Mindanao

Title

Mindanao

Creator

Alonto, Domocao

Identifier

Today and tomorrow

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIII (No.7) July 1961

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Today and Tomorrow MINDANAO Sen. Domocao Alonto Mindanao is nearest my heart not only because it is the land of my birth but also because that region in our country has a rich and color ful history. If the complete history of our country were to be writ ten, and I hope that time will come when historians will do justice to our history, it will be known that Mindanao and its people have contributed in no small measure to the real ization of the Filipino state and the Filipino nation. My forbears were fighting and dying for the cause of Philippine independence and Filipino nationalism long be fore the turn of the last cen tury, and their epic struggle against foreign domination has been recorded, although somewhat grudgingly, in the history books of the former colonizing powers, Spain and the United States. Today, Mindanao is justi fying its great tradition. As it has proved to be a bulwark of native nationalism during the Spanish era, it is today emerging as a major factor in the economic life of the na tion. It is perhaps no under statement to say that Minda nao represents the greatest hope for the solution of our economic ills. For in that rich land mass second only in size to the is land of Luzon lie dormant, undreamed of riches—the un limited natural wealth of the region waiting to be tapped and wisely utilized by man. To many of our country men, Mindanao is still a dark and mysterious land far away. It is only now that Mindanao is emerging from the unknown to the known as far as many of our coun trymen from the Visayas and Luzon are concerned. But the truth is Mindanao and its people have made tre mendous strides in the econo mic, social and political spheres during the last de cade. July 1961 69 Mindanao is the most beau tiful land that God created. Here is a land lush with ve getation. The climate is salu brious. No typhoons cross the island. Blessed rain descends on the land the whole year round, not in uncontrollable torrents but in gentle cascades to keep the land ever fresh and green. To the north are Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, the land of the Maranaws. Here lies scenic Lake Lanao 3,000 ft. above sea level. The cli mate is cooler than in Tagaytay but not as extremely cold as Baguio. Lake Lanao rep resents the biggest natural dam in the Philippines and the second largest lake in the country. It is in fact the source of the greatest and cheapest electric-power deve lopment in the country. It is the source of the Maria Cris tina Falls which powers the Maria Cristina Hydro-Electric Project. To the northeast lies Misamis Occidental, noted for cop ra and Del Monte Pineapples. Farther east is the province of Agusan, premier province in the country in the logging industry. From here comes peeler logs that command the highest price in the world market. To the northeast is Surigao province, rich in mineral re sources. Iron is found here in great quantities. Its Nonoc is lands contain the greatest nic kel deposits in the world worth billions of pesos. To the west is Misamis Oriental, another copra pro ducing province. Farther west is Zamboanga del Norte. It has also a bustling logging in dustry but it is more famous for historic Dapitan where Jose Rizal was exiled and where he spent the few hap py moments of his adult life in his own native land. In the southwest lies Zam boanga del Sur, a very under developed province. It has al so the greatest area of man grove swamps for fishpond development, some 80,000 hec tares. Zamboanga City, the city of flowers and beautiful Zamboanguenas, sits proudly at the tip of the Zamboanga pe ninsula. Then we have the chain of islands, Basilan Island and the Sulu Archipelago. At the heart of Mindanao perches the province of Bukidnon on a beautiful plateau, with its great cattle industry and cool climate. To the southwest we have the growing economic colosus —Davao province. And sitting astride this province and the neighboring giant province of Cotabato rises the mighty Mt. 70 Panorama Apo, second highest mountain in the Philippines. South center is the empire province of Cotabato, the big gest province in the entire country. Cotabato alone has a land area of 2,296,791 hectares and a population of only 1,200,000. It is bigger than the combined areas of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan Nueva Ecija, Bataan and Rizal. These aforementioned provin ces have a total population of more than 4,000,000. Superimposed on Central Luzon, Cotabato’s northern boundary will traverse through La Union, Benguet and Nueva Ecija; its coastal plain would be where the sea kisses the sand of Zambales seashores; it southern tip would reach as far as the in terior regions of Rizal after following the fringes of Ma nila Bay, and on the east, Co tabato’s Mt. Butig would be overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This then is the size of Co tabato province which cons titutes only 1/5 of the entire Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan region. The timber and lumber in