Icons of DavaoCLOSE to half a millennium after Sarangani found its

way into Spanish chronicles, Davao, as a region, has slowly turned into a metropolitan hub. With six cit-

ies underscoring its socio-economic and demographic transformation, more urban settlements would rise in the next decade as the volume of investments shoots up.

The amazing makeover of Davao region, though, is best ap-preciated by the historical events, which serve as backdrop of its march towards progress. In particular, these episodes, brought together as a single catalyst, serve as the pedestal on which the region’s cultural heritage now stands proudly.

To highlight this transformation, 20 places and 20 individu-als, including groups of persons, have been chosen in no special order to give Edge Davao readers a broad perspective on how certain areas in the region were like in the eyes of foreigners, and what are the contributions of certain luminaries to the region’s impressive history.

Landmarks

SARANGANI: This town, of then Davao del Sur and now Davao Occidental, is a cluster of islands, which takes pride as the first place in Davao region to have direct contact with the Span-iards. Antonio Pigafetta, the Venetian diarist of explorer Ferdi-nand Magellan, wrote that on October 16, 1521 “we entered a port between the two islands Sarangani and Candigar (Balut), and cast anchor to the east, near a village of Sarangani, where pearls and gold are found.”

DAVAO GULF: In pre-colonial times, it was known as Tagalook, a rich source of biao (beeswax). The Dutch in the late 16th century called it Boutuan (Boetuan) Bay. When the Span-iards arrived, they renamed it Seño de Davao. The Americans

later called it Davao Gulf. More importantly, it is the source of the country’s first pearl export (1907) and the original “tuna capital” (1929).

IYO (HIJO): As a kingdom, Hijo was the original trading cen-ter in the gulf and a vital link to the Agusan River headwaters at the eastern sector of Tagum. In the August 30, 1628 report of Dutch merchant-sailor Daniel Ottens, it was identified as one of the negeris (districts), while Englishman Thomas Forrest, in his 1775 travelogue, cited Eu (Iho), along with Lupon and two other areas, as a settlement.

PANTUKAN: The town, which got its name from pantuk, or shortcut, was the customary home of the Mansaka, shared in part by the Mandaya and the Kalagan who live on the coastlines. During the American Occupation, it was considered as the “abaca plantation in the east,” as opposed to Malita, the “abaca plantation of the west.” Since colonial times, Kingking, a village under it, has been known for its gold deposit.

LAPANDAY: Formerly known as Belen, the place was the site the first-ever abaca plantation of Davao in 1893. When Datu Bago was defeated by Spanish conquistador Don Jose Oyanguren, it was here that he hid before escaping to Bincungan, in Tagum City. Similarly, during World War II, the area bécame the hiding place for evacuees, mostly prominent families, displaced by the entry of Japanese forces in Davao City.

LIGGETT ISLAND: The land mass known as Ligid Island in the Island Garden City of Samal, was named after Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett of the U.S. 31st Infantry, the first American military gover-nor of Davao. In his honor, Fort Hunter Liggett, a base on Califor-nia, Hunter Liggett Army Airfield at Fort Stewart, Liggett Hall on Governors Island in New York, and USS Hunter Liggett, a passen-

ger ship, were named after him.

DAVAO PENAL COLONY: Established on Jan. 21, 1932, this sprawling 5,212 hectares of land was reserved under Proclama-tion No. 414 and was placed under the justice department and the corrections bureau to train and reform inmates and to arm them with vocational skills and higher literacy. During the war, it was home to around 2,000 prisoners of war (POWs) and had an operational 3.5-km railroad.

ISING: This patch of land in Carmen, Davao del Norte, was where the historic “Battle of Ising” was fought. The U.S. 130th In-fantry Regiment launched an offensive to clear the national high-way of enemy obstacles. The battle took 10 days. The final conflict was tragic; more guerrillas were killed than Japanese. Despite the casualty, they stopped the enemy advance, thus hastening the lib-eration of Davao City.

