68TH ARAW NG DABAW SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

Snippets from history

READING through history books and articles that touch on Davao is heartening as although very few and far between, it brings back the pioneer spirit that continues to fan this settler city that has become a merry mix of just about every tribe, race, and culture, and is consequently distinguished by its unusual (sometimes endearing, sometimes irritating) Tagalized-Bisaya or Bisayang-Tagalog, whichever part you're coming from.

To walk the young ones and the new Dabawenyos through what Davao was before as well as bring back vague memories to the ones who've been there, here are snippets gathered for easy reading and reminiscing. On 7 October 1868, three Jesuit priests arrived in Davao and received lodging from the lone Recollect missionary whom they were replacing. Davao, future capital of the fourth administrative district of Mindanao, had only about 1,000 residents aside from the marine and land forces and the govenrment officials assigned there. Davao then was the lonely, unattractive place of exile for convicts who formed the local Cuerpo Disciplinario (Disciplinary Corps).

-- Introduction to Jesuit Missionary Letters from Mindanao Vol. 3: The Davao Mission by Jose S. Arcilla SJ

I suppose by this time Your Reverence must know Fr. (Quirico) Bove had discovered another interior link between Bunauan (in Agusan del Sur) and Davao. The importance of this discovery only Your Reverence more than anyone else can appreciate, considering that you have tasted the inconvenience of those who wanted to come to Davao by the Iho River. These inconveniences and difficultues have disappeared after Fr. Bove found the short trajectory between Agiusan and the Salug, a tributary of Tagum which debouches into the Davao Gulf. -- Santiago Puntas to the Mission Superior, Davao, 14 February 1877, Jesuit Missionary Letters from Mindanao Vol. 3: The Davao Mission translated and annotated by Jose S. Arcilla SJ)

My aunt, Luisa Lizada, was three years old when his father, Ciriaco Lizada, accompanied Fr. (Saturnino) Urios to dalia. Sher ecalled that in the 1900's, her father built a nipa house in Daliao after telling her mother of his Muslim and Bagobo friends in Sirawan and Toril. This friendship was brought about by the visits.

Every now and then they would go to Daliao passing through the trails of Matina. They'd pass under the shades of trees and before reaching the hill (Molave Hotel) and sabungan area, they turn left to the beach and walked all the way to Daliao for about four hours. -- Sang-awun sa Dabaw by Rogelio "Noning" L. Lizada

Davao was the most isolated district of the Moro Province and one of the farthest from Manila. Davao was also sparse populated, its indigenous communities scattered throughout a huge area. Unlike Cotabato, which was dominated by the Maguindanaos, no group dominated Davao, and the "natives" there were said to be at a "low level of existence" (Rodil 1962, 41).

Davao thus constituted the colonial frontier and was approached as such by those who sought to determine its place in Southern Mindanao's development. For the Americans, the issue was not just how to construct a state, but how to achieve a critical mass of people for the state to govern. For the Filipinos, the goal was to maintain Davao's economic development after the Americans left, while incorporating it into the Filipino-dominated state. For both regimes, therefore, the settling of Davao was a priority...

Two groups made Davao their destination during this period -- Americans under the Moro Province and the Japanese under Filipinization... The American settlers failed to recreate the American western frontier, while the Japanese transformed Davao into one of the fastest growing provinces of the Philippines...

By 1929, over 12 million kilos of rice were imported. The people of Davao had become totally dependent on a cash crop economy developed around abaca cultivation. As a result, in the 1930s cost of living was very high in Davao, being more expensive than Lingayen, Manila and Zamboanga. These changes in the local economy had detrimental effects on subsistence crops anc consumer access to them. But it also signified success that abaca production had brought to the province. -- Davao and the Dyamics of a Settler Zone, Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the Formation of the Philippine Nation-State by Patricio N. Abinales

"Davaokuo" of "Little Tokyo" were paradoxical terms to emphasize if not warn or humor friends regarding Japanese dominance and influence in Davao, a situation that developed to become practically an international issue. The gravity of its impact in the public mind was reflected in the proceedings of the 1936 Constitutional Convention wherein the provisions on agricultural holdings and investments by foreigners were provided and clearly defined lmiting foreign participation in corporate stockholdings and agricultural land ownership. The same issue also became a leading rationale for the creation of the municipality of Davao and the district of Guianga into the City of Davao in 1937. -- "Japan in Davao: Ventures in Partnership" by Ernesto I. Corcino, Facets of Davao's History

Can you remember Ilustre Street during the 70's? That was the "in" place in the 70's. The place where everything was. When you turned right from San Pedro the first thing you notice is the green house of the Garcia family. Their house is now where Jollibee stands. Inside the complex was a pelota court. As you go on farther down, on you see on your left the Dona Milagros building that housed many establishments. My parents opened their first Peter Pan in that building. On Peter Pan's left was Eduardian, a tailoring shop. On Peter Pan's right was Davao Bearings. The Milagros building had a hidden parking lot behind it. When you entered it you would find the exits of Golden and Garmon theaters. Garmon theater was adjacent PeterPan.

Beside it was a small coffee shop that served paklay. Beside Garmon theater was Chevalier's, the barbershop.

In front of the Milagros Building was a shopping complex and for the life of me I cannot remember its name. What I do remember is that there was this shop that rented out books and I used to spend a lot of time there. Galaxy theater was beside that shopping complex. The one thing that I liked about Galaxy was its Orchestra lobby, it was spacious and the comfort rooms of Galaxy were some of the biggest I have ever seen. -- "Ilustre experience", Papa's Table by Rene Lizada, Sun.Star Davao, March 6, 2004