The idea to erect a district building for the province of Davao, the equivalent of a government center, was first introduced in 1906-07, during the watch of U.S. governor Allen Walker (July 14, 1906-August 4, 1909). He is the same guy who improved and inaugurated the Santa Ana pier as a subport, and also built Bonifacio Road (now Quezon Boulevard).
At the time, the old Spanish tribunal (town hall), situated where the Davao city hall now stands, was developed to house provincial offices during the early American period. The 1905-06 Third Annual Report of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, then governor of Moro Province, specified that an amount of P857.19 was allocated for the repair of the district building. Later, Brig. Gen. Tasker H. Bliss, as the new governor of the Moro Province, included in his 1907 report a provincial expenditure of P508.86 for the overhaul of the same structure.
Throughout the years, chiefly the first decade of American occupation, the construction of a new edifice to house both the district and municipal offices was deferred due to the issue of land ownership. Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s 1911 annual report as Moro Province governor admitted that the delay in the construction of the Davao district building was due to a question of title, which amounted to P14,250.00.’ Apparently, the matter was later resolved.
It was during the administration of Governor Henry Gilsheuser (1910-12), a German-blooded American lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army that the gathering of materials for the building was put on track. The enthusiasm to accomplish the plan was in part due to the strong support the municipal officials of Davao had shown towards the undertaking.
The initial estimate of the two-story reinforced-concrete district structure, completed in 1914, was P50,000. In the January 1915 Bureau of Public Works Quarterly Bulletin the aggregate expenditure, together with the civic improvements, office amenities, and other inclusions, cost P110,000.
That same year, Eulalio E. Causing, the first Filipino appointed governor of Davao (1915-17), convinced Fr. Frank Lynch, the Jesuit parish priest of San Pedro Church, to donate the church land that now hosts the Sangguniang Panlungsod edifice. He held office at the second floor of the district building because the ground floor was exclusively for municipal use.
As the directorial duties of the town of Davao expanded, the idea to move the district offices to a separate building started to gain currency. The idea was launched and included in the public works bureau’s 1918 list of thirteen proposed new government buildings that comprised a hospital, municipal buildings, and public markets.
Using the donated church land, a new provincial capitol was built in the early 1920s and was put in use that same period following the approval of the plan to build a new town hall in the old district building’s location. The town hall (now city hall) was built in 1926 by Tan C. Tee and Co., a Chinese company, which submitted the lowest bid.
The construction firm held office at Calle Aviles (formerly Calzada de Malacanan) in San Miguel, Manila. Founded in 1923 with a P500,000 capitalization, it was headed by Tan C. Tee, as president; Lo So Hing, as vice president; Ty Kong Ting, as secretary; and George Lo, as treasurer. Just two years after its creation, it started making its business presence felt by taking over the 20-year license agreement of Port Lebak Lumber Co., then owned by Americans and Filipinos.
Among its noteworthy projects were the groundwork of the national legislature; the UP College of Medicine annex building; La Ignaciana Cathedral, the center of Adoracion Nocturna, at Santa Ana, Manila; the Iloilo marginal wharf; Mariquina bridge; Geronimo de los Reyes building, then the country’s leading business house; and several provincial high school buildings.
