Covering Down South

An oppurtunity has come once again for me to explore the places down south.

For the entire week, I was in South Mindanao to work with the Global Diagnostics Team who handles clients in the Davao Provinces, North and South Cotabato, Saranggani and Sultan Kudarat.

It is also my personal intention to explore the provinces that I have not gone to.

Global Diagnostics is Merck’s exclusive dealer of clinical chemistry products for Mindanao. The team is composed of young ladies with medical technology background and is headed by Ms. Yolly Cañete.

We started the week visiting the hospitals in Davao City.

Monday. City of Davao

Private Hospitals and medical clinics abound in this area. The city with a population of 1.147 million has 31 major hospitals. Half of the day we covered some of these hospitals and clinics.

I’ve been to Davao a lot of times. I think it was my 5th time to visit this city. After work, my officemate Cha met me at a mall and brought me to a particular place where I could meet her friend David. I asked her who David was and if he was straight, bi or queer. She said nothing until I met him.

   

Yeah, in an unfinished baywalk project beside a known motel called Queensland stood the replica of Michelangelo’s David.

This version of the David is about 4 times the height of the original and is painted in copper. I was intrigued about the city government’s decision to erect such a statue with no particular connection or relation to the city.

David stood at the front end of the unfinished promenade. At night, it is a favorite hang-out spot for dating couples and lovers.

Cha then took me to the favorite hang-out of Davao yuppies: The Matina Town Square. At the certain end of the stretch of establishment lies the Blugré Coffee, their version of Starbucks or Cebu’s Bo’s Coffee Club.

    

What’s unique about this coffee shop was their durian-flavored coffee. The cakes were also served with cream and milk.

Tuesday. We went to this place called:

Kidapawan City is in North Cotabato and is the capital of the said province. Global Diagnostics had a string of client hospitals in this city. And even though it is a second class city, we experienced heavy traffic along Quezon Boulevard.

For mountain trekkers, Kidapawan is known as the best starting point for a climb up to the summit of Mt. Apo. This city is located at the foot of the country’s tallest peak. To some, the city is “A Spring in the Highland” perhaps from the local word “kida” or “tida” which means spring and “pawan” which means highland.

In the months of April and May, this highland experiences the hottest temperature. The rest of the year, the weather is cold, especially in the months of December and January.

Wednesday. Central Mindanao

I met up with the Global Diagnostics Team in Davao City at 5:30 am for a long trip beyond South Cotabato. We had a brief stop to this place called Malungon in the province of Saranggani.

Nope. We didn’t stop to look for tarsiers in Malungon but because we need to deliver some clinical goods to the hospital.

Sarangani’s Malungon town made a stir over the years because it had claimed that tarsiers abound not only in their town but also in Glan and Maitum. Locals called their tarsiers as ‘mal’.

Other than the tarsiers or mals, Malungon is the major source of banana, pineapple and asparagus to DOLE Philippines.

Then we headed west to South Cotabato and then turned up north to Koronadal and Tacurong then to the capital town of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat.

On top of the arches is the statue of Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, a sultan of Maguindanao who reigned from 1623 to 1671.

The current ruler of Sultan Kudarat is Gov. Datu Pax S. Mangudadatu who made a tremendous effort to construct a provincial capitol in this magnitude.

People of Sultan Kudarat claimed that once their capitol is completely built, it will replace Sarangani’s capitol as the most beautiful provincial building in the country.

The provincial hospital of Sultan Kudarat is currently being constructed right beside the capitol. The province is also known for its mobile hospital which is a brand new bus equipped with medical instruments and beds, the first in the country.

This trip to the town of Isulan was a very important leg of my itinerary because Global Diagnostics would be presenting a proposal to the hospital on clinical chemistry products and instruments.

From Isulan, we headed back to the province of South Cotabato in the capital city of Koronadal.

We arrived at Koronadal City in the afternoon. When we arrived in the city, the national public school athletic meet or the Palarong Pambansa was being held. We had difficulty in finding a place to stay as all the hotels and lodges were fully booked. We managed to find a non-aircon dormitory room a few blocks from the provincial hospital.

