Digos City Tour

The reason why I made a 'detour', was to have a glimpse of Digos. So c'mon let's roam around!

On arrival at the Digos Overland Transport Terminal, I hailed a tricycle, and told him to tour me around! He at first hesitated then asked me where I wanted to go. I said 'I don't know, you be in-charge of that', and I trailed it with 'ipasikat mo ang Digos sa akin', but I qualified that with sa loob lang ng syudad ha?

Off we went.., I did not even ask where he was going first. I just sat busy looking left and right hehe!

Oops and OMG, I was so excitedly looking at everywhere we passed, I forgot to take pics as I'd usually do. I remembered to do so, only after we've been driving around about 3kms. This was the first I took!

That's part of the emergency entrance and facade of the Davao Del Sur Provincial Hospital. Why did I need to take that photo? Ah eh.., to remind me that it is very colorful hehehe! In my mind, I was saying "who said anyway that a hospital building cannot come in various loud colors", di ba?! Modern times!

Part of me asked why was I in this area anyway, but I did not ask the driver, because I said earlier 'siya ang bahala'! I assumed he was "touring" me at government edifices in the area, which, I liked anyway! Anywhere he brought-me-to was good enough for me, since I barely remember anything about Digos!

Like this, the City Veterinary Office...

Well, what do I need to see a vet office about, eh wala naman akong rabis! But I liked it that we passed this way. I saw 3 non-catholic churches on this street. Plus 2 elementary schools inside a sports field!

Unbelievable but I saw them clearly! One side of this sports oval is a Don Mariano Marcos Elementary School, while the other side is a Ramon Magsaysay Central Elementary School - both public schools!

I am sure this does not happen often, yet there they are. And when I say "side" it's the side of the track oval, not the ends! That's interestingly absurd, we might ask: "why aren't they just one school instead'?

Whatever! Now that makes me happy I am a traveler. I get to see such weird things in our country!

I also saw a nice new building for their Association of Barangay Captains (ABC). This:

Looks good. I have seen many cities that have good new buildings for their ABCs, though I'm still at a loss why separate big buildings are needed by ABCs. Captains have their own barangay offices, right?

Again... whatever! Hehehe!

Oh, between that building and the veterinary office (right edge of that photo), I saw an old small house with an SK logo. Yes, the Sangguniang Kabataan. I wonder, shouldn't they be the ones provided with a big building? They do not have their own offices in their own barangays, and they need lots of meeting rooms for their many activities, right? Hmm, now I'm not talking about Digos but of the whole country!

Anyway, after that ABC Hall (to the left edge of the photo above) is the city's Rural Health Unit or RHU, and I read something that said "Digos City Birthing Facility", which, I also think is way too small. Well, it's just probably me, since I also know, that many places have smaller RHUs, if at all they have heheh!

Behind those offices I saw, seemed to be the back of an auditorium, convention hall or something like that. I thought we were passing on a backstreet behind their city hall. I told my self 'kakaibang tour ito', yet I was enjoying it all because I was seeing the real thing about the city with no pretentious facades!

The tricycle turned right, and another right, and then I saw this, the Digos City Stadium!

Not that I felt there was anything great in that, eh mukhang sabungan eh, at parang tambakan ng kung anu-ano! I just felt relief that I wasn't anymore roaming at some backstreet. Nasa harapan na ako! And I wondered too, is that where the X-Factor Audition was held where KZ Tandingan started her journey?

Anyway, when I looked to the left, ayun at the end of that path, I saw the City Hall of Digos.

I excitedly told the driver to get us to the very front so I could take a frontal view of the building.

Ayan behind the garden, that is the Digos City Hall, and on foreground is my limousine and chauffeur!

Turning around on the same spot, I was actually in front of their Digos Rizal Park...

That big brass plate at left tells about the history of Digos from a mere barrio of Sta. Cruz (now still a town to its immediate north), to being enacted as a town in 1949, to becoming a city in the year 2000.

Oh, the last paragraph says Digos comes from a local word padigos which means take a bath! Hmm, I remember that's agdigos in Ilokano, parigos/parigo/karigo in Waray, and maligo in Tagalog/Cebuano.

