This Week in Palawan (June 22 to 28, 2019)

This week starts with sunny days on Saturday and Sunday (June 22 to 23), with a couple of thunderstorms around. Clouds begin to hover over Palawan on Monday (June 24), and will pour down rain showers on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 25 to 26). The remaining two days (June 27 to 28) will see again thunderstorms and rain showers. This week, hot day temperature at 280 C to 31.10 C will be felt, while warm nights at 260 C to 280 C will be experienced [1].

The Puerto Princesa City Council is considering the passage of an ordinance prohibiting the use of full-faced helmets in the city to deter motorcycle-riding criminals and easily identify people behind hit-and-run accidents [2]. City Council’s transportation chairman Rolando Amurao said he is bent on having the said measure approved after sitting down with motorists in public hearings he held recently this month. The lawmaker said there were numerous crime incidents like theft and robbery that happened before, wherein the perpetrators had gone scot-free due to failure to establish their identity. Amurao, however, clarified that the proposed policy will only cover the city proper where CCTV cameras are installed. He added that the decision is now up to the City Council whether or not to approve the proposal.

Taiwan’s Tigerair recently started offering flights to Puerto Princesa City. The airline’s maiden flight left Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, and arrived at Puerto Princesa International Airport’s (PPIA) at 4 PM on June 7 [3]. Tigerair’s Airbus 1320 with flight number IT-545 carried 180 passengers, and was welcomed with the traditional water salute. Tigerair will fly to Puerto Princesa from Taipei and vice versa three times a week every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. Besides Puerto Princesa, the airline also has flights from Taipei to Cebu and Aklan via Mactan Cebu International Airport and Kalibo International Airport respectively. With these flights to the Philippines, the airline now lands on 25 different airports all over Southeast Asia.

More tourist attractions in Puerto Princesa City will be opened to the public soon [4]. This is a possibility as the City Tourism Office is keen on developing marine tourism sites in its three northeastern barangays, namely Maruyogon, Manalo, and Lucbuan. Recently, sites assessments had been conducted to identify potential attractions and activities they could offer. Relatedly, the City Tourism Office also planned to open two additional firefly watching sites in Nagsagipi River found within the boundary of Barangays Salvacion and Sta. Cruz, and also in San Carlos River in Barangay Bacungan [5]. The initiatives are part of the city government’s overall tourism expansion program, which primarily targets barangays with no existing tourism destinations. It also aims to decongest the city’s commonly visited sites, so as to preserve its ecological integrity.

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