The peopling of Davao was directly linked to migration and colonialism. Between 1848 and 1945, the region was under three colonial masters, though their reigns were considered brief if placed against the larger national historical perspective.
Davao was under Spain for fifty years (1848-98), forty-six under the United States (1899-1941), including the Commonwealth, and four years under Japan (1942-45). Overall, for nearly a century (1848-1945), the region was directly under foreign influence.
Progress, however, comes in different forms and shapes. Under the Spaniards, Christianity and town planning were introduced. The Americans had a broader portfolio of amenities that included, among others, land transport, telegraphs, telephones, and higher education. For the Japanese, they introduced overseas work, management of farms, and their culture.
1.First migrants
Before the colonial era, Davao region was strictly an indigenous country. Not only was it home to Moros and natives with axes to grind, the area which the Americans later dubbed as the “garden of the gods” was also home to wild horses, rare orchids, and endemic denizens ranging from upland plants to ocean dwellers.
But Davao’s conquest in 1848, which expelled the Moro population from their settlements, opened the entry of migrants, many of them families and relatives of the fighters that helped Don Jose Oyanguren, the last Spanish conqueror, subdue the local Moro hero Datu Bago.
It is a little known fact that Oyanguren’s little army of Filipino warriors included destierros (exiles), aventureros (soldiers of fortune), and reclutas (recruits). The descendants of these Pinoy conquistadors would later dominate the socio-political and economic landscapes of the region.
After removing the threat of Moro piracy and embracing the affability of indigenous tribes, the new Christian settlers had good news to send home about Davao, a development that decades later would mark the entry of new migrants from other regions.
2.Town planning
Before the concept of built environment came, town planning was first introduced by Jesuits in Davao region in settlements organized they founded. Fr. Pablo Pastells, S.J., a former parish priest of Caraga, described this in his Nov. 30, 1876 letter addressed to his Superior in Manila.
“The town will have four principal streets and six across them. Each house will have eight posts, will measure six brazas long and three and a half wide, just like those houses which the Christians are now building. The houses will be six yards apart, and on each lot the people will raise their little garden surrounded by a fence. A grand plaza will be set in the town center around which the public buildings will be erected. The main streets can be extended indefinitely according to the number of streets across and the residential lots.”
Town planning under American rule was enhanced but without major changes except in the architecture and engineering models. Interestingly, streets like Magallanes (now A. Pichon Sr.) and San Pedro, still existent until now, are artefacts of the Jesuit’s community planning.
The import of town planning to progress, especially in geography and demography, comes as a key element. Multi-storied structures, concrete bridges, and macadamized roads are among its highlights. Growth centers and new settlements sprouted outside the porblacion as vortex and the districts, as they are called today, were polarized towards the town center.
3.Neocolonialism
The term ‘neo-colonialism’ may be of recent vintage but its parochial influence in the context of US takeover of Davao from colonial Spain was already present since Dec. 14, 1899, the day the Americans arrived in Davao Gulf. Neo-colonialism, “the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries,” was still undefined then but the imposition of policies under the new colonists was a microcosm of ‘hegemony’, which is the “leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.”
The takeover meant the introduction of ‘capitalism’, the general term for all investments the Americans introduced in agriculture, telecommunication, education, medical health, science, and a host of other disciplines. In Davao alone, US clout was felt in transport, introduction of new technologies, and the sharing of political governance, both corrupt and well-mannered.
Under American rule, the concept of plantation economy and the exploitation of the Davao frontier were taken with a grain of salt. Local story is replete of stories of migration of ordinary folks and professionals who later became inspirations in the region’s socio-economic growth. Having possessed lands later, their influence, further enhanced, extended to other businesses.
4.Public Land Acts
The laws governing public lands are the least appreciated. These edicts have shaped the way Filipinos value ownership of real estates, which are key elements in the building of settlements, opening of new roads, or the creation of growth centers.
