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Post by Karl Welteke on Jul 5, 2024 10:18:28 GMT 8
Corregidor News Items, 2024 June 29 Here are 2 more Corregidor news items I observed on my day visit to the “Rock” on this date. The present On-Island Manager told me he has about 10 sweeper personnel and he said they are also working on trails to control the tropical growth that is always threatening the trails. ![](https://philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/01-Corregidor-news-29-June-2024.jpg) 01 Corregidor news, 29 June 2024. This is a 16th Feb. 2024 pictures with the tropical growth threatening the wall of the Pacific War Memorial on Corregidor. --------------------------------------- The next two pictures were shot on the 29th of June 2024 and show that the present Corregidor Maintenance Crew had a chance to take care of the tropical growth threatening the wall of the Pacific War Memorial on Corregidor. ![](https://philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/02-Corregidor-news-29-June-2024.jpg) 02 Corregidor news, 29 June 2024. This picture shows that the growth has been cut back from touching the wall of the Pacific War Memorial on Corregidor. ![](https://philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/03-Corregidor-news-29-June-2024.jpg) 03 Corregidor news, 29 June 2024. This zoomed-in picture shows that the growth has been cut back from touching the wall of the Pacific War Memorial on Corregidor. ================================================ The other news item is; I saw a tug and barge with a crane or derrick at the breakwater of the 92nd Coastal Artillery, Philippe Scouts Garage area. Apparently they are doing something there but I could not make out, exactly what. This is the infamous area the Filipino and American POWs were kept by the Japanese for about 18 days with insufficient water and food. About 15 years ago a similar barge placed a concrete cap on the rocks of this breakwater but the following year that concrete cap was destroyed by the seas. ![](https://philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/04-Corregidor-news-29-June-2024.jpg) 04 Corregidor news, 29 June 2024. I saw a tug and barge with a crane or derrick at the breakwater of the 92nd Coastal Artillery, Philippe Scouts Garage area. Apparently they are doing something there but I could not make out, exactly what. ------------------------------ ![](https://philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/05-Corregidor-news-29-June-2024.jpg) 05 Corregidor news, 29 June 2024. Zoomed-in; I saw a tug and barge with a crane or derrick at the breakwater of the 92nd Coastal Artillery, Philippe Scouts Garage area. Apparently they are doing something there but I could not make out, exactly what.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jul 6, 2024 13:57:59 GMT 8
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Post by cutsnake on Jul 18, 2024 13:57:51 GMT 8
Corregidor Visit = FAIL
I sure hope this management issue gets sorted soon and they do a proper job of it. Right now if I called it "treading water" whilst they get it right...that would be overly polite.
An Australian resident of Manila and friend of mine celebrated his 60th birthday last week and partied with 20 of his mates who flew in from all over the world. He thought he'd organise a day trip out to Corregidor for them. Well, didn't he get the run around. Short story is: They didn't get there.
Long Story: I advised him of the detailed advice provided here by Karl and we spoke of my recent experiences getting there with boats from Villa Carmen and staying overnight. He only wanted a day trip, so we followed Karl's advice and started the process. In fact, I flagged early that it wouldn't be a simple process (it is the Phils after all) so I volunteered to sit with his Filipino and Tagalog speaking wife, so that there wouldn't be any language difficulties or misunderstanding of what we were after. Pretty simple: We wanted a private tour of the island with our own Tramvia and boat(s) for Monday. We were even going to bring our own F&B.
Not wanting to drive to Mariveles and back in one day, they wanted to understandably go by boat from Manila. Of course, no boat runs from Manila on a Monday, so I suggested we talk directly first with TIEZA and find out if they'd even allow us to boat in from Manila.
Of course our first obstacle was that there is only 1 lady at TIEZA who handles anything to do with CI. And...it was her day off.
The next day... she answered the phone and was actually very knowledgeable about Corregidor and the current processes. Which was a pleasant surprise. She was at first hesitant to allow a private group to come in from Manila and I think at one stage she said we'd still have to book a guide, tramvia and pay all associated fees through Guia Del Mar in Mariveles. I think there was even a suggestion we would have to use our boat to go pick up the guide from MAAP. All things we were happy to cater for. Funnily enough her biggest concern was that we'd have to fork out a boat docking fee to use our own boat. We shuddered thinking of how much we were about to be fleeced. 100 peso. LOL. God bless her.
Now we were getting some traction, we asked about the following methods (more for future reference than any actual plans to use these forms of transport): a) Helicopter - YES. Allowed. There is a landing fee, but the Heli company would include that in their rate b) Jet ski - NO. Although I got the feeling that was more her thinking there wouldn't be a provider, rather than whether it was actually allowed c) Floatplane - NO. As above
So with that info we set about finding a boat in Manila. Ok Ok, we also called the Heli company : ) It would cost at least 280,000 peso for an 8 seat heli to take you to CI and back and wait on the island for 3 hours. Good info, but not for us.
