Ang Dabawenyo

New Year’s Eve and the first few hours of 2011 found me with good friends on Samal Island for an event thrown by Camp Holiday. The main objective was to herald the new year — and the new decade — with a bang, hence the departure from my beloved Davao City, where fireworks have been [...]

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It’s Christmas season again, and Davao City is awash in merry twinkling lights once more. Mana-Davao, that enigmatic antiques shop in Lanang, is on their 11th year of enchanting tourists and locals alike with their annual Christmas outdoor lights show. Mana-Davao’s yearly spectacle has become something of an expectation each year-end for Dabawenyos. Since the [...]

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From 20 January to 20 February 2010, I traveled coast to coast across the continental United States. I was able to see 8 states: Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and California; plus, the District of Columbia. The main purpose of my being in the States was to participate in a special [...]

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(This is a contributed article by Phillip Somozo.) This Davao-born visual artist frequently stepped upstage during his college years for consistently winning painting competitions. His stuttering childlike speech, incompatible with his towering 6-foot height, sometimes made people laugh. Today, Bienvenido Banez, Jr., towers all the more for achievements uncommon among Filipino artists. Diagnosed with mild [...]

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[Media Release] From rowing a banca in a river during his teen years to bringing his own children to their first beach outing, Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Felix Mari Hotchkiss Durano shares why idyllic Carrascal in Surigao del Sur is still home to him in the latest issue of m (Life and Living in Mindanao) [...]

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My personal celebration of Philippine Independence Day got extended with a new pair of special havaianas® flip-flops that I got today. Havaianas Philippines sent me their limited-edition Filipinas, which are “emblazoned with renditions of Filipino pride.” And they were serious about the nationalistic campaign. They sent the flip-flops along with truly Filipino icons: a miniature [...]

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Unbeknownst to many, there is an active equestrian club in Davao — there has been for many years now. In fact, they just held their 11th Davao Horse Show last 30 April to 2 May 2009. In spite of the oppressive heat of the summer sun, the Davao Horse Club pulled off a very entertaining [...]

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Happy New Year!!! I celebrated the coming of 2009 A.D. and spent the last hours of the year 2008 with good friends & family at Eden Nature Park in the south of Davao City. It was my first time to spend New Year’s Eve at this mountain resort that I love so much — a [...]

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[Press Release] Film actress, TV host, product endorser, fashion model and mother Angel Aquino shares her life, her passions and her unforgettable return to Mindanao in the latest issue of m. (Life and Living in Mindanao). A CineMalaya Film Festival Best Actress awardee, Aquino was once referred to as the “Ingrid Bergman of Asia” by [...]

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My last stay in Metro Manila was my busiest this year, even counting my stay in the nation’s capital for the WordCamp Philippines event on 6 September. On the plane back to Davao last Saturday, I was mildly surprised at my count of the number of restaurants I’d gone to: 18! My new favorite cheap, [...]

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