-Photo by Bong Lacson
NUEVA VALENCIA, Guimaras – The newest beach resort in this island paradise is now in the thick of preparations for the forthcoming Mango Congress slated on May 7 to 9.
Andana Beach Resort Guimaras which has a total of 86 rooms with 64 pool side suites, two presidential suites, two sea view suites and 18 beach pods opened only last December 8, 2017 but has started to draw tourists in this island province in Western Visayas.
Glenn Cipriano, 27, Andana director for finance, said they are now preparing for the Mango Congress by constructing more room accommodations and a convention center which has a capacity of about 800.
The Mango Congress is seen to attract some 1,000 visitors from all over the world since this province holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the sweetest mango on the planet.
The Guimaras’ “Super Galila,” which is internationally-certifi ed as free from mango seed and pulp weevils and exported to the US and Australia, is the sweetest Carabao mango strain in terms of Brix values.
“Brix is the sugar content of an aqueous solution.One-degree Brix is one gram of sucrose in 100 g of solution and represents the strength of the solution as percentage by mass,” according to Wikipedia.
Among the 15 registered strains of Carabao mango, 10 were developed by the Guimaras National Crop Research Development and Production Support Center (GNCRDPSC) here.
“While many articles have contended that Zambales’ Sweet Elena is the sweetest Carabao mango strain, in terms of degree Brix, the Super Galila tops them all with 22.3 degree Briz,” according to Helen Bignayan, a senior agriculturist at GNCRDPSC. Zambales’ Sweet Elena only has 18.98 degree Brix.
During a site tour on Monday, Ariel Farin, Andana sales and marketing director, pointed to ongoing construction in the beach resort with the building of 20 mountain pods and additional 14 beach pods and a convention center.
Farin said the beach pods are especially designed for honeymooners and backpackers for their atmosphere.
In the future, Cipriano said, a cruise like ship which has a large second floor to accommodate parties will also be brought in to augment its facilities.
He said they will also be launching for this month the water sports facilities of the resort.
Cipriano said the beach resort occupies a total of eight hectares but only 2.5 hectares have been developed so far.
Andana is owned by the family of Danny Ang from Navotas City, Manila whose primary business is fishing, according to Cipriano who is his nephew.
He said Andana was just a vision. It started when a family friend, Architect Rene Simbulan owner of Simbulan Architectural Firm from Pampanga who developed the Shangri- La resorts, planned the development of the mountain property.
“That is why the design is similar to Shangri-La,” he said. The name “Andana” is a Spanish word that means stairs which explains the mountainous terrain, he added.
