Air Asia now flies Davao-Clark Daily

Davao City is looking forward to a more robust tourism industry with the start of Air Asia’s daily Davao-Clark flights. Beginning March 28, Air Asia will from Davao to Clark and vice versa, two times a day.

As a fitting launch for its Davao-Clark and Kalibo-Clark flights, Air Asia has allotted up to 20,000 for its promotional fare, good for travel from March 28, 2012 to January 31, 2013.

“This is very good for Davao’s tourism,” Department of Tourism XI Art Boncato said. Boncato earlier hinted about the plans of Air Asia to open up its Davao-Clark flight after it got its airline carrier operating certificate.

Air Asia CEO Marian Hontiveros said she is confident about the potential of Davao City as a tourism destination.

The opening up of direct flights between Davao and Clark is expected to speed up sisterhood talks between the two cities, and in effect increase passenger traffic between them.

With the entry of Air Asia, there are now three airlines offering Davao-Clark flights. Air Philippines have recently started its Davao-Clark route while Cebu Pacific also has a Davao-Clark route albeit on a limited basis.

In the meantime, Davao City is preparing for three international air summits later this year including the Asia Air Access Forum, will be participated in by regulatory bodies and airline officials who will present their plans for the region, the Airline CEO Summit where the Chief Executive Officers of the various airlines will discuss plans to connect the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area), and the Air Network Forum which is a venue for business to business interaction among the industry players.

“We are expecting around 200 participants mostly tourism players and the civil aviation authorities,” Boncato said. Other countries involved in the BIMP-EAGA will also be invited including China, Japan and Australia.
Expected to participate in the Airline Summit are Garuda Airlines of Indonesia, Malaysia Airline, MAS Wings, Royal Brunei Airline and the airlines operating in the Philippines including PAL, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airline, Air Philippines and Sea Air.

Improved BIMP-EAGA air connectivity eyed as Davao hosts 3 EAGA air summits

A stronger air connectivity within the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), an economic cooperation among the four regional economies, is expected as Davao hosts three very important summits this year.

“The three events are not big in terms of size but big in terms of the quality of the participants, most of them are decision-makers,” Department of Tourism XI director Art Boncato said.

Boncato said the Asia Air Access Forum will be participated in by regulatory bodies and airline officials who will present their plans for the region, The Airline CEO Summit will be a venue for the Chief Executive Officers of the airlines to meet and discuss the strategies and plans of connecting EAGA. The Air Network Forum will allow players to conduct a business to business interaction.

There will be an exhibit during the three Summits, where free exhibit space will be given to all airlines. The Airline Summit will include Garuda Airlines of Indonesia, Malaysia Airline, MAS Wings, Royal Brunei Airline and the airlines operating in the Philippines including PAL, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airline, Air Philippines and Sea Air.

“We are expecting around 200 participants mostly tourism players and the civil aviation authorities,” Boncato said. Other countries involved in the BIMP-EAGA will also be invited including China, Japan and Australia.

Boncato said the Southern Mindanao’s tourism sector is excited about the vibrant prospects for tourism considering the traditional markets for Davao tourism including the United States, Japan and South Korea. He said there are plans to explore the emerging tourism market in China and Singapore.

“There is a big potential for Davao in China as shown by the result of our trip to Beijing last year where Davao was a featured destination,” he said. They are also confident about Singapore as a tourism market for Davao as two airlines are already flying in and out to Singapore, he added.

He said the region’s tourism sector is serious in its bid to connect Manado and Davao. Boncato said Lion Air of Indonesia previously expressed its interest in coming to Davao and they have already met with DOT and Mindanao Development Authority. However, there was a lull in the talks “so we are seriously following this up.”

“The past year was much better than 2011 tourism-wise,” Boncato said. Davao’s major tourism market is still the MICE market or the Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibits.

Davao is eyeing the next Ad Congress, with additional 4,000 people that can be accommodated by the new facilities that will be built in the city this year, Boncato said.

Mayor Sara: the new Duterte on the block

Mayor-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio has become one of Davao City’s major attractions, not just because she is the first female mayor of this city of at least one million population, but because she is more than her father’s daughter.

Dabawenyos rarely had a glimpse of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter Sara when she was still in High school and even in College. However, some who saw her riding the Big Bike with her father were either intrigued or remained in awe as to how this mestiza (thanks to her German blood courtesy of her mom Elizabeth Zimmerman Duterte) could inherit not only her father’s tough stance but even his passion for Big Bikes.

