century. It is not certain if the 17th-century fortification was a palisade or a stone fort. The plan for Agutaya appears in the Valdes Tamon report of 1738. Whether the fortification was built immediately is uncertain. A date given for the completion of the fort is 1784 and is attributed to the encomendero Antonio de Rojas who delineated the plan of the fort. Apparently, the earlier fort of Fray Juan was greatly modified.
Landor (1904: 65) describes Agutaya “a fort with four battlements was the principal structure, and inside its quadrangle was to be found a simple and modest church, the windows of which were cut into the east wall of the fort. This house of God possessed a choir-balcony and the usual cheap images of the altar. On the northeast battlements, which was crumbling away were the remains of a high tower.”
The degradation of the Agutaya fort continues to this day.
Fuerte de Santa Isabel • Taytay, Palawan
lifted from muog.wordpress.com
The beginning of this fortification is attributed to “El padre capitan” Fray Agustin de San Pedro, OAR who is reported to have built a fort in 1626; this was three years after the Recollects had established a mission in the area. However, the friar’s fortification was apparently a palisade. If there were a more permanent structure built is uncertain, but whatever be the case by the first quarter of the 18th century Fray Agustin’s fort was in bad state and had been abandoned. Because of Taytay’s close proximity to Borneo and in the track of merchant ships under other Europeans and the vessels of the seafaring pirates Gov. Gen. Fernando Manuel de Bustillo was prompted to rebuild the fort. He appointed Fernando Vélez de Arce as the castle chief because of his expertise in building fortifications learned at the public academy of Barcelona.
The successor of Bustillo in 1725, the Marques de Torrecampo reported that Taytay was fortified by a palisade and moved that stone structure be built in response to the request of the alcalde mayor of Calamianes who had called together a council of war. In October 1726, work had progressed such that the wall facing the town was completed. The castle master Juan Antonio de la Torre opined that it was necessary to demolish the redoubt called “la retirada” and suggested that a small structure or garita be built at the shore as a guide and protection for ships.
Five years later, the new alcalde mayor Benito Llanes y Cienfuegos reported that the fortification was on a rock but was indefensible as it was of poor quality material. Furthermore, he suggested that the fortification be built elsewhere rather than waste resources on repairs. He also suggested rebuilding the demolished redoubt “la reitrada.” In response, the central government sent the engineer Tomás de Castro to survey the area and submit his recommendations. De Castro replied that building a new fort of a much better and more adequate design was the preferred option. However, he was instructed that before such an undertaking to do some repairs on the fort (DT 1959:375-78).
This was apparently done, because in the fort’s plan as it appears in the 1738 Valdes Tamon report, parts are already indicated as being made of stone, some parts were still made of timber and others were planned. It seems that de Castro’s recommendation to build a completely new structure was not followed or rather that he was ordered to continue the reconstruction because a memorial stone on the inner side of the curtain wall indicates that de Castro was responsible for rebuilding the Taytay fort.
Described as a fuerza, Santa Isabel is built over a rock beside the sea. Planned as an irregular quadrilateral, whose perimeter followed the contour of the rock on which it is built, the fort has a seaward side curtain wall is arched rather than straight. Bastions are found at each corner of the irregular plan. Garitas are strategically located. A ruined chapel is in the center of the plan. Some below ground structures are visible but whose functions are uncertain. They may be the structures described in the 1738 report as storehouses. Despite being well-built the structure was vulnerable from attack, mounted on a nearby hill which opened to an unobstructed view of the fort.
Landor (1904: 111-112) describes Taytay and identifies the bellow ground structures as “dungeons,” he may be mistaken. Landor writes:
“The fort, which could accommodate six or seven hundred soldiers, was constructed on a high rock projecting into the sea and connected with the land by an artificial causeway. There was a passage with steps, and an incline by which the summit of the church could be reached some thirty-five or forty feet above the sea-level. By the side of this incline were two dungeons, now roofless. In former times these dungeons had only one small aperture to give light and air to both chambers. On the opposite (east) side of the entrance-gate was a large cistern with a fountain at the lower portion.The fort was one of the finest on Palawan Island, and had four bastions, those overlooking the sea to the north being semicircular, whereas the other two were angular. For its day it possessed some powerful iron artillery, such as one long five-inch piece dated 1812, and two four-inch (1823) cannon. A great number of one-pound bullets were used as mitraille in the big guns; possibly smaller guns were (page 112) in those times mounted upon the wall; or maybe it was ammunition fired at the fort by the Moro lantacas (brass cannon) in some attacks.The inside of the fort was at a slope, the north part being filled up to within five feet of the top of the wall. The two east turrets were reached by an incline, and a path was built all around the top of the castellated wall. The actual stone outer wall was no more than thirty inches wide, but it was filled with earth and thus made of great strength. The only building inside, which was formerly a chapel with two bamboo annexes, is now used as barracks for the constabulary force of seventeen men. The fort measures some forty paces square, and its walls was about forty-two feet high and vertical, except corner bastions at a slant, with a cornichon twenty feet above the ground all round.”