During American rule, five laws governing land assets were enacted. Under Act No. 926, the first public land law passed in 1903, the distribution of real estates was focused on “homestead, free patent, sale and lease of public lands suitable for agriculture” and “the judicial confirmation of imperfect titles.” The following year, Act No. 1120, known as Friar Lands Act, was enacted to administer the temporary leasing and sale of certain lands owned by the Catholic Church.
In 1913, Act No. 2259 was passed to expedite public land distribution and introduce cadastral survey covering “an extensive area, usually an entire municipality, subdividing the same into parcels for purposes of public land distribution.” This became a magnet for migration.
Six years later, Act No. 2874, the Second Public Land Act, was enacted. It amended Act No. 926 to hasten the disposition of public agricultural lands to Filipinos by adopting a system of land classification and increasing the homestead area from 16 to 24 hectares. This policy was became significant when 1934 Constitutional Convention delegate Pantaleon Pelayo Sr. introduced a charter provision disallowing aliens from owning lands in the country.
In 1936, another fiat, Commonwealth Act 141, was approved by the national legislature. This law, ironically, remains as the governing edict of all public lands until now!
5.Santa Ana Port
The role of ports and wharves in an economy that is dependent on the ocean and the waterways, is an aspect that’s overlooked when seeing the larger context of progress. Without piers, the transport of people, goods, and cargoes would simply depend on indigenous crafts with very limited loads. To handle the management of seaports, the concept of Customs administration was introduced by the colonizers.
Mindanao’s key trading region in the last half of the 19th century was in the southwest, particularly the Sulu archipelago, home of the pearl industry and the epicentre of barter trade. So, when the Americans arrived, they chose Zamboanga, a proximal area, as administrative center in the south. For a decade, it became the most important port in the backdoor.
Zamboanga’s eminence in shipping, though, was not impressive. Even if the commercial vessels were required under US policy to use the place as port of entry, the volume of cargoes and merchandises passing through it was limited and the ships had to visit secondary ports in order to load more cargoes. When the port of Davao was opened in July 1, 1908, this would slowly change the equation.
As Davao hemp production rose and demand for the hemp exploded in the world market, the local chamber of businesses petitioned the government made Davao a port of entry which, by extension, meant improving Santa Ana wharf to allow foreign steamers to dock. Seeing wisdom in the recommendation, the government declared the Davao port an entrepot.
As a result, Santa Ana pier became the premier shipping destination of Mindanao. Data in 1927 showed that during this time foreign tonnage at the port involved 168,985 bales of hemp, 4,057,174 kilos of copra, and 334,992 board feet of lumber. Overall, the total value of exports reached P10.8 million and customs house receipts totalled P175,380. In the next decade, the pier became a major docking station for ships bringing in people, merchandises, and cargoes.
6.Visayan juggernaut
Cebuano migration to Davao region was largely connected to the rise of political stalwarts from the Visayan region. In fact, Davao, then undivided, was home to four Cebuano and three non-Cebuano governors. Their successful political careers, in a span of fifty years, gave rise to a remarkable exodus of Visayans to the region.
The Cebuano governors included Eulalio E. Causing, Sr. (1915-17); Francisco Sales (1917-21); Alejandro D. Almendras Sr. (1951-55; 1956-59); and Vicente G. Duterte (1959-1964) while the other Visayan governors were Gregorio V. Cañeda (1947) of Leyte; Ricardo Miranda (1942-1946; 1947-48; 1948-51) of Bohol; and Romualdo C. Quimpo (1940-1941) of Capiz.
The Visayan migration, in part due to the opening of plantations and the logging boom, was enhanced by stories of good fortunes achieved by individuals. Even after Davao was divided into three provinces, the governors installed were mostly Visayans: Verulo Boiser, Nonito Llanos Sr., Gregorio Dujali, Ramon de los Cientos, and Gelacio Gementiza, to name a few.
On the side, Zamboangueños also contributed their fair share to Davao’s migration history and the city’s progress. Three Davao City mayors, in fact, were from Zamboanga, namely Nicasio S. Valderrosa (1936), Agustin L. Alvarez (1939-40) and Pantaleon A. Pelayo (1940-42). Long-time Davao del Norte governor Prospero S. Amatong was also from Zamboanga.