I told my driver I'll stroll around the park a little, and he said he'd better meet me on the other side.

That's the centerpiece of this wide park that, unfortunately is all concrete now. No more grassy areas.

Oh, when I emerged on the other side of the park, my "limousine and cheuffeur" was already waiting!

Ayos, di baga?! A shy-type driver, but very attentive and had presence of mind, all the time all the way!

This 'other side' of the park by the way, is Rizal Avenue, but is also part of the Digos-Makar Road.

Once I reached his trike, manong driver asked if we should already proceed. I said yes, and off we flew on this wide clean road. I silently said 'OMG their roads here, mala-Commonwealth Avenue ang lapad'!

We were heading north on this road, and I did not say anything, because everything looked new to me. My best memory of Digos, was we went to a long wide beach, which, I thought, was nothing near this place we were roaming at. So anywhere the trike went, I loved it. This was like a "familiarization tour"!

There were times, particularly on this street, I asked the driver to go slow, so I could take a better look at things. But he said it was not allowed. Ah, city na nga ito, we now need to comply with speed limits.

We passed by hotels, banks, arcades, restaurants, Puregold, Mercury, a mall, a pet shop, coffee shop, silogan, courier companies, lechon manok, hardware, everything! A block away is their public market.

The elevated pedestrian overpass has an extension! Therefore this road must have been widened.

I hope the younger folks strictly follow traffic/pedestrian rules, because this is one busy place with all kinds of vehicles darting from anywhere to everywhere! Oh, like in many cities, 'di uso ang helmet dito!

Hey, I don't know how many kinds of Gaisano stores they have here. This one is called Marketplace.

Gaisano Grand Marketplace is one of Gaisano's specialty concept stores, that I actually don't know yet kung ano talaga ang pakay at nilaman hehe! It's one of their new concepts, there's even none in Cebu.

Now, while I took that picture above for me to remember Gaisano Marketplace, I also did that to make me remember the surrounding area/s, where there are equally notable places, for us curious travelers!

Like what? Well, like on the left, before reaching the 'marketplace', I saw local pizza houses! Meron din ganun dito ha?! Not just pizza stalls or kiosks na parang 3M hehe, but real restaurants and medyo old. Meaning, pizza parlors may have been a hit in this area not only recently but maybe from ages ago pa!

Still onthat row, I also saw a Goldilocks Branch. I mean it looked like a real Goldilocks Branch, not just a store that sells Goldilocks products. Look at the left edge of that picture above - it is at ground floor.

On the right side of the road (also before the said marketplace, and not anymore in the picture), I saw at least two Pastil Restaurants (or eateries that specializes in Pastil). If you don't know what it is, ask!

While Cotabato is geographically to the left of this place, I did not really expect to find pastil here.

Eto pa.., also not in photo but to my right as I snapped that picture above, there is a 7th Day Adventist Church. Which is very common, right? But, just beside it, there's a building with two big labels that say "Digos Seventh-Day Adventist Elementary School, Inc." and "Royal Valley SDA Elementary School of Davao Mission, Inc." - I am not sure if they are one and the same, but we do not see these often, right?

What's my point? Those above are, to me, clear signs of progress. And well, just sharing my view that I did not expect Digos was/is this progressive. For a '2nd class city', this must be the most progressive.

By the way, right across that 'marketplace', there is a (still preserved) old wooden house at one corner just beside the sabadista church. As if to say "hey, the past is still represented here, amid all the urban developments that's happening left and right"! It's one cute little wooden house amid plants and trees.

Everything in this area has been modernized and/or commercialized except that one little house!

Also on the left side, just 2 or 3 buildings from Gaisano Marketplace is this Unicity Department Store.

Nothing great about that. I just wanted to note that I see such a store at many places in Mindanao. I'm not sure if they're related, but I observed, there's usually a Unitop store in the city where there's Unicity.

Anyway, I incidentally noticed that the motorellas (tricycles) are of the same color as Unicity!