DIGOS CITY: One of its villages bécame the site of the car-nage known as the “Digos or Rano Massacre.’ Thirty-nine Sunday mass churchgoers of a small Protestant church were killed by the New People’s Army (NPA) in sitio Rano, barangay Binaton, on June 25, 1989, many of them children. Its pastor, Ruben Ayap, and his brother, were beheaded. The reason for the slaughter was the refusal of leaders to cooperate with the rebels.

DAVAO PEARL FARM: Then known as Aguinaldo Develop-ment Corp., it hosted the first scientific cultivation of pearls in Davao Gulf. In 1958, a farm of 12,000 white-lipped oysters from the Sulu Sea was opened. The oysters could manufacture white, pink, or gold-lip pearls. It was owned by Daniel Aguinaldo, a Ma-nila trader after whom the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School (DRANHS) is named.

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DAVAO

By Antonio Vn. Figueroa

Special Supplement

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Old and new City Hall

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tive of the word to kalag, Visayan for “soul.” Anthropologically, the term is the same name given to a river where people residing along its banks are known as the Cara-gan and Kalagan.

AGUSAN RIVER: More than just a significant waterway, many pueblos were built along its river-banks, among them the present municipalities of Monkayo and Composterla, in the northern sector of Davao, and the defunct towns of Jativa, Gandia, Gerona, and Pilar. The river, which has a length of nearly four hundred kilometers, starts in the uphill of Mawab and empties itself into Bu-tuan Bay.

MOUNT APO: Its only record-ed eruption took place in 1640. Also the home of the Philippine eagle, the Bagobos view the land-mark as “a gigantic altar of sac-rifice.” Jesuit priest Fr. Francisco Colin wrote in 1660 about it as a mountain that spews “snow” (sul-fur), and repeated by Fr. Jose Fer-nandez Cuevas, who wrote about it as being “covered with sulfur which in the reflected rays of the sun looked like snow.”

MT. DIWATA: Informally called as Diwalwal, the mount derived its named from the Java-nese term, devata. For centuries, according to accounts, it had been known to harbor a huge deposit of gold. It was only in 1983 that its secret was discovered after Cami-lo Banad, a Mandaya, spilled the beans about where he was getting the gold nuggets he sold to jewelry shops to buy drinks for his friends and neighbors.

SAMAL ISLAND: One of the earliest archaeological digs in Sa-mal was done here in 1882. Dr. Al-exander Schadenberg of Breslau, Germany, found interesting buri-al-caves in the isle, including 23 skulls, artificially deformed skel-etal specimens, ceramic shards, large dragon jars from the Yuan or Early Ming dynasties, a celadon jarlet, human and animal bones, iron weapons and tools, and bronze and shell bracelets.

MALALAG: In 1971, archae-ologists opened an area located

on a ravine a kilometer inland and a cavern close to the open ocean named Asin Cave. In both sites earthenware potteries were found but there were no traces of porce-lain, stoneware, or metal associat-ed with the pots. At Pangpang, an open cave on a rough and steep rock face, potsherds were recov-ered, some of them plain.

BAGANGA: On July 4, 1631, Captain Pedro Bautista, fort com-mander of Tandag, accompanied Fray Jacinto de Jesus, parish priest of Tago, set out to Baganga to punish agitators. The expedition involved ten boats separately led by Spaniards and a party of native chieftains. For eight days, the troops travelled to Baganga with very little resistance because the residents were already fore-warned. Only 16 prisoners.

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DATU BUHISAN: Also known as the king of Candahar, Buhisan was the first ruler of Davao to vol-untarily give up power and territo-ry to the Dutch on Sept. 10, 1688. He wrote: “I, Datu Buisan… give order and transfer all the right, land and the claim that I have of such as the lands on Mindanao, the bay of Boetuan and Saranga-nie, including all its dependencies and appendages.” This placed Davao under Dutch control.

DATU MAMA BAGO: A Ma-guindanao-Tausug scion, he gov-erned Davao for nearly five de-cades and was one of the region’s most colorful rulers. Known for his fighting prowess, he fearless-ly engaged the invading Spanish contingent led by Don Jose Oyan-guren but succumbed to superior weaponry then fled to Lapanday. Davao City’s most prestigious award, the Datu Bago Award, is named after him.

