Taytay, Palawan

Zero-Waste Hospital of Taytay, Palawan

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I was invited on the anniversary of Northern Palawan Provincial Hospital in Taytay, Palawan last August 01, 2012. I was only expecting the usual games and parties that was usually done on anniversaries but I never expected that they had a game where the staff would challenge their ingenuity on creating things that would come from waste materials from the hospital. Asking questions from the staff it turns out that the goal of the Northern Palawan Provincial Hospital, other than providing good quality health services to the public, was to become a Zero-Waste Hospital.

Here’s some of my favorites on their recycling contest.

Having a recycling contest would only go as far as the end of the contest day, after that it would be going back to the usual day. But when I toured around the hospital they had a protocol on how to properly and safely dispose their garbage and reuse whatever they can.

RORO Bus in Palawan

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Update October 26, 2014: They are now operating again here in Palawan.

I’ve been seeing the new RORO Bus here in Palawan lately. It got the craze of the people because this was the first time they saw an aircon bus that passes by the National Road. I’ve been wanting to try it out and after our trip to Sabang in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan I was finally able to ride one of these buses.

I could not help but compare the new buses to the shuttle services available from Puerto Princesa to El Nido such as Lexus Shuttle Service and Eulen Joy. The following list are my comparisons to the bus versus the van transport service.

1. Schedule

If you ask me why I love Lexus Shuttle Service it’s because of their fixed schedule. Whether they are full or not, their van will leave on schedule. Plus, they have a target travel time. Fortunately, the new RORO Bus also does that but it only has 2 trips everyday to El Nido, 6AM and 2PM. Unlike Lexus who now has 5 trips a day to El Nido.

Buses have a travel time from Puerto Princesa to El Nido of around 6-7 hours.

But according to the conductors that I’ve been talking too, there will be more buses that will arrive at the end of this month (February 2012) and their target is to have a trip every hour from 4AM to 8PM to El Nido. Not only is this good news to travellers but also to locals as the latest bus that passes on the National Road is only about 3 to 4PM, with the full implementation of the RORO Bus the locals will now have the convenience of the transportation even in the evening.

Personally, I’m excited to see the developments of the RORO Bus as this will push the quality of service and lower prices around Palawan. I think I’ll make another post on their schedules when all their buses are here.

 

RORO Bus Schedule.
The 11 PM Schedule for Southern Palawan is currently not running.
This is also the schedule going back.

ROUTE

North Palawan: From Puerto Princesa to El Nido or vice versa.

South Palawan: From Puerto Princesa to Rio Tuba or vice versa.

 

Yahoo! Night trips!!!!

2. Price

Vans from Puerto Princesa to El Nido costs 500 Pesos/person but the RORO Bus only costs 483 Pesos/person. The downside of the RORO Bus though is that it is expensive when you’re only going to ride short distances like from Puerto Princesa to Roxas, vans only cost 150-180 Pesos/person while the RORO Bus costs 220 Pesos/person.

Update January 14, 2014: The current rate is 380 Pesos/person (one-way) from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. Southern Palawan trips are still the same.

Southern Palawan RORO Bus Tariff Rates (Click on Photo to see the readable size)

3. Comfort

Caniqui Falls in Taytay, Palawan

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After the Tubbataha ay A.T.I.N. presentation the volunteers of Tubbataha no longer had any plans for the afternoon so decided to go around town and visit Caniqui Falls. When I heard it I invited myself to join them even if was not ready for the quick swim in the falls. Good thing that I was wearing my trek shoes and was bringing an extra pair of shorts in my small bag. I don’t know why I brought them but it was destiny.

So after lunch we were on their service van headed for Caniqui Falls.

The walk to the falls starts at this broken bridge

Then you’ll walk on this rough road

Then you’ll pass by a broken bridge again