| Puerto Galera was such
important port that some historians even believe the name "Mindoro"
was derived from Minolo, one of Puerto Galera's old settlements. These are claims,
too, that 16th century references to Mindoro often only meant the harbor of Minolo.
Also spelled Minoro, Minolo was a small coastal settlement northwest of the Poblacion
of present-day Puerto Galera. then the center of trading, Chinese merchants bartered
with natives of Minolo, exhanging glazed porcelains for gold, jade, corals, shells,
birds, rattan, and other forest products that were abundant in the island. An
excavation of an ancient gravesite near Minolo lends proof to this - the antiques
unearthed from the gravesites were traced back to the 10th and 15th centuries,
mostly from China, Thailand, and Vietnam. By
the 17th century, under its Spanish colonizers, the island of Mindoro was organized
into a coregimiento, with Puerto Galera as the capital. The seat of government
remained here throughout the Spanish and American rules, up until 1903. After
more than two centuries, the capital of the province was transferred to Calapan
(now a city and the present capital of Oriental Mindoro), which was geograpically
blessed with wide agricultural lands. Puerto Galera was then annexed to Calapan
as a barrio. Finally, on December 7, 1927, the Philippine Congress passed Act
3415 creating the independent municipality of Puerto Galera. Epigraphs
referring to two historical landmarks have now become major tourist attractions
in Puerto Galera - the commemoration Cross for Cañonero Mariveles and the
Black Rice display-board, both in Muelle Pier. When
Puerto Galera was made capital of Mindoro, it was originally located in Barrio
Lagundian. But the frequency of the Moro attacks forced the Spaniards not only
to transfer the seat government to its present site, but also to build watchtowers
and station battleship that guarded the waters of Puerto Galera was the Cañonero
Mariveles, which sunk due to a violent storm in 1879. To remember the battleships,
a wooden corss was built at Muelle Pier with the following inscription: "Ultima
tierra que pesarou los tripolantes del cañoneros Marivelles el 18 de Noviembre
de 1879." One of the greatest relics of the past century, this Cross was
renovated in 1938 by a Spaniard named Luis Gomez y Sotto. Aside
form introducing tools to increase farm productivity, the Spaniards also built
a rice granary in Puerto Galera to stash grains ready for shipment. This storage
is believed to have caught fire in the late of 18th century, and a huge volume
of palay (rice grains) were burned and tossed into the sea. It would decompose
and eventually vanish. But for some magical reason, the burned rice grains were
preserved by seawaters. to this day, handful of whole charcoal-black rice grains
continue to appear on the banks of Muelle Bay, mysteriously carried by the waves
with the changing of tides. A huge glasscase collecting them now stands along
the tricyle terminal on Muelle Pier. |
