History
In pre-Hispanic times, Puerto Galera was a bustling port as early as the 10th century, hosting. Chinese junks and traders from India, Java and Sumatra. Early Chinese manuscripts mentioned that in 982 AD, certain traders from Ma-it (the present Mindoro) traded valuable merchandise to Canton.
In 1574, the Spaniards established town of Puerto Galera and in the early 17th century, after Mindoro was separated from Bonbon (now Batangas) and became a corregimiento, it was declared the capital of Mindoro. Brgy. San Isidro was the original capital site, but Moro raids forced a move to the current poblacion. The capital was moved to Calapan in 1837. On May 22, 1897, during the revolution, Juan Naguit led a bloody uprising, capturing the old Spanish fort at Sukol (now Bongabong).
Calapan was besieged from June 1 up to the 30th when 1,000 men under Col. Alfonso Panopio of Bauan affected the surrender of Spanish Gov. Rafael Morales.
Mindoro was liberated on July 21, 1898 by Filipino forces led by Macario Adriatico. On April 1901, during the Philippine-American War, Lt.-Col. Ramon Atienza of Batangas was made revolutionary governor and commander of the Mindoro Forces.
On July 23, an American expeditionary force was sent to Calapan to free U.S. prisoners of war. On July 27, another 800-man expedition on four gunboats led by Maj. R.K. Evans anchored at Calapan Bay. The town surrendered on August 1.
and the whole of Mindoro was pacified on May 1902. On June 23, 1902, Mindoro was annexed to Marinduque by virtue of Philippine Legislative Act No. 432. It became a regular province on February 20, 1921 by virtue of Philippine Legislative Act No. 2964. On February 7, 1942, during World War II, the Japanese under Kendo Susuki landed in Sitio Kapihan, Brgy. Silonay in Calapan. Two guerilla groups operated in the area: one under Capt. Esteban Beloncio and another under Maj. Ramon Ruffy (provincial commander of the 1st Mindoro PC Company). American forces liberated Calapan on January 23, 1945. On June 13, 1950, Mindoro was divided into two provinces by virtue of Republic Act No. 205. On November 15, 1994, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake left 100 people dead from landslides and tsunamis that hit Calapan.
Prior to the coming of the Spaniards in 1571, Mindoro was already known to the Chinese merchants who plied the waters to conduct their commercial expeditions. Trading relationship existed between the Philippines and China, particularly, in the eastern part of the island. For this reason, after Miguel Lopez de Legaspi discovered the island in 1569, Goiti, as master of camp, sailed to Mindoro on May 8, 1570, and encountered the Chinese merchants. But even as they transacted business with the islanders, to the amazement of the Spaniards, there had already been signs of Hindu and Pagan influence in the place.
The earnest conquest of Mindoro began in 1570 in the district of Mamburao, when Juan de Salcedo subjugated the inhabitants under the Spanish authority. The early names of Mindoro were Mai and Mina de Oro. The latter is a contraction of the Spanish description of the phrase which means “”gold mine.”" Although there were no major gold discoveries, panners and Mangyans have found gold in small quantities in the rivers of Baco, Binaybay, Bongabong, and Magasawan Tubig.
The province of Occidental Mindoro is characterized by successive mountain ranges, valleys and plateaus with rolling grazing lands along the coast. It is situated at the western portion of the island of Mindoro. The province is bounded by Verde Island Passage on the north, Mindoro Strait on the south and west and Oriental Mindoro on the east.
Considered as “Home of the Indigenous Mangyans”, its capital is Mamburao and occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro, on the west by Apo East Pass, and on the south by the Mindoro Strait; Oriental Mindoro is at the eastern half. The South China Sea is to the west of the province and Palawan is located to the southwest, across Mindoro Strait. Batangas is to the north, separated by the Verde Island Passage.
Occidental Mindoro is endowed with marine beauty from its virgin forests, beautiful white sand beaches, islands and islets rich in marine life, coral gardens, mysterious caves, and cascading waterfalls.
Tagalog is spoken by 69.78 percent of the people. Other dialects are Ilokano (10.63 percent), Hiligaynon (6.47 percent), and Kinaray-a (5.84 percent). The working population can read and speak Filipino and English.
A monument in memory of The Landing in Mindoro of American Forces in December 1944, Sometimes referred to as " MacArthur's Second Landing " - Occidental Mindoro
From Wikipedia:
Oriental Mindoro (Tagalog: Silangang Mindoro, Spanish: Mindoro Oriental) is a province of the Philippines located in the island of Mindoro under MIMAROPA region in Luzon, about 140 km southwest of Manila. The province is bordered by the Verde Island Passage and the rest of Batangas to the north, by Marinduque, Maestre de Campo (or known as Sibale but official name is Concepcion) Island, Tablas Strait and the rest of Romblon to the east, by Semirara and the rest of Caluya Islands, Antique to the south, and by Occidental Mindoro to the west. Calapan City, the only city in the island, is the provincial capital.
