Substandard Villa Natividad Resort in Galera

The Galera mayhem.

The other side of Galera: tranquil and serene.

Poor Man’s Boracay

Puerto Galera (PG) is generally regarded as a poor man’s Boracay. Situated in the northwestern tip of Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Galera is just less than 3 hours away from Manila (by bus to Batangas City Pier and a boat ride direct to White Beach, PG). Due to its proximity to Manila and nearby provinces, PG is a weekend R and R place of the weary and stressed out city workers. Food is relatively affordable. Lodging, ranging from “reasonable” to “unreasonable,” provide a gamut of amenities: from basic to indulgence. PG welcomes backpackers, sun worshippers, serious divers and laid back metro workers needing a respite from their busy lives.

Holy Week is PG’s busiest time of the year. Room occupany is at its highest, rates become “unreasonable” and resort sharks (I mean owners) and leeches (booking agents) have a great time feasting on their preys who are willing to pay the horrendous fees despite the meager and substandard amenities their resort offers.

Substandard Villa Natividad

My friends and I stayed in Villa Natividad Resort in White Beach, PG. Our booking agent Juliet informed us that the rate is Php. 3,500.00/night and the room can accommodate 2-3 people. Since we are a party of four, we thought an extra mattress would suffice. As soon as we arrived in White Beach, we headed off to Villa Natividad. We met up with Juliet and she cordially led us to the room. To our dismay, the room was outrageously small. It does not take a genius to figure it out that an extra mattress on the floor would make us sardines living in a tin can. The only thing that worked properly in the room was the a/c. The bathroom floor area was on-standard, not too small but just enough space to maneuver around. No mirror was provided in the bathroom though.

Juliet charged us Php. 500.00/night for the extra mattress. In sum, we paid Php. 4,000.00/nite getting pittance and substandard room. We were four but they only provided us with three towels and two blankets (meaning one of us would have to sleep and brave the cold air without a blanket while the other one had to share).

Our stay in Villa Natividad was horrendous. Sleeping was uncomfortable because the mattress was so worn-out. I really felt the sturdy wood of the bed on my back. Thrice, the whole area blacked-out cutting the electricity right in the middle of the day. We had to endure the hot and humid temperature of Galera while having siesta. To make it worse, there was no generator. When power was restored, water coming from the faucets was murky, dirty and stinky. My companion took a bath with that murky, dirty and stinky water. We had to wait for 3-4 hours for ‘clean’ water to flow out of the faucet.

We are not fussy backpackers but we just want our money’s worth.

Villa Natividad may have substandard facilities but that did not  ruin our vacation. PG still retains its magic: lush mountain range, the shimmering sea, clean air and priceless sunsets.

Backyard Tourism

Resorts in PG are products of backyard tourism. Families with parcels of beachfront properties put up these resorts to earn a living from foreign and domestic tourists. It’s a decent way of living but seasonal in nature. During the lean-rainy-typhoon season, less than 3% of the entire White Beach resorts (combined) are occupied. A resort is considered lucky to have two or three of its rooms occupied during this time.

Resorts owned by Filipinos are in the state of neglect, as in the case of Villa Natividad. There is no room upkeep; a/c is noisy; bathroom tiles are dirty; linens, sheets and curtains are old and worn-out and traces of cobwebs are found in the room and bathroom ceiling. This is the sad part because their view on resort management (or whatever the term is) is so myopic. As long as money is pouring in, the operational cost is down and revenue is up then everything for them is OK. No care is given to make the existing property in good condition nor replace defective electric appliance with brand new ones.

Newer and spruce resorts/hotels have mushroomed over the past few years. These are owned by foreigners married to locals. Since these owners are more well-funded  than their local counterparts, their resorts/hotels are well maintained, clean and all electric appliances are working properly. Their staff are properly trained, courteous and well groomed. They have standard uniforms that reflect the holiday-summer feel of  PG.

Staff of local resorts are courteous but they wear shabby ordinary clothes. Definitely, training is acquired due to first hand experience rather than a formal classroom type of training on customer service, food handling and basic courtesy.

There is nothing wrong with backyard tourism but in order to be more competitive, proprietors (both foreign and local) must upgrade, if not, at least maintain their resorts/hotels clean. Galera’s appeal is different from Boracay or Panglao. The only saving grace that PG has is its proximity to Manila. Without a steady supply of tourists during summer, PG will definitely be left to oblivion.

NOTE: Please see related article in my blog regarding the tragic capsizing of a motorized outrigger between the strait of Batangas and Mindoro. This happened a  month after my holy week vacation in Puerto Galera (https://junacullador.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/unbelievable-people/).