During a two-day planning workshop I facilitated last week, I asked the participants about their high point and their low point from the first day.
Almost all of the 25 participants, who are all young people from Davao City, had the same answer. Their high point was knowing about Davao’s history and their low point was not knowing about Davao’s history before then.
When I asked them to share one thing they learned that they did not know before, the common answer was knowing Davao’s amazing history, which made them appreciate being a Davaoeño more.
One participant shared: “Now I understand why we are trailblazers and why we are unique from other Filipinos. I am more proud of my Davaoeño identity now that I learned about our history and I am not so worried anymore about our present and our future. I know we will be alright.”
Atty. Jonah Presto, Davao City Mayor’s Deputy Chief-of-Staff, also shared what Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte told her: “If you know the history of Davao, you will not be afraid and you will not be rattled by the challenges we are facing as a city and as a people. Because you know that we have been through worse things and we have overcome all of them and emerged stronger and better each time.”
And Mayor Baste is right. Knowing our city’s history makes us chill Davaoeños.
As a surfer, our mayor knows what being chill means. It is being relaxed, not stressed, not easily agitated. And with the rising incidence of mental health problems among young people today, being chill is a good thing.
So an integral part of the city government’s advocacy promoting discipline through the “Dabawenyo DCPlinado” campaign is the teaching of Davao history in all schools at all levels.
In fact, the teaching of Davao history to young Davaoeños has been required by our city government even before Mayor Baste’s administration through City Ordinance No. 0330-20, series of 2020.
The local legislation, entitled “An ordinance requiring all public and private schools in all levels in Davao City to include in their curriculum the teaching of the history of the City of Davao,” was authored by Councilor Pilar C. Braga, chair of the Committee on Education, Culture and Arts, Science and Technology.
“It is the policy of the City of Davao to promote character formation and wholesome personality development by requiring schools at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels to inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect for human rights, appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country, teach the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, and develop moral character and personal discipline, thus, culture and tradition, and history of the city will now be an integral part of the education of our students in Davao City,” is the clear declaration of the ordinance and the executive order related to its implementation.
To implement the said ordinance, then Mayor Sara Z. Duterte, issued Executive Order No. 36, series of 2021 entitled, “An Order Creating the Davao History Book Council and Technical Working Group as Mandated by Ordinance No, 0330-20, series of 2020.”
“While there are several books about Davao history by various authors, there has been no attempt to write a comprehensive history of Davao City that could serve as an instructional material for use of schools,” said the executive order.
That is why Mayor Sara created the Davao History Book Council to be headed by the City Mayor with the Vice-Mayor as vice-chair. Members of the Book Council are the following: the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) Committee on Education, Culture and Arts, Science and Technology; the City Planning and Development Officer; the Superintendent of the Division of City Schools in Davao; the Director of the Commission on Higher Education; and the President of the Davao Historical Society.
A technical working group (TWG) was also created to assist the Council and they are tasked to: (1) undertake consultation with different sectors of the Davao community; (2) undertake research in collaboration with concerned groups; (3) prepare learning materials or modules for instructional purposes; (4) come up with an official Davao City History book copyright by the City Government of Davao; (5) prepare a budget for one working year and recommend additional workers or contract of service personnel, if necessary, to get the work done; (6) set up a work place complete with facilities to serve as the TWG’s office for the duration of the project; and (7) other allied functions based on its mandate for the effective implementation of the ordinance.
This order was signed by then Mayor Sara on June 22, 2021. However, the Davao History Book Council and its TWG has not been convened to this day.
With Mayor Baste saying how important knowing Davao’s history is for all Davaoeños, I am confident the Davao City History book will be completed before his term ends in 2025.
The Davao Historical Society (DHS), which is also chaired by Councilor Braga, has initiated several meetings with our city’s historians — Dr. Mac Tiu of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) and Mr. Tony Figueroa of the Institute of Davao Studies of the Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC) — to start the process of creating the learning materials that will be used by our schools.
HCDC has volunteered to host the first ever Davao History Conference in November which will gather all sectors, not just the academe, to start the city-wide consultation on how we will implement the city ordinance on teaching Davao history.
Even our Datu Bago Awardees, who are educators, are joining forces to help DHS and the city government implement this important ordinance by serving as our lead conveners of the history conference: Dr. Mac Tiu, Dr. Luz Ilagan, Dr. Iris Melliza, Dr. Riz Pangan, and Dr. Rose Fundador.
“Why is it that Davao is not included in our history books and we do not know of any Davao heroes?” Is a common question asked by local students in most of our DHS events.
Because most history books are written and published by those who are in the national capital and Davao is so far from the center of power, literally and figuratively. Even when our Mayor Rody became President and our Mayor Sara is now our Vice-President, Davao is still considered “far.”
And that is why we must write our own history ourselves from the perspective of Davaoeños who came before us, the diverse peoples who made Davao what it is today. Not just the history of our colonization, oppression, and exploitation but also the history of our independence, resilience, and innovation.
