Metro Davao

The agglomeration of Metro Davao has no formal legal framework early on its initial stage of development process either by an act of Congress, by an executive declaration of the president or by a formal agreement among component cities and municipalities of the metropolitan area.

In the case of Metro Manila, the component cities and municipalities were grouped into a province through a decree issued by then-President Ferdinand Marcos, and designated the then First Lady Imelda Marcos as a governess. From then on, Greater Manila, as it was known earlier, became Metro Manila.

To formalize its juridical identity, Congress passed into law Republic Act No. 7924, instituting the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. Under the current law, the head of the agency shall be appointed by the President and should not be on a concurrent elected position as mayor.

Metro Cebu is a concept created in the 70's and formally adopted by the Regional Development Council of Central Visayas as a platform for integrating parallel development in the metropolitan area.

Although Metro Davao was formed in 1995 by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Davao City at that time, it does not have the birth perspective of either Metro Cebu or Metro Manila. The metropolitan concept of Metro Davao is being spearheaded by the mayor but no formal agreement or an act of congress have been executed to formalize its legal and juridical identity. Because of this, the region, having no official legal framework (although they have a de facto one, the Davao Regional Development Council), exists not as a juridical identity but only as an informal reference to the area. However, the said council have formally adopted the concept in 1996 for the development of the area, especially Davao City.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11708 on April 27, 2022, paving the way for the establishment of the Metro Davao Development Authority which would oversee the administration and planning in the metropolitan area.[1]

As years passed on, the definitions of Metro Davao had changed in recent years.[8] Metro Davao, as of now, has taken on three identical geographical definitions,[6] namely:

• The metropolitan area is synonymous with Davao City itself, the city is Philippines' largest city by land area (2443.61 hectares or 943.48 square miles),[9] and the metropolitan area as a whole is ten times the size of Metro Manila and five times the size of Metro Cebu.
• The metropolitan area is composed of the cities of Davao, Panabo, Tagum, Island Garden City of Samal, Digos, and Mati, as well as the municipalities of Sta. Cruz, Hagonoy, Padada, Malalag, Sulop, Carmen, Maco, Malita and Sta. Maria[10]
• The metropolitan area refers to Davao City and its nearby five provinces, namely: Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, and Davao Occidental[note 1]

Notes

Most of the region's inhabitants, originally mostly descended from migrant settlers from Visayas and Luzon in recent centuries and decades, mostly speak Davaoeño Cebuano Bisaya vernacularly, whereas English is the primary formal medium of instruction in schools, besides Filipino (Tagalog) class, and is widely understood by residents, who often use it in varying professional fields. Aside from Davaoeño Cebuano Bisaya, Tagalog, Hiligaynon, and Chavacano Davaoeño are also widely casually used in Metro Davao in addition to languages indigenous to Davao City, such as Giangan, Kalagan, Tagabawa, Matigsalug, Ata Manobo, and Obo. Other languages also varyingly spoken in the main city include Maguindanao, Maranao, Sama-Bajau, Iranun, Tausug, and Ilocano. Among Chinese Filipinos and Japanese Filipinos in Davao, Philippine Hokkien and Japanese can also be heard privately used among their fellows. Mandarin (Standard Chinese) and Japanese is also taught in Chinese class and Japanese class of Chinese FIlipino schools and Japanese Nikkei schools respectively.

A linguistic phenomenon has developed in Metro Davao whereby some Cebuano-speaking locals have either shifted to Filipino (Tagalog) or begun to significantly mix Filipino terms and grammar into their Cebuano speech; this is because of varying factors such as, the normalcy of older generations in some Cebuano-speaking families speaking Filipino (Tagalog) to their children in the household, some migrant settlers and visitors to Davao are also from families coming from Luzon where Filipino (Tagalog) is widely casually spoken, the Filipino mass media is mostly in Filipino (Tagalog) and Filipino class is also taught in schools in Davao, and Cebuano is spoken in other everyday settings, making Filipino (Tagalog) a secondary casual lingua franca.

Davao City is one of the country's leading producers and exporters of durian, mangoes, pomeloes, banana, coconut products, papaya, mangosteen, and even flowers. Panabo hosts one of the country's biggest banana plantations, which is owned by the Tagum Agricultural Development Company (TADECO) that covers around 6,900 hectares of banana fields. Digos is popular for the mangoes produced in the city.

