Message of Governor Joel T. Reyes
Welcome to Palawan!
We invite you to come and join us in our annual Baragatan sa Palawan, a celebration of our life, our history, our culture in thanksgiving for the natural beauty and multifarious resources that our God Almighty has generously bestowed upon our province.
Our archipelagic configuration has made our province multifaceted in terms of our cultural and natural heritage, rendering a colorful, prestigious and diverse past and present. Composed of 23 municipalities and the Highly Urbanized City of Puerto Princesa, Palawan boasts of a history that provides linkages to the anthropological origins of the First Filipino while also reflecting the cultural patterns and lifestyles of our early ancestors.
The traditions of the original inhabitants of Palawan like the Tagbanua, Batak, Tao’t Bato, Palaw’an, Molbog, Cuyunon, Agutaynon and Cagayanen are still very much a part of who we are as a people even while Palawan today has become a cosmopolitan province.
And it is this profuse interplay of the diversity of our cultures, yesterday and today, which has given birth to our annual festivity. True to the meaning of the name Baragatan which is derived from the Cuyuno word “bagat” which means to meet, Baragatan is a celebration of convergence of peoples, cultures, traditions, arts and crafts produced by Palaweños out of the abundance of the environment. This is the time of year when all Palaweños including those who have made Palawan their home along with the businessman, tourists and travelers, flock at the Provincial Capitol Complex for weeks of sharing, discovering and rediscovering the best of Palawan, its tourism sights and investment potentials toward a better, unified and more progressive province.
Be part of our celebration from June 1 to 30, 2008. Let us all be one in Baragatan!
JOEL T. REYES
Governor
Provincial Tourism Office