The Pamulak sa Kadayawan is an annual parade of floral floats during the week-long Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival. Civic organizations also join the parade held in downtown area Davao City on Sunday, August 21, 2016. (FILE PHOTO/davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines –Less than two weeks before the Kadayawan festival officially opens, the Davao City Tourism Office is already 75 percent done with the overall preparations, an official said.

City Tourism Operations Officer, Generose Tecson said during the I-speak press conference on Thursday, August 3, the city government together with the private sector partners ​we​re already finalizing all the events in the week-long celebration of the 32nd Kadayawan here.

“I don’t think we can ever be close to a hundred percent but we’re well high in 75 percent already and we are already very excited,” Tecson said.

Tecson said they ha​ve increased th​​e ​number of ​major events to 17 core activities from last year’s seven to entice more tourists despite Martial law.

“Since Mayor Sara ​Duterte ​herself was the one who said ​she wanted a beautiful and bigger celebration this year, our private sector partners, the festival directorate, also made sure that there will be more activities this year,” Tecson said.

Some of the new events include “Pitik Kadayawan” (drum beating competition), “Habi Kadayawan” (Kadayawan-inspired professional fashion design competition), and “Mugna Kadayawan” (on the spot doodle competition).

Apart from the events, Tecson said they’ve already started putting up 12 tarpaulins placed in billboards in different areas of the country such as Metro Manila, Bacolod, Caticlan, Iloilo and​ Zamboanga. Tecson said the installation of tarpaulins in ‘prime places’amount to P500,000 .

She ​added security forces in the city ​we​re all ​ready for the Kadayawan.

“Everything is set. Our security forces have always been ready for any eventuality that will come up so everybody is on the look-out already,” Tecson said.

On Wednesday, Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC) Chief, retired General Benito De Leon told the press that City Mayor Sara Duterte ordered during the City Peace and Order Council meeting that “there should be an over-preparation” in terms of the security measures to ensure the success of Kadayawan.

“We are all set. This has been a long on-going planning since last month to ensure that all things are properly set for Kadayawan. There are many activities so we gathered the policemen, soldiers including 911 central and other government agencies so that we can see what else should be done for Kadayawan festival,” De Leon said.

A total of 28,599 security personnel coming from different security and rescue agencies will be deployed for the Kadayawan 2017.

De Leon urged the public to cooperate with the security forces to ensure security and safety of the city in the upcoming celebration.(davaotoday.com)

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