The beginning of this fortification is attributed to “El padre capitan” Fray Agustin de San Pedro, OAR who is reported to have built a fort in 1626; this was three years after the Recollects had established a mission in the area. However, the friar’s fortification was apparently a palisade. If there were a more permanent structure built is uncertain, but whatever be the case by the first quarter of the 18th century Fray Agustin’s fort was in bad state and had been abandoned. Because of Taytay’s close proximity to Borneo and in the track of merchant ships under other Europeans and the vessels of the seafaring pirates Gov. Gen. Fernando Manuel de Bustillo was prompted to rebuild the fort. He appointed Fernando Vélez de Arce as the castle chief because of his expertise in building fortifications learned at the public academy of Barcelona.
The successor of Bustillo in 1725, the Marques de Torrecampo reported that Taytay was fortified by a palisade and moved that stone structure be built in response to the request of the alcalde mayor of Calamianes who had called together a council of war. In October 1726, work had progressed such that the wall facing the town was completed. The castle master Juan Antonio de la Torre opined that it was necessary to demolish the redoubt called “la retirada” and suggested that a small structure or garita be built at the shore as a guide and protection for ships.
Five years later, the new alcalde mayor Benito Llanes y Cienfuegos reported that the fortification was on a rock but was indefensible as it was of poor quality material. Furthermore, he suggested that the fortification be built elsewhere rather than waste resources on repairs. He also suggested rebuilding the demolished redoubt “la reitrada.” In response, the central government sent the engineer Tomás de Castro to survey the area and submit his recommendations. De Castro replied that building a new fort of a much better and more adequate design was the preferred option. However, he was instructed that before such an undertaking to do some repairs on the fort (DT 1959:375-78).
This was apparently done, because in the fort’s plan as it appears in the 1738 Valdes Tamon report, parts are already indicated as being made of stone, some parts were still made of timber and others were planned. It seems that de Castro’s recommendation to build a completely new structure was not followed or rather that he was ordered to continue the reconstruction because a memorial stone on the inner side of the curtain wall indicates that de Castro was responsible for rebuilding the Taytay fort.
Described as a fuerza, Santa Isabel is built over a rock beside the sea. Planned as an irregular quadrilateral, whose perimeter followed the contour of the rock on which it is built, the fort has a seaward side curtain wall is arched rather than straight. Bastions are found at each corner of the irregular plan. Garitas are strategically located. A ruined chapel is in the center of the plan. Some below ground structures are visible but whose functions are uncertain. They may be the structures described in the 1738 report as storehouses. Despite being well-built the structure was vulnerable from attack, mounted on a nearby hill which opened to an unobstructed view of the fort.
Landor (1904: 111-112) describes Taytay and identifies the bellow ground structures as “dungeons,” he may be mistaken. Landor writes:
“The fort, which could accommodate six or seven hundred soldiers, was constructed on a high rock projecting into the sea and connected with the land by an artificial causeway. There was a passage with steps, and an incline by which the summit of the church could be reached some thirty-five or forty feet above the sea-level. By the side of this incline were two dungeons, now roofless. In former times these dungeons had only one small aperture to give light and air to both chambers. On the opposite (east) side of the entrance-gate was a large cistern with a fountain at the lower portion.The fort was one of the finest on Palawan Island, and had four bastions, those overlooking the sea to the north being semicircular, whereas the other two were angular. For its day it possessed some powerful iron artillery, such as one long five-inch piece dated 1812, and two four-inch (1823) cannon. A great number of one-pound bullets were used as mitraille in the big guns; possibly smaller guns were (page 112) in those times mounted upon the wall; or maybe it was ammunition fired at the fort by the Moro lantacas (brass cannon) in some attacks.The inside of the fort was at a slope, the north part being filled up to within five feet of the top of the wall. The two east turrets were reached by an incline, and a path was built all around the top of the castellated wall. The actual stone outer wall was no more than thirty inches wide, but it was filled with earth and thus made of great strength. The only building inside, which was formerly a chapel with two bamboo annexes, is now used as barracks for the constabulary force of seventeen men. The fort measures some forty paces square, and its walls was about forty-two feet high and vertical, except corner bastions at a slant, with a cornichon twenty feet above the ground all round.”
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