Across and a little bit forward from Unicity, is (I think) the main Catholic church of the city.

I wasn't sure, and I could not see indicators, as the trike was moving fast. So I looked it up online, and learned it's the Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral of Digos. Cathedral yan? Oh, Digos is a diocese pala? And oh, Davao is an archdiocese? Teka, kung maka-and oh ako 'no? As if I know what those are!

But that is part of the wonders of traveling. You get to see and be curious about many things, so they naturally become additional information to our wealth of knowledge. For now, I need to (I must) know what really is a cathedral? Does it have to be big and beautiful? What is an archdiocese or a diocese?

And.., I added that church to my bucket list (list of things to visit), since this time we just passed-by!

A bit onward, I saw a Unitop Department Store. Wasn't I just saying earlier that where there is a Unitop there also is a Unicity? Ayan meron nga sa Digos, not even one hundred meters away from each other!

Moving a few meters forward going north, the main road forks into 2, plus a smaller 3rd one - Estrada St., at left (not in photo). My driver took this leftward street going towards Novo and that gas station.

I joked saying "o sa Digos lang tayo ha? baka makarating ito ng Cotabato"! Driver smilingly said "hindi naman sir, ang Kidapawan nga, mga 50 kilometers pa galing dito". Nge! So my bearings were correct, we were heading northwestward. Already far from the coast but Digos is still quite a bustling urbanity!

That was/is what they call "junction" and the street we were on is already Digos-Sultan Kudarat road.

I was thinking we were proceeding into the suburbs but seeing that Gaisano Grand Mall told me, nah, I was still very much in the city! Across that (left edge of pic) is even a tall hotel building, a McDonalds Branch, a PNB Branch and a Watsons Store - all in their own separate buildings. Da, Digos has grown!

Oist, I saw something notable for us roamers. On the side of Gaisano Grand Mall is a V-Hire Terminal.

Yes, a UV Express or GT Express or Van Terminal, whatever you call it! Can you see it? It is that corner after the parked motorbikes. Destinations I read were GenSan, Davao, Cotabato, Bansalan. But I guess other towns/cities along those routes are also included. So, if you prefer the vans, that's your terminal.

As for me, my royal sexiness require that I prefer the buses or even coasters like this one...

While I am used to calling them "coasters", folks around here call them "mini-buses". It is thus a name worth remembering! Just a quick glance, you'll readily note they're not the same as the mini-buses we are used to seeing that ply the Cavite-Baclaran or Tala to Doroteo Jose routes! These ones are better!

There are a lot of that kind of bus, from that bus company, that I see in these two regions (11 and 12). Well, I still prefer the bigger ones. But if there are none, I'd take these, than the regular V-Hires (L300s) because they have wider seat pitch and these vehicles are taller than the vans - good for sightseeing!

Note too, in front of the bus, by the sidewalk, there is signage that says Jared Suites. To me, that is an indicator, that progress trend, is moving towards the northwestern portion of Digos. I was just silently and mentally over-analyzing things that I saw, including 6 or so neighboring gas stations in this area!

Eto ka na... probably just about 800 meters from the Gaisano Grand Mall (above), I saw this...

GMall of Digos, like GMall of GenSan or GMall of Davao etc., is also a Gaisano. If you might be curious (like I was then) why there are many Gaisano stores everywhere, some of them even near each other.., ahh, it's quite a long and interesting story, but might require us kilometers-long of blog stories hahaha!

For now anyway, let's be happy to note that, where there's a Gaisano, it means the place is booming!

Just when I was appreciating progress and development on this side of the city, we passed by this...

That's the Medical Center of Digos Cooperative Hospital or MCDC Hospital. Oh yes you read that right - a cooperative. It's a fairly new "hospital ownership" scheme in our country, started in the early 1990s.

I learned another new info. The Davao-Cotabato Road is the same as the Davao-Sultan Kudarat Road, at least in this area (Digos). And there's a new bypass section, so vehicles can avoid Digos city proper. That new bypass road joins the Digos Junction Road somewhere just a little after the DCMC Hospital.