Koronadal was the first place that I ever visited in Mindanao, more than a decade ago. This city was declared as the “most competitive small city” in the country. Much has changed from the time it last hosted the national sports meet.

Thursday. General Santos City

From Marbel or Koronadal, we headed south to the town of Polomolok in South Cotabato. Polomolok is where DOLE Philippines is located. A string of hospitals were located near the pineapple and banana processing plant.

From Polomolok, I had the chance to drive down to General Santos City. The road from Koronadal to General Santos City is safe and in good condition and there were checkpoints along the stretch.

We managed to cover the hospitals in General Santos City within 3 hours and by 2.30 pm, we began our long trip back to Davao City.

Between GenSan and Digos, Davao del Sur was a mountain range that offered a fantastic view of the Davao Gulf. We had a brief stop in the place called CliffHanger.

I rarely found a view as breathtaking as this.

Friday. Tagum City and Compostela Valley

It rained on Friday. The car was unavailable so we had to ride a bus and commute to and from Tagum and Maco.

Our first stop was Maco, Compostela Valley.

It was a 3-hour ride from Davao City. Compostela Valley used to be a part of Davao del Norte. Maco is a second class municipality and is a few kilometers east of Tagum City.

What’s interesting about Maco is its municipal hall. The municipio is located on top of a hill several kilometers from the national highway and is far from the town proper. The location was so high that not even a tricycle could climb up the hill. To get there, one must have to backride a habal-habal or a motorcycle (see above picture, lower left portion).

We decided to rent a multicab for 60 pesos because we needed to deliver the goods to the health center. It rained hard that day. But in spite of the poor weather, we managed to reach the municipal hall.

I think the main purpose of the location was the breath-taking view of the gulf. It’s similar to the view at the CliffHanger and yet it’s blurry because of the rain.

From the municipio, we had no way to got down to the national highway than to take a habl-habal. In my smart casual attire, a jacket and a notebook bag in tow, I humbly rode the motorbike sandwiched by the driver and Orchid Mae of Global Diagnostics. We rode down the uncemented road back to civilization on a habal-habal and under Orchid’s pink umbrella.

We went to Tagum City thereafter.

Tagum City is said to be one of the fastest growing cities in the Davao area. It has become a center for business and entertainment and is known to be the Palm Tree City of the Philippines.

This city could trace its establishment from the time it was called as Magugpo. The first immigrant came from Moalboal, Cebu. He was Sulpicio Quirante who pioneered and came in October 1929 through the homestead act.

From that time on, Tagum’s development had coursed through several decades. It became a provincial capital in the 1960’s and progressed into a 1st class city with 180,000 people.

It’s progress can be reflected in its hospitals and other services. The Davao Regional Hospital along with several other privately-owned hospitals cater to the needs of the people of Tagum.

Tagum Doctors’ Hospital, Medical Mission Group and Bishop W. Regan Hospital have complete medical facilities and laboratories as well. They even have some cute medical technologists and employees but those were beside the point.

We went back to Davao City before the night fell.

Saturday. Heading Back Home

Ms. Yolly drove me to the airport hours before my flight back to Cebu. We managed to drop by a fruit stand and purchased some sweet pomeloes and mangosteen. The fruits were quite expensive there.

On my way to the departure area, I heard a lot of commotion about Pacquaio. I thought that it was Pooh-quiao (Manny Pacquiao impersonator) that they were referring to as he will be performing in Davao’s The Venue that day.

But no, I saw Manny Pacquaio walking past me and he was being escorted by 2 personal guards and an assistant on their way to the boarding area. Wow. This guy is about my age and yet he is way richer than anyone else in the airport.

I might have been star-stricken because I somehow forgot to claim back my Mabuhay Miles Card from the cute Air Philippines Check-in Officer. And so I rushed back to the counter and got my card from the bespectacled looker.

Well, looking back, this week had been enjoyable and productive and enriching for me. And I hope you guys wont mind me at all if I talk about the wonderful places that I have gone to. I wish you would also do the same when opportunity presents itself.

Amities tout le monde!