Its been years since I had a chance to go around General Santos. In one of those trips, I happen to visit a mansion in Purok Malakas at the back of SaveMore.   The folks around call it the Manilay Mansion. I was informed that the Manilay Mansion  is a miniature version (although it is by no means small, as it is an actual mansion) of the original house in Batangas City. It is owned by the family of Warren Manilay, a businessman, who used to live in Batangas.  When Manilay and his family moved to General Santos City, he wanted to take a part of his home with him. He did not just bring furniture from his home – he brought his entire house!  

Killings, robberies, thefts, rapes, kidnappings, and even urban warfare between cops, soldiers, and communist guerillas; Davao City used to have all of that. Lawless would be the perfect word to describe the city in the 80s, and the foreign press even called it the “Murder Capital” of the Philippines.

This is a far cry from what Davao City is today. Resurgent contributor, Aurelio A. Pena, tells a tale of a city disentangled from its dark roots.