And there is a weighing station, though I did not get to take a picture of the actual weighbridge!

I only got to take a snap of that signage (blue signboard) in front of the INC Church. But the weighing area itself is a bit onwards on the left side of this highway, in front of another church (pentescostal?).

Let's talk about that for a moment...
Do you know what a weighbridge is? Ah, it is a giant "weighing scale", usually installed by the side of a road, used to measure the weight of a vehicle (like delivery trucks and heavy construction equipment).

Why so? Ah eh, wala lang hehe! The authorities or makers/maintainers of a road or bridge, sometimes need to weigh a vehicle, to ascertain if it fits the correct load limit, to avoid damaging a road or bridge.

If it's too heavy, the equipment won't be allowed to pass or the driver has to pay hefty charges. Parang check-in baggage lang sa airport! This happens only on roads or bridges that were not constructed to accommodate very heavy loads, or on roads or bridges where it is observed, that unusually very heavy equipment keep passing. Examples: trucks transporting logs (troso), hauling bulldozers, backhoe, etc.

Weighbridges are not a common sight for us Pinoy travelers, unless na lang you're like me, who is very inquisitive (meaning atrevida)! But it is good to know. Dagdag kaalaman yan sa kinakalawang na utak!

If you keep your eyes open (buses/vans don't usually stop by them), you'll see weighbridges at places like (while entering) NLEX, SCTEX, etc., or before passing on San Juanico Bridge from the Samar side.

Let's proceed with my tour. The scenes now looked like I was in the barrios but, this is still Digos City.

Mind you (and this may not be ideal to some experts), this area is fast converting from farmlands into residentail villages, said my driver. Oh, we even passed by a modernistic memorial park. Urbanization!

That's an important debate among experts: what is better, that a town become a city and replace their farms with industrial buildings and concrete jungles? or remain a 'lesser income' farming community?

Aba eh... ayoko makisawsaw sa usapin na 'yan. I'm just a 'responsible traveler' hehehe!

Then we passed by a police camp, barracks or something, I asked my driver why they were here!

Of course, like many people, I expect to see the police in the middle of the city, where they are usually needed. Driver laughed a bit saying this isn't the city's police office but that of Davao Del Sur province.

And he told me, we just arrived at an area where many of the provincial offices are located. Like this:

I read the building's name of course, and it says Davao Del Sur Coliseum, whoa! Driver told me it has a capacity of 5,000 spectators. He said, since this was built in 2000, many PBA Matches have been held here. He continued, that this is also a usual venue for events like, graduations, concerts and pageants.

I silently deduced that "ah okay, so dito probably yung X-Factor where KZ Tandingan was discovered"!

I actually thought that was it. But when I asked my driver what is that big space beside the Coliseum, he said "the oval". Hmm, I googled the place and found out that its full name is Davao Del Sur Sports Complex and Business Center, and that there are other buildings, an oval track, and a swimming pool.

I was expecting we would go onwards on this road so I could glimpse more of the vast sports field...

But, we made an abrupt left turn, right at this location, where I could see no intersecting road nor path.

Oh well, not that I did not like it. Because I saw that we were entering another interesting 'place'...

The Davao Del Sur Provincial Capitol...

And as if my driver knew what I intended to do, he stopped for me to get off and take pictures!

It did not occur to me that the Philippine Eagle is also a prominent symbol of Davao Del Sur...

But looking back, Davao City was part of (capital of) the old Davao Del Sur, so endemic sa kanila yan!

I stayed on for a while, just sitting around in this capitol grounds. It's like a tranquil park here...

I noticed too, the capitol building isn't the old colonial type such as those in Cebu or Leyte or this, this, this, and this. [for more capitol, just use the search box above]. Then again, when all of Davao was just one province, their capitol was in Davao City (I think it is now the Museo Dabaweño). This one is 'new'!

Anyway, after probably a half hour of 'muni-muni' at this Davao Del Sur capitol grounds, I told my royal handsomeness, it was time to proceed to Davao City, so I had to return to the Digos overland terminal.

