TO reach more overseas Filipino workers and tourists, Duty Free Philippines (DFP) opened a 1,800 square meter outlet—its second biggest store in the country after Fiesta Mall in Paranaque City—in the Northwing of SM City Cebu.

But if plans to close the DFP store at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino by the end of August will push through, there will still be two outlets in Cebu.

With Cebu fast becoming a major tourist attraction and the opening of a Sofitel Hotel near SM City Cebu, DFP went into talks with the SM Group about a year ago on opening up the outlet in the mall. More…

Representatives from the Philippine and Indonesian national police are here in Cebu for the quarterly meeting on the two countries’ joint police training operations.

Police Regional Office Director Ronald Roderos yesterday said the Philippine panel is Philippine National Police deputy chief of operations while the Indonesian panel is being headed by the Deputy Chief of the Indonesian National Police.

The Philippine- Indonesian Police Joint Committee quarterly meeting is said to focus on the two countries’ police operations on their maritime borders and will tackle joint training courses for Maritime Police and Border Patrols and standard procedures on police operations, including conduct and guidelines of the handover of criminal suspects. The Freeman

THE Cebuanos had a productive campaign in the Visayas leg of the Philippine Olympic Festival as they came up with 18 gold medals at the pools and five from taekwondo in Dumaguete City.

Winning gold medals for taekwondo were Lord Jay Guia, Michael Realista, Lovely Lim, Karen Fontanilla and Arvin Festin, as they dominated in their respective divisions.

The silver medalists were Rovel Mendoza, Cathy Bas and Maris Balbona, while Richard Caingles will go home with a bronze medal. The team was coached by Raul Luna. More…

In line with the tourism sector’s thrust of providing globally competitive hotel accommodations to the increasing number of foreign tourists in Cebu, a newly built hotel with 72 rooms opened along Escario Street.

Targeting to capture a bulk of both foreign as well as domestic transient tourists, The Maxwell Hotel is the first hotel industry venture of owner Maxwell G. Ahyong and his family, which has long been into the real estate business.

The Maxwell Hotel aims to provide a convenient accommodation within the heart of the city, said its Marketing Supervisor Chit L. Limcolioc in an exclusive interview. More…

Well, here is Cebuano bloggers something to look forward to. In preparation for the Mandaue Business Month 2008 in August, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently launched the “Cebu Blog Contest”. The contest is open to all individuals, students, professionals and bloggers.

All you have to do is to create your blog and feature anything about Cebu and of course you should follow these rules:

Objective:

To let a hundred Cebu Blogs bloom.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my entry for the Top (10) Most Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008 by Janet Toral. Now I am nominating, eNGY - a business cartoon series created by Wilson Ng. Enjoy a dose of comics and jokes that exists in the company/organization on a day to day basis. This blog has just started 4 months ago but already gathered readers and subscribers. The characters and stories are by Wilson Ng, NGenius/NG Khai CEO, who writes long thoughts in his blog, the Bizdrivenlife. and short observations in Twitter. More to come…. keep posted here.

Establishing a domestic airport in the municipality of Moalboal may boost tourism in southern Cebu by provide faster access to tourist spots such as Badian Island.

Representative Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) said tourists will always prefer the fastest way to get to a vacation spot.

“In the absence of an airport, tourists would have to hire helicopters that would bring them from Mactan to Badian,” he said. More…

The island of Olango may have to be upgraded into a municipality as part of efforts to redraw boundaries of Cebu’s congressional districts.

Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu, 6th district) said this would enable Olango and the town of Cordova on Mactan Island to comprise a new district.

She said this could solve concerns earlier raised when bills were filed proposing to make Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities into their own districts. More…

Top universities in Cebu and nearby provinces will be sending students to Kwangwoon University, one of the best engineering schools in South Korea.

Kwangwoon will grant scholarships to 10 universities for undergraduate and graduate degrees, according to Bonifacio Belen, executive director of the Cebu Education and Development Foundation for Information and Technology (CEDF-IT). More…

The world’s seventh richest Arab, Mishal Kanoo, has signified interest in investing in the country, particularly in Cebu, Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said Thursday.

Estrada, who had just arrived from the United Arab Emirates, said that aside from meeting Filipinos there, he also met with the 39-year-old Kanoo, who has an estimated personal fortune of $1.7 billion.

In their meeting, Estrada said Kanoo had told him that “My brother visited Cebu recently. We believe that Cebu is a good place to make investment and do business.” Inquirer.net

APART from positioning Cebu as a world-class destination for medical and wellness tourism in Asia by 2010, tourism industry players are also tapping the province’s potential as a shopping destination for local and foreign travelers.

“Shopping tourism,” described as an emerging venture in the industry, was discussed by the Philippine International Trade Fair (PITF) 2008 chairperson Angel Ramos Bognot in last week’s Tourism Congress at the Cebu International Convention Center.

Bognot said the venture represents an “intimate and emotional” relationship between the country and the tourists as manifested through the buying of clothes, souvenirs and food, among others. More…

Foreign and local tourists are expected to witness Sogod town’s first ever Panagsogod Festival, which was formally launched yesterday.

Sogod acting Mayor Lissa Marie “Moonyen” Durano said there are several contingents that would be joining the street parade during the town’s fiesta on July 25.

“We feel that this is an opportune time to start anew and give thanks. We believe the festival will usher in more blessings for Sogod and its people,” Durano said in a press conference at Casino Español. The Freeman