Dos Palmas bounces back

Manny Sevellino is looking forward to taking his first divers out to Helen’s Garden this weekend. "The corals are beautiful and there are plenty of fish," says the divemaster, who has been revisiting the coral garden in anticipation of the guided dives this weekend. "It’s good to have guests here again."

Four months after suspending operations, Dos Palmas Arreceffi Island Resort in Honda Bay in Palawan province reopens today, with an initial guest list that includes Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, Puerto Prin-cesa Mayor Victorino Socrates, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, travel industry executives and media representatives. The atmosphere on the island resort is at once optimistic but cautious, festive but subdued.

Memories of May 27, 2001, when Abu Sayyaf bandits raided the resort and took hostage 20 guests and staff, are hard to erase. Two of the hostages, American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, remain in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

But resort owners and tourism officials are hopeful that the re-opening of Dos Palmas will signal the start of a recovery for tourism in Palawan.

Despite the stigma of the hostage-taking, Dos Palmas decided to keep the name. "We’re not hiding anything," says resort manager Lyba Godio. "The issue is not Dos Palmas but terrorism, and (acts of) terrorism can happen anywhere – in a shopping mall, an embassy, the LRT."

Resort management also deny that the re-opening is timed to take advantage of the presence of American soldiers in the on-going Balikatan military exercises against the Abu Sayyaf.

"We wanted to re-open earlier but there were a few last minute hitches with regard to new investments. As soon as these were ironed out, we scheduled the re-opening." Godio declined to identify the new investors, except to say that they are "local".

"We really want to keep it a 100-percent Filipino operation," she told The STAR, adding that four foreign hotel and resort chains had expressed interest in taking over but the owners, the NCCC Group of Davao City, declined the offers.

"For us, it’s a matter of pride. We’re the only island resort in the country fully handled by Filipinos, and we’d like to show that we can make it." In addition to refurbishing existing resort facilities, Dos Palmas has added a tropical spa in two of the garden cottages on the island. The resort has a staff of 70, half of whom are re-hires.

Although a repeat of last May’s pre-dawn attack is "highly unlikely", the resort has doubled its security force on the island, and arrangements are being made with the AFP’s Western Command (Wescom) for additional security.

The fallout from the May attack, plus the devastating effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on international tourism forced the resort to suspend operations last October.

"Even after May we were still surviving," Godio says. "But after 9/11 it was really bad. We were crippled."

Renewed marketing efforts are initially targetting domestic tourists, and response has been "encouraging".

"We already have bookings, especially for Holy Week," Godio reveals.

Tina de Castro, general manager of Satellite Travel, confirms that there has been significant interest in the resort, despite some initial apprehensions. "The package rates being offered are very attractive," she says. "We were a bit surprised at the number of inquiries about Dos Palmas."

"We will also start marketing the resort abroad," Godio continues, "particularly in Korea. There are many Korean tourists visiting the Philippines now, and Dos Palmas could very well be one of their destinations."

As a show of support, the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines, the umbrella organization of local travel and tourism associations, is sending a top-level delegation to the reopening of Dos Palmas today.