Jun Ledesma
Davao City is in celebratory atmosphere. It’s 87th Araw ng Dabaw from March 1 to March 16 so jovial festivities will prevail. If you are planning to visit the city, there is no better time than now. The merry month of March is replete with unique programs that range from ethnic festivals to trade expositions where local products are sold within everyone’s budget.
The hot political climate that pervaded for some time has given way to festivities. Significantly increasing in numbers are foreign visitors who apparently love the peaceful and orderly environment save for the traffic brought about by DPWH and its contractors who think eternity is their deadline. By the way there’s speed limit in the city and beware pressing on that pedal because the over-eager City Council and the City Traffic Management Office had the local law implemented without speed limit road signs which is really a classic case management ambiguity . So just drive at moderate speed and do not race with food delivery motorbikes which zoom and cut your way oblivious of the speed limits.
Fruits, especially pomelos, avocados, mangosteens and mangos are in abundance. Durians which are now being exported to China are a little bit pricey but mostly are within anyone’s affordability.
Davao City is home to universal cuisine. Chinese food is great in Mixed Temptations, Ahfat; Japanese restos are in all Malls; American and Italian food in Abreeza Mall and of course the international and ubiquitous MacDo and Jollibee are everywhere. Davao City is famous for its “sinugbang panga ng tuna”. But there is more to roasted tuna jaw. Look for Marinatuna Restaurants and discover for yourself that aside from “panga” there is tuna sashimi , kinilaw, sinuglao, bagaybay, ubol-ubol etcetera, etcetera. Aside from Marina tuna there is Luz Kinilaw.
Still on food, Selera at SMX Lanang makes the best “Crispy Pata”. Don’t miss their “imbao soup”. There’s a food galore at SMX food court. My favorite there is crispy litson roasted with lemon grass (tanglad). When it comes to crab, nothing beats the Philippine mud crabs, we call “alimango”. More meaty and tastier than the much ballyhooed Alaskan crab. Boiling Crab resto at SM Ecoland cooks alimango in varied delectable ways. Right in front is a French restaurant.
Mountain resorts are aplenty. About 30-minute drive via the awesome coastal boulevard is Eden Nature Park. They have excellent restaurant with a panoramic view of the vast expanse of Davao City and Davao Gulf. But what I like best is to go hook-and-line fishing with bamboo poles and catch my own tilapia which is prepared for me inihaw with all the side dishes, fried, or “inun-onan”. The pine forest and variety of Philippine Mahogany are well-conserved. I heard the Philippine Eagle Foundation will be transferred there soon.
There’s more inland tourist sites in the city. Elsewhere in Marilog are some mini resorts where you can pass the night or nights to relish the wintry and unpolluted air under the pine trees.
While not part of the city the Island Garden City of Samal in the 2nd District of Davao del Norte with all its fine beach resorts is just 10 to 30 minute boat-ride from Davao City. You can bring your vehicle across if you have the patience to wait for hours to queue and catch the roll-on roll-off ferry boat.
Starbucks is a favorite destination for coffee addicts. But there is Coffee Bean too not as imposing but serves coffee any which way you wish. But unlike the original Starbuck at Pike Street in Seattle, Washington, some Millennials and Gen Z think they own a franchise to a table after buying a cup of coffee.
Davao City is endowed by Mother Nature with aquifers that had been the source of underground potable water. In 2014, the Davao City Water District decided to embarked on a multi-billion-peso bulk water project that would tap the surface water of Tamugan and Panigan rivers. DCWD has to make sure future generations will have continuous supply of water and saw to it that the aquifers will not be damaged by intrusion of saline water due to over-extraction.
DCWD inked a joint venture agreement with Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. to undertake the ₱12.5-billion bulk water project. About three months ago, DCWD and AAII started to cutover the water systems from the ground water to the treated surface water of Tamugan supplying 300-million liters daily to household and industrial consumers to an even expanded area. In the meanwhile the aquiefers are rested and being recharged.
If you listen to politicians and foreign-funded media organizations especially those who made it a career to denigrate former Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte and Vice President and DepEd Sec. Inday Sara Duterte and made it appear as though the city is the crime hub of the country where human rights violations and extra-judicial killings are a commonplace, the opposite in fact is true.
Senators like Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros, failed putschist Antonio Trillanes and a Nobel Prize awardee Maria Ressa believed the script that perjured witnesses spewed in not a few congressional hearings. They spoke and write of thousands of EJK victims of Davao Death Squad which they all attribute to Duterte, yet 15 years had elapsed they still have to produce a single piece of evidence. I am neither kidding nor exaggerating. After all these years these characters have yet to produce an iota of evidence except the sputum from their penchant for garrulity.
