Madapo Hill has always been associated with numerous noteworthy, historical events that date to as early as the Spanish colonial conquest of Davao. It was here that one of Datu Bago’s bronze cannons, the lantaka, was mounted as a secondary defense in case the big guns fixed at the Tagum (Bankerohan) fortress were undermined or decommissioned.
When the Americans came, the knoll, due to its location, lush vegetation, and elevation, drew the attention of expatriates. Rev. Robert Franklin Black, the first Protestant missionary in Davao, built a residence and mission house there. Later. Dr. Charles Thomas Sibley, first medical director of the Davao Mission Hospital (now Brokenshire), also lived there with his family.
As Davao’s population grew, a gravity-dependent reservoir that would provide water to the residents of the central business district was constructed on the hill. This is the same hillock where President Ramon F. Magsaysay, on Sept. 20, 1956, laid the cornerstone of the new reservoir of Davao Metropolitan Waterworks, the forerunner of today’s Davao City Water District.
During the war, some of the people who fled the city after Japanese forces arrived, initially sought shelter in the area. When collaborators reported the manhunt against individuals and families tagged as anti-Imperialist, the area was quickly vacated, forcing families to seek refuge in the remote sections on the western front. Towards the end of the conflict, just as the city was about to be liberated, guerrillas made use of the place as a staging position for ambushes.
Forested and situated adjacent to a public cemetery, the hill became a go-to destination for insurgents in the 1980s when chased by law enforcers after committing ‘revolutionary’ crimes in the city proper. Given its terrain, any fugitive can always seek cover under the hill’s foliage or jump down to the riverbank where his pursuers cannot follow.
On October 10, 1988, in the post-Marcos era, it became the site of a famous murder. Oscar Bantayan, deputy secretary general of the National Federation of Labor and national council member of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, was assassinated by men alleged to be state-sponsored paramilitary forces. Predictably, the blame was placed on the fledgling first Aquino administration.
Bantayan’s killing was attributed to his strong stance against the policies of the labor department. He also partook in the drive for the non-use of pesticides in farms and plantations launched by Japanese consumer groups in 1985 thru the ‘Stop the Philippines Bananas Pesticide’ campaign that carped Standard Philippines Corp. for supplying pesticides deemed illegal in Japan.
In 2021, the Nonoy Librado Development Foundation, Inc. came out with a brief, poignant tribute to the fallen labor leader, stating:
‘On October 11, 1988, labor activist Oscar Bantayan, then national council member of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), was gunned down by suspected state forces. He remained a staunch defender of workers’ rights at a time when political repression swept the country. ‘He was relentless in calling to end contractualization, and increase the national minimum wage, among others. He was in picket lines with striking workers fighting for regularization, and a source of motivation for labor leaders, factory workers, unions, and communities. His death was greatly felt by the labor movement and the people, but his life of service inspired others to follow the same path.’
In 1993, chiefly in the 2010s, the sectarian UCCP Haran Sanctuary established on the hill’s grounds, became the provisional shelter for indigenous peoples dislocated by the armed conflicts between government troops and insurgents. These clashes seriously affected the displaced shelter occupants and were constant reminders of the dangers when the government and the social activists collided during protest actions at the knoll.
