The 2017 Kadayawan theme—‘Stand Tall, Resilient and United’—aptly reflects the historical events that have shaped the glorious, if at times bloody, past of Davao City, an erstwhile tribal settlement that has now earned global credit.
The city’s history, in fact, has been interspersed with colonial invasions, tribal revolts, assassinations, struggle for new social orders, and even conflicts between government and the people. In her struggles to survive the odds, there are ambivalent perceptions from various political lenses that have served as inspirations.
Histories, so the old adage goes, are written by victors and conquerors. Conversely, losers proudly recollect failures and defeats to highlight and remember the valour, patriotism, and conviction of local heroes who offered their lives even when that was the only option available.
Standing tall in the face of adversity, resilient amid the ordeals, and remaining united in the vortex of doubts, that’s what this year’s Kadayawan gala is all about.
Alien encounters
Since its establishment in 1848 as a Spanish pueblo, Davao City has been through three key colonial events: the conquest by Don Jose Oyanguren, a Spaniard, on June 28, 1848; the arrival of Gen. James Bates, an American, on December 14, 1899; and the landing of Gen. Masaharu Homma, a Japanese, on December 20, 1941.
The Spanish conquest of Davao was a watershed in local history. While there’s no exact figure how many died in the overthrow, the greatest loss was inflicted on the forces of Datu Bago, the Moro ruler of the gulf, which were pitted against a superiorly equipped foreign-led contingent. With the natives of Samal contributing geographic knowledge about the chieftain’s turf and providing warm bodies to beef up the raiders, the balance of power was clearly tilted in favor of the outsiders.
The 50-year Spanish rule has had its share of abuses that encouraged ambushes, revolts, and betrayals committed by the natives. The most prominent victim of this vengeful period was Jose Pinzon y Purga, Davao’s sixth Spanish governor, who died in the hands of the Moros of Tagum.
The American takeover of Davao, which lasted 46 years, started on a peaceful note. Local leaders welcomed the new colonists with open arms, jubilantly meeting them at the wharf during the arrival. But this friendliness turned sour after the foreigners started labelling local residents as ‘niggers’, bigoted natives recruited for the Philippine Constabulary (PC), and launched a series of juez de cuchillo, or extrajudicial killing, against uncooperative tribesmen. Consequently, Americans, including Gov. Edward Robert Bolton, became subjects of tribal vendetta.
But the worst was yet to come. The Japanese takeover of the city destroyed whatever vestige there was of a booming plantation economy. At the height of the war, both Imperial and Allied forces, in asserting their respective dominance, peppered the city with aerial bombs that literally flattened and ruined the city’s business and residential districts.
The Japanese Kempetai killed hundreds using fixed bayonets, shootings, beheadings, and incinerations. For their part, the Americans showed no mercy in carpet-bombing enemy positions that killed civilians in friendly fires, and violated rights of civilians suspected as enemy informants. Worse, thousands died from sickness, hunger, injury, and indiscriminate firing.
Battle at Inayawan
Historically, Davao’s past is a story written in blood arising from the many revolts, encounters, and rebellious activities aimed chiefly to suppress colonial abuses. The assassination of Gov. Pinzon in 1861, for instance, resulted in the battle of Inayawan. As a countermeasure, Don Antonio Cervantes, a former deputy of Oyanguren, recruited men to intercept the Moros at Inayawan, near the boundary of Toril, where the invaders were to strike first. He recruited 15 men from each of the four wards under him and formed a militia of 17 tercios or militiamen.
The information received by the government stated that the Moros of Padada under Datu Diamoro would, at the instigation of the Moros of Tagum, attack the town of Davao. Instead of meeting the raiders elsewhere, the militiamen waited for the other Moros sympathetic to the datu, at Tagulaya River, in Coronon, Sta. Cruz, and ambushed them. This was conducted to erase any possibility of a united Moro front invading the town.
The colonial forces engaged the Moros in a feisty battle that ended in a rout. The raiders retreated and left behind the wounded and the dead. The Bagobos of Tagulaya saw the enemy withdrawal as a chance to exact revenge. Along with other tribes that had tasted abuse in Moro hands, they showed up armed in the area of conflict and killed the injured Moros. The clash, one of the bloodiest in local history, led to the creation of a naval station in Davao and the setting-up of a detachment in Digos.