7.Executive Order No. 29
World War II turned the islands into shambles. Though Japan was eventually defeated, the leased lands the Japanese investors left behind in Davao were another matter. Through an act of the US Congress, the shares and assets of Ohta Development Co., Furukawa Plantation Co., Inc. and the Guihing Plantation Co., were sold by the American government to the Philippines for US$1.00 in August 1946.
The administration of these lands was initially placed under the National Abaca and Other Fibers Corporation (NAFCO), created under Commonwealth Act No. 332 and approved on June 18, 1938. Principal among its functions was to “buy, sell, export, barter, and in any other manner deal in, abaca and other fibers.” Later on, under Executive Order No. 69, President Manuel Roxas transferred the management of around thirty expired Japanese leases to the state-owned corporation.
According to Salvador L. Pacis, who became Malacañan technical assistant, journalist, and book author, this transfer of management was “the beginning of large-scale in squatting” in Davao and throughout Mindanao. Former Japanese lands were distributed to war veterans, former guerrillas, and occupant-civilians. In a short span of time, dependents of the new landowners started migrating to the region and became part of the growing population of “informal settlers.”
8.Hemp, logging, banana
They are called the troika of growth. Some pundits label hemp, logging, and banana as the bearers of progress because their separate influences indisputably stirred the local economy and encouraged the migration of people to Davao region.
Abaca cultivation was an ordinary industry until investors transformed unproductive farms into sprawling plantations. These expansive lands would become the source of world-class hemp that brought foreign ships to local shores, infused dollars to the economy, and created opportunities in enterprises, jobs, livelihood, and cottage industries.
After the war, just before the discovery of synthetic ropes, extensive logging in Davao came into picture due to government boost. The state saw the industry as a catalyst of development and as it thrived, jobs were created and forest-allied industries started to sprout. But in the absence of mitigating schemes protecting forest lands and watersheds from depletion, the industry would eventually be blamed for the flash floods that ravage communities.
On the other hand, the rise of banana plantations did not start until the 1970s after abaca prices suffered global collapse. This new enterprise, like any big industry player, contributed to the influx of new migrants which, over time, turned bustling settlements into townships. Davao, for one, hosts some of the largest contiguous banana plantations anywhere in the world.
There are no exact figures how many were involved in developing the three industries. What is sure, though, is that their absence would have drastically altered the economic landscape of the region in terms of migration, jobs, financial liquidity, attractiveness to investment, and land development.
9.Borderless trading
For so long, Davao region was merely content with its business link with Manila and other regions in the islands. This arrangement restricted the expansion of trade and stunted growth of commerce in southern Mindanao. For foreign commodities to reach the gulf of Davao, they first had to pass Manila which was the primary port of entry.
The launching of BIMP-EAGA, a borderless trading conceived in 1993 by then President Fidel V. Ramos, opened the borders of Mindanao to backdoor commercial traffic. This development formalized the opening of transport links, by air and by sea, between Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In later years, Davao City would have direct flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Manado City, to name a few.
BIMP-EAGA has opened Davao to wider opportunities and investments from many countries whose business interests were largely concentrated in Luzon and the Visayas. As a consequence, tourism in the region exploded, vertical development grew by leaps and bounds, and projects involving housing competed with Manila’s growth patterns. Because of these interesting events, a boom in transport, an exodus of new settlers, and the rise of industrial hubs, which have become highlights of economic explosions, paticularly in Davao City.
10.Color of money
Economic growth in the city, in large measure, can be measured by the presence of lending institutions or money-oriented outfits. In 1928, Philippine National Bank became the first bank to open a branch in Davao; the ‘better than expected’ reception it got from the business sector eventually led to the entry of new players, especially during the Commonwealth. During this period, remittance of money was already existent via telegraphic transfer.