But that was a long, long time ago, way before Sara Duterte-Carpio became the vice mayor of Davao, with her father as the Mayor. A lot of people thought she was just a shadow of the elder Duterte at the City Council, but the younger Duterte has proven her critics wrong, both in terms of how she handled the Council and how she handled her father.

After almost 24 years of serving the people of Davao City as appointed vice mayor, elected Mayor, elected Congressman and with re-elections in between in both positions, Mayor Rody Duterte has finally passed on the Duterte magic to his daughter Sara. Not that he is leaving her alone yet, since the father and daughter tandem was just proclaimed the vice mayor and mayor of the city respectively,

The Duterte-Duterte team did not only win the May 2010 election but they won it hands down, leaving behind their rivals in the political dust, with 389,465 votes for Sara (versus Prospero Nograles who got 160,225 votes) and an overwhelming 440,030 votes for the elder Duterte.

A few months before the election, Sara Duterte said the computerization and interconnectivity of the important offices (if not all offices actually) in the local government will be given priority if and when she becomes the mayor of the city. And now that she has won, Duterte said her priority remains the same as this will pave the way for faster delivery of services to the people.
“Health, education, peace and order, economics and tourism,” she added when asked about her other priorities as the city’s first female mayor.

The Duterte magic

The Duterte magic is not an urban legend after all as proven by Mayor Sara’s landslide victory in the polls. The magic actually started when her father, who was then a city prosecutor, was appointed vice mayor in 1986 after the Edsa Revolution, under the provisional government of President Corazon Aquino. Defeating interim Mayor Zafiro Respicio in the 1988 mayoralty election was a preview of what’s to become of his future political opponents.

He was re-elected twice as City Mayor between 1992 and 1995 and between 2004 and 2007. His mayoralty posts were only interrupted by his stint in the House of Representative from 1992 to 1998.

There is no doubt that Inday Sara’s (as how friends and even Dabawenyos call her) victory in the previous election as vice mayor came as a result of the Dabawenyo’s affinity with her father. However, no one can deny that Inday Sara’s recent victory in the polls as Mayor of the city is not only because of the (Rody) Duterte magic but it was a result of her performance as the city’s vice mayor.

The younger Duterte’s term as vice mayor was not intrigue-free and was even characterized by a lot of exposes, most of which involved some of the well-known councillors. Add to that her regular disagreements with the Mayor, who she said even challenged her to resign.

But all those controversies only proved that Inday Sara was her own woman and that she can be tough just like her father the mayor. But more than that, she has proven that she is not just her father’s daughter but a public servant with her own decisions and principles and those do not have to coincide with what the mayor believes in.

Fortunately for her, she has won the Dabawenyos’ heart hands down, with or without her rebellious streaks. And now, it is safe to say that Sara is indeed the next Duterte to wield the Duterte magic in the palm of her hands.

No Lavish X'mas Decors For Davao City

Goodbye Santa!

Not the real Santa but the different Santa Claus figures being displayed at the ground of the Davao City Hall annually to signal the Holiday Season.

Davao City will cut back on its Christmas expenses this year not merely because of the financial crisis but because Duterte would rather spend for food to be distributed to the less fortunate instead of the city spending for extravagant Christmas decorations for the city's parks.

Reports show that Duterte asked city tourism officer Giovanni Aportadera to put on hold the preparations for the yearly Paskuhan Festival. It can be recalled that City Hall and the other major parks in the city are already filled with Christmas lights and other decorations even before the start of the season.

Duterte said Dabawenyos should buy the lowly parols beings sold in the sidewalks instead of prioritizing the lighted and very expensive decorations. By doing this, he said, you do not only save on money but you also help the man in the streets earn a living.

Davao Trade Expo Slated At DAVCON This October

The Davao Trade Expo is slated at the Davao Convention Center from October 23 to 25, 2008. The three-day expo will feature speakers from the business, academic and government sectors.

Among the speakers are Mr. Freddie Serapio who will talk on “The Influence of the
Macro-Cultural Environment to a Marketing Strategy”, Dr. Eufemio Rasco of the University of the Philippines in Mindanao who will make a "Presentation on Ethics and Biotechnology and Dr. Myrna Viado who will talk about the importance of Training on Human Resource Management: “Taking Care of People for Competitive Advantage".

A three-day job fair to coincide with the 10th Davao Trade Expo is also scheduled at the Davao Convention Center from October 23 to 24, 2008. If you are interested in overseas and local work opportunities then bring your resume, photo and other important work documents to the venue.