An Island in the Pacific

My domicile is a beautiful island even if I have also built a home in Davao City.
The Island Garden City of Samal in the Philippines is very accessible from mainland Mindanao and I imagine that in the future, if or when we become a federal state, it will be part of the state of Davao.
For now, Samal City is a component city of the province of Davao del Norte. 

There is evidence that Samal Island is very old, even if the island became a city, by law, only in 1998. 
The island used to be composed of two towns (Samal & Babak) then later, a law further subdivided the island into 3 towns with Kaputi-an as another town. 
Which is why, whoever it was who coined the acronym IGACOS to refer to the island garden city is not doing justice by “layering” the very old name Samal which is also the name of the oldest tribe in the island.

Recently, I was speaker in one of the alumni homecomings in the island and I talked about the concept of pride of place to inspire my friends.
Under the light of a full moon, I told my audience that when I wanted to feel rich, I tell myself that I own the skies, sun, sand, seas and the mountains.
I go out of my way to meditate in one of the island’s highest point overlooking the entire Davao Gulf. But, that, also in these flat economic times, it is very easy to have fun and make money at the same time.
In this month of May, the month of flowers, I planted hundreds of various kinds of Hibiscus or locally known as Gumamela and they are ready for sale when they bloom in August, the month of the celebration of harvests in Samal City.

Also, prime time television put Samal Island again in nationwide consciousness when TV sportscaster Dyann Castillejo featured the beautiful Hagimit Falls and beaches and resort facilities.
The source of the falls is a rainfed deeply indented cavernous land formation and the water passes through a seemingly underground unexplored river that surfaces as a waterfall along its way to lower ground.
The land use plan of the island allocates only about 8.5 per cent of its total lands to forest land use. So, if the island values its water system as a potential investment, it must reconsider its large agricultural land use ( 82.5%) and convert it to agroforestry land use in order to increase the island’s forest cover and thus preserve its rivers, lakes and waterfalls.
These inland attractions complement the island’s pristine beaches.
The advantage of Samal compared to Boracay is that it is very near an international airport and as well, the island hopes not to repeat the mistakes of congested Boracay.

The island is teeming with peoples organization: about 60 organizations in an island with a population of more than 82,000 in 46 barangays.
The women in 46 barangays are members of a citywide council of women. In this sense, the social capital to campaign for free and honest elections in the island has always been promising.

Samal City has a women’s center partly built through with funds under the initiative of our political party Abanse! Pinay under the countrywide development funds program.
The focus of the women’s center is economic enterprise and is a rallying point of the members of the Women’s Council of Women.
But, there are also some cases of violence committed against some of the women in the island and Samal City, for now, has had to bring one of these cases to Davao City’s DSWD ( Dept of Social Welfare & Development) facility because the island city does not yet have a shelter for battered women.