THE JESUITS: In pre-Amer-ican era, the Jesuits gave much to the conversion of Davao into a Christian territory and as a cata-lyst of quality education. Two of the society’s vital contributions to Catholicism were former Davao parish priests, Mateo Gisbert and Saturnino Urios, whose beatifica-tion were launched on November

was Datu Bulan who became one of the most photographed chief-tains in the exhibit due to his lux-uriant growth of waist-length hair.

BOLTON, Edward R.: A lieu-tenant in US Army, he was the first American quasi-civil governor of Davao. On June 6, 1906, he was killed by a native chief in Lacaron, Malita, Davao del Sur. Contrary to the bad reviews, he wanted to remain in Davao “until peace and better government” was attained. An Oriental Mindoro river, a Davao bridge, a terrestrial fern, and a vil-lage of Malalag, are named after him.

KYOSABURO, Oda: Also known as K.S. Ohta, he was cred-ited for having brought to Davao City the first Japanese contract workers. In 1905, he moved to Davao where he established the Ohta Development Company in 1907. In just three years, he culti-vated 298 hectares of virgin soil, on top of the 1,015 hectares the government granted to his com-pany. His success lured more Jap-anese to invest in corporations in Davao.

FURUKAWA, Yoshizo: Founder of Furukawa Plantation Company, Ltd., his land holdings in Davao reached 1,010 hectares, which were tilled as abaca plan-tation. He acquired lands mainly from American plantations and companies. He is the guy who in-troduced the Tangongon, an abaca variety endemic to Davao, in Ecua-dor where he is recognized as ‘the father of the abaca industry.’

QUIMPO, Romualdo C.: He sponsored the law that made Davao a city. In 1935 he won as Davao’s legislator to the 1st Na-tional Assembly. As lawmaker, he was accused of nepotism and for asking fees for homestead applica-tions. He was one of local leaders suspected to have connived with

the Japanese in possessing indig-enous lands. In 1940, he won as governor although his residency was challenged in court.

PELAYO, Pantaleon Sr.: As 1935 Constitutional Convention delegate, he stirred a hornet’s nest when he declared that “insular, provincial, and municipal officials in Davao are in connivance with Japanese,” leading to the propos-al to adopt stringent regulations in acquiring lands by foreigners, whether through dummy or mar-riage. In September 1940, Pres-ident Quezon appointed him as city mayor.

CLIFFORD, Col. Thomas E.: A Distinguished Service Cross awardee in the Leyte Campaign, he had “dash, audacity and bril-liance.” On June 24, 1945, during the mopping-up operations of the Allied Forces near Tamogan, Calinan, he was fatally hit by a shell aimed in their direction by Japanese. For his sacrifice, Davao honored him with a town plaza and theater, and was dubbed as the ‘liberator of the city.’

FLOIRENDO, Antonio O.: Although a mining engineer, his legacy is best known in the fields of motoring and agricultural. As trader, he exclusively owned the Ford distributorship for Visayas and Mindanao, but as an agricul-turist, he established the world’s largest abaca plantation, and later founded the world’s largest fami-ly-owned banana plantation. He was popularly known as the coun-try’s ‘banana king.’

ALMENDRAS, Alejandro D.: A scion of the Durano clan of Cebu and related by affinity to the Dute-rte family, he held the distinction of being the first and only senator, the first Cabinet secretary, and the first to become member of both chambers of Congress from the Davao región. While still active in

MAGSAYSAY PARK: Dedicat-ed to the Philippine President Ra-mon F. Magsaysay (1953-57), the place was once a mangrove area before it was developed into a public park. It is the first reclama-tion in Davao City. The park was the brainchild of the late Elias B. Lopez, the visionary Bagobo may-or of the city who also established Araw ng Dabaw, Mutya ng Dabaw, the Datu Bago Award and the city’s anthem “Tayo’s Dabawenyo.” The park was carved out partly from the former site of the Sta. Ana public market and the receiving station of the Davao Penal Colony. To develop the reclamation área at the least cost, Lopez assigned the city’s various civic and profesional service clubs to develop portions of the site gratis.

