Ang Dabawenyo

Tonight I was invited to the Christmas party of two long-standing tourism associations in Davao City: the Davao Travel Agents Association and the Davao Association of Tour Operators. DTAA and DATO did a joint year-end celebration at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, and inducted their individual sets of officers for the following year. I’d like [...]

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There used to be a post here about a website that offered deals in airfare and similar stuff. And then after about a month, I got an email from their vice-president for marketing asking me to remove the post and all links to their site. The VP said that it wasn’t anything to do with [...]

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Samal island is not part of Davao City, but is most accessible from here. It’s actually a chartered city now, and is officially called the Island Garden City of Samal. The past few years have seen a steady increase in the number of beach resorts on the island, the newest of which is Hof Gorei [...]

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“Oh, to be one with nature…” We Dabawenyos take it for granted that raw nature is never more than an hour’s drive away. But when out-of-town relatives, friends or business associates come visiting, we never fail to share with them what makes Davao beautiful. The most accessible are the beaches on Samal island. For the [...]

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The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) has reissued a warning against the tacking-on of additional charges to credit card purchases. The reason for DTI’s move is that, many stores — especially small retailers — pass on the 3-5% charge that credit card companies levy on merchants. According to our laws, this is illegal.)

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One of Davao’s most personable travel agents is a very close friend of mine, Alex Divinagracia of Pacific Royal Wings. I used to be in the travel industry a lo-o-ong time ago, before I discovered the Internet and ultimately the then-fledgling IT industry of Davao. Anyway, Alex had just come back from Manado, Indonesia, and [...]

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Technically, Samal isn’t Davao… but I did say this blog is to be about the city and its environs, didn’t I?   So here’s something I’ve written about a new resort on Samal. It’s called BaliBali Beach Resort, and it’s a cute, cozy getaway. Please click on this link to read about the resort.

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