FROM DAVAO OF THE PAST

28 February 2025

𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗦 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬

Here is the message of former President Manuel L. Quezon to the people of Davao during the city’s inauguration on March 1, 1937.

In 1937, the capital town of Davao was converted into a chartered city. Davao City was once a part of one Davao Province before it was divided into three different provinces in 1967. The formal inauguration of Davao as a city was on March 1, 1937 although its charter (referred to as the Commonwealth Act No. 51) was approved by the Philippine Assembly and signed into law by President Manuel Quezon on October 16, 1936. 

Hon. Romualdo C. Quimpo, the first elected assemblyman from Davao was responsible for creating Davao into a city which was originally the old municipality of Davao combined with the municipal district of Guianga.

More importantly, Historian Antonio Figueroa, in his Facebook Page, would argue that Rep. Romualdo C. Quimpo once recommended his law office partner, Antonio Habana, Jr. to Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon as the first appointed city mayor of Davao. For some reasons, the President chose Nicasio Valderrosa, a Zamboanga native, as the first local chief executive of Davao City, appointing him on November 20, 1936.

Fifteen days later, following pressure from his supports back home, Valderrosa replaced Santiago Artiaga. Instead, Artiaga was sent to Davao City to assume the mayoralty.

Please take note that the history of Americans involving themselves in Mindanao’s politics was strongly felt during the Moro Province and the years after that. The Americans who controlled Moro Province supported the Republican policy of preserving the Philippine Islands as a colony. They motivated the migration of many American enterprises and capital to Mindanao.

 

They urged fellow Americans to settle in the vast, unpopulated lands of Mindanao. That time, in Davao alone, some discharged American soldiers established hemp and coconut plantations along the gulf coast during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Author’s note: Caption revised for additional info. Photo first posted by Paul Corpus on March 1, 2020. Photo courtesy of Mr. Vincent J. Garcia. Thank you for sharing this piece of information. – 𝘕𝘦𝘪𝘭 𝘛𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