SAN PEDRO CATHEDRAL: Originally built in 1849, the struc-ture has undergone numerous renovations. Dedicated to St. Peter, the old munisipyo’s patrón saint, it was the site of two gruesome bombings in Davao’s history. On April 20, 1981, it was blasted with grenades by suspected members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), killing close to a dozen people. On Dec. 27, 1993, alleged members of the the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) bombed it again, killing seven per-sons. The cathedral is considered one of the city’s landmark and tourist attraction.

MINTAL: It was known as the “Little Tokyo” given its sprawling pre-war abaca plantations owned and managed by Japanese. For decades, it was surpassed only by the trading activities in the city’s central business district. It was here where the primary Japanese facilities, from hospital to landing strips, were established. With the intermarriage of Japanese and landed Bagobo, the place bécame a virtual Tokyo.

CARAGA: It refers to the old province of Carhaga, which had jurisdiction over two-thirds of the island of Mindanao; it later became the surviving name of a town in Davao Oriental. Ancient missionaries attribute the deriva-

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7, 2005 by Oliverio Suazo Divino, a Dabawenyo residing in Gaithers-burg, Maryland, USA.

THE SYRIAN-LEBANESE: These Christian Orthodox mi-grants of Syrian-Lebanese extract were among the first foreigners to succeed in business in Davao. Juan Awad started the first abaca plantation in Lapanday and built the first four-story building; his relatives also made good: Charlie Sasin operated post-war mov-ie houses while Salim Borghaily opened Borghaily Hermanos Store in 1929.

THE THOMASITES: The appellation originally referred to American educators who arrived in Manila in 1901, on board the Army cargo transport USS Thom-as. A good number of them helped the Westernization of Davao schools, namely,Thomas W. Bar-nett, Leora Day, Frank Fox, Rudolf F. Nyman, O.G. Wolcott, Maud Jar-man, Christian Ade, William Gohn, Frederic W Abbot, and Carson Calhoun.

THE BAGOBOS: Davao región may be considered as multi-ethnic in charácter but only the Bagobo can rightly claim to being the first global tribe. During the St. Louis World’s Fair, or the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in Missouri, U.S.A., in 1904, it had its own village, which consisted of four houses that were home to thirty-eight Bagobos. One of them

New Bangko Sentral

Old San Pedro cathedral New San Pedro cathedral

Old Bankerohan Public Market

New Bankerohan Public Market

Old Bangko Sentral

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Carmelo L. Porras (1955-1967)

The first elected mayor was Porras, a civil engi-neer from Zambales.

“Meloy” Porras first served as city engineer and as was ex-officio member of the city council at the time.

He was elected mayor against three rivals -- two lawyers and a fellow civil engineer. They were engi-neer Gaudioso Tiongco, attorney Fermin Abella and a

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mayors of Davao CityThe 6 elected

THE first election of Davao City’s mayor was in 1955. Since then, 60 years ago to this day, there have only been six persons elected to the position, half of them serving for more than one term.

Three of the mayors served for more than 10 years each, while the remaining two were in position for only one term, which is equivalent to three years. Four of the mayors were lawyers by profession, one civil en-

gineer and another one a college dropout. The lawyers are Elias B. Lopez, Rodrigo R. Duterte, Benjamin C. de Guzman and Sara Duterte-Carpio. The civil engineer was Carmelo L. Porras, while the college dropout was Luis T. Santos. Porras served for 12 years, Santos for a little more than 10 years, Carpio and de Guzman for three years each. Rody Duterte has been mayor a total of more than 20 years now and still counting.

