DESPITE the series of earthquakes experienced in Davao de Oro on Tuesday, March 7, Governor Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga is thankful that no lives were taken.
Montejo-Gonzaga, during the 25th Foundation Anniversary program of the province, said the earthquake was strong, but thankfully it only caused minor damages to the roads, infrastructures, and residences.
“Gitay-og sa linog ang atong espiritu. Gitay-og niya ang atong mga programa. Pero wala gyud intawoy kinabuhi nga nakalas. Naay few structures [nga na-damage] pero OK ra gyud kaayo. Kay sama sa akong ginaingon, ang importante tanang taga-Davao de Oro nga nakatilaw sa linog, buhi (Our spirit was shaken by the earthquake. It also affected our celebration. But the good thing is there were no casualties. We have a few damaged structures but that’s OK. As I said, what is important is nobody from Davao de Oro died),” the governor said.
The province experienced two 5-magnitude earthquakes at 2:02 p.m. (M5.9) and 4:47 p.m. (M5.6), where the epicenter is at New Bataan.
The major earthquakes struck on the second day of the province’s celebration of the Bulawan Festival and its 25th founding anniversary, which runs until Wednesday, March 8.
This prompted the provincial government to suspend all work and classes, including the cancellation of all of the festival’s major activities, except for the mass and Foundation Day program.
Montejo-Gonzaga said they were supposed to cancel all the festival programs because of the recent quakes, but was later convinced to retain the two remaining events.
She revealed that officials from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) told her during their visit to the province last February 1 that the M5.3 earthquake experienced in Leyte, Leyte resulted in major damages to infrastructures and roads and had claimed lives. But the two magnitude-5 quakes in the province caused minimal damage.
“Pero ang Davao de Oro nga nag 6.0 nga magnitude, purya buyag usa ra ka balay sa Magsaysay ang nahagsak ug ang ubang structures sa Provincial Hospital ang nakahiagom og kadaot. Very few lang ang gyud nga kadaot ang nahitabo (Davao de Oro experienced nearly 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Only one house in Magsaysay was totally damaged while the Provincial Hospital incurred minor damage. The quake, overall, caused minor damage),” the governor said.
Meanwhile, she recognized the history of the province, from once being a hideout of communist terror groups to now being one of the most progressive provinces in the country.
“Dili tiaw ang 25 years nga ups and down na natilawan sa probinsya (The province experienced all the ups and downs for the past 25 years),” she added.
She is also hoping that under her term as governor, the province would continue to gain its progressive status, being known as “Davao of Gold.”
The Province of Davao de Oro, then Compostela Valley, was created by virtue of Republic Act 8470. The law was signed by then President Fidel V. Ramos on January 30, 1998 but it was officially established as a Province on March 8, 1998, a day after the plebiscite that ratified the division of Davao del Norte into two provinces.
With a total of 174,442 (97-percent) vote of "yes" and 5,020 "no" vote, the province was officially renamed to Davao de Oro from Compostela Valley through a plebiscite held on December 7, 2019. The renaming of the provinces is by the virtue of Republic Act 11297, which was approved on April 17, 2019.