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Another metric by which Davao City can proudly affirm her status as a major player in Philippine industry is the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Program (PCCRP) of the Policy Center of the Asian Institute of Management. Results of the PCCRP’s biennial study (2007), presented in Makati last 4 July 2008, declare that Davao ranks Number 1 in the metro cities category.

This flagship research project by the AIM, established in 1999, is conducted every two years, and has since become a benchmark of Philippine cities’ overall economic standing. To quote the AIM:

…the Program envisions to promote national competitiveness by encouraging healthy competition among highly urbanized and emerging cities, emphasizing the crucial roles of small and medium enterprises as the backbone of local development. By gathering and compiling strategic data and providing focused analyses of the results, the PCCRP also seeks to cultivate competitive industries, promote healthy communities and maximize the economic potentials of the cities.

This should be another reason for Dabawenyos to be proud of their beloved city. And it should be one more indicator of just how viable Davao is as an investment destination.

I have recently been to Lapu-Lapu, Makati and Quezon City, and the progress in those cities is clearly evident. Still, Davao City tops them all in the 2007 survey. The PCCRP includes the following criteria in its study: dynamism of local economy, cost of doing business, infrastructure, human resources and training, responsiveness of LGU to business needs and quality of life.

Dynamism of local economy / Cost of doing business / Infrastructure. There certainly is much dynamism in Davao’s local economy, as evidenced by an ongoing construction boom, and the entry of new industry players such as call centers and other BPO operators.

Human resources and training. Davao is a favorite hunting ground among headhunters, and the hiring rate of Dabawenyos is reportedly high. Call centers (e.g., Concentrix and People Support) view their Davao staff as highly trainable.

Responsiveness of LGU to business needs. Davao’s local government is the first to establish a "911" emergency response service, which is being supported by the Davao Light and Power Company. Aside from this, the LGU maintains very good working relationships with private enterprises and organizations.

Quality of life. Just read this blog and my readers’ comments… Need I say more?

Thank you to Councilor Pete Laviña for alerting us to this piece of news! It’s something all Dabawenyo bloggers should proudly post about!

Finally, after a year and a couple of months, the new Bankerohan Bridge is open to serve the riding public. Just in time for school opening!

I’m going to try and post some photos of the new bridge. It’s a completely new structure, which was built in a span of 3 or 4 months, if I’m not mistaken.

The bridge was inaugurated in simple rites early this morning, and now, the flow of traffic feels so… heavenly! No more bottlenecks in the Bankerohan and Matina ramps — for now.

I just hope there will be no more unexpected lapses, to put it mildly. I don’t want to scare anyone, but I remember when Bankerohan II was built back in the 90s. After only a short while, the ramp at the Bankerohan side buckled under the weight of traffic. Nobody was hurt, but it was reported that the completion of the bridge might have been rushed…

Well, this new bridge certainly wasn’t rushed. But it did open just in time before the crazy June traffic descended on everyone.

Kudos to the Department of Public Works & Highways - Region 11 for this accomplishment!

In last Monday’s issue of Edge Davao, my fellow columnist, Mr. Aurelio Peña of Trading Post, wrote about the planned bridge that will span the gulf from mainland Davao to the island of Samal. We haven’t even finished rebuilding Bankerohan Bridge yet… but I digress.

Mr. Peña’s article was entitled “Arab money to build Davao-Samal bridge“. I am not entirely familiar with his style or tone, but he seemed to be extolling the virtues of this investment broker, M. Faisal Kasim, who is reportedly bent on getting the bridge project jump-started. He was described as being an impatient man.

Mr. Peña proceeded to enthusiastically relate what he probably perceives will take place once the P65-billion bridge is completed, made possible by funding coming from Arab countries with ridiculous excesses of dinero, brought on by the “spiraling cost of oil.” Huh? Come again? Allow me to quote that passage:

Faisal told this writer that Arab money in trillions of US dollars are flooding the Middle East due to the spiralling [sic] cost of oil — and Arabs don’t know what to do with all that money.

Wait. The tone is definitely confusing. Was the writer empathizing with the oil-producing Arab countries? Shouldn’t he have said, ‘…due to the ghastly price of oil they charge their nation-clients’?

If the bridge ever does get built with that funding, the money would be what’s called Shariah Money, according to the article. In other words, a loan without interest, because it is normally against Islamic belief to charge interest on borrowed money (aka usury). So, we pay for the oil at artificially high rates, but we get our money back by way of a goodwill loan…

Back to Mr. Peña’s enthusiasm. He says in his article that the creditors, to be assembled together by Faisal, would recoup their investment by way of toll fees and other such schemes. Faisal, according to Mr. Peña, might also be inclined to invest in hotels, resorts, malls with his “oodles and oodles of Arab money.”

