Mindoro residents urge Puerto Galera: Restore environment fee exemptions

CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro — Concerned residents across Mindoro have filed a position paper on Thursday (August 20) urging the Sangguniang Bayan of Puerto Galera to reconsider the revised Environmental User’s Fee (EUF) ordinance. 

They also want Puerto Galera to restore the exemption for bonafide residents of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, arguing that the P50 entry fee that would be imposed on them will create unnecessary division and hurt local tourism. 

Saying they fully support Puerto Galera’s environmental initiatives and sustainable funding, the authors of the position paper also said charging Mindoro residents for entering the municipality undermines the shared identity of the entire island. 

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“We are all Mindoreños. Puerto Galera is part of Mindoro. When residents of Puerto Galera travel to Calapan, Abra de Ilog, or other towns, we are not charged an environmental fee for entering their communities. Our fellow Mindoreños deserve the same sense of welcome here,” the petitioners stated. 

The group stressed that the issue goes beyond the P50 fee — it is about the feeling of being treated as an outsider in one’s own island. 

“A Mindoreño may understandably ask: ‘Why am I being charged to enter another part of my own island?’ That feeling of exclusion can create resentment far greater than the value of the fee collected,” the paper says. 

Instead of viewing locals as a source of revenue, the petitioners urged the local government to treat Mindoro residents as key tourism partners. 

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They said locals who feel welcome become repeat visitors, bring guests, and boost spending in resorts, restaurants, transport, and shops — generating far more economic activity than the P50 fee could ever yield. 

“Sometimes, giving up P50 at the entrance can generate thousands of pesos inside the community. Let us make Mindoreños our tourism ambassadors instead of making them pay to enter,” the appeal adds. 

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The position paper calls on the Sangguniang Bayan to amend Municipal Ordinance No. 2025-030 and reinstate the EUF exemption for all Mindoro residents.

“Environmental protection can continue without unnecessarily creating a barrier between Puerto Galera and its fellow Mindoreños. Before we are residents of different municipalities or provinces, we are all Mindoreños,” the petitioners further said. /das