Oriental Mindoro is touted as the country's emerging eco-tourism destination. In 2005, the Philippines was found to be the center of marine fish biodiversity and the home of the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world,[3] 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. The passage houses 2,983 individual species of algae, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, fishes, marine reptiles, and marine mammals, based on a study conducted by Carpenter and Springer in 2005.
Our study indicates, however, that there is a higher concentration of species per unit area in the Philippines than anywhere in Indonesia, including Wallacea... Special attention to marine conservation efforts in the Philippines is justified because of the identification of it as an epicenter of biodiversity and evolution.
UNESCO declared Puerto Galera a biosphere reserve[4] under its Man and the Biosphere Programme in the 1970s. The Verde Island Passage is at the apex of the so-called Coral Triangle – the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia – which has the distinction of being the "global center of marine biodiversity".
The province has a total land area of 4,238.4 km². The western portion of the province is mountainous or rugged, while the east has hills and flood plains. Mount Halcon, standing 2,582 m above sea level, is the 18th highest mountain in the country and is the province's and island's highest peak. Lake Naujan, the fifth largest lake in the country with an area of approximately 8,125 ha of open water, is located at the northeastern part of the island and the province.
Oriental Mindoro's rich and arable land is suitable for agriculture. It produces large quantities of rice, corn, coconut, vegetables andfruits like calamansi, banana, rambutan, marang or uloy, lanzones and durian. For that, Oriental Mindoro is also known as the Rice Granary and Fruit Basket of Southern Tagalog. It still is the Banana King and Calamansi King of the region. Its total agricultural area is 169,603.34 hectares. Based on agricultural statistics, 85,244 hectares are devoted to palay production while 21,671 hectares to coconut plantation. The province, for the past years, registered an average of 1 to 2 million cavans as surplus in rice production.
Occidental Mindoro (Tagalog: Kanlurang Mindoro, Spanish: Mindoro Occidental) is a province of the Philippines located in theMIMAROPA region in Luzon. Its capital is Mamburao and occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro, on the west by Apo East Pass, and on the south by the Mindoro Strait; Oriental Mindoro is at the eastern half. The South China Sea is to the west of the province and Palawan is located to the southwest, across Mindoro Strait. Batangas is to the north, separated by the Verde Island Passage.
General land surface features that characterize Occidental Mindoro are mountains, rivers, hills, valleys, wide plains and some small fresh water lakes. The taller mountains can be found in the interior that it shares with Oriental Mindoro. Mountain ranges converge on the two central peaks, namely Mount Halcon in the north, and Mount Baco in the south. There is also a mountain known as the "Maiden's breast mountain", that looks like a reclined woman.
The northern part of the province has relatively fewer plains, while the southern parts have wider flatlands. Most of the plains are cultivated fields, with few remaining untouched forests. Significant hilly areas can be found rolling off in Sta Cruz in the north, and in San Jose and Magsaysay in the south. These are grassed-over rather than forested.
There are several major drainage or river systems flowing on a generally westerly course: Mamburao river, Pagbahan, Mompong, Biga, Lumintao, Busuanga and Caguray. Swamp areas are restricted to the south, specially, along the river mouths.
The province is also home to one of the more popular coral reefs in the Philippines, Apo Reef.
The indigenous people in the province are the Mangyans (Manguianes in Spanish, Mañguianes in Old Tagalog), consisting of seven distinct tribes. They occupy the foothills and interior, specially the highlands. Mangyans have inhabited the island since pre-history. They are believed to have originally traveled from Indonesia and settled down for good in the island.
Kabuuang katangian ng Mindoro
Mina de Oro
Ang Mindoro ay isang isla ng Pilipinas na matatagpuan sa timog katagagalugan ng Luzon na binubuo ng dalawang lalawigan, ang kanlurang Mindoro at silangang Mindoro. Mindoreño ang tawag sa mga tao rito. Ang Mindoro ay tirahan din ng mga katutubong mangyan na binubuo ng walong pangkat, Alangan, Bangon, Tau-buhid, Buhid, Hanunoo, Iraya, Ratagnon at Tadyawan.
Ang mga bayan na bumubuo sa probinsya ng Mindoro ay ang mga sumusunod:
Occidental Oriental
Abra de Ilog Calapan City
Calintaan Baco
Looc Bansud
Lubang Bongabong
Magsaysay Bulalacao
Mamburao Gloria
Paluan Mansalay
Rizal Naujan
Sablayan Pinamalayan
San Jose Pola
Santa Cruz Puerto Galera
Roxas
San Teodoro
Socorro
Victoria
Ang Mindoro ay isang isla. makikita sa mapa na napapalibutan ito ng tubig. Dahil dito, ang mga pamayanang malapit sa tubig ay umaasa nang malaki sa pangingisda, karaniwang galing sa dagat, at meron din sa mga palaisdaan. At may malawak na kabundukan at kapatagan, malaking bahagi ng kabundukan ay tinataniman ng mga punongkahoy na namumunga lalo na sa bahagi ng Oriental, sa bahagi naman ng Occidental ang malaking bahagi ng kapatagan ay ginagamit sa pagtatanim ng palay, at pag-aalaga ng mga hayop, tulad ng baka at kambing, at ang ibang bahagi ay ginagamit na asinan, sa katunayan malaking bahagi ng asin sa Pilipinas ay nanggagaling sa Mindoro.
