Jollibee's "Buy1,Take 1" Promo Takes Davao By Storm

Jollibee's "Buy1, Take1" promo has taken Davao City by storm, both literally and not.

Hundreds of Dabawenyos flocked to the various outlets of Jollibee for the food retail giant's one-day promo. The promo includes the following product sets: Burger and softdrinks (54), French Fries and softdrinks (@P55) and Spaghetti and softdrinks (@54).

People were lining up in every Jollibee outlet yesterday even if Typhoon Mina made its presence felt in the city through strong winds and rains even before lunchtime.

While this promo is advantageous for consumers who want more value for their money, Jollibee should make sure they really give the consumers their money's worth. The Jollibee Matina outlet (outside Centerpoint) was selling the promo sets yesterday but anyone who took the time to check out the drink would feel bad since the soda was not cold. Softdrinks are bad for the health already and Jollibee should not encourage children from taking in too much softdrinks. What is worse though is a softdrink that's not even cold enough to quench the thirst when that is its primary purpose.

If there is something worst than this, then it's the attitude of the Jollibee staff (a girl who is partially hidden in the photo) at the take out counter. Take this dialogue:

Customer: Ms. pwede pakipalitan ang drinks kasi hindi talaga malamig

Jollibee staff: ganyan talaga ang drinks namin---malamig na man yan ba

Customer: Ms. kahit tikman mo yang Coke mo di talaga malamig

Jollibee staff:Wala kaming ice eh.

While Jollibee should be commended for its promo, it should make sure that they give their customers what they righfully deserve. And that's a cold coke with whatever it is the customer has ordered!

MV Doulos in Davao City?

It’s Christmas and guess who’s coming to town? Not Santa Claus but MV Doulos.

Most people are greatly familiar with the Titanic. MV Doulos, which was built two years after the Titanic, is acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World as the oldest ocean going passenger ship. But more than that, Doulos is known for bringing “knowledge, help and hope to the people of the world.”

I was lucky enough to have been on board MV Doulos when it docked at Davao City in March, 1990. That was the first and last visit of Doulos to Davao. It has been to Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro at least twice and many times to Cebu, Batangas and Manila.

Doulos is in dry dock at Batangas from November 6 to 29 so no selling of books onboard. It creative staff however managed to set up an onshore book fair while the ship is undergoing repair and maintenance. It will be in Manila from November 29 to December 26 and Subic Bay from December 26 to January 15, 2008 and then off to Lae, Papua New Guinea on January 24, 2008.

MV Doulos

The name Doulos means servant in Greek and the volunteer service offered by its international crew is evident of this.

Doulos was built in 1914 and has sailed as a cruise ship, freight ship, and for the transport of immigrants. Its most recent mission of bringing books (more than 6,000 book titles on board) to the world has made it a byword among book lover the world over. Doulos also grabbed the headlines for having an all-volunteer crew of 350 people from all over the world. It used to be known as Medina, Franca C and Roma.

A Germany-based non-profit organization named Gute Bücher für Alle e.V.whih means “Good Books for All” bought the ship in 1977. Since then, Doulos has been visited by 20 million people and has called on 568 ports of call in over 103 countries. Over 13 million books have been purchased from the ship.

Have you been to MV Doulos and would like the chance to see it in Davao City again? Haven't been to the book ship and would like to get on board? Let your voice be heard! Blog it!

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.