dustries of the Philippines de pend very heavily on Minda nao as the source of its raw materials. This industry is the third biggest dollar — earning industry of the country after copra and sugar. Forty-two per cent of the country’s en tire commercial timber re sources are in Mindanao, worth billions of pesos of po tential wealth. I have yet to mention the millions of hectares of agri cultural lands, pasture lands, and mangrove swamps for fishpond development. The seas of Mindanao teem with fishes of numberless varieties. And I have not also mention ed to you the tremendous mi neral wealth hidden in Min danao. All these figures by them selves alone do not spell pros perity for the country but coupled with the fact that Mindanao today is settled by Filipinos coming from all re gions and sections of the country, the Uocanos of the north, the Tagalogs of Cen tral and Southern Luzon, the Bicolanos and the Visayans, we have already the man-po wer capable of extracting wealth from the land. There is a continuous flow of set tlers to the more unsettled and underdeveloped portions of Mindanao as Cotabato, Da vao and Zamboanga del Sur. Today, Mindanao truly rep resents the entire Philippines. It has become the real democ ratic melting pot of the di verse elements of our people. July 1961 71 We have succeeded to an ap preciable degree in erasing the barriers and sectionalism prevailing in the older regions of the country. The problem of integrating our cultural minorities, espe cially the Filipino Muslims who comprise the largest cul tural minority in the Philip pines today, still remains. But we have taken concrete steps toward the complete integra tion of the Filipino Muslims. Congress created the Commis sion on National Integration whose prime function is to bring about the speedy integ ration of the cultural minori ties into the body politic. I sponsored the creation of this commission because I believe that Mindanao will not be able to progress as fast as it should unless we succeed in elimina ting the mutual distrust and suspicion between the Muslim minorities and the Christians in Mindanao caused by the dis parity in their educational, social and economic status. It is in Mindanao where the cheapest potential source of electricity is located. I refer to the Maria Cristina HydroElectric Project. We are at present utilizing only 50,000 kilowatts or 1/16 of the poten tial capacity of the Maria Cris tina Falls which according to experts is capable of genera ting 800,000 kilowatts. And of the 50,000 kilowatts being ge nerated, only 38,000 kilowatts are utilized. That is why the Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan Ass ociation is working hard for the immediate establishment of the integrated steel mill in dustry in lligan City in order that the tremendous power available will not go to waste. I am convinced that our re gion has already outstripped the Visayas and that we are fast catching up with Luzon in economic development. I have watched towns and cities in Mindanao grow over night where before there were nothing more than small set tlements and frontier towns. The story of a tenant-far mer who ten years ago came to Mindanao with nothing more than the clothes on his back and today is a prospe rous land-owning farmer who sends his children to the best colleges in Manila, is common to hundreds of settlers. Today you can fly by plane to all the cities and capitals of the provinces of Mindanao. And in almost all cities and in most provincial capitals you can get good hotel accommo dations, air-conditioned suites, air-conditioned cocktail loun ges and restaurants. The tremendous upsurge in the economy of Mindanao is reflected in the rising incomes of its provinces and cities and 72 Panorama in the growing demand of Mindanao residents for cul ture. Fashion on Wings staged by the Woman’s Weekly Ma gazine drew more paying crowd in Mindanao than any where else. Today, Davao City has an annual income of over P4,000,000, just a few thousand pesos below the income of Cebu City, second biggest ci ty of the Philippines and old est trading port in the coun try. The island city of Basilan with an area as kg as many a province in Luzon and with a population of only 150,000, has an annual income of one million and a half pe sos. Inspite of these, the re sources of Mindanao have hardly been developed. I have endeavored to con vey to you what Mindanao is today and its economic poten tial. In closing, I shall para phrase that famous poem writ ten by an American poet and say, “Give us your wretched and your poor. We will wel come them all at Mindanao’s door, and we will make them all rich and happy.” * * * DELAY A woman in the mountains of Tennessee was seated in the doorway of the cabin, busily eat ing some pig’s feet. A neighbor hurried up io tell of how her husband had become engaged in a sa loon brawl and had been shot to death. The wi dow continued munching on a pig’s foot in silence while she listened to the harrowing news. As the narrator paused, she spoke thickly from her crowded mouth: “Jest wait till I finish this-here pig’s trotter, an’ ye’ll hear some hollerin’ as is hollerin’." JULY 1961 73

pages

69+

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