Image courtesy NCCA

The Día del Galeón Festival celebrates the unique journey of the Manila galleons and their place in maritime history - spanning the globe and linking the Philippines with Mexico and Spain. For 250 years (from 1565 – 1815) the Manila galleons were a conduit for global trade and cultural exchange between Europe, the New World and Asia.

In October 2009 UNESCO recognized the unique part the Manila galleons played in the globalization of trade and cultural exchange by declaring 8th October as the international “Día del Galeón” (day of the galleon). Motivated by Senator Edgardo Angara, the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), in conjunction with the embassies of Spain and Mexico, spearheaded the creation of a month-long series of events that will span the traditional galleon trade route through the Philippines.

Photo courtesy batsanctuary.org

13th January 2010; Samal Island - Philippine fruit bats that roost on Samal Island were officially accorded the Guinness World Record of largest colony of any fruit bat species. On any given day approximately 1.8 million Geoffroy’s rousette fruit bats (rousettus amplexicaudatus) inhabit the Monfort Bat Cave on Samal Island.

The Monfort Bat Cave & Conservation Foundation aims to protect the Samal Island fruit bats through research programs that lead to better education and conservation of habitat. Education programs will foster a greater understanding of the role of fruit bats and dispel the myth that fruit bats compete with humans for food when the reverse is actually true. Samal Island and the nearby provinces of Davao would not enjoy such an abundance of durian and other tropical fruits if it were not for centuries of natural seed and fertilizer dispersal undertaken free of charge by the fruit bats.

Photo by Bernadette Villaluz

Do you know where the smallest island in the World is located? GetWet found this island off the coast of Mindoro, just a few minutes out of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, with deep water all around, and believes it is the smallest island in the Philippines if not the World.

Traditionally, the smallest Island in the World has been the Bishop Rock atop which sits the Bishop Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England. But from this picture of the island off San Jose it is plain to see that it is smaller than Bishop Rock, with room only for a family of four and their banka boat.