The money to fund these ambitious environmental projects will come from the Environmental Users’ Fee (EUF) or "green fee" being collected from visitors and tourists entering this resort municipality, says Puerto Galera Mayor Hubbert A. Dolor, who had just arrived from a MAB meeting in Spain.

The three WWTFP will be installed in Barangay Sabang, P120 million; Barangay San Isidro or "White Beach," P80 million; and Barangay Poblacion, P54 million.

Dolor said the "necessity and urgency of these environmental projects are the first projects to be funded by the EUF."

The collection of the P50 "green fee" per visitor coming from outside Oriental Mindoro is covered by a municipal ordinance and approved by the Sangguniang Panalalawigan.

Its collection started October last year, and expected to gather the estimated amount of between P25 million to P50 annually to bankroll not only the proposed three WWTP, but also other environmental projects in the municipality under Dolor’s "Ang Puerto Galera Na May Malaparaisong Dalampasigan" program.

"The rationale of the EUF is commendable since the ordinance was designed to gather enough funds to pay for environmental projects, foremost is the waste-water treatment facility in Barangay Sabang, which is long overdue," the municipal official said.

Dolor also explained that Puerto Galera must live up to its name as "one of the most beautiful bays in the world," the first in the Philippines to become a member of the exclusive French-based Club of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World along with Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

Businessman Rocky Ilagan, who owns a fleet of 10 pumpboats under the Father and Son Shipping Lines, and a resident of Barangay Sabang, said that not only residents of the village will benefit from these municipal government’s environmental projects, but also the local and international tourists who frequent the place annually.

"Clearly, the high cost of these ambitious environmental projects, particularly here in Sabang, is not within the budget of the municipality. The multimillion peso waste water treatment plant to rise this year in my place is the government’s answer to the worsening water pollution and sewerage problem of Sabang," explained Ilagan.

Aside from the total cost of P120 million for the construction of the facility, the Sabang wastewater treatment plant also entails a P12 million operating cost annually, he said.

Muelle Bay, a protected cove in the heart of Puerto Galera, and of one the three beneficiaries of the water treatment projects costing P54 million, is also considered as "one of the world’s ‘most safest’ natural harbors," while Barangay Sabang is "home to the famous 23 divesites."

As a natural heritage, this biosphere reserve has a size of 232 square kilometers with endemic species, including nine out of 16 varieties of seagrass in the world, 20 species of mangrove trees out of 40 in the Philippines, 152 coral species out of 400 in the country, and 121 species of fish, tortoises, marble, and gold.