Palawan Trip 2

On our first night in Palawan, the PIA-7 and MIMAROPA team was included in a dinner with Puerto Princesa mayor Edward Hagedorn hosted by the city to notable visitors that have arranged the visit with the city tourism office.
It was a big event with over 100 foreign and local tourists.
The dinner is a way of welcoming visitors and promoting Palawan.
Audio visual and PowerPoint presentations were so informative and well-thought of. Hagedorn's presentations, we were told are his own. He himself selects the information, photos and prepares the PowerPoint.
Mayor Hagedorn was very spontaneous and candid in all his presentations but one thing was very clear, he was a staunch environmentalist that he has managed and sustained the environmental protection and development of Palawan.
Hagedorn said, at the early stages of his leadership, it was hard to persuade people to care for the environment .
Palawan then reeled with problems on muro-ami, illegal logging, kaingin, waste disposal and poverty.
By sheer determination and wide community involvement, he was able to reverse the situation. He encouraged barangays to clean and keep stock of their surroundings.
He was very strict in enforcing environmental laws, Palawan is the first province in the country to craft its own environmental laws.
Palawan is a hall of famer in the cleanest and greenest contest in the country and it is also adjudged as the only province in the world with zero carbon footprints, safest place to live according to scientists that monitor the environmental health of a place.
Listening to the mayor, I thought if all mayors in the country are like him , the PHL would be a safer, greener, cleaner and more peaceful place to live.
There will be more blogs related to my Palawan trip experiences. Until my next blog.