Elias B. Lopez (1967-71; 1982-86)

In 1967, Porras, by then mayor for 12 years (or three terms), lost his bid for a fourth term to his brilliant vice mayor, Elias B. Lopez, who became the first and, so far, only Bagobo native mayor. Before winning as vice may-or, Lopez, a University of the Philippines-trained lawyer who was an outstanding orator, successively topped the race for city councilors who were elected by the voters of the entire city, not just by district. As mayor, Lopez in-troduced and institutionalized many “firsts.” He built the Magsaysay Park from scratch. He embarked on a recla-mation of the burnt site of the old Sta. Ana public market, Davao Penal Colony receiving station and old fish landing area beside the Sta. Ana pier. Then, he apportioned the reclaimed area among civic, professional and other vol-unteer service organizations for development according to a blueprint. Enthusiastic and proud about being given

importance in a giant task, all civic groups cooperated and did their share in the development of the park which took more than two years.

To instill in Dabawenyos a sense of identity and be-longingness, he started the Araw ng Dabaw festival, cre-ated the “Tayo’y Dabawenyo “ city anthem, founded the prestigious Datu Bago award and put up the Mutya ng Dabaw annual beauty pageant.

Luis T. Santos (1971-82)

In his bid for reelection in 1971, Lopez lost to Luis T. Santos, a prosperous logger who had served as his po-lice chief, a legendary guerilla leader in Nueva Ecija and neighboring Luzon areas. The election results shocked many Dabawenyos who thought Lopez was the best

mayor they ever had at the time.Months after Santos assumed office as mayor, then

President Ferdinand E. Marcos proclaimed Martial Law on September 21, 1972 and suspended local elections un-til 1981. It was during the Santos city administration that the monolithic Davao City Water District was established. The other big ticket projects –the on-site development and relocation of thousands of squatters (now euphemistically called “informal settlers”) under the Slum Improvement and Resettlement (SIR) Program along Piapi-Quezon Bou-levard and the Sandawa area, the construction of the Davao City Overland Transportation Terminal (DCOTT) or Ecol-and Terminal and the multi-million peso improvement of the Bankerohan and Agdao public markets— happened during the Santos administration with all loans facilitated by the Marcos dictatorial government.

In 1981, when Marcos called for local elections, San-tos lost to comebacking Lopez but managed to hold on to his position for 18 months. With the support of the Mar-cos-sponsored Kilusang Bagong Lipunan political party, Santos refused to yield City Hall to Lopez, claiming that there was failure of elections in vote-rich Paquibato, a hin-terland area in what is now Second Congressional District, and therefore the need for another balloting through a spe-cial election. When one and a half year had lapsed and no special election was in sight, Marcos, listening to a grow-ing public clamor in Davao City, ordered the Commission on Elections to proceed with the proclamation of the true winner. It was then that Comelec chairman Leonardo Perez proclaimed Lopez as winner. This was in 1982.

In August 1983, just months after the ouster of Santos from city hall, former senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr., father of President Noynoy, was assassinated in the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, triggering a nationwide pro-test movement against the Marcos dictatorship.

It was an occasion for Santos’ return to the folds of the opposition. He joined marches and rallies called the Yellow Friday Movement for the ouster of the dictatorship.

Carmelo L. Porras

Elias B. Lopez

Luis T. Santos

lady attorney named Pomperada.Porras and Tiongco squared off for the second

time in 1959 with Porras coming out victorious again. Porras won his third term in 1963 against lawyer Manuel “Noli” C. Sotto, who, at 26, was the youngest vice governor of the then undivided Davao province. In those days, one can served for life as there was no limit in the number of terms, unlike today when one can only serve three terms, of three years each term, successively. Also, in the past before the passage of the 1987 Revolutionary Constitution, a term was equiva-lent to four years.

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THOSE who have less in less must have the same service on health care.

With this as its primary goal, the Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. (BIHMI) has embarked on an expensive expansion program to make health care more affordable and accessible to the community.

“We are always in that princi-ple of affordability and accessibil-ity,” says Rev. Ruben L. Dela Cruz, CEO of BIHMI.

BIHMI’s expansion program includes the strengthening its community development, put-ting up new structures and buy-ing new equipment to improve its service to the community.

BIHMI is an agency of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines which has three in-tegrated ministries--the Boro-kenshire Memorial Hospital, Brokenshire Community Health and Development and Broken-shire Resource Complex—and all these components have different expansion programs which are ongoing and targeted for com-pletion by 2016.