Interestingly and ironically, there were still other things that commanded my curiosity, even if I already saw them earlier. Well, it is true then, that "travel is not only all about the 'going there' and 'being there' sights and scenes", the 'coming back' portion may also provide notable, even memorable experiences.

Example? Earthenware! There are sidewalk stalls selling clay things. I didn't put much interest in them, for every city have them, right? But, my driver asked permission to stop by one of them, and I said yes.

As he talked to the woman/vendor (I think he was paying for a previous purchase) I looked around not even curious, since I know nothing about clay or jars. I just glanced around while waiting for my driver.

I don't know (and not interested) what's good or not, what's old or new, what's for cooking or planting!

And most certainly, I had no interest in having any one of those - kahit ibigay pa ng libre sa akin. Hello, saan sa backpack ko ilalagay yan? Weh, I do not even buy 'pasalubong' delicacies for that very reason!

But something changed. When we were back in his tricycle manong driver told me that nowadays, few people in Digos still make clay pots. He was saying most of those being sold here especially those for cooking, are already imports from far-flung barrios or even other towns of Mindanao and the Visayas.

Now that got me curious! I asked if clay pots are a known product of Digos. He beamed with certainty and clarity to tell me that in the past, Digos was known as the best source of those pots. He even told me he knows one of the few in the city, that still make them, and he could take me there if I wanted to!

I said "next time".

Da! All of a sudden I was/am curious and interested. So okay, claypot-making in Digos, bucket-listed!

Let's move on!

Yet, I also saw a "no pork restaurant". Ah, I'll tell about that in a separate story - very interesting kasi!

We were re-entering the main bustle of Digos City, and I saw interesting signs at this corner...

Turning left at that Y-intersection ahead, is the way to Davao City without passing-by or causing traffic inside Digos City center. Look at the signages (magnified in blue). Dala-dalawa yan, mawawala ka pa?

But look at the signages I magnified in yellow. Those are two signboards, both made by DPWH, I don't know why they allowed it to overlap, especially that the one at the back (the dark-green board) is very compelling! I read the last two lines and it says "marami nang naaksidente at namatay sa lugar na ito"!

I was laughing inside and was saying "sana lagyan nila ng statistics, as in exact numbers" hahaha!

Here's another signage, still on that corner, that also made me smile, as it makes one ask questions.

You would naturally ask, where does the 4 lanes end, 100 meters to the left or to the right? Ah, DPWH just has its "aliw" way of entertaining the riding public. Well, maybe the "H" in "DPWH" means "hilarity"!

Oh, for readers who are Kilometer-Marker-Fans, KM0 of Digos is far from any government building!

It stands by a gas station on a highway, some 400 meters from G-Mall of Digos, if you're coming from the west like the Provincial Capitol, Matanao, Bansalan, Kidapawan. And it is about the same distance from the Gaisano Grand Mall if you're coming from the east like Gaisano Marketplace or the City Hall!

Note: I was not looking for that kilometer marker. Nahagip lang ng isang picture ko!

Hey, on the way back to the bus terminal, driver passed by the middle of the city and I saw this...

That's in the very middle of the city (1st Crumb St.), and I had mixed feelings seeing those bunches of firewood for sale. Part of me was saying we're not yet that modern after all, kay aduna pa mugamitay ug sugnod! [Tagalog: pang-gatong, Waray: sungo]. Yet, another part of my brain was saying "how sure are we they did not cut live trees to be able to sell firewood"? I hope it's not an environmental concern.

One more 'sighting'! Beside the firewood selling area is this restaurant that specializes in "catfish"!

I'm not fond of that kind of fish. I'm not even sure if I already ate any, because in many restaurants, we can't really tell what kind of fish is being served, right? Maybe it is just like other freshwater fish. I have friends and relatives who go gaga over hito though! So FYI, my trike driver says hito is a Digos regular!

Alright, not long after the firewood and the hito, I was back at the Digos Overland Transport Terminal.

Then I started looking for the enxt airconditioned bus that would depart for Davao City, but no rush.

That final leg of my land trip was... ah just wait for it in my next post!

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