Trip to Kidapawan

Last August 25, 2006 I attended the Media Summit in Kidapawan, province of North Cotabato, initiated by the Publishers Association of the Philippines.

I was to conduct a talk on libel and the recent legal developments.

My wife Ruby accompanied me.

From Dumaguete City, we went to Cebu to take a plane ride to Davao abord Cebu Pacific. From Davao we were to take a two hour ride to Kidapawan.

The journey compelled us to spend the night in Davao, due to our flight schedule. We arrived in Davao from Cebu at 7 p.m. already on August 25, 2006. So out land trip had to be the next day.

There were quite a few impressive things new we encountered in Davao.

We saw the spanking Davao Ingternational airport, arguably one of the best in the country.

We also stayed in a brand new hotel in downtown Davao, named the Las Casitas. It was lesss than a month since it was inaugurated, so the facilities were quite new.

If you intend to stay in Davao you can get in touch with Las Casitaqs de Angela at 185 Rizal Street., Davao City. Reservations at tel (082)227-5130 / (082) 224 - 0945.

The prices were reasonable and was perfect for us since we were only staying for the night, which was only around twelve hours.

The following morning, a Saturday, we took a taxi to SM Mall where we were supposed to be fetched by chartered bus.

Apparently, we arrived late and the bus had left already, so we took a van. The fare from Davao to Kidapawan was P140.

The venue of the Media Summit was the brand new Grand Ficus Hotel, owned and personally managed by Dodong Lu.

Grand Ficus is the place to stay when in Kidapawan.

It has fine facilities and amenities for relaxation and even for conferences and professional activities.

After the Kidapawan affair, we took the van again for a two hour trip back to Davao. Again we spent the night at Las Casitas before proceeding to Davao International Airport for our return trip to Cebu.

At the airport, we met some of the participants of the Media Summit who were also bound for Cebu.

I can see a huge and growing market for the Davao Cebu leg of these airlines as Cebu has become a major regional destination outside Metro Manila.

Passengers are those who come from Mindanao and intend to go to other places int he Visayas region, not necessarily in Cebu.

In our case we were headed for Dumaguete City. The friends we met in the airport were bound for Samar and Leyte.