MANILA, Philippines - Mindanao’s first integrated and world-class retirement facility will rise in Davao City.
This developed as radio broadcaster, publicist and chief executive officer Joy Gador of Joyland Travel & Tours and Megareach PR signed an agreement with chief executive officer Carlos Vargas of World Class Retirement Complex Inc. (WCRCI) recently.
Gador represents the heirs of spouses Francisco and Sofia Gador who own the five-hectare property in the upland barangay of Catigan, Toril that will be developed by the WCRCI into an integrated mix-use facility dubbed Eagle’s View Mountain Resort & Residences.
To constitute this P300-million project are 180 condotel units, single detached villas, a rehabilitation center with emergency room facilities, wellness spa, and a state-of-the-art sports complex with a gym and a heated lap pool.
Other amenities will include a mini theater, a convenience store, and four specialty restaurants.
The condotel design shall introduce “green building concepts†involving cross ventilation, day lighting, garden roofs, solar energy, fire bricks and other environment-friendly applications. Phase 1 is expected to start in August.
The rise of the Eagle’s View Mountain Resort & Residences is expected to speed up the development of the city’s ecotourism zone. Barangay Catigan is part of the Three Ridges Integrated Area Development (TRIAD). The two other ridges are Barangays Eden and Tagurano.
The TRIAD is part of the area-specific tourism master plan for Mt. Apo conducted by the UP Planades in 2007 as commissioned by the Department of Tourism.
In that comprehensive study, Catigan was classified as a “natural tourism zone†and deemed ideal for such establishments as tourist inns and home stays, and low-impact residential resorts, leisure farms and retirement villages.
The Eagle’s View Mountain Resort & Residences will be marketed in the United States by the United Specialist Healthcare Inc., a California-based wellness club catering to returning Filipino-Americans who intend to retire in the Philippines. The number of these retirees is expected to reach around 2.4 million within the next 10 years.
For the Japanese market, WCRCI has an agreement with the Japan Philippine Volunteer Association, a member of the Nikkei Jin-Kai group that operates a nursing home facility, a diagnostic laboratory and an international school in Davao City.
Data from the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) indicate that Japan, by 2015, will have around 40 million retirees aged 60 and above.
Negotiations are also underway with project manager Marc Daubenbuechel of the Retirement & Healthcare Coalition, a non-stock, non-profit organization formed in 2007 by the European, American, Japanese and Korean chambers of commerce in the Philippines to promote the country as a retirement and healthcare destination.
However, there is still not a single establishment in Mindanao included in their promotions.
Davao City has been adjudged as the Philippines’ most livable city and continues to be the last bargain destination in Asia.
While enjoying the lowest cost of living among Asia’s metropolitan cities, Davao City offers luxurious cosmopolitan lifestyle in a beautiful nature-endowed scenic environment, with all the modern quality medical services readily available, making it an ideal retirement haven for all nationalities.
The project is an initiative of the Davao Investment & Promotions Office in cooperation with the PRA, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., and the Development Bank of the Philippines.