I managed to get these shots from my friend Dennis's facebook. He's a Mabuhay Guide and a former ballet dancer for the CCP. Luckily, he was able to board it and he snapped some great photos.
A message from Dia Del Galeon posted on my Facebook page:
Friends, we thank you for your comments and suggestions and we do hope to make the registration as seamless as possible for the next time it arrives. We really wanted people to see the galleon and that is why we chose to give it to the people for free. And as this was the first run, we now know the issues that we can work on--booths for water, lines for disabled and seniors, tents, more ushers and staff, weekend run, longer run etc. You comments are very well noted for the next run of the galleon. And please feel free to send us more comments at diadelgaleon@yahoo.com. We might not get back to your right away, but we will get back to you.
The whole galleon business was not an easy task. All the pier's in Manila are not suitable for galleons anymore so we had to work with a private pier and it was still not suitable. We had to rent extra fenders and other items so that the galleon could fit in Pier 13. The cost was enormous not only to bring this galleon in, but for it to even stay in Manila. The pier had many restrictions such as load capacity and visitor registration. Actually that pier cannot hold a lot of people at one time, it is not stable and could cave in. Further the boat could only accommodate 300-400 in an hour. At one point, about 5000 people arrived even before registration opened, so the safest thing to do was to turn people away. As much as we wanted to accommodate everyone, if we did, the pier would cave in and the boat would be destroyed, and alot of people would have gotten hurt. And to top it off, it rained. So all the things that could have happened did happen.
Also, we wanted the entire country to see the galleon, that is why we worked with other provinces, so that the people in other parts of the country could see the galleon. And it seems like the pier's everywhere else are more suitable for a galleon than the pier in Manila. Isnt that such an irony?
Again, thank you for your comments and support. And we are so glad that people are interested in our history. If you were inconvenienced, we do apologize. The Filipinos were an important part of the Galleon Trade. We built the Galleons, and almost 80% of the crew on the Galleons were Filipino.
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Dia Del Galeon
A message from Dia Del Galeon posted on my Facebook page:
Friends, we thank you for your comments and suggestions and we do hope to make the registration as seamless as possible for the next time it arrives. We really wanted people to see the galleon and that is why we chose to give it to the people for free. And as this was the first run, we now know the issues that we can work on--booths for water, lines for disabled and seniors, tents, more ushers and staff, weekend run, longer run etc. You comments are very well noted for the next run of the galleon. And please feel free to send us more comments at diadelgaleon@yahoo.com. We might not get back to your right away, but we will get back to you.
The whole galleon business was not an easy task. All the pier's in Manila are not suitable for galleons anymore so we had to work with a private pier and it was still not suitable. We had to rent extra fenders and other items so that the galleon could fit in Pier 13. The cost was enormous not only to bring this galleon in, but for it to even stay in Manila. The pier had many restrictions such as load capacity and visitor registration. Actually that pier cannot hold a lot of people at one time, it is not stable and could cave in. Further the boat could only accommodate 300-400 in an hour. At one point, about 5000 people arrived even before registration opened, so the safest thing to do was to turn people away. As much as we wanted to accommodate everyone, if we did, the pier would cave in and the boat would be destroyed, and alot of people would have gotten hurt. And to top it off, it rained. So all the things that could have happened did happen.
Also, we wanted the entire country to see the galleon, that is why we worked with other provinces, so that the people in other parts of the country could see the galleon. And it seems like the pier's everywhere else are more suitable for a galleon than the pier in Manila. Isnt that such an irony?
Again, thank you for your comments and support. And we are so glad that people are interested in our history. If you were inconvenienced, we do apologize. The Filipinos were an important part of the Galleon Trade. We built the Galleons, and almost 80% of the crew on the Galleons were Filipino.
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Dia Del Galeon