Finding a boat, ship, ferry, anything that could float, from Manila proved an impossible task, made harder by ignored emails, messages and phone calls (again it is the Phils), but very frustrating none the less. After a week and a half we were incredulous that in a port city, we couldn't find a boat! The few replies we got included: "all our boats are out of the water for the off season", "we have ONE speedboat with 10 seats we'll hire for 168,000peso inc fuel" and a few "no sorry, we can't help".
So our only option was the dreaded long day to Mariveles and back.
I started by calling Villa Carmen (hoping to circumnavigate Guia del Mar as much as possible and maintain as much control of the day as I could). Emelda was great, understood what we wanted, but advised that we'd have to go through Guia Del Mar - even just for a boat.
In trying to contact Guia del Mar, we again hit the issues of unanswered calls and emails. Once on getting through, we were told that the person in charge was not there. I'm glad my friend's Filipino wife was the one copping all these dead ends, delays and outright ignoring of her attempts to contact. She was completely exhausted by how difficult it was. Eventually we got a price for a private tour.
It was now approaching 2 weeks of almost no success.
My friend decided to just go ahead with the day trip via Mariveles with Guia del Mar, using our own vehicles to get there because the included transport from Manila left at 5am and returned at 7am. Sounds like they don't use the tollways!
So they tried getting back in touch with Guia del Mar and got all the same obstacles and obfuscation all over again. Time was now getting very short and because TIEZA said they would need names at least 48 hours before and the weekend was looming, we sent off an email to TIEZA whilst we awaited a reply from Guia del Mar.
48 hours passed. No email reply from TIEZA and still no clear answer from Guia del Mar. It was Thursday and they could only go on the coming Monday. They tried calling TIEZA and were advised the lady was on another day off. They called on the Friday and the receptionist said that section was on holiday. Laugh. Information they could have provided yesterday!
Then it was the weekend and Guia still had not locked us in. So I found a number on their Facebook that I could whatsapp. I could see they read it, but it was hours before I got a reply...in tagalog. A few hours later, I got them replying in English and was told that Monday was "booked out" with two private tours and that all dates Tues 16th July to Sat 20 July is set aside for the "inspection of the island for a new management". It was evident our visit to CI was done for. Thanks for not telling us earlier.
I was curious what entailed a "sold out" day and was told that all guides were booked. I told them we just need a boat and a tramvia and I can guide. They said they only have two working tramvias. Which in turn means they only have 2 guides I guess. Now even I have given up. But good intel, that for now at least, they can only cater for 2 groups on any given day.
So Monday passes with beers by the pool instead of sweaty CI and then on Tuesday, TIEZA replies to the now 6 day old email. The first thing we notice is that the email looks like it went into their spam box. Yet another obstacle.
At least TIEZA had the manners to apologise for not getting back to us and asked if they could facilitate a different date. They provided the following for reference:
Entrance Fee - Php 300.00/pax
- Php 214.30/pax (Discounted rate for PWD, Senior Citizen,and Students with ID)
- Free of charge for children below 3 ft.
Use of tramvia (with tour guide) - Php 7,980.00 (for 10 pax only) (Php500.00/pax shall be charged to the additional guests. The maximum
capacity of one tramvia is 35 pax)
The point of departure will be from Mariveles, Bataan. The travel agency
offers pick-up arrangements from Manila to Bataan for their guests
should you wish to avail their services and proceed with the tour.
For your reference:
Ms. Flor Rivera - 0997 764 0946
Guia Del Mar Travel and Tours
That is the same number I was using to get some answers through Whatsapp. But Ms Flor has read and ignored my last questions about who is the 'new management' or is she referring to TIEZA?
Sigh. Tim.
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Hounddog
Member
Keep 'em flying!
Posts: 16
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Post by Hounddog on Jul 18, 2024 14:14:29 GMT 8
Tim this is so... depressing ![:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) I mean... Damn. I'm just shaking my head. I guess it's gonna be a long, LONG time before these folks get all their ducks in a row. Unbelievable.... But thank you for the detailed report of your efforts. You probably saved some people a big headache.
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Post by EXO on Jul 19, 2024 9:38:55 GMT 8
Corregidor Visit = FAIL
**************************************************************** Thankyou Cutsnake, for your patience in taking the time to chronicle the ups and downs of your friend's ill-fated venture, and the efforts you went to. It's difficult to understand why it all went so pear-shape, it's almost like they were TRYING TO FAIL. I am so tempted to say that CFI, on a bad day, never managed such a sequence of failures. Oh bugger it, I will say it - "CFI, on a bad day, never managed such a fail." (Heard a good one the other day - "He's so hopeless, he couldn't find his own an ass using both hands and a map!") Also, Hounddog, your comments are spot on. Cutsnake, would you consider putting your post on the Corregidor Historic Society Facebook page?
