Thursday, March 16, 2006
Coming to Davao
By Ana Felicia Dulay
BACK in the 1950s, a lawyer traveled all the way from Manila and tried to make a living in Davao City. Not only did his practice become prosperous, he also earned the prestige most lawyers seek.
Former Ombudsman for Mindanao Cesar Nitorreda arrived in Davao in 1951. For nine years, he taught Law at the then Mindanao Colleges.
"Coming to Davao is like that movie 'Forest Gump' when Tom Hanks sat on the park bench and starts to narrate how his mother taught him the first lessons in life," Nitorreda said.
"As the Torres sisters picked me up at the airport and we were driving along where the PLDT office is, there were this stalls, I exclaimed: 'Ano naman 'yang itsura ng mga langka dito'," he says. He mistook the famous durian fruit for the jackfruit. "And they had to force-feed me with it but in no time, I was eating it heartily."
Nitorreda describes Davao poblacion as it was before, bounded by Claveria and Tomas Claudio Avenue. The main district extended to San Pedro and out to Bonifacio streets and up to Bankerohan Bridge up to the PTA grounds.
What a far cry from the vast sprawling commercial district we have at present.
The main livelihood back then was abaca. "Abaca was thriving beautifully. The hemp was selling at sky-high prices. And so were the coconuts. The copra was plentiful and the prices were high. The social significance of this is that everybody was not poor. Everybody was more than merely comfortable," he said.
"They had so much money. Life was good. Life was quiet and ideal. Everybody knew everybody. There was a shindig every night. There were these professionals who were socialites. They went to school mainly to meet people. Right after school close or evening classes end, we all converged to the Puericulture Center, which was on Claveria corner San Pedro across PNB. There was dancing. My students and I will be dancing and all types of people were there," he said. This is the spot now of the San Pedro police station. What a dichotomy in life. Where it once held joyous occasions, the place now houses enforcers of peace and order.
"Every evening it showered. Plan a picnic and you won't have rain. But in the evenings, it showered. The bougainvilleas grew in profusion. You watch a movie at San Pedro, and you don't have to lock your homes," he said.
"When I came here, Davao was prosperous. I lived in a wooden house of the Antoninos right across the parking lot of Apo View Hotel. I boarded at P70, board and lodging," Mr. Nitorreda said. "When I came, I hardly knew law as I just came straight out of the Ateneo de Manila. I immediately taught Law at the Mindanao Colleges (now University of Mindanao) at P5 an hour. I taught for about nine years."
Used to a hard life back in Manila, Mr. Nitorreda did not mind sprinting to get to work. "My wages left nothing for fare. I would have to sprint at 5:30 a.m., from Camus to Legaspi, then on to Magallanes streets to get to work," he said.
Back in Manila where he came from, a lot of reconstruction work was going on after the ravages of World War II. "The massacre in Malate, even the post office in Lawton was in shambles," he said. The morning jog to get to Mindanao Colleges did not bother him at all.
"But I wanted to earn a living by being a lawyer. After one year I said i will not get anywhere here if i did not practice law," he said.
And so he opened the Nitorreda Law Office right at San Pedro Street. "My own office was closest to City Hall. The big hearings were heard at the Sangguniang Panlungsod building," he said.
"Fortunately, in no time at all, I had a thriving case.
My first clients were free, pro bono. But my main clients were the whole Santa. Ana district," he said.
The 1950s also saw the onset of squatting. He recalls how after the fire that gutted down the entire San Pedro St. in the 60s, hundreds of squatters occupied a lot in Buhangin. The owners, being one of his close friends, sought his help. With his intervention, the illegal tenants were driven out and the owner was able to reclaim his property. The place is now called San Pedro Village.
"I was also the lawyer who quelled a strike of the jeepney drivers who tried to paralyze the city. The jeepney owners came from influential families and we were able to make an agreement," he said.
But more importantly, Mr. Nitorreda also handled labor cases where he fought for the laborer's rights. "I charged the highest, but there were many pro bono cases," he said.
Mr. Nitorreda thinks of himself more of a Dabawenyo than a Nueva Ecijano. And with this, he regrets some of the changes the city undertook over the decades.
"I am not happy with the street changes. And I think that is shared by many. Some streets are named after those who had hardly any achievement. Take the Sarenas. my father-in-law was a judge, a governor, an assemblyman and even city mayor. They never named a street after him," he said. He was referring to the late Juan Sarenas, who was a one-time mayor of undivided Davao. Mr. Nitorreda is married to Leticia Sarenas and they are blessed with ten children.
"I also do not like the defacement of some famous landmarks. But mayor Duterte has been fairly good at preserving Davao's heritage," he adds.
Through it all, he says he can look back his years as Davao's topnotch lawyer with pride.
"I spent blood sweat and tears. I am not a saint but I can rightfully say that I never compromised my ideals," he said.
Such is the tale of the lawyer who came here and helped shape Davao City to what it is at its present state.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 16, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
