Sawom Dabaw and a Tropical Escape in Governor Generoso

Mountain trail and summit. Coastal and island attractions. Waterfalls. Diving sites. Historic shrines. Good foods. These are things that made me envy of the place in Davao Oriental, the carefree town of Governor Generoso (GovGen). It might have been marketed lesser the way other adjacent towns were introduced in the travel and tourism industry but boy, this municipality can really be a mammoth material not far from now. Despite its silence a lot of people have not left this place unnoticed because despite being situated in the south-eastern tip of the Philippine map GovGen deserves not just one or two but multiple visits.

I personally commend the Visit Davao Summer Festival (VDSF) for including GovGen  into its pool of events and for considering it as the official venue of Sawom Dabaw, a Scuba Diving Festival culminated last June 14-15. Sawom Dabaw is a distinctive event recently included by VDSF in its menu to boosts the rich marine biodiversity in the entire region. It is strongly supported by the Department of Tourism, Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCCSD), Provincial Government of Davao Oriental and Municipal Government of Governor Generoso. Several sponsors from the private sector also backed the event. The two-day dive fest saw several open water, certified and advanced diving enthusiasts, as well as intro divers convened in GovGen to witness altogether in what could be one of the region’s most beautiful dive sites. Below are photos given by Master Diver and Underwater Photographer East Pardillo of two marine species available in Governor Generoso, the Hoippocampus denise and Melibe colemani. 

  

I was fortunate enough to have been invited by the VDFS to join the intro dive with Meggy from San Miguel Brewery, who is also a co-presentor of VDSF this year. It was my second time in GovGen and I have noticed several changes in terms of operating some attractions here when the local government took the management which was previously held by a private entity. This is a proof that the LGU now is capacitated to operate and manage tourism sites as a viable economic industry in Davao Oriental.

To seize spare time we drove to Cape San Agustin by 1:00 in the afternoon on June 14 to take an advance visit to a historic Light Houses in Pundaguitan. It was a quick 15-minute drive from Babak Resort (dive venue). As usual, Cape San Agustin is impressive as it merges history with sparkle of beautiful seascape of three major bodies of ocean namely: Pacific Ocean, Celebes Sea and Davao Gulf. Standing by one of its light houses is an esteem to consider being one of the few persons at halt in the country’s south-eastern dead end.

  

After a short dive we were billeted in El Don Resort, definitely a cosy accommodation in this part of the region with a touch of Mediterranean theme perfect as icing in a tropical setting of Davao Oriental. El Don is the newest offering in the region and its early development further dragged GovGen into the national tourism chart. As a naturalist I don’t usually care about 5-star accommodation whenever I travel. But I was really amazed with what El Don has to offer. The rooms are spacious and built in front of the huge Davao Gulf. The landscape here is synonymous to paradise. Every structure is positioned such that no matter how exhausted you are in a day you will always find solace when you get here. Coconut trees are dominant scene almost the entire resort with mangroves and the green mountain ranges pedicure the eastern side. It is a total luxury to be here despite having difficulty with phone signal. Well, that could be an added reason why you should be here, to propagate peace of mind.

Governor Generoso might have initially savour its present craze on tourism but when we drove back home I realized that tranquillity is still the selling point of this town. The long road here is an intermediary of the mountain and sea, even serving as temporary abode of domesticated animals like goats and dogs. In fact I noticed Meggy as having a whole new perspective of driving here.

My humble take about Governor Generoso is to maintain what it has right now. With nature as major resource of its tourism, regulation should be the name of the game. Local authorities should be sensitive to its environment while it is still there. Regulation in everything: arrivals, carrying capacity, tourism investments and the likes. After all, when destruction starts to wreck havoc to the environment there is definitely no turning back.