Part one
DAVAO CITY—Businessmen want the city’s economy to fly higher on the President’s master strokes in putting Davao on the world map.
Members of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) believe the first step is granting the city its own airport authority.
Such status would give wider latitude to the region’s business and tourism planners in attracting direct air links to the travel market.
Without the authority, business leaders argued that the airport here, ranked as one of the country’s major airports, would remain partially utilized.
The Davao City international airport would also be below the priority of national aviation planners who “only have eyes” on the heavily congested and critically dangerous Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
“It’s again time to let our national leaders know that we have our own vision to develop robust regional flight hubs other than the congested Naia,” saidArturo Milan, a member of the DCCCII board of trustees. According to Milan, maybe it’s time to allow the Davao team “to craft our own [path to] development”.
“It [the Davao team] could embark now on its own marketing and hopefully get the critical air links to boost the name of the city as also a destination for tourism, business and investment,” Milan added.
With an airport authority, the international airport would have flexibility in financial budgeting and planning as an independent unit sans going through the intricate web of approval and lobbying from the national government.
Open for business
MILAN said the push to have an airport authority came up in the days while organizing the fourth investment conference, an initiative of the DCCCII.
He said the City Investment Conference (CIC) has also acquired an international character following the commitment of foreign chambers and business contacts to participate in the sessions.
One hundred delegates confirmed their participation. Japan has the bulk of commitments from individual and business groups, coming in strongly after the recent state visit of President Duterte and reciprocated by the visit of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
There were also commitments from Europe, with the European Business Chamber frequenting the city over the past several months since the incumbency of Duterte. A business delegation would be coming too from the mainland China.
Reliable Asian neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia have their own participation, as the local Indonesian Consulate here has organized its first manufacturing product exposition two days after the CIC.
Indonesian Consul General Berlian Napitupulu said a score of Indonesian distributors and manufacturers of automotive parts, traditional Indonesian cloth batik, garments and textiles, cosmetics, farm tractors and paper and pulp products, would be joining the business matching activities of the CIC. “We are optimistic of the success of the event. We are expecting foreign delegates,” said Ronald Go, the current DCCCII president.
Go added the participation of Indonesia would boost the recent launching of the “roll-on, roll-off” (Roro) cargo shipping in the Celebes Sea. He expressed optimism on the Roro as generating volume for shipping. Milan said the CIC would announce that Davao City “is now open for investment, because in the past, Mindanao is saddled with energy shortage and having rotating brownouts”.
“That situation discourages investors to come to Davao City. Now that we have reversed the situation, it’s time to have investments in other areas as well, especially in agri-tourism and manufacturing to balance sustainable development,” Milan said.
Opportunities
WHEN Duterte embarked on his independent foreign policy, he practically yanked open the door of business opportunity for the Philippines.
“It has been good for this country,” Go said, noting the President’s unorthodox leadership style and dealing with nontraditional partners, like China and Russia. With such move, Go said “we have a bigger market now; we now have investors not traditionally coming in” into the city.
CICs are “very good opportunities to showcase the whole of the Davao Region, as well”, Milan said. “We are being highlighted by big events. We want to take advantage of the window of opportunity because seldom are we given” such chance.
However, he said having greater flexibility in managing the airport would significantly boost the city’s drive to make investors stay longer and invest more in the city.
That’s why we are lobbying to have our own airport authority, Milan said.
“We would lobby for AirAsia to become its international hub, to promote the Davao region as a business and tourism destination.”
Milan said the airport authority “is already a long proposal and still pending in Congress”.
“We want the private sector to help in the lobby for that,” he said, citing the reason for the DCCCII’s leadership of the lobby for an airport authority.
To have an airport authority is to become autonomous and adds to marketing destinations in Mindanao, he said. Milan added Cebu “was there first”. “Davao would have its way to think what it would be its [airport’s] best use,” he added.
To be continued
Image credits: Manuel Cayon