Dads pillory Dutch over trash post

ONE of the photos of garbage piling up on the streets of White Beach that was posted on Facebook by Dutch expatriate Kees Koornstra, angering the councilors of Puerto Galera, which Koornstra has tagged as “Puerto Basura” because of the uncollected trash. PHOTO FROM KEES KOORNSTRA

SAN PEDRO CITY—Puerto Galera apparently does not tolerate trash talk.

A Dutch national, living in the Philippines for 14 years, was declared persona non grata in the tourist destination Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro province, for complaining about uncollected garbage in the town.

The council of Puerto Galera, in a resolution, said Kees Koornstra, 61, is no longer welcome in the town.

Koornstra had posted on Facebook pictures of garbage littering Puerto Galera and christened the town “Puerto Basura (Puerto Garbage).”

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Koornstra said the council was obviously reacting to his post in a Facebook group, “I Love Puerto Galera,” which only members are supposed to see and access.

The post read: “Puerto Basura—This is the situation in White Beach right now!! After I posted two months ago pictures from the garbage along the road the situation became worse, only once a week the garbage is collected. Come on people of Puerto Galera this is unacceptable!!! These pictures will be send (sic) today to GMA, ABS-CBN and Department of Health.”

Koornstra attached photos of garbage piled up on the streets in White Beach, a popular beach and tourist spot in the town, after this year’s Lenten break.

“Mr. Kees Koornstra, as a foreigner, has no basis to publish, to be discourteous or to say this kind of insult to the beautiful name of this tourist town,” read a copy of the council resolution in mangled English.

It added that foreigners have to “behave, act, do and promote the place and its people and more so to uphold and follow all existing local ordinances and regulations implemented by the locality.”

Continuing in its mangled English, the resolution said christening the town Puerto Basura “will create harmful impression on our hometown, most particularly on our tourism industry and an insult to the dignity of Puerto Galerans.”

The resolution was authored by Councilor Edwin Suzara and passed by the municipal council on May 27. It was sent to the provincial government and Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.

Koornstra said he got a copy of the resolution from the Puerto Galera Business and Tourism Enterprises Association, a nongovernment organization that also furnished the Inquirer a copy on Wednesday.

“Many foreigners (in Puerto Galera) are upset. This is stupidity,” Koornstra said.

He said other online insults had been hurled about Puerto Galera, some of them against gays, and one about the control of the town by a political clan but these went unnoticed.

Koornstra, who used to own a boatyard in Holland and now runs businesses in Puerto Galera, believed it was his being a vocal critic of the local government that earned him the local officials’ ire.

The Inquirer tried to get comments from councilors, through Puerto Galera Vice Mayor Robinhood Ylagan, but he simply pointed to the resolution.

Ylagan said he actually opposed the declaration, which he felt “had to be studied further first.”

He said that was the reason he refused to preside over the May 27 council session despite being present when the resolution was passed.

None of the council members could be contacted through the local government’s listed phone number.

Koornstra said he had consulted the Dutch Embassy regarding his immigration status. Asked if he felt any need to apologize for the post, he said “no, not really.”