A University of the Philippines Mindanao research by Professor Manuel Javier about ten years ago defined the boundaries of an emerging Metro Davao. By looking at the interaction between local government units in terms of goods and services, transportation and population, the study described the emerging Metro Davao as composing Davao City, Panabo City, Island Garden City of Samal and the Municipality of Sta. Cruz. Davao City acts as the big brother of these other cities and local government units. In our Metropolitan researches we often refer to this agglomeration as SANPASADA (SANta Cruz, PAnabo City, Island Garden City of SAmal and DAvao City), thanks to the brilliant word play of IGACOS City Administrator Jun Gales.
We now have a lot of people who work in Davao City but reside in the other LGUs or maybe vice versa. The volume of commercial and trading activities between these LGUs is high considering the daily traffic volume. Tourists may arrive and stay in Davao City but their holiday is never complete without visiting the beautiful beaches and nature spots of Island Garden City of Samal. Davao ports are always busy with all the Panabo bananas passing through them. The agri-industrial activities of Sta. Cruz are complementing the industrial thrust of Davao City.
The economic and social activities of one LGU will definitely affect the development of the other LGUs. Such are the relationships between these local government units.
It may be a few more decades before we can see a level of development like Metro Manila where the development blurs even the physical boundaries of the LGUs but it will eventually happen.
I've lived in Metro Manila for twelve years before deciding to come back to Davao City. I enjoyed the fast paced urban lifestyle of the Metro but I just couldn't stand the negative impacts of unmanaged and uncontrolled development.
Would you like these to happen here in Metro Davao?
Imagine spending two hours of commuting per day just to work in downtown area even if you just reside in the area of Bangkal or spending the same amount of time just to travel from Davao City to next door neighbor Sta. Cruz. Imagine the proliferation of informal settlers in all four LGUs because of inability of the land market to provide affordable housing and land. Imagine the pristine beaches of IGACOS awashed with wastes from the other LGUs. Imagine the garbage and air pollution choking the LGUs when they cannot properly manage the impact of the rapid in-migration of people seeking jobs in the bustling metropolis, the influx of industries and other commercial activities.
Scary, isn't it?
With proper governance and urban management we can yet avoid the urban problems now besetting Metro Manila.
In terms of governance, we can now study the cases of metropolitan governance of other cities. We need to check what would be the appropriate governance structure for Metro Davao. I am not advocating that we form a governing structure right away... I am just saying that we should start preparing for the eventual setting up of such maybe twenty years from now. We can learn a lot from the hits and misses of Metro Manila.
For now, we can now start thinking of our local development in an integrated approach - we must always consider the development plans of other LGUs whenever we plan our own.
Our city planning offices must now create formal venues where they can exchange views, projects and plans so that they can analyze the implications of their plans and projects in the over-all development of the area.
Perhaps joint implementation of plans can be formulated by the LGU considering that they are sharing resources like the Davao Gulf. No longer can each ignore the plans and programs of the others because it can ultimately impact its own shores.
To make the metropolis more attractive for investors, the LGUs can perhaps synchronize their zoning ordinances and infrastructure projects so that the benefit of the projects can be multiplied for both the investors and metropolitan citizens.
There are a lot of planning activities that can be done so we can learn to maximize the opportunities of the emerging metropolitan arrangement.
Perhaps when we all synchronize our efforts, we can move forward -- "San Pasada para sa Kaunlaran."
