A Conqueror’s Tombstreet

A Conqueror’s Tombstreet

        On the 29th of June 1848, in an attempt to redeem his name from the painful scratches of Spain and Manila, Spanish conqueror Don Jose Cruz Uyanguren invaded a portion of southeastern Mindanao and established a town called Nueva Vergara. After establishing Uyanguren’s might with the defeated and trembling tribes inhabiting the area, the foreign world, although continually struggling, finally had its palms on the virgin fertile region. The six-foot white-skinned Spaniards natives never knew, the cannons and goliath-sized ships, and the crosses and religious man-shaped metals were a major snap to their minds; they knew they have no choice but to enter a new age, a foreign-influenced age that will ever change their way of life and history.

        Nueva Vergara, which was “civilized” by Uyanguren was inaugurated as Davao City on the 16th of March 1936; and in honor of Davao’s “founder”, the people named a street in Davao’s center after his name. While officially known as “Ramon Magsaysay” since 1963, signages of loittering jeepneys and the lips of the locals remained loyal to the street’s original name.

        Lined up by a busy cluster of old unorganized buildings littered by people from every color, size, age and shape, the old yet narrow street became the center of the city’s commercial zone and a manifestation of Don Uyanguren’s globalization legacy. The street is now a major artery of the Philippines’ (and of the world’s, according to Museo Dabawenyo) largest Chinatown.

        The abundance of Chinese and foreign products circulating the street in order to feed one million six hundred thousand mouths residing the city made the street globalization’s major economic channel over Davao and Mindanao. Left and right, in every establishment, it is impossible not to detect a product with a “Made in China” mark. China sure is getting richer far more than we could ever imagine, as the same goes for other foreign states. The power and significance of trade and commercialism that sprouted from the street dominates the “bloodflow” of the city.

The density and hastiness of the flow of goods and resources between Davawenyos and the Chinese and other foreign businessmen in the street led up to the domino effect in the political and cultural areas of Davao. It has affected much of Davao’s culture. The once lumad-dominated land is now littered with people from every corner of the globe, with the Chinese as a major slice of the pie. Chinatown and the street in particular is a haven for the Chinese in the city and a major “ka-ching plantation” far away from their homeland. Chinese festivities, languages and arches bring their noise and beauty to the southeastern Filipino city throughout the year. While being a Chinese community, however, Chinese cultural influence affects less for the locals as majority of the products are imitations of the cultures of other nations. There is a significant abundance of American-styled outfits and the embodiment of the growing South Korean “Oppa” enrapture. Japanese electronics are omnipresent and clothing from Thailand and Indonesia are waiting for adoption in the ukay-ukay portions of the street. The street’s hosting of various Davao-based occasions makes globalization more inevitable in the midst of local festivities.