A private foundation may be tasked to handle city festivals and other tourism activities where the city would only play second fiddle, according to Davao City councilor Al Ryan S. Alejandre, chair of the city council tourism committee, during a business forum last week.

            City Hall tandems with the private sector in the major festivals—Araw ng Dabaw, Kadayawan and Paskuhan—but Alejandre said a private foundation may be able to place the festivals in “their proper perspective.”

            The idea however is not new. The Kadayawan Festival for years was handled by the Kadayawan Foundation. The local government dumped an agreement with the foundation after controversy hounded the last festival it handled.

            The foundation, according to Alejandre, would have control lock-stock-and-barrel of the festivals—with minimal participation by the local government—from planning, scheduling to raising funds.