Remembering Davao del Sur inauguration 42 years ago
June 24, 2009 9:22 am
By Satur P. Apoyon
DAVAO CITY, June l8 -– When Davao del Sur, one of three Davao provinces that resulted in the split of the then gigantic lone Davao Province effective July l, l967, inaugurated its autonomy on July 2, a day after the mandated commencement of operation of the Sarmiento House bill, I was there to cover the event in its capital, Digos.
As early as 7 a.m. on that historic day, I trekked to the Magsaysay elementary school auditorium at the back of then old municipal building of the future Digos City to capture the atmosphere and fervor of the unfolding event that will christen the new province for south Davao.
I covered the occasion on official invitation of newly appointed provincial Press Secretary Rogelio J. Flaviano in my capacity as one of the few pioneering community editors in Digos.
After a brief stint with Southern Times of the late Tranquilino dela Cruz, I had just put up Southern Observer, a second weekly tabloid in the provincial capital some 60 kms south of Davao City.
Among the three Nacionalista Party provincial board members in the mother province, Ramon delos Cientos was appointed by Gov. Vicente G. Duterte as new governor of Davao del Sur.
Board Member Verulo Boiser, a veteran ABS radio announcer before joining politics, was designated as appointive governor of Davao del Norte and Board Member Paciano Bangoy who proudly proclaimed as son of the NP founder in Davao to the eastcoast province of Davao Oriental.
Congressman Lorenzo S. Sarmiento, civil engineer turned politician but suffered an initial loss in his entry into the three-cornered gubernatorial battle in the lone Davao province in November l963 against the incumbent reelectionist Vicente G. Duterte and a co-challenger logger lawyer Constancio Maglana, authored the House Bill for the division of the then mammoth province.
In the division, Davao City, a chartered city in the Philippine Commonwealth created in October l936 and inaugurated on March l, l937, however, has remained distinct and autonomous political instrumentality from the new provinces and the subsequent additional province of Compostela Valley, a slice off of Davao del Norte in January l998.
The three incumbent provincial executives who will lead their respective constituencies come July l, 2009 in the foundation anniversary literary programs are Governors Douglas R. Cagas, Davao del Sur; Rodolfo P. del Rosario, Davao del Norte; and Corazon N. Malanyaon, Davao Oriental.
Now 42 years after, Davao del Sur by the seam of Davao Gulf and under the canopy of the l0,3l0-foot Mount Apo along the border with North Cotabato and Davao City has moved forward with progress by leaps and bounds along with its two sister provinces and the daughter province of Davao del Norte — Compostela Valley.
Davao del Norte may have exportable Cavendish bananas and Davao Oriental with its nickel and other minerals, Davao del Sur has sugar central in Hagonoy town and beer brewery and dessicated coconut plant in Darong and Coronon, Santa Cruz as economic buffer. Lately, the old Malalag Bay in Malalag town has contributed additional taxes for the government as a mooring hub of more than a dozen cargo vessels affected by the global recession.
In this year’s commemoration of Davao del Sur foundation day, however, I won’t be there anymore personally to savor once more the merrymakings of the people, majority of whom are Cebuanos and sprinkles of Boholanos, Ilocanos and Ilonggos.
But in my Davao City suburban place of abode I still keep a memento of that inaugural event — the cute two and one half by two inch laminated pass! (PNA)
DCT/SPA/lvp
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