Samal revolt of 1870
Spanish insistence the natives must pay tribute to the colonial government led to the first tax revolt in Davao. Although the uprising did not end in blood, the natives of Samal tested the patience of the Spaniards until they gave in to their demands to be spared from paying tributes and exempted from embracing Catholicism.
The first signs of discord between the Spaniards and the local residents started in 1868 when the first Jesuits arrived in Samal. Along with the district governor, naval station commander, and the police contingent, the priests disclosed their intent to convert the natives and oblige them to pay tribute. Although there was no open resistance to the clerical demands, in private the tribal chiefs raised their opposition. Despite the dispute, the Samal residents still cooperated with the Spaniards in building a small church and the living quarters of the priests.
The antagonism, though, took a dramatic turn on January 24, 1870 when Datu Taupan, a major player in the conquest of Datu Bago, and his twelve chiefs visited Fr. Domingo Bove, a Jesuit missionary in the island. Armed with lances, the datu stated that poverty was the main reason why they could not pay the tribute. He reiterated the promise of authorities to spare them from paying tax as a reward for helping conquer Datu Bago. The padre listened to their overtures and promised to resolve them as soon as possible.
After reporting the datu’s visit, the governor arrived in Samal to resolve the issue and quell a possible rebellion. He sent an emissary to the natives holed up in the hills, telling them the governor was waiting and ready to listen to their grievances. But the chieftains expressed reluctance because of the soldiers deployed on the beach.
Jose Marina, the new district governor, decided instead to personally go to the forest with the priest and a few unarmed companions to talk with the natives. But on their way up to Binulin Hill, they were prevented from proceeding by the bamboo stakes planted on the trail. Unwilling to provoke the natives, he returned to the lowlands and left the negotiations to Father Bove. The removal of the tribute resolved the tax revolt peacefully.
Monkayo rebellion of 1890
Tribal violence was also palpable in some areas where the conversion of pagans was making inroads. Some of the reasons for the unrest were due to the installation of tribal leaders whose non-acceptability was linked to past abuses. Particularly in Monkayo, this feeling was prevalent. Intertribal conflicts were all over, some due to minor spats but often ended fatally.
In 1890, the sons of Dagohoy, the first gobernadorcillo of Monkayo, were linked to the murder of four women in a farm while cutting rice stalks. The incident created panic, forcing local farmers to stop the harvests. The arrival of Fathers Saturnino Urios and Salvador Buguña encouraged the threatened residents to stay put and finish the harvest to prevent losses.
Following the missioners’ arrival, the killings stopped and people returned to their huts. The priests promptly tracked down the sons of Dagohoy, advising them to go elsewhere. Even the rebels from Salug area who sympathized with the duo were told to leave upper Agusan, advising them not to sow terror again. Still, this did not help quell the unrest in Monkayo.
Just days after arriving in Jativa, Father Buguña informed Father Urios on December 23, 1890 that trouble was brewing in Monkayo, with local residents arming for an attack. Losing no time, he appealed to the head of the Compostela detachment and asked the two local leaders from Pilar to convince the people of Monkayo from pursuing their plan. He also informed the commander that Dagohoy had died after being hit by a lance while in the forest. Mauricio thought his father was killed by Gandia residents, which prompted him to avenge his death.
To take stock of the unsettling events, the priest went to Monkayo only to find the entire village deserted. Informed about this, even the soldiers and the boat crew that transported him were fearful to alight, thus forcing the missionary to return to Jativa. On the part of the soldiers, the reluctance to arrest the suspects was due to lack of rifles and ammunition. The four soldiers escorting the priest had only two rifles. Fortunately, the rebellion ended peacefully.
Tungud Movement of 1908
Religious conversion in Davao also gave rise to a number of conflicts due to political decisions associated with conversion. In 1908, a religious movement started in Davao among Manobos residing along Libuganon River, north of Davao City. It was known as Tungud, a term derived from katungod (rights). The uprising was led by Mapakla (Meskinan) who used his sickness to stir a religious following.
