Journey to Samal » Development

Trader Joe’s Spokane

Randy C — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:27:07 +0000

Trader Joe’s Spokane store opened last Friday, October 28th. It was, and still is, a mad house.

For those of you not familiar with Trader Joe’s (no it’s not run by “Hey Joe”), it’s a specialty grocery store that has a lot of unique items, quite a bit of organic, low prices and many items branded especially for them. Actually they are kind of difficult to explain, if you’ve not been to one. This is exactly the kind of place that I will miss when living in the Philippines.

Spokane waited many years for this store to open. Spokane is in the top 100 cities by population in the US, but often times is late to get the more desired stores, such as this and the Apple Store that opened here last year.

If the reception so far is any indication, I do not see how they could possibly do any better with sales than they have so far. The line goes out the door and you’re basically on a conveyor built (not really) going through the store. You can not move forward until the person in front of you does – that’s how crowded it is. Obviously it won’t stay this way, at least it better not. I do not enjoy these kinds of crowds. Reminds me of some of the malls I’ve visited in Manila, but this is in a much smaller space.

No, I will not find this kind of store in the Philippines. I will not find the kind of items they carry in many instances either. In some cases there are good and even better alternatives to be had in the Philippines. Other things will just be missed I’m afraid.

I wonder how many more years before this kind of place could be successful in the bigger cities such as Manila, Cebu and Davao? Is there enough foreign population and/or demand within the younger pilipinos to make such a place desirable and profitable? I know Davao has stores such as the Swiss Deli that specialize in imported and otherwise difficult to find products.

What do you think, is Davao is ready for this kind of yet?

Samal LGU Agrees to EUF MOA

Randy C — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:41:03 +0000

The controversial and widely unpopular EUF (Environmental Users’ Fee) will continue on the Island Garden City of Samal, with a newly adopted MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) between the local government and various civic groups.

The main purpose of the MOA seems to be to monitor the EUF to insure that the funds are collected correctly and are in fact used for the purpose intended.

After series of consultations and meetings with city department heads and civil society organizations of the local government of Island Garden City of Samal made by Ateneo de Manila University School of Government (ADMU-ASoG) through its Government Watch (G-Watch) Program, the parties involved have finally inked the Memorandum of Agreement for the “IGACOS Bantay Kinaiyahan” Project during the employees Monday Convocation, June 27, 2011 at Samal Multi-purpose Gym.

Signatories to the MOA were the Transport Federation of IGaCoS (TFI), Samal Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship (SEMFEL), Samal City Resort Owners Association (SCROA) and (ADMU-ASoG)

I saw many signs in resistance to the EUF during my visit late last year. I only recall one instance in which I believe the fee was collected, when we visited Hagimit Falls. Though the fee was very small, my understanding is that you could potentially pay this many times during a visit. The resort owners, in particular, feel this may be a detriment to promoting tourism for Samal.

It will be interesting to see where this is at in a year or so. Will the MOA have made any impact and what benefits are derived from the collection of these fees? I think the average visitor to Samal would not be going to attraction after attraction, but those that do may find the fees excessive for their efforts to visit the many activities available on Samal Island.

via Samal City inks MOA on envi protection with civic groups.

Tagpopongan Roro Port Photos

Randy C — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 03:02:41 +0000

In a previous article I noted that the Tagpopongan Roro Port was half completed. It seems that a reader visited the area recently and notes that the Samal side of the ferry port is already complete now. There is no ferry running there as of yet, and I’m not sure as to the status of the port on the Pantukan side, but here are photos of the completed Tagpopongan Roro Port on Samal Island:

He points out that even though one may live on the east side of Samal, if you were to take the Tagpopongan ferry you’ll end up in Pantakun with not much to do but sightsee, whereas the the current west side ferry takes you to Davao. Quite a difference for the average person.

Photos courtesy Anton Vos – thanks!

Power Mac Center Abreeza Mall Davao

Randy C — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:00:49 +0000

As everyone in the Davao region knows already the highly anticipated Abreeza Mall had a soft opening recently. Soft as in many of the stores are not yet ready for business, but a surprising number of companies were ready. Abreeza Mall is highly anticipated in part because of the large number of “new to Davao” shops that will be tenants there.

I’ve mentioned Starbucks before, and I understand that they are open for business, marking the the first location in Davao for this famous coffee retailer. Starbucks will have some competition from the locals and from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, another well known international company which also opens it’s first Davao store in the Abreeza Mall.

