‘If we build it they will come’

We didn’t know they had that award, but there it was: Travel+Leisure, a magazine devoted to international tourism, giving Palawan the “World’s Best Island” title.

That was no surprise, either, after Unesco last year named Puerto Princesa’s Underground River as One of the Seven Wonders of Nature. The other is Tubahatta Reef, where USS Guardian ran aground when it came too close, so the unverified information goes, to give the crew a chance to dive and frolic in the pristine water.