Davao's tallest xmas tree

Davao City can only hope to rival Tagum City's Christmas tree with this outdoor Christmas Tree located at Victoria Plaza's parking lot right in front of McDonalds in J.P. Laurel Ave. Tagum City's 2006 Christmas Tree, which is said to contain over 200,000 light bulbs, was touted as among the tallest in Southeast Asia as of last year.

Victoria Plaza's Christmas Tree, which was officially lit up Friday, is however less majestic than Tagum City's 2007 Christmas Tree which was also officially shown to the public the same day. The latter was designed especially for Tagum City and was patterned after the star seen in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.

While Dabawenyos and people the world over relate Christmas trees with Christianity, the putting up of Christmas trees or an equivalent symbol, actually originated from the tradition of Norse and Germanic pagans. The evergreen was admired by the Norse pagans because it does not die easily and kept its green color every year unlike other plants It was the Scandinavian pagans who were credited for bringing home their Christmas tree to celebrate a fruitful harvest.

P15M food terminal opens in Davao City today

The P15 million ALMACEN or alternative marketing center owned and managed by the Josefa Segovia Foundation opened its doors to the public yesterday. ALMACEN is located in Catalunan Pequeño.

JSF is a non-stock, non-profit organization and the social arm of the Teresian Association in the Philippines.

“ALMACEN aims to serve as an alternative marketplace and marketing center for farmers, cooperatives, local government units and people’s organizations in the city,” JSF executive director Chone Evelyn Baldoza said yesterday. Through the center, she added, farmers and other agricultural producers will have a venue to showcase and promote their products.

Baldoza said the center facilities (most of which are already in place) alone is worth P15 million. The 5.5 hectare land on which the structure stands is under a usufruct agreement with the Teresian Association. Under the terms of the usufruct, JSF can occupy the land for 25 years provided the land and the facilities are used for the benefit of farmers.

“We have been working with the upland farmers of the 3rd District for the last 16 years and we saw the need to assist them in marketing their products,” she said. The Foundation also provides transportation support to the upland farmers for easy delivery of their products from farm to market.

ALMACEN will also house the Market Intelligence and Information Center which will monitor the prices of agricultural products in the market. The Center will be operated by ALMACEN in coordination with the Davao City Investment Promotion Center, Davao City Cooperative Development Office and the Department of Agriculture.

It will also house a training center, ten market stalls (solely for farmers cooperatives and associations and people’s organizations) and a restaurant.

Baldoza said they envision the enter to be a one stop shop for all agricultural products produced by farmers so they will be holding night markets which will sell fresh fruits, fish, livestock, seedlings and even flowers. (lovely a. carillo)

Davao malls all set for X'mas

The various malls and department stores in Davao City are all prepped up for the Holiday Season and each is outdoing the other in terms of their Christmas displays. Talk about commercializing Christmas!

SM City Davao has a nice display of various Christmas trees in all colors. The usual color motif for Christmas trees are red, white, orange and blue. If you want to be different this year, yu an buy the black Christmas balls and otehr blak decorations to math your white Christmas tree right at SM.

Gaisano Mall of Davao reserved their Atrium or activity area for all your Christmas decoration needs and the items are so far cheaper than SM. However, no one can beat the 10% discount offered by JS Citimall on all Christmas decorations so hurry while they still have some wonderful pieces. The JS Citimall display is not as extensive as SM City though.

NCCC Mall has the best Christmas display as they usually have a theme for their decorations so expect similar patterns within the Mall.

SM Davao payphones make life easier for Dabawenyos

PLDT phone booths that have been conveniently installed near the rest rooms of SM City Davao is making life easier for Dabawenyos especially those who need to make an emergency call only to find out they do not have cellphone loads.

What makes these pay phones a cut above the old pay phones installed by PLDT before is the fact that it accepts a minimum of P1 for local calls and P3 for NDD. Customers who need to call a cellphone (but don't have one or who does not have enough batteries) can also take advantage of the P7 minimum for local calls and P8 for international cell phone calls.

Now, that's what you call customer service.

Davao Tourism Gets Big Boost

Davao City’s tourism got a boost after Cebu Air, Inc. made the city its third hub of operations and another gateway for the country. The management of Cebu Pacific came up with the decision after realizing that 30% of its Cebu-Singapore and Cebu-Hong Kong passengers come from the city.