For the structure and equip-ment alone concerning the hos-pital, BIHMI is allocating around P257 million.

For the Brokenshire Com-munity Health and Development Center, BIHMI’s flagship pro-

gram, Dela Cruz said they are now into eight provinces serv-ing more than 30 pilot commu-nities.

“We would like to expansion further in the primary health care,” dela Cruz said.

He said they are now into Southeast Mind-anao after setting up a pilot commu-nity in Northern Mindanao, specifically in Bukid-non.

Aside from this, Dela Cruz said they have built their ninth water system in Alabel, Saran-gani that greatly improve water service in the area. If it takes residents one hour to get to their source of drinking water before, now they only have to reach it in a minute with the new water sys-tem. This water system had its blessing last December.

Dela Cruz said they are plan-ning to build five more water sys-tems.

As for the Brokenshire Me-morial Hospital, which is also called the referral center, Dela Cruz said they have launched

BY CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY

Accessible and affordablehealth care at Brokenshire

the first set of expansion on the pediatric intensive care, radiology and dialysis which costs around P25 million, in-cluding the equipment.

The Medical Arts Build-ing will also be built entailing a budget of P72 million.

BIHMI is also planning to acquire new equipment like the 128-Slice CT Scan, which is P50 million, and MRI Scan-ner which costs P110 million.

BIHMI is also construct-ing the second building of its twin-hotel Brokenshire Re-

source Complex, which is the sustainability mechanism for their community health pro-gram.

Dela Cruz said all these programs and projects are really meant to give those who have less in life the same service.

“For every acquisition of equipment, we always think about its social responsibili-ty component, so even those who have less in life they can access health care,” he said.

Presently, the hospital

has 200 beds and Dela Cruz said they can expand up to 250 beds in five years time, which is going back to its original structure in 1968.

The old Brokenshire hos-pital was razed by a city-wide fire in 1964, reopened but closed down in 1985 due fi-nancial and labor crises.

Now, the BIHMI edifice is proudly standing in its pres-ent location in Madapo, a sur-vivor of the global war which emerged from the ashes to become an icon of Davao.

Rev. Ruben L. Dela CruzDavao Mission Hospital 1929

Brokenshire 1948

Brokenshire 1992

Brokenshire 2014

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In 1984, Santos ran for a seat in the Batasang Pambansa but lost.

However, he benefited immensely from the eventual assumption by the late Corazon C. Aquino to the Presidency via the EDSA Revo-lution in 1986. He was elected congressman of the city’s newly established third congressio-

nal district and later appointed by Mrs. Aquino as secretary of the Department of the Inte-

rior and Local Government.

Rodrigo R. Duterte (1988-201_)

After being assistant city fiscal (now prosecutor) for several years and appoint-

ed OIC vice mayor for more than a year, lawyer Rodrigo R. Duterte be-came the fourth elected Davao city mayor when he defeated OIC mayor Zafiro L. Respicio in 1988. Duterte had a falling out with Respi-

cio over a still unclear is-sue, and eventually became

political rivals. Duterte was re-elected in 1992

and 1995. In 1998, since under a new law he couldn’t run for a fourth term, he ran for congressman of the first district and won. He returned as city mayor in 2001, 2004 and 2007. In 2008, he slid to vice mayor, won and served in that capacity until his return to the mayor-ship once more in 2013.

Benjamin C. de Guzman (1998-2000)

Lawyer Benjamin C. de Guzman was Duterte’s former city ad-ministrator, vice mayor and political ally when Rody was no longer qualified to run for mayor in 1998. Duterte supported de Guzman for mayor against Prospero C. Nograles.

In 2001, however, de Guzman refused to give way to Duterte, and ran for mayor again. De Guzman lost to Duterte in a bitter con-test between former allies.

Sara Z. Duterte (2010-2012)

In 2010, Rody Duterte launched the candidacy for mayor of his favorite daughter Sara, a new lawyer, who was his vice mayor from 2007. Sara, newly mar-ried to fellow lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, trounced Nograles with the widest margin in the annals of city electoral history, a defeat that the House Speaker couldn’t accept. He filed an election protest which was yanked out by the Commission on Elections. The Su-preme Court later upheld the Comelec in its decision to dismiss the election protest.