But what of Samal? Can its ecosystem survive this onslaught of economic development? Here’s another quote:

Their (the creditors’) feasibility studies show that the Arab money lenders will get their money back (without any interest) and will feel good about it because it was put to good use and helped a beautiful, booming island called Samal…

Hmmm… we’re getting cash from money lenders? Ok, I’m nitpicking now. (But really, journalists — especially opinion writers — should watch their verbiage lest their meaning be misunderstood.)

Mr. Peña’s column begs the question, “Where’s the ‘kick’ part of the prose?”

Not that I’m always looking for the negative side of things, mind you, but the article was written somehow like it was sugar-coated — that’s why I’m blogging about it. What of the ill effects of rapid infrastructure development without proper environmental protection measures in place? What of the displacement of people? What of the political issues?

What do you think?

Great news for us down South!

Cebu Pacific, the leading domestic airline in the Philippines, has inaugurated its operations hub in Davao City last 8 May 2008, to further serve the island of Mindanao. Hopefully this will mean more air routes to the “missionary” destinations on the island. This is the carrier’s third hub, after Cebu and Manila.

The new hub now services 4 domestic destinations from Davao: Manila, Cebu, Iloilo and Zamboanga; as well as 2 international destinations: Hong Kong and Singapore. Cebu Pacific is currently the only Filipino airline offering flights from Davao to Singapore. The other airline servicing this route is Singapore Airlines’ regional carrier, Silk Air.

We are making Davao our third hub in order to make the city and the rest of Mindanao more accessible for tourism and trade. We understand the need to offer a more convenient and affordable service out of Davao and hope that the public will take advantage of these new services.
- Candice Iyog, VP for Marketing and Product

And take advantage we will! Travel and tourism have been transformed into what they are today, thanks to Cebu Pacific’s revolutionary Go Fares. In 2007, the airline provided air transport to 5.5 million passengers. This year, it is expected to exceed 7 million passengers.

To give you an idea, the lowest one-way year-round Go Fare for a flight from Davao to Iloilo is P288 (exclusive of the ridiculously high tax imposed by the government). This is, of course, apart from the famed Piso Fare that passengers can catch from time to time when booking online.

Speaking of which, it was Cebu Pacific that popularized the use of Web-based personal ticketing among Filipinos. It would seem that the one function that used to be exclusive to travel agencies, issuing tickets to passengers, is now becoming a thing of the past.

The airline has a spread of 21 domestic flights from its 3 hubs, and flies to 14 international destinations. Pretty soon, Cebu Pacific will start flying to 2 more: Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.

Kudos to one of Asia’s youngest fleets!

This morning I was at a planning session for the promotions activities of the Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival. Marco Polo’s Art Boncato invited me just this morning to be a part of this committee. It was rather sudden and spur-of-the-moment, but I gladly obliged. I wouldn’t miss the chance of helping organize Davao’s own traditional festival.

I don’t want to jump the gun on the Kadayawan organizers, so I’m not going to divulge anything before the official announcements. But I would like to mention that this year is going to be different. For one thing, the younger generation is starting to take over the reins, and we’re bringing in fresh ideas.

The changing of the guards, so to speak, will surely be evident in the way the festival will be marketed to the rest of the country, and — to a limited extent — to other countries. And hopefully, this freshness will also be apparent during the festival itself in August. Expect the unexpected!

Of course, I know that the planners won’t for a second neglect the origins of the Kadayawan. No matter how we would like to modernize the event, we mustn’t forget that it is a celebration that’s deeply rooted in our past, in our indigenous culture.

The Kadayawan (”beauty” or “goodness”) festival is historically a celebration of everything that is good about Davao. It has also been identified with the traditional symbols of our city: the famous Waling-Waling orchid, the Philippine Eagle, Mt. Apo and our fruits. This year, it is being proposed that we carry all of this under one overarching idea, that of abundance.

I just hope that those who are still the ultimate decision-makers for this event will see the sense in what the young bloods are trying to inject into the planning of this festival.

Ok. I’ll stop there. We’re supposed to have another meeting to discuss the brochures and other collateral materials, but I’m going to be in Manila for the iBlog4 Conference this Saturday. At any rate, I’m going to keep you, my dear readers, updated on the Kadayawan sa Dabaw event details.