After the war ended, banking activities slowly returned with so much promise ahead due to reparation and reconstruction. Observers underscored the growing interest in banking as a positive indicator of fiscal liquidity. Over time, Claveria (C.M. Recto) Street became the city’s financial hub, hosting a dozen or two lending institutions. Later, the idustry included banks classified as universal, thrift, rural and cooperative. By 2015, the city was host to over 400 banks.
Another financial indicator was the entry of jewelry and pawnshops, with money as central transaction. Families affected by economic hardships looked up to these lending shops as monetary pipelines. In later decades, the color of money was associated with technologically dependent money remittance schemes. For a few pesos, money could be transferred in seconds and withdrawn just as fast in automatic teller machines. On the side, money-changers sprouted.
11.Power of light
Founded on Sept. 24, 1929 as Patrick Henry Frank, Relatives & Associates, Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC), was formed with the primary objective of serving the central section of Davao with only six American incorporators as prime movers. The establishment of the electric company was inspired by the plan to energize Davao and the presence of Japanese investments. It particular, power was a key factor in operating abaca strippers, lighting businesses at night, and energizing residences.
The post-war takeover by the Aboitiz family in 1946 expanded the firm’s role in the socio-economic growth of the city. As industries and commercial centers grew, so was the need for energy to light the suburban area. The need for energy was important in keeping the engine of bureaucracy operating and for the industries to operate without letup. As housing settlements expanded, so was the need for electrification.
DLPC’s contribution to Davao’s growth cannot be expressed in figures alone. As an indispensable aspect of progress, the company helped hasten the advancement of the region. Without power, public utilities, communication, industries, homes, and a host of other aspects of progress, including technologies, would have not achieved their full potentials. The absence of electricity could automatically translate into snail-paced growth.
12.The gold rush
The discovery of the Diwalwal gold rush in 1983 a phenomenal event that opened the region to migrants seeking the proverbial green pasture. Legions of small-scale miners from various regions of the archipelago trooped to the area and this lasted over two decades. At its peak, the population in and adjacent the gold-rush in Monkayo, Compostela Valley Province, reached as high 85,000, bigger than most second-class towns in the region.
Ironically, despite the billions of pesos worth of gold extracted from the mining area, the development of host villages took a back seat due to the lack of government intervention, failure of miners to pay taxes and black-marketing of mineral resources. Aggravating the decline of the communities was the surge of crimes that resulted from fierce competition.
The gold rush, in later years, would be duplicated in eight other towns in the province, creating the impression Compostela Valley sits on a pot of gold. These new finds transformed penurious villages into demographic hubs of new settlers and, over time, as new sitios and barangays. Despite this development, these pocket of settlements would remain indigent. Migrants who abandoned their hometowns in search for fortune found themselves on the losing end.
The Diwalwal wealth, on the other hand, gave rise to a new affluent block, whose earnings from the gold rush, both legal and illicit, made them overnight millionaires. Many of them joined politics and succeeded, while others invested in enterprises and prospered. Against this affluent background, those who actually labored to dig ores have remained impoverished.
13.Davao-Agusan Highway
A key and often ignored infrastructure, the 182-km Davao-Agusan Highway, inaugurated on November 1961, effectively linksnortheastern Mindanao to Davao region. The highway, constructed under the National Economic Council-International Cooperation Administration Program cost PhP25 million, has been the major artery that opened Davao region to the other evolving investment centers in the south.
Prior to this, reaching Agusan was through the wilderness. Linking Davao and Agusan regions promptly opened both ends to new traffic of settlers and made the transport of farm products, cargoes, and commuters more convenient. The highway, in later years, would lead to the opening of new infrastructures. Travel from Cagayan de Oro in the northeast speeded up deliveries of merchandise and link with Cotabato and adjacent provinces made the city a hub.
Like other contributions to the region’s exploding growth, the highways, the overpasses and the flyovers are testaments to the inescapable boom that come with the opening of new arterial roads opened. Better still, the stretch that used to define the original Davao-Agusan highway is now home to cities, towns, and plantations. These new geographic subdivisions have made Davao City the marketplace, recreation center, and investment hub of Mindanao.