Sara has been the youngest and the first lady chief executive of the city. She ruled Mindanao’s premier city with a gentleness and meticulousness of a woman but with a firmness and maverick ways that showed her to be very much a chip of the old block. With her stunning German mestiza looks and personal warmth in dealing with people from all walks of life, observers say she could easily charm her way back to city hall when the opportune time comes.

politics, he was governor of the undivid-ed Davao and congressman of Davao del Sur.

DUTERTE, Rodrigo R.: Acknowl-edged as the longest-sitting city mayor of Davao, his iron-fist policy, although criticized for alleged human rights vi-olations, was the key in developing the city as the world’s fourth most peaceful city. In 2014 he voiced out his preference fedérate the entire archipelago, and as a result was strongly endorsed by partisan blocs to run instead for the presidency in 2016.

NOGRALES, Prospero C.: He first made history as the first Davaoeno to receive the coveted Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award in 1986. Ear-

lier, he topped the Bar as No. 2 and went on to serve the first district of Davao City as five-time congressman. His notable achievement was his election as Speaker of the House of Representatives (2008-2010), the first from Mindanao.

FRANK, Patrick Henry: He is an obscure figure although he founded in 1937 Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC), with the primary objective of serving the central section of Davao. He later sold his stocks and those of the in-corporators to Don Ramon Aboitiz. The duo concluded the sale of DLPC and agreed to sign the deal on Jan. 1, 1942. But war broke out. The contract was consummated only on July 25, 1946.

LANZAR, Antonio C.: A former PC colonel, he was assigned in Mindanao at the height of American pacification cam-paign to quell Moro insurgency. In the 1930’s, he was appointed police-military head of a detachment at Malalag, Davao del Sur. Given his good traits and sterling constabulary record, he was appointed first post-war governor of Davao in 1946 and later installed as Malalag’s first mu-nicipal mayor.

VALDEROSA, Nicasio S.: He is re-lated to Davao’s history twice over: first, President Manuel L. Quezon appointed him city mayor of Davao on Nov. 20, 1936, together with Santiago Artiaga, as first city mayor of Zamboanga; and sec-ond, Luz Valderosa, the wife of former

Davao City mayor Pantaleon A. Pelayo, Sr., was a relative. On Dec. 5, 1936, Que-zon swapped the appointments of Artia-ga and Valderosa.

OYANGUREN, Don Jose: By virtue of a decree issued by Governor-General Narciso Claveria on Feb. 27, 1847, he led an expedition to conquer Datu Bago, the chieftain of Davao. The voyage carried three conditions: he would be armed; he would establish Christian communities in subdued areas; and he would develop agriculture and encourage the natives to live in organized settlements.

Places, like persons, vary in his-torical significance if viewed from the perspective of contributions to our

heritage. Depending on the extant ac-counts available to researchers, the importance of a locality or an individual also changes overtime, especially when primary sources start to show up along the way. Interpretation of facts is some-times affected, in part due to the failure to get a faithful translation of documen-tary evidences, or as a result of simple oversight.

Nevertheless, the histories that go with places and persons are not always constant. With new archival records reaching the attention of scholars, un-derstanding of events as they trans-pired centuries ago vary a bit. History, as a matter of discipline, is a living en-deavor that is not restricted by appreci-ation and time. AVF

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Elected vice mayorsDavao City’s elected vice mayors , 11 in all, are Ramon Morada, Fermin Abella, Elias Lopez, Manuel Sotto,

Cornelio Maskarino, Dominador B. Zuno Jr., Luis C. Bonguyan, Benjamin C.de Guzman, Rody Duterte, Sara Dute-rte-Carpio and Paolo Duterte. Nine are lawyers, one a certified public accountant and the 11th a business man-agement graduate. Antonio M. Ajero

Rodrigo R. Duterte

Benjamin C. de Guzman

Sara Z. Duterte

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 261 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, MARCH 22 - 23, 2015S8EDGE Serving a seamless society

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