Davao City has come a long way. Judging by the infernal traffic, helter-skelter development and the mushrooming of fastfood claims, what used to be ballyhooed as the world's largest city (in square kilometers, that is) can no longer be dismissed as Manila's poor sister. Nor even as Cebu's dumped-upon country cousin.
Over the last eight or so years, what passes for downtown of Mindanao's premier city literally exploded in all directions. Modern buildings and shopping malls replaced nipa huts and wooden architecture favored by the pre-World War II pioneers from Luzon and the Visayas. The once-pastoral airport road has turned into another horrendous version of Metro Manila's EDSA -- and with traffic gridlocks, toxic fumes and eyesores to match.
Davao's population now tops the one-million mark, boosted no doubt by the economic boom that erupted shortly after President Fidel Ramos assumed the presidency in 1992 and which was going strong until it came to a screeching halt at the start of the Asian financial crisis in late 1997.
Ramos made something like 40 trips to Davao during his six-year term and turned it into the country's business and tourism hub for the ambitious East Asean Growth Area (EAGA) experiment which was also favored by the neighboring states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
To drive home his point, Ramos appointed Davao businessman Paul Dominguez as "Mindanao czar" and put him in charge of over-all planning and supervision of development efforts for the entire island.
Always one of the country's centers for agricultural exports, Davao provides the bulk of fresh bananas produced for the lucrative Japan, Asian and Middle East markets. It has also become a leading producer of meat products and other consumer goods intended for the national and EAGA areas. A gold mining industry has flourished north of the city.
The resulting zoom-zoom economic growth has, of course, slackened in the past three years of the Asian crisis, but the Estrada administration remains committed to the basic idea of pushing for Mindanao's progress under the aegis of Davao.
Whatever the obstacles, there seems to be no more going back to the old days of backwater isolation.
Slowly but surely, Davao has emerged as an Asian regional business and tourism center. One Asian magazine, for instance, recently voted it one of the region's most livable cities. It enjoys big-jet service from Manila as well as regular air and sea links to Menado, Indonesia; Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia; and Singapore.
Foreigner visitors and Mindanao residents can now choose to skip Manila altogether and directly fly in and out to Europe and America through Singapore.
By any and all standards, Davao has risen like a phoenix from its nadir as a communist-infested hellhole just a scant 15 years ago. Like the rest of Mindanao, the city went down the tubes during the long years of the twin Muslim and communist insurgencies.
The dreaded New People's Army "Sparrow Units" wrought such havoc that Davao became known as "Nicar-Agdao," after the teeming slum district that the NPA had turned into a laboratory of terror and mass base of its revolutionary movement.
In those bloody years under the Marcos dictatorship, even traffic policemen were mowed down in broad daylight and anybody with some property to his or her name was deemed fair game for extortion or kidnapping. This made many businesses close shop and industrial activity come to a halt. The local elite all but fled to Manila and points north.
It would take the 1986 Edsa revolution and the parallel anti-communist Alsa-Masa vigilante movement to reverse the tide of insurgency and mayhem.
Davao's full reversal of fortune, however, came only after the hyperactive Ramos made the city a regular stopover on his endless sorties to Mindanao and the Visayas. Until 1992, previous presidents only bothered to show up in Mindanao during elections.
So what's there to see and do in Davao?
A lot, if you're tired of going elsewhere in Southeast Asia or you're the sentimental type who wants to see your country at any cost. A trip there, alas, will cost you the equivalent of a Hong Kong or Bangkok holiday.
But the place can't be beat for creature comforts anymore. Live it up at the posh Marco Polo at rock-bottom rates. Or pretend you're in Bali at the Pearl Farm across the bay.
For thrills, you can say hello to the caged Philippines eagles in nearby Malagos. More than that, Davao is a moveable feast and you can gorge on excellent seafood and the most luscious fresh fruits in the land.