Davao City’s hotel industry, which took a beating in the initial 30 days of Martial Law, is on the rebound by registering 100% occupancy during the duration of the 4th Investments conference on July 21-22.
“It triggered a continuing trend since then,” said Jen Namis, assistant manager of PRIME, a leading commercial real estate consultancy firm in the Philippines.
PRIME founder Jet Yu said the hotel sector took the brunt of Proclamation 216 (mandating the implementation of Martial Law) when hotels reported a drop in bookings and reservations.
A breakdown showed seven big hotels in Davao City recorded loses worth P20.9Million in events and functions cancelled in the first 30 days of Martial Law.
“But the situation has brightened up since then,” he said, adding that it was an understatement to say it is business as usual.
He said the approximate description is that business has been actually thriving under Martial Law.
“Martial Law was a test of character and Davao City proved resilient,” said Namis.
The two PRIME officials presented before the Kapihan sa Dabaw at the SM Ecoland an independent study that showed overall how business performed in the first 30 days of Martial Law.
The study showed that investments actually went up while the residential, office, and land investments sectors also went registered increased under property market overview. The hotel sector was listed as having suffered, due to substantial decrease in tourism.
“Even then it was not a total loss,” said Yu. “Pero bumalik na ang dating sigla and this was due to ICON.”
The study showed Duterte’s martial law stood in stark contrast to the Marcos’ version in 1972 where the executive branch was unrestrained and assumed total government authority and was prolonged with eight years duration.
In contrast, Duterte was restrained by checks and balances from Congress and the Supreme Court. It also upheld constitutional rights unlike the Marcos rule.
It was meant only for 60 days (then extended up to the end of the year) and was declared because of the Marawi siege. It also covered only the island of Mindanao while the 1972 version covered the whole country itself.
The PRIME officials said their initial target of P2Billion investments up the end of the year is realistic and not ambitious.
“The outlook is very bright and we are optimistic for more investments to come in,” he said.