This development is significant for Dabawenyos (and other passengers from Mindanao) who can now travel from Davao to Hong Kong or Davao to Singapore directly. Grand Air used to fly the said route but stopped its operations. Silk Air also operates a Davao-Singapore route daily.

Under the promotional rates which will be applied from November 13 to 20, 2007, Dabawenyos only need to pay P999 for both routes (Davao-Singapore or Davao-Hong Kong). This however excludes the taxes and other surcharges.

Not to be left behind, direct international flights from Davao to Hong Kong is also in the offing according to Philippine Airlines senior vice president for Mindanao Domingo Duerme said. He added that the airline is also considering two more destinations in China.

BIMP-EAGA Tourism Council chair Mary Ann Montemayor said Cebu Pacific’s move will encourage more tourist arrivals in the city not only from EAGA but also from other countries. BMP-EAGA or the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Area is an organization of similar economies in East Asia which aims to promote several areas of cooperation among themselves including communications, transportation and telecommunications.

Montemayor, who just attended the 3rd BIMP-EAGA Travel Exchange in Kuching,
Malaysia, announced that they have entered into a partnership with Malaysia’s Sabah Tourism Association. The agreement is expected to further improve tourism between the two countries.

She said a total of 3 million and 2.8 million foreign tourists visit Sarawak and Sabah (respectively) every year compared to the only 3 million foreign tourists targeted by the Department of Tourism for the whole Philippines. By linking to Kuching, the city can get a certain percentage of that foreign tourist arrival.

Digong vs Nogie

Two Davao political bigwigs clash anew

The conflict between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte and Davao City 1st District Congressman Prospero “Nogie” Nograles is finally out in the open.

Duterte spent 55 minutes of his “Para sa Masa…” program at ABS CBN last Sunday cussing and berating Nograles for a lot of reasons primarily because of the manhunt against Diwalwal miner Tata Sala. Sala, who has a pending warrant of arrest, helped Duterte’s candidate during the recently-concluded barangay elections.

Despite the warrant, Sala acted like a free man, even campaigning for Talomo barangay captain candidate Alex Vidal (Duterte’s candidate who won) versus Nograles candidate Art Jimenez. Duterte said Nograles used his influence to resurrect Sala’s case and warrant to get back to the latter for campaigning against his candidate last election.

The conflict between the two started as far back as 1988 until they formed a political alliance during last year’s local elections (with the agreement that both will respect each other’s jurisdiction and support each other’s decisions- local politics for Duterte and national politics for Nograles). However, the animosity between the two was resurrected even before the end of the election due to politics again.

Duterte also castigated Nograles for sending local broadcaster Alex Adonis to jail for libel after the latter tackled Nograles alleged trysts with a married television host.

Duterte and Nograles were interviewed during today’s Umagang Kay Ganda TV program with Nograles live at the studio and Duterte on a phone patch. Duterte showed why he is touted as the original bad boy of Davao City when he cussed Nograles on national television saying “Put…Ina ka ngano ginapaburan man nimo ang mga Koreano laban sa mga Pilipino” as he accused Nograles of owning Apo View Hotel and getting a casino franchise for the hotel.

Recent Job Openings

Still looking for that perfect job? Davao Dateline will try to post the latest job requirements in Davao City and nearby cities to guide netizens looking for their first jobs or their nth job!

Landco Pacific Corporation, a real estate development company, is looking for the following for their offices in Davao City and in Zamboanga.

Documentation Staff
Accountancy graduate with experience in sales admin

Field Sales Admin Specialist
Accountancy graduate (preferably CPA) with 2 years experience in Sales Admin or Finance

Billing and Collection Staff
Accountancy graduate with experience in billing and collection

Project Engineers
Licensed Civil Engineer with at least 3-5 years experience in vertical, large horizontal projects or land development

Project Coordinator
Graduate of any Business course

These are urgent requirements and you can send in your resume with latest photo at applicants@landcopacific.com or applicants_mindanao@yahoo.com

Incidentally, callbox sales and marketing solutions is now in Davao City and is in need of call center and other workers. They conducted a special recruitment at NCCC Mall last November 9-10. If you’re interested, you an email them at WorkInDavao@Callboxinc.com or text DAVAO to 09186607744