Another store that I will surely visit, and appreciate the competition of, is the Power Mac Center. Power Mac Center is, as the name would indicate, an authorized Apple retailer. They are based out of the Manila area, with their first store opening in SM Megamall in 1994. The opening of their new store in Abreeza will not only be their first outlet in Davao, but will mark their ninth overall.

Stores are currently located in The Annex at SM City North EDSA, TriNoma, SM City Marikina, SM Megamall, Power Plant Mall, SM Mall of Asia, Festival Supermall, and a newly reopened flagship store in Greenbelt 3.

Established in August 1994, Power Mac Center is a recognized Apple Premium Reseller and an Apple Authorized Service Provider in the Philippines. With over 15 years of experience in the Apple business, Power Mac Center has become a reliable retail shop and service provider of Apple products to the Filipino consumer.

Davao already has a couple of other Apple authorized retail stores in PowerHub and iCenter. PowerHub is a smaller store that is located outside of Chimes Mall. iCenter is a little bit bigger shop and is located on the third floor of the Gaisano Mall and also has a location in SM Mall. Since the Power Mac Center is not open yet it is hard to say for sure, but based off their other locations it is a good bet that this Apple store will be the largest in the Davao area.

I can not find any information redgarding it at this time, but my hope is that Power Mac Center will offer full on site service. If everything needs to be shipped out of the area for service work then that will be put them at a disadvantage, as at least iCenter is offering in house certified service. I am not sure what all that covers, but the more options for local service, the better as far as I am concerned.

I’m really happy to see the addition of another Apple store in the region. Abreeza Mall was already on my Top Ten list, but the addition of Power Mac Center only enhances my desire to visit there. I only hope that the crowds and traffic have diminished to some degree by the time I get to pay them a visit.

Aqua Park Launched at Playa Azalea

Randy C — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:53:55 +0000

Playa Azalea, the joint subdivision project of Landco Pacific Corporation and Anflocor Management and Investment Corporation, recently celebrated the unveiling of the latest addition to the complex, a new aqua park. Evidently it contains a river pool with infinity edge, a first-ever for Samal Island.

Guests, which were boated in, were treated to a party that included jugglers, jesters, a magic show, and a nice selection of snacks. To conclude the ceremonies, balloons were sent to the skies, followed by a Madi Gras parade.

Already famous among locals and tourists alike for its crystal clear waters, the Island Garden City of Samal now boasts another amazing “body of water” in its first-ever river pool with infinity edge, an amenity found in the newly blessed and launched Aqua Park of Playa Azalea.

While there are many developments ongoing and announced on Samal, Playa Azalea, along with Holiday Oceanview Samal are among the biggest subdivisions projects. Playa Azaela is located on the western shore of the island, south of the ferry terminal near Limao. It did not appear that there were any homes completed at the time I visited there late last year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were not any residents living there yet. It does sound like things are moving along though.

I could not figure out how you would enter the complex, other than the Circumference road, which at the time was in poor condition in part due to the construction of Playa Azalea or directly by boat. I imagine that will be remedied by the time there are homes going up, and of course the planned improvement of the Circumference road will aid in that matter.

According to Alfred Xerez-Burgos III, Landco President and CEO, “Playa Azalea is just a few minutes from Davao City, close enough to be a primary home and weekend escape, allowing residents to experience leisure living every day.”

The source article kind of turns into a sales pitch for Playa Azalea, but it’s a pretty big deal for Samal, as this little island is growing up fast.

Playa Azalea unveils Aqua Park | Sun.Star.

Samal Seeks Developer Meeting for Casino Resort

Randy C — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:25:41 +0000

The government of Samal Island (IGaCoS) is once again looking to get the old Samal Casino Resort open and is looking for feedback from the developers as to how to go about that. Efforts to meet with the current owners have not yet resulted in a meeting to discuss government’s desire to reopen casino resort.

The resort has been rumored to be reopened previously, with late last year being the most recent timeline being reported. On at least one occasion the government of Samal had considered running the resort itself.

“We need to find ways on how to reopen this property,” said Mr. Boncato, noting however that the date of the meeting has not been fixed as his team is still waiting for a response from the Malaysian owners of the resort.

There were attempts to open the resort in the past with then mayor Rogelio P. Antalan, older brother of the incumbent Samal mayor, proposing that the city government run the resort to prevent its deterioration.

However, Mr. Boncato said that while the proposal of the older Antalan was discussed, it would be very difficult for the city government to operate the hotel.

The number of resorts on Samal has increased dramatically since the Samal Casino Resort closed over 10 years ago. The competition for the tourist’s pesos is going to be even more intense than before. This is a large complex on 250 hectares, and I would imagine it would be very costly to maintain. If there is in fact a casino in the resort (and I don’t know that for sure) then that certainly gives them some uniqueness on the island, and a reason for customers to make the trip over from the mainland.