Air

Metro Davao, as a whole, is being served by Davao City's Francisco Bangoy International Airport. It is the largest and the most developed airport on the island of Mindanao. It comes second for having the longest runway on the island at 3,000 meters after that of General Santos International Airport. The airport is currently the third busiest airport in the country after Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan–Cebu International Airport, and the busiest in Mindanao. This international facility is one of the domestic hubs of Philippines AirAsia, Cebu Pacific Air, and Philippine Airlines. Presently, the airport serves flights to Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Pampanga, Bacolod, Tagbilaran, Tacloban, Puerto Princesa, Caticlan and as far as Singapore, Hong Kong, Quanzhou (suspended), and Doha. So far, Davao's ATC Tower is considered the most sophisticated in the country.

Sea

The International Seaport of Davao, the busiest port in Mindanao.

Three of the four main seaports in the region operate in Metro Davao, namely: Sasa International Seaport in Sasa and Santa Ana Pier in the Chinatown District, both in Davao City; and Panabo Seaport in Davao del Norte. The former two, both of which are located in Port of Davao in Davao City, can service both interisland and international shipments. Sasa International Container Port, also located in the Davao International Seaport, is one of the busiest in the entire Visayas-Mindanao region.

Land

Metro Davao is served by the Pan-Philippine Highway as well as provincial roads connecting nearby provinces outside of Davao Region. The cities of Davao and Tagum are the metropolitan area's major land transportation hubs. All cities and towns in the metropolitan area have overland transport terminals connecting the area to other parts of Mindanao and the Philippines via buses and passenger vans.

The Mindanao Railway will have its first segment on the Tagum–Davao–Digos line, and its construction is targeted to begin in 2023.[14]

The cities of Davao and Panabo and the town of Carmen has their electricity needs served by Davao Light and Power Company, a distribution utilities subsidiary of Aboitiz Power which also operates the 300-megawatt Therma South Coal-Fired Power Plant located in Brgy. Binugao, Davao City.[15] The cities of Samal and Tagum and the town of Maco are served by Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (NORDECO), the city of Digos and the towns of Hagonoy, Malalag, Padada, Sulop, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Maria and Malita by Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (DASURECO), and the city of Mati by Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative (DORECO).

Metro Davao currently does not have a unified sewage and sewerage system as to the fact that it is rather disconnected in terms of urban contiguity. As such, every city and town in the metropole has their own drainage system.

Davao City has its own water service via Davao City Water District. Other towns and cities within Metro Davao are served by their own water utility service providers.

The sanitary landfill at Barangay Carmen, Davao City are shared by both Davao and Panabo. The city of Tagum and the town of Carmen also had their own landfill located at Brgy. Nueva Fuerza, Tagum City.

• TV5 Davao Channel 2 (TV5 Network, Inc.)
• ABS-CBN TV-4 Davao (ABS-CBN Corporation)
• GMA TV-5 Davao (GMA Network, Inc.)
• SBN/ETC TV-7 Davao (Southern Broadcasting Network)
• RPN/CNN Philippines TV-9 Davao (Radio Philippines Network)
• PTV-11 Davao (People's Television Network)
• IBC TV-13 Davao (Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation)
• S+A Channel 21 Davao (ABS-CBN Corporation)
• RJTV Channel 23 (Rajah Broadcasting Network)
• Hope Channel 25 Davao (Hope Channel Philippines)
• GTV Channel 27 Davao (GMA Network, Inc.)
• One Sports Channel 29 (Nation Broadcasting Corporation/TV5 Network, Inc)
• BEAM TV-31 Davao (Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media)
• RHTV 33 Davao (Manila Broadcasting Company)
• Net25 Channel 39 Davao (Eagle Broadcasting Corporation)
• GNN TV-41 Davao (Global Satellite Technology Services)
• SMNI TV-43 Davao (Sonshine Media Network International)
• DCBN Channel 45 (Davao Christian Bible Channel)
• UNTV Channel 51 Davao (Progressive Broadcasting Corporation)

• Sky Cable Davao – Davao City
• Davao Cableworld Network – Davao City
• Eastcoast Cable TV Network – Davao City and Mati City
• Digos Cable TV Network – Digos
• Prime Cable Network – Digos and Samal
• Wise Cable TV Network – Tagum and Maco
• Love Net TV – Tagum
• Panabo Satellite Cable TV – Panabo, Carmen and Samal
• Asymmetrical Cable TV Network – Carmen and Padada
• G Sat Cable
• Sky Direct
• Cignal TV

Aside from the 24 national daily newspapers available, Davao City also has 21 local newspapers. Among the widely read are SunStar Davao, the Mindanao Times, and the Mindanao Examiner.