I love Mindanao. Just the fact that my mother hailed from Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte, and my father was once an adapted son of Mindanao – made me love this home of my lineage. It was there where Tatay met and fell in love with my Nanay. Growing up in a quite closely knit family, I found it exciting whenever my parents’ relatives come for a visit and I enjoyed listening to their banters and story with their thick Mindanaoan accent. That was why I was more than happy to have my first out of town assignment as a journalist in Davao City sometime in the late ‘80s. The moment I set foot on this vast, not yet populous and still undeveloped city at that time, the more I fell in love with Mindanao even if our group was told “that the NPA had just left the city.” Meaning it used to be NPA-infested until such time the city decided to put up the Apo Duwaling Festival which today has come to be known as Kadayawan. Since then, I have always wanted to come back to Davao and see the re