Meskinan was near-death due to a serious illness when relatives abandoned him. He, however, showed up days later healed and healthy, claiming he was cured by a good spirit. Soon, his assertion was magnified, transforming him from a mere mortal to a priest and later as god. His avowal took a life of its own, converted hostile tribesmen to his fold, and transformed it into a movement against the Americans and as a sign of religious unrest. To add weight to his tale, he fasted and sent out messages to people supposedly to save them from global meltdown.
Among the orders Meskinan issued was the killing of poultry and hogs so farm animals would spare their owners from being eaten alive. He also banned the planting of crops and ordered the setting up of an altar that would later be exposed as channel to deceive the gullible. He also ordered the performance of sacred dances in his honor and the offering of gifts to his make-believe god, Magbabaya.
Though the Meskinan affair was a counterfeit religion and a form of extortion, the religious movement expanded and drew together warring tribal factions. In the Mayo Bay area, the cult was exploited by the Moros. Soon, the tribal leaders rose up in arms and destroyed the Christians. The plan to use the sect to harm Americans was later exposed.
PC mutiny of 1909
Early American rule in the Philippines was not always about sugar and spices. In Davao, it was seasoned with resentment that led to a mutiny in 1909. The acrimony was induced by the bigotry the Americans showed towards the Filipino soldiers enlisted in the PC. The insult was more manifest in the way local militiamen were treated and described.
Unwilling to absorb more of the affront, on the night of June 6, 1909, twenty-three soldiers from Company B in Davao staged an uprising. Led by Sgt. Manuel Rodriguez, the civil disobedience was launched after a certain 3Lt. Antonio de Goicouria was shot. The mutineers left camp and linked with another group at San Pedro Street. Gov. Allen Walker tried intervening; instead, Rodriguez and his men fired at Walker and his companions. Luckily, they escaped unhurt, ran towards Santa Ana wharf, boarded the launch Fury, and sought reinforcements.
The mutinous soldiers proceeded to Talomo where they planned their next moves. On June 8, they returned to the town proper and engaged the Americans, forcing the governor’s group to seek shelter inside the convent. Determined to inflict more harm on the foreigners, the mutineers forced their way to the convent where Walker was holed up despite the protest of the parish priest that there were women and children hiding inside.
Unable to penetrate the defense of the reinforcements from other PC detachments along the gulf, the soldiers left town in the evening but looted the stores along the way. Only the arrival of the PC contingent from Mati that night saved the day for the Americans. Hobbled by shortage of ammunition, lack of men, poor tactics, and inferiority of firearms, the short-lived mutiny yielded to the superiorly trained American constables.
Bagobo Revolt (1916-1935)
Except for the town of Caraga, Davao region was never a party to any form of government authority over ancestral domains. Although royal titles with limited effectivity were granted to chosen individuals during the Spanish era, the introduction of homestead lots, plantations, titling of untilled lands, and the approval of the Public Land Act of 1921 created a long-term impact on the indigenous peoples. The Bagobos, in particular, saw the entry of Japanese investors who leased tribal lands and later enriched themselves, as reason for showing their discontent.
The first tribal sign of resistance took place in 1910 when five Bagobo chieftains lodged a complaint before the Mindanao Development Company (MDC) against expanding its ownership of ancestral lands with the help of the Japanese, government officials, and PC troops. The first confrontation was the drawing of a gun by Furukawa Yoshizo, a prominent Japanese. After this, the PC and the inspectors from the Bureau of Public Lands interfered and the case reached the office of the governor, who persuaded Angalan, one of the datus Furukawa threatened, to sign an accord. Much against his will, he agreed.
The acquisition of new lands was a watershed event in the Bagobos’ struggle against the Japanese. The natives deemed the lease agreements granted to the foreigners as a farce and contrary to the tribal custom of communal land ownership, adding the use of intimidation and the failure of the local administration to listen to their rights have given rise to a deep-seated anger that would eventually result in the death of around 600 Japanese in the hands of Bagobos.
Other issues that aggravated the takeover of Bagobo lands were the cutting of centuries-old trees regarded by the natives as sacred, the slaughter of animals, premature harvest of crops, and the use of force. Although the Bagobos were forced to relocate due to the epidemic that hit contested lands, the investors found this voluntary migration as an excuse to take over the lands not covered by the original accord. Ironically, instead of the state defending the natives, the local government warned them their houses would be burned should they continue to kill the Japanese.
