READY. Kadayawan 2016 co-chairperson Arturo Boncato, Jr. announces that they have already finalized the schedule of events for this year’s celebration, which will run from August 15 to 21. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY— Organizers of the Kadayawan festival here announced that they have already finalized the list of events, but set the limit on the budget to highlight the “simple and meaningful celebration.”
Art Boncato, Jr., co-chairperson of Kadayawan 2016 executive committee said that as of last Friday July 22, the finance committee of the Execom pinned the budget at a maximum of P12 million.
“This year, we are working very hard to really lower it down as it was also the directive of the office of the mayor who is the chairperson of the Execom,” he said.
Boncato said 50 percent of that amount will come from the private sector partners.
“We are thankful of the great opportunity of the private sector to be able to raise that both in cash and in kind so it’s going to be genuine a 50-50 partnership with government,” he said.
Boncato said they can limit the budget through “working on certain areas of the private sector that can give for free as a matter of commitment.
“The point here is that we will not go beyond P12 million mark in celebrating the festival and we promise, as a commitment, to deliver a simple and meaningful celebration,” she said.
Last year, Kadayawan was allocated with P15.1 million budget, P5 million of which was shouldered by the city government. The budget was also higher by P3 million compared to the 2014 Kadayawan celebration.
Boncato said they already requested for August 19 and 22 to be declared official holiday in Davao City for the celebration.
Meanwhile, Boncato also introduced the Davao Bloggers Society as their official media partner to the festival.
Glen Santillan of Davao Blogger Society said that they will do social media promotion before, during and after the festival.
“We are going to have social media platforms like in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat,” he said.
Santillan said that they will cover major events such as Hiyas ng Kadayawan, Indak- Indak and the Pamulak sa Kadayawan.
Along with the promotion, Santillan said that they will also launch a “Twitter party” during the celebration.
“In Twitter party, anyone can participate. We are going to talk about the Kadayawan 2016 in Davao and this is also part of why we exist as an organization, to promote Davao as a top tourist destination in our country,” he said.
Algene Cutamora, also a member of Davao Blogger Society said that they will start the Twitter party “maybe this week or the next week.”
Cutamora said that the official hashtag of the event is “#Kadayawan2016”
He said that the Davao Bloggers Society aims to promote homegrown restaurants and establishment in Davao.(davaotoday.com)
