Wow, we could not help but exclaim our happiness that in only six years’ time Davao had produced two top officials of the country. And they came from the same family at that. In 2016 we elected the first-ever Mindanaoan and Davaoeno as President of the Philippines in His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Six years later the people of the entire country elected by a landslide fashion his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio as Vice President. Perhaps, God willing, in another six years’ time, she will rise to become another Mindanaoan President.
Yes, officially Inday is now the Vice President of the Republic since she had already taken her oath, and no one seems to have questions as to any possible legal complication in her advance oath-taking despite the provision in the Constitution that the term of office of national officials with an emphasis on that of the President and Vice President is still to begin at noon of June 30.
Perhaps it is the reason why outgoing President Duterte joked the other day that after yesterday’s daughter Sara’s oath-taking the country will have a Duterte-Duterte President and Vice President for the rest of the month of June this year.
Anyhow, we are extremely proud of both father and daughter for the feat they have achieved for Davao City. More so in the case of the President, because even up to now barely eleven days left of his term, no one can claim that he is already a lame-duck President. And everybody, even the harshest of his political critics admits that PRRD continues to have the highest trust ratings among Presidents, both living and dead, and maintains his popularity to the end.
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Over in Davao Oriental come-backing Governor Corazon Nunez Malanyaon will have her oath-taking and inauguration on June 30. Her return to the Capitol of that Eastern Davao Province was barely a “walk in the park” thing. She had no opponent in that May 9 political exercise.
But of course who will dare oppose her with what she did for the Province during her previous terms? Yes, she had the misfortune of being the governor of Davao Oriental when that super typhoon Pablo devastated to the maximum certain municipalities on the eastern side fronting the Pacific Ocean. But she got noticed with the way she led in the response and the rehabilitation efforts that led to the rise of Davao Oriental from the quagmire of devastation.
And even before Governor Malanyaon assumes her come-back term she already had established her legacy that can never be forgotten even after several generations of Davao Orientalnons and by the people not just of the neighboring provinces but also from other areas in the Philippines.
What is this Malanyaon legacy that we are talking about? It is the highly educational and history-reminding Davao Oriental Provincial Museum that is named Subanga’n which we presumed to mean the direction where the sun rises in the east.
Yes, in that museum which we had the opportunity to visit last Friday, June 17, 2022, our craving for knowledge about the Province and its people was totally satisfied. It was from the displays inside the imposing museum building that we learned who were the dominant tribes of the province and how these tribes evolved into what they are now – the gems of the Province that it cannot be itself without.
However, it was also in that Provincial museum that we who were lucky to be non-residents of the Pablo-devastated towns in that Eastern Davao Province had our knees seem to turn into jelly-like bone support. That was when we saw the grim still documentation of the superstorm destruction displayed in one exclusive room of the museum building.
Yes, the devastation captured on camera made the room somewhat eerie and there was some kind of whiff of cold air that ran into our spine making our hair stand after viewing the ghostly sight.
Of course, the museum will bring anyone who gets inside down memory lane, the ups and downs of the province. But the museum also will remind everyone that no matter what happens any good leader like Corazon Nunez Malanyaon can steer the local government to wherever she or he would want to if he/she is motivated by the interest to serve the people of Davao Oriental.
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