PDI’S 25TH YEAR IN CNMI Through thick and thin

He has always dreamed of sailing his own boat and live by the sea. And so when Manny Blas was offered to operate the newly acquired glass bottom boat of Pacific Island Development Inc. in 1975, he immediately took the job which would allow him to stay in the environment he loves most.

Twenty-five years after, Mr. Blas, who is now boat section manager, is still with PDI spending his time in the sea where he oversees the operation of Sta. Rita and Coral Queen’s sunset dinner cruise.

As the most senior employee in PDI, he has seen the best and the worst years in the island’s tourism industry. Now 50 years old, Mr. Blas says he has no plans of retiring from the company. “I will be working here as long as I can,” he says.

When the plane taking Tessie Huertas to Saipan was approaching the runway at Koblerville 14 years ago, she kept on looking for the airport’s building from the plane’s window. Ms. Huertas, who has lived in Manila all her life, instead saw an old Quonset hut structure.

“I was dismayed because I did not expect it to be so different. Saipan then was like one of those provinces back home which has not seen any progress,” she says. Ms. Huertas, who came to Saipan to work as cashier, remembers how business was so good, they had their hands full in accommodating the influx of Japanese tourists.

A former government employee, Gordon Marciano, assistant manager for public relations, says he has never found as job as challenging as the one he holds now at PDI.

Yoichi Matsumura, general manager of PDI, saw in Mr. Marciano, who used to work part-time with the company, the qualities of an employee who immediately gets along with other people.

“He told me I have this special touch when I meet people. It’s like I have met them for a long time,” says Mr. Marciano.

Now 14 years with PDI, he says he has learned a lot from meeting different types of people of various nationalities. “I’ve made friends and they keep on coming back here,” he says.

And how does he describe PDI? Says Marciano: “They are like my family. We have developed a strong bond of friendship and maintained a certain level of professionalism in our job.”

Cathy Sonoda, assistant manager for governmental relations, has been with PDI for almost seven years now and says one the main reasons why she has stayed with the company is its commitment to community service.

Among the various projects the company has carried out for the community is the bus service which include people with disabilities, Tagaman Triathlon, and Manamko Ground Golf Tour in Japan. Educational exchange programs include those from Okinawa and Miyazawa School participated in by some 300 students from Japan where they come here and learn about the island’s history and culture. PDI handles the annual Shikogakuen Mission where hundreds of Japanese have been coming here for the past 14 years.

With is huge investment on the island, PDI has stayed in the CNMI for more than two decades and does not intend to reduce its business despite the slowdown on the island’s tourism economy.

Established 25 years ago through a joint venture agreement with the Guerrero and Borja families, PDI has built Hafadai Hotel, established Sunset Cruise and offered marine sports activities to its growing guests. PDI used to operate the Managaha concession for eight years. Fifty percent of its 114 employees are locals.

“As we expanded our company, we had to work doubly hard in promoting the CNMI,” says Mr. Matsumura.

During the good times, tourists joining the company’s sunset cruise used to average 80 to 100 a day. Severely affected by the recession, business is now slowly picking up, says, Furuyama Makoto, manager for operations.

The growth of the company saw the diversification of the island’s tourism market — from memorial tours to wedding market.

Mr. Makoto observes that the memorial tour market is decreasing as the people who come here annually to commemorate their dead relatives are getting older. The declining trend, he said, should push the island to become creative in finding ways on how to sell this market to younger generation of Japanese who are now fond of leisure tours.

For example, the son and daughter of Japanese Gen. Nagumo who are already in their 80s visited the island last June. “She touched the soil and cried. The war happened 50 years ago but can you imagine the pain that these people have to go through when they remember what had happened here before,’? says Mr. Makoto.