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Yet other new reasons to visit Davao
Source: Inquirer
Author: Elizabeth Lolarga
Date: 1998-12-27
 
A PEACOCK showing off its feathers

on the lawn was one of the images we

carried away from this last visit to

Davao City.



The others were T'boli brass bells tinkling around a woman's

waist, an expansive hotel lobby with a sparkling marble floor

from where rose a gigantic Christmas tree, a Philippine Airlines

plane taking off on the left and a ferryboat coming in on the

right as seen from the panoramic height of a hilltop view deck.



And more: soaking for longer

than necessary in a tub

brimming with warm water and

bubbles, and hungrily tearing

into a barbecued chicken in a

downtown inasal joint.



The occasion that brings us to

the land of lumads (natives)

and durian is the inauguration

early this month of the

280-room Royal Mandaya

Hotel on Palma Gil Street in downtown Davao, which is

experiencing a hotel-builing spree. (The others still to formally

open are the Mercure and the Marco Polo, the last touted to be

owned by the sultan of Brunei.



Elsewhere, new inns and hostels like Tower and Elles are

catering to visiting businessmen who stay away from the

tourist-class lodging places.)



Among other features, the Mandaya boasts of ''the biggest

lobby with the highest ceiling in Davao City'' designed by

architect Roland Laurena.



Already, the hotel is implementing an environmental awareness

program that minimizes the use of detergent and cleaning

solutions and conserves water.



This reminder is pasted on the mirror of one's bathroom: ''To

Friends of Nature, If you want to use your towels again, please

hang or air-dry them in the bathroom. If you want a fresh

replacement, please place your used towels in the bathtub.''



On inauguration night, the guests, led by the hotel owners (the

Escandor family), social consultant Margie Moran-Floirendo,

Gov. Rosie Lopez, Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, Philippine

Centennial Commission Chair Salvador Laurel, San Juan Mayor

Jinggoy Estrada and the city's creme de la creme, toast the

occasion and nibble on the elaborate cocktail spread that

includes a gingerbread house and edible mock reindeer.



At one point we meet up with Don Barranco, old pal, Davao

returnee, Ateneo de Davao art teacher and painter who

unofficially takes over hosting duties from Mandaya's

busybody (and at times shy) sales and marketing staff Ruby

Nepomuceno and Cecille Lorenzana.



We suddenly get a craving for inasal and ask Don where we

can indulge ourselves. And as rain pours heavily, as if to bless

Mandaya's neo-Gothic twin turrets, we take a taxi to the popular

Colasa's Bar-be-q Restaurant, just behind the Bonifacio

monument.



The treat: spit-roasted chichen lathered with a tasty orangey

sauce and liver, with a dip of kalamansi, soy sauce and chili,

eaten with rice served on a small plate. The twin orders of

pecho, atay, rice and soft drinks amounted to only P138. It's

kamayan all the way, and the visitor from Manila needn't worry

about drinking from the tap.



Don quotes his father, a chemical engineer, who attests that

Davao has the second best potable water in the world, next only

to squeaky-clean Switzerland.



''Leave your glass of water for a few minutes, and it will moisten

because the water is cool, constant at 24 degrees Centigrade,''

Don says authoritatively.



A Quezon City resident for some years, Don returned to Davao

three years ago to the ''life that was easy compared to Manila,

where you work really hard and your money just goes around.''



''Food here is cheaper and of better quality,'' he declares, citing a

bundle of sitaw which costs P10 in Manila and only P2 in

Davao. At the height of the PAL strike, the veggies couldn't be

shipped out so they were selling dirt-cheap.

To be continued...
 

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