I have a feeling that this project will make more financial sense when some of the infrastructure commitments get settled.

via: Samal government seeks to reopen casino resort | BusinessWorld Online

Internot Philippines

Randy C — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:54:41 +0000

While the rest of the world has this thing called the internet, the Philippines has their very own version, which I have dubbed the Internot. Not cheap, not fast, and not at all reliable. Even when it is working it’s not robust enough to handle much of what the internet is being used for and where the net is going.

I had high hopes, and still do I suppose, that things would improve with regards to the internet in the Philippines by the time I were to retire there. Well, things have improved, at least in theory, since I’ve first started visiting there, but in many ways they really haven’t.

As I say “theoretically” the speeds have gotten faster. That may be true to some degree, you can get a faster plan now, but not only are these speeds MUCH lower than here in the US (and from what I can tell much of the rest of the world), they are very hit and miss. There still seems to be a major bottleneck with the Philippines pipeline, so you are going to be limited regardless. Just try doing something like video chat with Skype, or streaming video. Sure it works (sort of) sometimes, but most of the time you are going to get disconnects, poor video/sound quality or very slow downloading.

I also see what I would term “net congestion”, when at times the speeds just drop to almost unusable levels because there are too many people sharing the connection. Possibly this is only a problem with DSL, I am not sure. The weather seems to play a factor here, too. Sometimes the torrential rains will cause very poor connections. Again, I am not sure why that would be, excepting that poor wiring must have something to do with that.

The most obvious and consistent problem is just a plain brownout. For those of you not from the Philippines, that is what we call a blackout, and depending upon where you live in the Philippines they can be infrequent to a daily occurrence. Regardless of where you live there, they happen much more often than they should. It is just a part of life there, and it is taken for granted that they will occur. Of course, it can be really difficult to access the internet if your connection is dependent upon electricity.

While the local providers continue to offer new and better plans, it is going to take a commitment by the government to improve the backbone before any real progress is made. At least that is the conclusion that I’ve come to. Maybe there will be other ways to accomplish this that I don’t really understand. As wireless technology advances, maybe the need for wired will no longer be needed. I do not see that being the case so far, as even the people I know using wireless conncetions are having similar issues with the signal.

I know that the Philippines is very concerned about tourism and becoming a retirement destination. It is with issues like this that I am not sure that they fully understand the statement that is made to those contemplating visiting or retiring there. When people have choices, something as significant as this can help sway their opinion in another direction.

I hope to see a plan proposed to bring the internet in the Philippines up to world standards. Better yet, I hope to see it actually happen.

Samal Hopes to Avoid Boracay Mistakes

Randy C — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:58:26 +0000

Note: this is a what I hope will become a regular (weekly?) feature of news specific to Samal Island. Mostly from news sources, I’ll have short articles relaying the latest news of the island. I’ve found that my main weekly articles are a struggle between personal, regional and Samal specific content, and I’d like to see if I can’t alleviate that to some extent.

Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Director Arturo Boncato Jr. has been very supportive of Davao, and particularly Samal Island, in the news that has been coming out of the region recently. He is now saying that there is a long term plan being developed for Samal tourism, and from what I’ve heard so far I can say I’m in favor of the approach.

“We are making sure that we do not do the things that have been done in Boracay and instead do the things that should have been done to avoid the deterioration of their natural resources,” Boncato said.

Another very interesting tidbit I took from the article was the mention of continuing to seek investors for the Ekran Behard (ie. Samal Casino) site. I thought this was a done deal to be re-opened, and that was to have happened quickly. I’m not surprised, but I do think that the news reporting that comes from some of these sources needs to be taken with a (BIG) grain of salt at times.

Along with the master plan for Igacos, Boncato said Mayor Antalan is open for investors to pass along proposals that will work for the Ekran Berhad site.

Full article:

Samal tries to learn from Bora mistakes | Sun.Star

Samal Island Circumferential Road Project Proposed

Randy C — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 02:45:20 +0000

If you read any of my articles after my return from visiting Samal Island last year you’ll surely remember my feelings regarding the ability to drive around the island. My biggest complaint was the condition of the Circumferential Road, which is the “main” road on the island. Parts of it are paved, but much (most) of it is not.

It seemed to me that road was in even worse shape than I remembered from the previous trip, two years prior. The areas around the subdivision developments were particularly shocking to me, as I expected those would be developed along with the subdivisions, but in many cases these were even worse from what appeared to be the heavy use due to the construction.

