KevinTheB - welcome to FT!

How can we be gentle with you when, in your very first post, you type 'Phillipines' in the thread title (it should be 'Philippines') - this despite the fact that you appear to have edited the post itself for reasons of spelling.

Mrs PtF hails from the one of Davao's close neighbours - Cebu City. Although CEB has more international options than DVO we still find it best to use MNL as an international point of entry/exit, and then add a domestic flight. There are far worse experiences in life than changing terminals at MNL.

If you can be more specific with your travel dates I'm sure we can collectively come up with the best itinerary - mindful of your 'tight budget'.