Thursday, August 21, 2008 Chinatown arc launched By Joy Romares-Sevilla
TO FURTHER develop the tourism industry in Davao City, the Friendship Arc will be launched Thursday at the corners of Magsaysay avenue and Claveria street.
The Friendship Arc is one of the four arcs in the city's Chinatown.
Lawyer Leoncio Villa Abrille, administrator of the Cesareo Villa Abrille Foundation, which funded the Friendship Arc, said Wednesday at the Club 888 press forum at the Marco Polo Davao that the arc will just be one of the arcs that the Chinatown Development Council will inaugurate.
He added that the funding for the construction of the arcs will be coming from the Chinese-Filipino community in the city.
"When the city created the Chinatown Development Council, the local government said that the council should be self-sustaining. We get the funding from the Chinese-Filipino community," Villa Abrille said.
He added that the cost of the Friendship Arc is P1.5 million.
He said another arc, named Unity, which is being constructed on Magsaysay
Avenue fronting the Magsaysay Park will also cost P1.5 million.
The construction of the arcs in the city's Chinatown will be one of the attractions in the city in terms of tourism.
Villa Abrille said Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte proposed that all stores along Magsaysay Avenue should also carry Chinese characters to give resemblance of the Chinese atmosphere.
"We also plan to make the area alive during the night by putting up night markets," he noted.