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A pioneering effort in print media was launched today — a locally-published magazine intriguingly called m.

To quote its publishers, M is "the first-ever glossy travel and lifestyle magazine that will showcase the best that Mindanao has to offer. M features stories ranging from adventure destinations, culinary pursuits, nocturnal activities, unique fashion creations, beauty and wellness, gainful business endeavors, to little known secrets about this island paradise; it is the primary source of information on Mindanao’s contemporary lifestyle."

Well-attended by Davao’s who’s who and media personalities, the unique inaugural party at The Marco Polo Davao spoke of the palpable character of this magazine: vibrant, forward-looking, and yet steeped in the traditional cultures of Mindanao. The social event was marked by a fusion of the indigenous and the modern. The magazine, as well, seems to embody this quality.

The cover story of the maiden issue features Margie Moran Floirendo. To most Filipinos, she is Miss Universe. But to many Mindanaoans, she is an ambassador and an advocate. An adoptive Dabawenyo, Ms Margie has taken it upon herself to contribute to the betterment of Mindanao’s image in the eyes of the world. From her M.O.M. TV show to her various community projects, the Philippine South has greatly benefited from her untiring dedication and passion.

Other personalities are featured in M’s premier issue: an altruistic doctor who has committed his life to the needs of Mindanao’s indigent; a technopreneur involved in bridging the digital divide.

Of course, travel destinations are on M’s pages, too. Discover beaches that rival Boracay, and historical sites that can open your eyes to the beauty of the here and now.

M is published by Cr8ve Minds Inc, and its editorial team is comprised of Claire Dy (editor-in-chief), Bong Segovia (creative director), Ian Ray Garcia (features editor), and Amy Cabusao (editorial consultant). Photographers Raymund Isaac, Rhonson Ng, Paul Borromeo, among others, fill the magazine’s glossies with excellent visual renditions of the beauty of the island. Congratulations to this group of dedicated Mindanaoans and to all the people that have made M a magnificent magazine! Their role in promoting Mindanao is highly commendable indeed!

The magazine’s pursuits coincide perfectly with those of the bloggers of Mindanao (www.mindanaobloggers.com). I hope that, in the near future, both can collaborate on an effort to bring quality content out onto the global stage.

M’s website: www.m-mag.com.ph.

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The old PTA Grounds, which was recently renovated and given a major makeover, is now known as “People’s Park.” The winner of the name-the-park contest is Romeo Sardon, 75, of Matina. He won the P50,000 prize money for having his entry chosen to be the park’s name from now on. Sardon is a retired electrician and seaman. (more…)

It’s been more than 6 months since Bankerohan Bridge (Gov. Generoso I) fell to ruin… yet today there’s not even a single pile driven to the ground for the new bridge. It’s as if the national government has no plans at all of restoring this vital infrastructure.

The Department of Public Works & Highways-Region 11 laments that there simply isn’t any money earmarked for the bridge. Wow… after half a year, still no action? It’s not a question of money. It’s a question of political will. Or the lack of it. (more…)

The old PTA Park, as everyone in Davao should’ve noticed by now, has undergone a major renovation, and is due to be completed in December this year. It’s so named because of its having been the grounds used by the Parents and Teachers Association of Kapitan Tomas Monteverde High School way back when. If I’m not mistaken, the Association office had such a huge “PTA” sign, and so people started calling the place that way.

Right smack in the heart of downtown Davao, the new park, as before, will offer residents and visitors a place to unwind, relax and take in the city’s sights and sounds. The nearly 4-hectare park is nestled in the center of 3 hotels (The Apo View, Casa Leticia and Royal Mandaya Hotel) and numerous restaurants. Once finished, I imagine it’s going to be the perfect place for a quick break during weekdays, and for longer, leisurely strolls during weekends. (more…)

I heard from a reliable source in the travel industry that the organizers of the Kadayawan sa Dabaw are seriously considering moving the festival’s dates! This is going to be a huge mistake, if it happens. Philippine festivals are probably our #1 tourist attraction: that is, it’s our best way of pulling tourist arrivals. What does this mean? Simple: visitors to Davao, especially those who come for Kadayawan, plan their vacations way ahead of August.

(more…)

Just when things were starting to look up for Davao, the bridge falls. Literally. Gov. Generoso Bridge (more popularly known as Bankerohan Bridge), after serving Davao for decades, cracked under the weight of the city’s steadily increasing vehicular traffic. But, isn’t it supposed to be good for a few more decades?

(more…)