Davao-Clark sisterhood pact pushed

DAVAO CITY—Business and government leaders are hatching up a sisterhood pact between Davao and Clark to open up tourism and investment opportunities between Mindanao and Central Luzon.

Representative Mylene Garcia of Davao City’s third district, said during the Davao Investment Conference that the sisterhood agreement, which both Davao and Clark are working on, was hoping to bring about more flights and passenger traffic.

Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp., said new flights between Davao and Clark would also bring about more interaction among people and therefore more business opportunities.

He said at least three budget airlines had expressed interest to serve the Davao and Clark air routes.

“Cebu Pacific Airline and AirPhil Express have expressed immediate interest to fly from Clark to Davao while Air Asia Philippines, an affiliate of Air Asia Berhad of Malaysia, is still getting the necessary permit,” he said.

If plans push through, Davao City will hopefully get a spillover of passenger traffic from Clark which is serving 5,334 international flights a year and bringing in 607,410 foreign visitors from eight international destinations.

Maria Cherry Lyn Rodolfo, vice president of the Research, Education and Institutional Development Foundation, had compared Davao with Clark in 2003.

Although the Clark International Airport by then was already serving 44 international flights, Davao International Airport was serving only a few foreign flights, she said.

Luciano said that while Koreans were outnumbering other tourists in Clark each year, the Malaysian visitors were also increasing.