Mr. D.I.Y | Back in Business

It’s been a full month, but recovery really takes time. Mr. D.I.Y. is one of the local establishments in Davao Oriental that took a while to reopen. Because the way the store was built, the contractor they hired cut corners on some parts of the facility, and it was a good thing that the posts that made up the foundation of the building were not compromised, and the last time it was seen being repaired was in late October. The early morning weather was not that bad, but towards the last quarter of the year, Davao Oriental has its ‘rainy season’ with most of the Mindanao region experiencing the same weather, as most people in this area are spending the Holidays with this kind of frequent downpour towards the start of the year.

Caravan Pop Up | Night Market Finds

When you hear pop-up stores, they are shops that do not have a permanent location. Mostly, a small business that only exists online or simply has the business for a season, since they might have an actual day job. It’s been a common practice that most pop-up shops in the modern day are a table set-up inside a shopping centre or an event they are participating in year in and year out. But there are pop-up caravans that travel all over the region through rural areas that participate to be part of the town fiesta. Some of them don’t even carry named brands or licensed products. Like most stores in the province, they sell affordable items ranging from housewares, tools and even some random toys for kids to play with.

Kinablangan Fiesta | Subtle Cancellation

This past weekend was rough for most residents of Baganga in Davao Oriental, following the recent earthquake that shook the town of Manay (pronounced as Man-Ay) with a 7.6 magnitude. Throughout these past few days, morale has been low, and the silence screams in Kinablangan, which had been planning to celebrate 122 years of its founding with scheduled events and activities. There have been no scheduled basketball or volleyball games, and those who still have a home to go to are mostly indoors. There have been several aftershocks since Friday, and they vary, with the strongest one the same day the earthquake happened, that one during nighttime with a magnitude of 6.5, taking more than a minute.

Davao Oriental | When the Day Did Not Stand Still

The day started with slightly muggy weather, and it wasn’t the usual bright and sunny disposition while getting ready to leave to head out to the municipal town of Baganga for an early morning supply run. It’s Friday, and people are getting up to start their day before the weekend happens with the usual routine. Personally, the day seems slow, and something was a bit off as I saw the grey sky, and the sun wasn’t as bright as usual. Traveling from Kinablangan to Baganga, 40 minutes to almost an hour away, just to go on a supply run. Nothing was happening on the road while we headed to our destination. This day seemed so strange that I did not totally ignore it, but this morning does not have the usual feel to it.

Kinablangan | Let the Games Continue

Town Fiestas are a tradition in the Philippines; it is a form of social interaction with local communities dating back to pre-colonial days. Most of it is lost in big cities in Metro Manila, but in regional or rural areas, it is a yearly celebration. It's a consistent date, just confused some who had never grown up or lived in these parts. Personally, the last time I had to see a town fiesta in Pura Tarlac was back in 2017, when a former office colleague invited me to visit her hometown, taking a bus to make it there early in the morning and spending most of the day there. They had parades and all the pageantry of a town fiesta had to offer, and it was just about that.

Mr. D.I.Y | The Affordable Option

Living in a rural area has its perks. Still, it also presents some challenges, particularly in terms of accessibility, as not everything is readily available when compared to life in a big city. It’s where you have access to everything. The town life is different, and it is slower than you’d expect. But when it’s time for a supply run, it becomes exciting. Too excited that you forget you have a tight schedule and a limited budget. It’s been a while since the last visit to Mr. D.I.Y. earlier this month. The morning was a lot of things, and this was our last stop before heading back. The budget was gone, though window shopping was enough to check what they had.

ER Supermall | Needs a Serious Competition

When you live in a very remote place, your options are limited, and at the same time, the location is not a few meters away. But it takes 30 to 40 minutes by commute on either a motorcycle or a tricycle to reach the place. It’s also a challenge to wake up in the morning and try to be there first in line, because it is the only place where you buy your groceries, among other things. Because the ER Supermall is not entirely a shopping centre, but a grocery store that is the sole supplier to small businesses that have their “Sari-Sari Store” outside the municipal city of Baganga, which has small towns being part of it. Getting to this place, you see most of them are resellers piling up their shopping carts.

Wild Life | The Monitor Lizard

When you live in a regional area, there is a chance you might encounter things you do not see in a densely populated location. In Australia, poisonous snakes, spiders, and other types of unexpected creepy crawlies are relatively common. Ever encounter a Black Widow? I recall that while we were working on a car that was lifted during the training course at TAFE, there was an actual widow, and our instructor immediately grabbed an insect spray to ensure it was dead and then smashed it with his shoes. This morning, before heading to a supply run in Baganga, a random thing happened. The workers reorganizing the backyard where the pile of lumber had been sitting for quite a while found something big. Locally, it is called a “Bayawak,” or a type of Monitor Lizard has been living other that pile of wood.

Kinablangan | Power Outage & Fiesta

Saturday did not start well; in fact, the power outage occurred as early as 6 AM (Philippine Time). There’s nothing good when you live in a rural area where there’s no power, regardless of whether it’s for five minutes or five hours. It shows that the power supply to the whole region of Davao Oriental is not enough to be given to every town that’s part of this region. By 9 AM (Philippine time), the only cell site owned by Globe Network had just died. There’s no power or way to communicate online for the next few hours. There was news from DORECO (Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative, Inc.) that the outage will last for twelve hours while the town has a special event.

Lost Urban History | Victoria Plaza Mall

Victoria Plaza Mall is the first shopping centre in 1993 to cater to the local populace of Davao City. It’s considered a counterpart of Harrison Plaza, which was acquired by the SM Group and was demolished to make way for a modern version. The fate of Victoria Plaza Mall is already set when the antiquated shopping center closes its doors permanently in December 2025. It has become a local landmark of Davao City, previously owned by the Limso Family. Until it went into receivership, it was acquired by the NCCC Mall, which acquired the property on March 12, 2019. It was rebranded as NCCC Mall VP. But a recent development is that it will be redeveloped by Robinsons Land Corp.

Down South Travels | Aliwagwag Falls Ecopark

The Aliwagwag Falls is a protected landscape that preserves a major drainage catchment in the Southern Philippine Islands of the Davao Region, and it is known as the Highest Waterfalls in the country. It contains the headwaters of the Cateel River in the southern Diuata Mountain range. It provides the water source and irrigation for surrounding rice fields and communities in Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental provinces, which was declared a National Park in July 2018. It was named after the remote rural village in the municipality of Cateel, located in the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor, which contains one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical lowland rainforest in the Philippines.