Funny but the ignoramuses sitting as investigators in the International Criminal Court swallowed and believed the fairy tale of the late Jude Sabio, who lodged the information against Duterte, despite the fact that the complainant withdrew the case in remorse. The case even became more ridiculous when the ICC entertained a perjured witness Arturo Lascanas who, for yet another fantastic claim, implied incumbent Vice Pres. Sara Duterte in his tall tale of EJK and DDS. My gosh, when the Regional Commander of the Integrated National Police created DDS Sara was still an ambling babe while her father was just appointed Assistant City Fiscal.
What are obtaining today in Davao City eloquently argue against all the magma of black propaganda hurled by ant-Duterte cabal in and out of Congress. The city has been declared the “Most Livable Place in the Philippines” , “Most Child Friendly”, “Most Peaceful” and “ Most Competitive”.
Davao of course is the first metropolis in the country that had been declared by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and NTF-ELCAC as insurgents free. Now you know why the communist fronts in Congress detest the Dutertes. It is the industrial, commercial and communications center of Mindanao. From its ports are shipped the world’s 2nd biggest volume of cavendish bananas, durians, whole and sashimi tuna to the export markets especially China, Japan and Korea.
The economic growth of Davao City dwarfs the national average. The investment climate and peace are the magnets that draw capitalists and people to this city. Its dynamic growth is phenomenal its landscapes change from day to day as high rise buildings are rising and racing to the skies.
As you land in the Davao International Airport you will see a grand spectacle, a covered dome, looming from the grounds of the New Jerusalem also known as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ home to Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Other Name ministry of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Not far from that imposing structure is Jose Maria College, also owned by the ministry, where majority of the students are scholars.
The KJC King Dome was set to be formally opened this coming April 25, in time with the birthday of Pastor Apollo. With the new centurions and grand inquisitors in Congress believing in falsehoods of witnesses and rats who fled in fear of their own shadows and crimes, I do not know whether the unveiling of the King Dome will push thru. Which is rather sad.
The KJC King Dome should have been not only Davao City’s pride but of the country’s. It would have been the biggest dome in the world with a 75-thousands sitting capacity with ergonomic chairs and stage.
As a prize, Pastor Apollo is persecuted and prosecuted in the halls of Congress for what Sen. Risa Hontiveros lamely termed as “in aid of legislation”. With the midterm elections in the offing, the zarzuela we see today could actually be aptly called – “in aid of elections”.
On March 13, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte will be honored with a prestigious “Datu Bago Award”. He will be the lone awardee. His friend, Pastor Apollo, will not be there to witness the ceremony. I am certain however, that the beleaguered pastor will be smiling wherever he is.
I know parts of the episodes that brought Quiboloy and Duterte together. In the early 1980s the virtually unknown young pastor is a block-timer in a local radio station (DXRA) like me. At times, he would receive a memo reminding him of unpaid account. Rudy, a new lawyer, thin, be-spectacled city fiscal investigating killings carried out by the liquidation squad of the vicious New Peoples Army, the police and even Cafgus.
Fast forward, in the midst of mind-boggling changes of fortunes and in the political arena, Pastor Apollo bought a radio and TV network. Fiscal Duterte was appointed Vice Mayor after the end of the dictatorial regime then proceeded to win as City Mayor in the first regular election and was re-elected thereafter, punctuated only with one term as congressman and as vice mayor. In all a total of 23 years running each time virtually unopposed.
In time and in God’s grace Quiboloy ministry spread across the globe. One time in a hangar of a 12-seater executive jet, he told me, “As a child I always am happy to have and fly a kite. I never expected that somebody would give me a jet for my ministry”.
In time too, his friend, Rudy, became President of the Republic of the Philippines. Both did extremely well in their respective roles. Pastor Apollo offered his media network in the campaigns of Bongbong Marcos for Vice President and then later for President. At the end of his 6-year term as President, Duterte came home to roost in peace and quiet and in the simplicity of his Davao home. His trust and approval ratings was unprecedented to date.
It is ironic and sad that today both Duterte and Quiboloy are harassed and hounded by politicians who wanted to perpetuate themselves in power. I do not think however that these political pygmies will triumph.
In the meantime welcome to Davao City, the land of Maisug, the brave, as we celebrate the 87th Araw ng Dabaw! (Jun Ledesma)