Mindanao Advice

Why You Should Visit my Hometown, Davao

I have been to many places in the Philippines but am always happy returning home. Of course, this is natural; “away is good, but home is best.” This old truth applies to me, but there is a lot more to it than that.

Davao has become a safe and clean city and is also known as a secure place for natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons. We are located south of the typhoon belt, and many are moving here from all over the Philippines, hoping for a more stable life.

Image by Eldar Einarson
Image by Eldar Einarson

This, together with robust economic growth, makes Davao a very fast-expanding city with both the benefits and problems that entail. In many ways, we are a provincial city wearing shirts that are a little too tight and searching for more comfortable ways to dress up, but this also has charm and challenges.

Thanks to our popular Mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, the crime rate is low, and we can walk the streets at night without fear. His focus is more on our right to live in safe neighborhoods than on the criminals’ need for human rights, and that gives results.

In a more developed society, ordinary citizens don’t have to take the burden of arming themselves and go to war against criminals. But in our society, this happens. The vigilante groups here call themselves “servants of the people”. The media calls them “death squads”, and as long as they strictly target dangerous criminals, these cases are challenging to solve.

It’s a question about security, a democratic problem, and a tricky moral dilemma. I know that I would not have liked to live in the murder capital of my country (which Davao was during the 1980s). I hope that our law system will be able to dispense justice within the law’s framework. For now, it’s probably the silent sympathy for the Death Squads that has made the city safe.

Well, let’s go back to why I love Davao. The honesty here is remarkable. Take, for instance, the taxi drivers who will put on the meter automatically without any fuss and always give you the exact change. Some years ago, I forgot a very expensive projector in a taxi, and I just had to go to their office and get it back. The reward money I offered was not even accepted. A month ago, I left my smartphone in the mall toilet. I had no backup for all my contacts and was in despair, but I got the phone back shortly after. A customer handed it over to a security guard, who handled the situation correctly.

Other good things here are cheap food and a large variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. There are a lot of inexpensive but comfortable hotels for 25 USD a night with free internet access. The locations of most of these hotels are within walking distance from malls, restaurants, banks, and other vital establishments and landmarks. A beer costs 1 USD at decent restaurants, a lovely meal for two costs 10 USD, and you can drink water directly from the faucet.

White-sand beaches with crystal clear waters are just minutes away, and Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines, rises majestically behind the city. The people are warm, accommodating, and generous, and our city slogan is “Life is Here.” So why don’t you visit my city for a short or extended period? You are welcome in a safe place with grand visions for a prosperous future.

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