“Definitely the national convention is good for domestic tourism kasi lahat ng hotels natin even yung boutique hotels puno na siya (all our hotels, even the boutique hotels are all full),” says Atty. Maceste Uy, president of the IBP Davao City Chapter who will be hosting the national convention.
The convention which is also the 50th founding anniversary of the IBP will have 3,500 delegates, members of the IBP who will be coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
“Let’s say from Davao City mga 200 to 300 sasali (participating), the rest of the delegates will be from out-of-town they will be staying in Davao for two to three nights we would expect our restaurants our hotels to be patronized, this will really benefit our domestic tourism,” Uy said.
The IBP Davao City chapter president said there could have been more lawyers coming but limitations in space they could only accommodate at the most 3,500 delegates.
“Inasmuch as we like to accommodate a bigger number of registrants but there is a constraint in space initially 3,000 is the maximum number of registrants we can accept because yun lang ma-accommodate ng SMX but due to request ng mga lawyers na ma-accommodate pa sila we have to extend the number of participants from 3,000 to 3,500 and we are utilizing SM Cinema 6,” Atty Uy said.
The tickets for the national convention were immediately sold-out as this is the first face-to-face IBP national convention after the pandemic.
He said they have invited Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo along with 14 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court to the convention. Also invited were House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senator Francis Tolentino. Meanwhile, Vice-President Sara Z. Duterte has confirmed that she will attend the fellowship dinner.
This is the third time that Davao City hosted the IBP National Convention, the first was in 1999, and the second in 2013.
Atty. Uy said that one of their objectives in hosting the IBP national convention is to promote the city and the Davao Region.
He said that aside from lawyers coming, some would be bringing their families. “We have digital fliers that we post on our chat groups where if the lawyers have spare time or their family members who accompanied them, they can avail of tours within Davao Region, not just Davao City but adjoining cities and provinces,” Atty. Uy said.
The IBP National Convention in Davao City is also expected to showcase the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibits) tourism potentials of the city. After the IBP convention, the City will also be hosting MICECon 2023 this March 1-3. Another big sporting event the Alveo Ironman 70.3 will be hosted by Davao City this March 26. (PIA/RG Alama)