THE Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) vows to improve its concrete guidelines for event organizers and contingents to prevent untoward incidents during this year’s Kadayawan Festival events.
“That's one thing we have improved, we need to come up with concrete guidelines, we have ongoing affidavits that need to be signed once we award and we can identify the event organizers who will handle our official events,” CTOO officer-in-charge Jennifer Romero said in a mixture of Cebuano and English, during Wednesday’s Media Forum at Habi at Kape in Abreeza Ayala Malls on July 19.
It can be recalled that on March 4, what could have been the first 3D Drone Light Show in Davao City was canceled due to unresolved technical issues encountered by the organizer and supplier.
The drone show was anticipated to be one of the highlights of this year’s Araw ng Davao.
The organizer of the event, Kat Dalisay-Santos of Manic Nightnings requested the spectators to turn off their phone’s mobile data as the satellite signal of the drones was being intercepted by their phone’s signals.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the organizer decided at around 1 a.m., Sunday, to postpone the show to March 5. However, the drone supplier suggested to the organizers to eventually cancel the re-scheduled drone show after having several technical issues again.
To prevent these unexpected incidents from happening again, Romero said they will be conducting more thorough orientations once they will identify organizers for the Kadayawan events.
They will also strictly follow their set guidelines in each event for the organizers to adhere to.
“Even mga guidelines na kanang proper placements sa atong mga logos, we need to standardize para at least cohesive ang atong implementation not only sa creatives but during the implementations of our events,” Romero said.
The Kadayawan Festival will start on August 10 and end on August 20.
The two-week festival will begin with the Pag-abli sa Kadayawan, followed by the Agong ug Kulintangan sa Kadayawan Competition on August 12. The Tabuan sa Kadayawan will be held on August 10 to 13.
Meanwhile, the Habi Kadayawan will return on August 12, followed by the Hiyas sa Kadayawan Cultural Presentation (Talent Competition) on August 13, and the Bantawan Cultural Celebration from August 14 to 16.
Dula Kadayawan will be held on August 17, same with the Hiyas sa Kadayawan Coronation Night, while Kasikas sa Kadayawan will be on August 18, and Konsierto Kadayawan will be on August 20.
The Kadayawan Village, located within Magsaysay Park, will be open throughout the celebration.
The CTOO also lifts pandemic restrictions for this year’s festival for all participants, spectators, and contingents.
All guidelines for these events are being finalized.
“Atong ma-discuss (We will be discussing) all the things na needed, ma-align siya and clear ang tanang guidelines (guidelines will be aligned and clear), so we can somehow avoid previous na nahitabo from (the drone show incident) happening again,” Romero said. (ICE)