It was with great pleasure that I read the news, presented by Department of Tourism (DOT)-XI Regional Director Art Boncato, that Samal is due to concrete the (entire?) Circumferential Road. As part of a master list of projects from around the country, Samal will have P1.534 billion allocated to the project which is expected to be implemented in phases. There was no word given on when the project was expected to start, or for that matter complete.

As part of the article, there was also mention of the notorious Samal-Davao bridge, and possibly tying that into a project that would transfer the Davao Airport to Samal? I wasn’t sure I had read that correctly, but that seems to be in a proposal that Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario has made. I’m just speechless in regards to that proposal. I’ll reserve any comments until l have more facts.

“The island is so promising that you have to have the right vision for the development of tourism in Samal,” he stressed. Dir. Boncato and Reider visited the governor at the Tahanan ng Lalawigan in Tagum City to refer the proposed priority tourism projects for the province. Gov. del Rosario was delighted that the circumferential road project will finally be realized to boost up tourism and advance socio-economic development in the island city. “If you’re looking at really developing the whole island, you cannot separate the circumferential road project,” the governor said.

As with all projects that I see announced around the various areas of the country, there can be quite a lag between the announcement and the actual implementation of the project. In some cases, shall I mention the bridge again?, there never is any implementation. I’ll watch this one closely, as I believe it is critical to the health and growth of Samal Island. Not just for the resorts or tourism, but for the basic development of the island.

Gov’t to build P1.5B circumferential road.

Photo credit: Paul David Lewin | Digypho Studio Philippines

Tagpopongan Roro Port Half Finished

Randy C — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:18:56 +0000

As I mentioned a year and a half ago, Samal Island is set to receive a new RoRo ferry terminal. This one to be on the east side of the island. According to Dredging Today (everyone reads that, right?) the work is about half finished on the Samal section of the new port.

I try to stay away from directly copying an article, but I’m feeling lazy today, and don’t want to spend the time rewording what they already said. So here is the article in all it’s glory, with credit to them of course:

Tagpopongan Port

According to the ESD Manager Engr. Asterio Gallardo, Jr., the said port project is now 50.94 percent accomplished as of December 25, 2010 and is ahead by 4.6 percent of its actual 430-day contract time. Contracted by MRB Construction and Supply (MRBCS), it is scheduled to be fully accomplished by August 11, 2011.

Engr. Gallardo revealed that the project should have been finished as early as February 11, 2011 based on its original contract time with MRBCS. The date of the effectivity of the said contract was set on December 8, 2009 yet.

However, construction schedule has been stalled twice for justifiable reasons such as the Election Ban starting on February 12, 2010 and the President Benigno Aquino’s Suspension Order No. 01 for all Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) infrastructure projects beginning on July 21, 2010. Overall, the project has incurred 181 days in delay, albeit legitimate.

The P37.79 million infrastructure project covers the following civil works: the construction of 9X12 meter Roll On Roll Off (RoRo) Ramp, a 21X12 meter reinforced concrete wharf and a 58 meter rock causeway.

Tagpopongan Port, located in the southern part of Island Garden City of Samal (IGACoS) in Davao del Norte will soon form part of a network of RoRo-capable ports nationwide as a lateral link of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH).

Alongside this development, the Pantukan RoRo Port, situated across Tagpopongan, is also underway. It also has the same features as the latter except that its rock causeway is only 15 meters.

Although construction of both ports have been bid out and contracted at the same time, Pantukan is faced with another cause of delay – the resolution of its road right of way in addition to the above cited legitimate suspensions.

Still, PPA has been able to push through with an 11 percent of Pantukan’s program of work and is positive that the Local Government Unit (LGU) will be able to resolve its access problem within 2011.

Once completed, Pantukan Port, situated in neighboring Compostela Valley Province, is set to directly connect with Tagpopongan Port in IGACoS and vice versa, making exchanges of goods, people and services between the two municipalities faster and more frequent in the area through sea transport.

Likewise, both LGUs here are open to the idea of plying buses and fastcrafts for the two routes in a move to shorten travel cycles using the RoRo concept like that of the current Davao City-IGACoS-Davao City short-haul trips .

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earlier envisioned linking all adjacent islands by strengthening connectivity through the Road-RoRo Transport System (RRTS).

By using RoRo ports and vessels, travel time is significantly reduced, hence, opening up greater opportunities for local economies such as the Davao Region to participate in trade, transport and tourism activities on a larger scale. (PPA XI PDO-SoMin)

Reference: Dredging Today – Philippines: Tagpopongan Roro Port Now 50% Complete.