Friday, October 06, 2006 City mulls family-oriented places to promote values By Mary Grace Plata
A DAVAO City official Thursday said the city plans to build family-oriented places to strengthen family ties and moral values.
"We would like to have places that the whole family can go to. Those that are for tatay, nanay, ate, and kuya. A place where even kids can sing-along to Barney songs," said Patmei Ruvivar, chief of Staff of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
The Office of the City Mayor and councilors Angela Librado-Trinidad, Peter Laviña, and Susan Isabel Reta will sit down with 30 members of the Davao Entertainment Industry Association for an orientation and information drive discussing the Davao City Women Development Code and the Anti-Prostitution Bill.
They will also tackle changes in the marketing strategies of the establishments especially those of the nightclubs and karaoke bars.
Ruvivar said it is necessary to go away from the image of women in front of bars to "lure" customers into patronizing the establishment, adding that it does not go well with the campaign of the City Government in making Davao City a wholesome tourist destination.
It is also against the Davao City Women Development Code of which the city is proudly the leader in initiative and implementation in the country, she added.
"We are doing this to eradicate the threat of having prostitution dens in the city because these kind of places could also give way to other criminal activities including drug abuse aside from the damage it does to women and children," Ruvivar said.
The move was met positively by bar owners. In fact, they want to meet right away to start discussing new strategies, Ruvivar added.
"In family-tourism, the income will be bigger because you would now be serving a larger market," Ruvivar said.