The plight of the Bagobos was not lost on other tribes which had similar agrarian troubles with the Americans in the south. The growing domination of Westerners discouraged the natives from openly airing their grievances through violent means. The tribesmen knew the colonizers favoured the foreigners with money to invest, which meant more taxes for the government. Another consideration was the advocacy to retrieve stolen lands.
Postwar period
Liberation years provided hope for the reconstruction of a city in ruins. This optimism, though, was not detached from the other issues that surfaced just as efforts to rehabilitate Davao started to gain traction. The entry of logging drew droves of migrants to the region, changing in just few years the demographic landscape of Davao City and its environs. As a result, old businesses were rebuilt with plenty of chances of recouping their war losses, while new investments were sprouting in areas where there were promising patches of settlements.
On the side, the entry of the industry also commenced the destruction of forests and the rise of conundrums associated with environmental destruction and ecological devastation. With more trees felled, swidden farming, the kaiñgin, invaded the deforested lands and transformed them into agricultural occupations. Household wastes also added burden to the mounting garbage threat the growing city was facing.
As land ownership expanded following the declaration of state lands into alienable and disposable assets, more occupations were reported. In response, the government opened new roads, built public works, established ports and opened harbors. And as the population index rose, residential subdivisions patterned after the Makati experience started to show up in prime locations as the landed gentry started to dispose of their lands for development purposes.
Over a twenty-period, Davao City, now remotely aware of the ruins it experienced from the global conflict, was becoming a boom town that, in more ways than one, reflected the amenities the Manila establishments were offering.
More bloody wars
Amid the positive expectations that hid the war experiences, Davao was starting to confront new social disorders that would be as gory, if not bloodier, than the conflicts inflicted by colonial occupation. In the late 1970’s, the threats from ideological movements placed the city in extreme danger. The communists, who embraced armed rebellion, used indoctrination in sowing discord between citizens and government. For a decade they were successful in expanding its membership under a much-maligned dictatorial regime.
Fortunately, with the rise of Alsa Masa, an anti-rebel vigilante group, the insurgents were forced to move to the hills where they have since been holed up fighting a struggle that has cost thousands of lives. On the other side, the anti-insurgency campaign launched purges that resulted in the destruction of communist cells in well-known rebel hotbeds.
But there was also the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which, in their fight to secede Mindanao from the archipelago, had to resort to bloody campaigns that landed in the headlines.
The post-millennium years, though, would engage another kind of enemy: the drug menace! Though this was an extension of the years when barbiturates, opium, and heroin were the preferred drugs, the campaign to snare pushers took on a high profile, if blood-spattered, turn.
In 2005, a drug laboratory was discovered at barangay Dumoy, Toril District. Six Chinese nationals were killed in a dawn raid that yielded a haul of methamphetamine hydrochloride weighing 76.8 kg with a street value of PhP152 million. Four years later, a 16-kg cocaine valued at PhP16 million was found inside a refrigerated van at the Maersk container yard. Six shipping firm employees were charged for the possession of banned drugs.
On February 21, 2014, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided the coastal barangay of Ilang, in Tibungco area. Twenty-six shanties used as drug dens were searched by police and anti-narcotics agents, resulting in the killing of seven suspected pushers. Thirty-six people, including a South Korean, were apprehended inside the drug market.
A month later, on March 22, 2014, again in Tibungco area, PDEA operatives discovered 24 neatly-wrapped cocaine bars taped to the ceiling of a container van. Authorities claimed there could have been a total of 65 bars stashed inside it. Twenty-seven bars, value of PhP160 million, were later recovered.
Interestingly, amid the voluminous challenges that have attended its growth as a world-class tourism, business, and investment destination, Davao City has bored through the tests, partly scathed but economically healthy and stable. Eighty years after it got its cityhood, there’s no arguing this highly-urbanized city, the home of the incumbent President of the republic, is continuously breaking records, building hopes, and earning honors.
(The author is a member the Philippine National Historical Society, Inc. and the Davao Historical Society Foundation, Inc., and a trustee of the Manila Railroad Club.)