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Post by EXO on Jul 23, 2024 12:50:36 GMT 8
******************************************************** (In reply to CUTSNAKE, and HOUNDDOG) Until there is a daily boat for large groups to Corregidor, leaving from Manila, Corregidor will continue to languish. Tourism is a series of commercial networks, each a POINT OF SALE. Why is it necessary to reinvent a transport system, they should just copy what Sun Cruises built across the years. It's not as if Sun Cruises failed, it was the closure by COVID of an entire tourism sector that made it impossible to restart. And the relationship between CFI and the concessionaire prevented the restart.
As for TIEZA, well the "smart money" says that they haven't been able to gather the right people for the job, and are stuck with the wrong mindset, and a lackluster a transition team. IMHO, that's lame. They haven't looked hard enough.
They've lost my support, my goodwill. Not that this means SFA.
Sorry guys. I'm out.
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Post by cutsnake on Jul 29, 2024 12:10:23 GMT 8
Ha, not sure I want to be putting my rant on FB. Looks like we are going to have to work with these groups for a while yet.
As a follow up, I did get a reply message (eventually) from Guia Del Mar, confirming that TIEZA is the 'new management' that was getting shown around for 4 days. I was wondering if TIEZA was going to allocate/employ a third party for the job, but it looks not - for the time being at least.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Aug 14, 2024 12:25:37 GMT 8
Poor Corregidor, Poor History, when will someone rescue it? Is there anything planed for the 80th Anniversary?IT CAN NOT BE VISITED NOW, unless you go with a tour company, click this URL: corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2529/corregidor-visit-tieza-management-2024 ![](https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i265/PI-Sailor/08_Corregidor_29_June_2024.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) A Coast Guard Sailor is checking the list. There are no more walk-ins (it got to be with a tour org. and the Coast Guard got to be notified 2 days in advance), tenting is not allowed at this time, visiting for hiking is not possible right now and there is no overnight visits. The hotel is closed and is deteriorating; the budget rooms of the former CFI have become unusable. All is very sad! --------------------------------------------------------------- Another sample of a failed Corregidor visit, a group of foreigners visiting from overseas, wanted to visit Corregidor and failed, it did not work out for them. It is documented here, scroll down to the title and date: Corregidor Visit = FAIL 18th July 2024. corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2531/corregidor-news----------------------------------------------------------------- I tried to contact TIEZA but they did not respond, I wrote this email on the 3rd July 2024: Hello Dear TIEZA Corregidor Office The former Corregidor Foundation told me I would have to communicate with you. My name is Karl-Wilhelm Welteke, a retired US Navy Sailor and permanent resident in Olongapo and I would like to talk to you about visiting Corregidor and more specific about the upcoming 80th liberation anniversary on the 2nd of March and the 16th of Feb. in 2025. I participated at the 60th Anniversary, as I was invited by the US Embassy, the Philippine President lead the Anniversary, 3 Military bands played, paratroopers dropped and many visitors came. The MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk contacted me about visiting Corregidor for that 80th Anniversary Event and asked me questions. Is anything planed for the 80th Anniversary? Here are some albums about the 60th Anniversary: corregidor.org/heritage_battalion/60thanniv.htmlcorregidor.proboards.com/thread/61/60th-anniversary-recapturing-corregidorapp.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/2f07fd5c-c6b2-42c0-9e19-7dfc4a0795e3?field=TITLE&desc=ascI have visited Corregidor about 70 times in the last 20 years and as recently as on the 29th of June 2024, and discovered no overnight visits are possible anymore. I maintain a website about Corregidor ( philippine-sailor.net/ ) and contribute very regular on the Corregidor Forum page ( corregidor.proboards.com/ ). Friends and I do this for history and the 503d Parachute INF Regiment which liberated Corregidor. I have medical appointments on the 19th of July with the US Veterans Clinic not to far from your Double Dragon complex location. My last appointment is at 12:30 pm. Would it be possible to visit you at 14:30 on that day? Best regards Karl -------------------------------------------------------------------- As recently as May 2017 a 75th Anniversary was conducted on Corregidor which I helped to organize. My album URL: corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2029/fall-corregidor-philippine-islands-anniversNEWS | May 9, 2017 Marines with 4th Marine Regiment Visit Corregidor on 75th Anniversary of Battle By Senior Airman Corey Pettis U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/1177134/marines-with-4th-marine-regiment-visit-corregidor-on-75th-anniversary-of-battle/![](https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Images%20to%20be%20linked/Link%20subalbum%20V/.highres/v866.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) #V866
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