Metro Davao

Metro Davao
Metro Davao
Map of Davao del Norte and Davao del Sur showing the location of Metro Davao
Country	Philippines
Region	Davao Region (Region XI)
Province	Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur
Population (2000)
- Total	2,084,198
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)

Metro Davao is an agglomeration of Davao City and four surrounding cities: Digos City in Davao del Sur, Tagum City, Panabo City and the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte. The metropolitan area also encompasses two municipalities: Carmen in Davao del Norte and Santa Cruz in Davao del Sur. It is one of twelve defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines^[1], other big ones being Metro Cebu and Metro Manila. However, unlike other metropolitan areas, Metro Davao does not have a formal legal framework, such as a metropolitan development council, to stand on, existing not as a juridical entity but only as an informal reference to the area.

Component Local Government Units

Metro Davao, just like Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, is not an administrative political unit but an agglomeration of independent local government units (LGUs), the third level government in the Philippine political system.

Local government unit	Population (2000 census)	Area (km²)
Davao City	1,363,337	2,444 km²
Digos City	145,514	287.1 km²
Island Garden City of Samal	90,291	301.3 km²
Panabo City	205,010	251.23 km²
Tagum City	256,069	192.00 km²
Carmen	55,144	275.16 km²
Santa Cruz	71,153
TOTAL	2,186,518

Comparative history

The agglomeration of Metro Davao has no formal legal framework early on its initial stage of development process either by an act of Congress, by an executive declaration of the President or by a formal agreement among component cities and municipalities of the metropolitan area.

In the case of Metro Manila, the component cities and municipalities were grouped into a province through a [decree issued by then-President Ferdinand Marcos, and designated the former first lady Imelda Marcos as governess. From then on, Greater Manila, as it was known earlier, became Metro Manila.

To formalize its juridical identity, Congress passed into law Republic Act No. 7924, instituting the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. Under the current law, the head of the agency shall be appointed by the President and should not be on a concurrent elected position as mayor.

Metro Cebu is a concept created in the 70's and formally adopted by the Regional Development Council of Central Visayas as a platform for integrating parallel development in the metropolitan area.

Metro Davao does not have the birth perspective of either Metro Cebu or Metro Manila. The metropolitan concept of Metro Davao is being spearheaded by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City but no formal agreement or an act of congress have been executed to formalize its legal and juridical identity.

References

1. ^ www.neda.gov.ph Building globally competitive metropolitan areas in the Philippines PDF