Faces of Davao 02 - Osmena Park

Osmena Park stands beside Davao City's Hall of Justice, near the City Hall. Tourists - both foreign and local - mostly ignore this neglected parcel of land. I don't recall ever visiting this before. But it's an interesting place where a cheap massage could be had under tree canopies. There's a monument at the center of the park, with some canons surrounding it. Nearby is a children's playground with replicas of life-sized animals: eagle, crocodile, giraffe, monkeys, elephant, rhinoceros, zebra. Museo Dabawenyo is found at the back of this park, upon crossing the street. Entrance to this park is free.

There is an inscription near the entrance that reads:

"Extending 350 meters from this marker was the old Davao settlement. As a community under Datu Bago, the houses were close to the banks of the Davao river bend where now stands Bolton Bridge. The houses were burned down when Oyanguren succeeded in driving away Datu Bago and his followers in heir final battle in June 1848. The new Christian settlers at first established their community in the same area, but floods often inundated the settlement so that in 1861 the authorities ordered the relocation of the community to higher grounds that centered on the present site of the Davao Cathedral. An old relief map of 1862 shows the old Davao settlement."

Isn't that fascinating? Here I thought that the Davao of yesteryears was always dry; that the floods that Davao have been experiencing of late are a result of the changing climate and melting of glaciers elsewhere in the globe. This underscores some of the reasons why history is of considerable importance.

Osmena Park was named after a former President, Sergio Osmena.

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There are massage therapists at one corner of the park, duly licensed by a governing arm.

TAKING STOCK OF SITE TRAFFIC

Do I really need traffic from Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum? To make an objective assessment, I observed two successive 24-hour traffic in “Eye in the Sky” and came up with this: the first 24-hour generated 2 visits from the forum, the next one had “one”. If we do the math, that’s 2 out of 251 visits or 2 out of 333 page reads within a day. What percentage is 2 out of 333? Is that an impressive number in any shape or form? Should I seek out its traffic-generating prowess?

In another documented statistics of referring URLs and sites (date inclusion: last 30 days), most of my traffic came from google.

If I were thinking straight, why would I willingly and “gratuitously promote” my blog in a site that generates such measly referral? I didn’t even invite all my yahoo and Facebook friends to visit my blog – now that would assure a steady number of visitors. I hate lightly veiled threats, but more so in the form of “friendly reminders”. They dumb down sarcasm and inspire arrogance on my part.

Traffic generated from Thorn Tree? Where?

Magellan's Cross - The Birth of a Nation and the Filipino Faith

It's not just a cross, make no mistake. It is a chapel, small and circular, arising between Cebu City Hall and Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, and straddling Magallanes Street right in the heart of the old city. Being both a religious edifice and a tourist attraction, it attracts the curious, the tourist, the faithful and a myriad of touts dressed in yellow who would pray for your intentions - for a fee, of course. After all, some people believe that this wooden cross possesses miraculous powers that could grant wishes or heal the sick.

Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was on an ambitious expedition that jump started in 1519. It would be the first to sail from the Atlantic into the "peaceful seas" which has then been called Pacific Ocean. This is the same expedition that completed the circumnavigation of the Earth, deftly proving that the world was not flat. And some time while braving the uncharted territories, it came across an island that has since been called the Philippines, named after a Spanish king (King Philip). Unfortunately for Magellan, he wasn't able to complete the journey. He was killed in Cebu in the Battle of Mactan by the local chief, Lapu Lapu.

Magellan was able to convert Cebu's Rajah Humabon and his queen into Christians, something he didn't succeed with the chief of Mactan, Lapu Lapu, who moonlighted as pirate of the Cebu straits, who was dismissive. Yes, the brave warrior wasn't exactly heroic in intent. Things turned sour and Humabon eventually convinced Magellan to "kill the enemy" - something the Portuguese explorer didn't envision would end his journey. Magellan got hit by a bamboo spear. He was then surrounded by the tribesmen who bludgeoned the European to his death.

The mural that adorns the ceiling of this chapel depicts the arrival of the Spaniards in the island, bringing with them Catholicism, making the Philippines the one and only seat of Catholicism in the Asian region. In fact, more than 80% of its now-100 million population are avowed Catholics. Magellan's Cross underlines the early origins of the Filipino faith. The same cross carried by Magellan to the country has been encased by a protective wooden cross, the one we find inside the chapel, although many believe that the original cross doesn't exist anymore.

Visiting Cebu City takes a tourist into the tempestuous historical past of a country continually besieged by foreign conquerors - the Spaniards, the Americans, the British (for a short time), and the Japanese. It took us awhile to rise from our colonial past moving up to the darkest years of our so-called independence - the Martial Law years. What have we gained and what have we become since then?

We are slowly rising from decades of greed, corruption and political opportunism. They've been utter baby steps. We are still learning, but there is hope. 

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Chapel that bears Magellan's Cross



Cebu City Hall

Vendor selling one of Cebu City's main products - guitars.


Bags made of indigenous materials.


A tourist police station a few meters from the chapel.


A mad rush somewhere. The basilica and Magellan's Cross are in the vicinity of Carbon Market.