May mga yamang mineral din na matatagpuan, kagaya ng ginto, carbon at nikel.
Sa Mindoro din matatagpuan ang Mount Baco-Iglit National Park na tirahan ng ipinagmamalaking Tamaraw, na sa probinsya lang matatagpuan. Sa bayan ng Sablayan din matatagpuan ang pangalawa sa pinakamalaking bahura (coral reef) sa buong mundo, ang Apo reef. Ang magagandang mga puting buhangin ng Puerto Galera, Pandan island, Grace island at ang parang pulbos na buhangin ng Inasakan sa isla ng Iling na higit na pino kesa buhangin ng boracay.
"I Am A Filipino"
By Carlos P. Romulo
I am a Filipino - inheritor of a glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As such I must prove equal to a two-fold task- the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future. I sprung from a hardy race - child of many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers. Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hope- hope in the free abundance of new land that was to be their home and their children's forever.
This is the land they sought and found. Every inch of shore that their eyes first set upon, every hill and mountain that beckoned to them with a green and purple invitation, every mile of rolling plain that their view encompassed, every river and lake that promise a plentiful living and the fruitfulness of commerce, is a hollowed spot to me.
By the strength of their hearts and hands, by every right of law, human and divine, this land and all the appurtenances thereof - the black and fertile soil, the seas and lakes and rivers teeming with fish, the forests with their inexhaustible wealth in wild life and timber, the mountains with their bowels swollen with minerals - the whole of this rich and happy land has been, for centuries without number, the land of my fathers. This land I received in trust from them and in trust will pass it to my children, and so on until the world no more.
I am a Filipino. In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroes - seed that flowered down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance. In my veins yet pulses the same hot blood that sent Lapulapu to battle against the alien foe that drove Diego Silang and Dagohoy into rebellion against the foreign oppressor.
That seed is immortal. It is the self-same seed that flowered in the heart of Jose Rizal that morning in Bagumbayan when a volley of shots put an end to all that was mortal of him and made his spirit deathless forever; the same that flowered in the hearts of Bonifacio in Balintawak, of Gergorio del Pilar at Tirad Pass, of Antonio Luna at Calumpit; that bloomed in flowers of frustration in the sad heart of Emilio Aguinaldo at Palanan, and yet burst fourth royally again in the proud heart of Manuel L. Quezon when he stood at last on the threshold of ancient Malacañang Palace, in the symbolic act of possession and racial vindication.
The seed I bear within me is an immortal seed. It is the mark of my manhood, the symbol of dignity as a human being. Like the seeds that were once buried in the tomb of Tutankhamen many thousand years ago, it shall grow and flower and bear fruit again. It is the insigne of my race, and my generation is but a stage in the unending search of my people for freedom and happiness.
I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine. I am of the East, an eager participant in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. But I also know that the East must awake from its centuried sleep, shape of the lethargy that has bound his limbs, and start moving where destiny awaits.
For, I, too, am of the West, and the vigorous peoples of the West have destroyed forever the peace and quiet that once were ours. I can no longer live, being apart from those world now trembles to the roar of bomb and cannon shot. For no man and no nation is an island, but a part of the main, there is no longer any East and West - only individuals and nations making those momentous choices that are hinges upon which history resolves.
At the vanguard of progress in this part of the world I stand - a forlorn figure in the eyes of some, but not one defeated and lost. For through the thick, interlacing branches of habit and custom above me I have seen the light of the sun, and I know that it is good. I have seen the light of justice and equality and freedom and my heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy, and I shall not rest until my land and my people shall have been blessed by these, beyond the power of any man or nation to subvert or destroy.
I am a Filipino, and this is my inheritance. What pledge shall I give that I may prove worthy of my inheritance? I shall give the pledge that has come ringing down the corridors of the centuries, and it shall be compounded of the joyous cries of my Malayan forebears when they first saw the contours of this land loom before their eyes, of the battle cries that have resounded in every field of combat from Mactan to Tirad pass, of the voices of my people when they sing:
Land of the Morning,Child of the sun returning…Ne'er shall invaders trample thy sacred shore.
Out of the lush green of these seven thousand isles, out of the heartstrings of sixteen million people all vibrating to one song, I shall weave the mighty fabric of my pledge. Out of the songs of the farmers at sunrise when they go to labor in the fields; out of the sweat of the hard-bitten pioneers in Mal-ig and Koronadal; out of the silent endurance of stevedores at the piers and the ominous grumbling of peasants Pampanga; out of the first cries of babies newly born and the lullabies that mothers sing; out of the crashing of gears and the whine of turbines in the factories; out of the crunch of ploughs upturning the earth; out of the limitless patience of teachers in the classrooms and doctors in the clinics; out of the tramp of soldiers marching, I shall make the pattern of my pledge:
"I am a Filipino born of freedom and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance - for myself and my children's children - forever.
WE SHALL REMAIN HONORED AS FILIPINOS !