m&Entertainment IBA CELEBRATES LOCAL HERITAGE STA A VIEW
tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, July 27, 2015 A7
PAYNAUEN Duyan Festival Queen
Photos by Gigi Paler
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HE municipality of Iba, the capital town of Zambales, recently celebrated the Paynauen Duyan Festival as part of the town’s annual foundation-day observance. “Paynauen” is the ancient Zambal name of Iba, which meant place of relaxation, which was located by the banks of Bancal River, while duyan refers to the indigenous hammocks used by the natives. Indigenous Ayta tribes were among the township’s early settlers who lived in the hinterlands and in the vicinity of Mount Pinatubo area. Incepted in 2005, the Paynauen Duyan Festival rediscovers the origins of the town to give local folks a sense of history and pride of place. The focus of the weeklong festivity is the street parade, which showcased dancers garbed in pre-Spanish costumes depicting precolonial livelihood activities, such as foraging, hunting, agriculture and fishing. One of the event’s highlights is the coronation of Gng. Paynauen International, which crowned the ambassadress of goodwill and tourism of Iba overseas. US-based Annabelle Macadaan Ramos Agliam was crowned by Miss International 2005 Precious Lara Quigaman. Present-day Iba was established in 1611 by the Spanish colonizers and was named such because of the abundance of kamias or iba trees in the locality. In 1860 the town’s administration was turned over to the Dominican priests until the civil government took over. It was later made the cabecera of Zambales, because of its strategic location being on the central part of the province. On August 28, 1901, American Civil Gov. William Howard Taft held the historic session of the Second Philippine Commission at the Saint Augustine Church in Iba, formally establishing the Province of Zambales under the United States government. The postcard-pretty Saint Augustine Cathedral, the seat of Roman Catholic Diocese, takes pride in its ecclesiastical museum, which is a repository of the church’s religious history. Situated by the coast of the West Philippine Sea, Iba is regarded as the “Beach Capital of Northern Luzon” with its 6-kilometer stretch of fine gray sand ideal for various water sports and beach activities.
AGNAYA Beach in Iba
SAINT Augustine Cathedral of Iba SUNSET at Iba beach
PAYNAUEN Duyan Street Dancing Parade
It also takes pride in its breathtaking golden sunsets framed in the horizon of the sea on the west, and the undulating Zambales Ranges on the east. The birthplace of former President Ramon Magsaysay, Iba has a
couple of ancestral homes, namely, the Trinidad and Camara houses, which have survived the ravages of time, and serve as living museums, giving visitors a glimpse of the genteel lifestyle of Zambales.
TRINIDAD ancestral house
DAVAO AIMS FOR WORLD-CLASS TOURISM SERVICES
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AVAO is improving its tour-guide services to attract more visitors, create more jobs and put the province on the map as a global travel destination. “Davao is considered as one of the safest cities globally, with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, best seafood and amazing ecotourism attractions,” said GeneRose Tecson, president of the Guide Union for Inbound Destination and Ecotourism Inc. (GUIDE) “Tour guides are recognized as important ambassadors and, by providing them with world-class training, we hope to take a big step toward making Davao one of the region’s most desirable cities for tourists.” To upgrade the quality of its services, GUIDE Davao recently concluded a series of training program on tour-guiding services using the tourism-skills grant from the Department of Tourism (DOT). Funded by the government of Canada and administered by Asian Development Bank (ADB), under the Philippines Improving Competi-
tiveness in Tourism (PICTourism) program, it was designed to support the government’s effort to achieve inclusive growth and create employment opportunities in tourism. “More than providing financial assistance to support professional skills training, the grant will usher in jobs and opportunities for growth for young Davaoeños,” Tecson said. “Using what we learned from the training, we seek to expand training and mentoring to junior tour guides in various cities and municipalities in the Davao region and help develop a new breed of tourism industry workers.” Tecson said that, while members of their group are licensed and accredited by the DOT and have received previous trainings, they seek to benefit from more relevant training courses to achieve worldclass status. With the help of the skills grant, they conducted workshops on personality development, quality in communications, security awareness, train the trainers and professional tour guiding.
For Personality Development, Quality in Communications and Train the Trainers, the group enlisted the services of Davaobased Joji Ilagan Career Center Foundation Inc. Meanwhile, to improve their skills on tour-guiding techniques, the group was trained by US-based multilingual tour manager and tourist-guide trainer Maricar Donato. As a result of the trainings, GUIDE Davao generated more awareness on its group, increasing its membership by up to almost 50 percent. With the help of DOT-ADB-Canada grant, GUIDE Davao hopes to improve its services and training programs to align with the standards of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Tourism, as well as the newly implemented standards of the DOT. GUIDE Davao also hopes to become a key driving force in making Davao known more globally, with tour guides as the province’s fifth icon. Davao is best known for its durian fruit, the waling-waling orchid, Mount Apo and the Philippine Eagle.
TOUR guides in training