Coming home to Dumanjug, my second hometown
Tomorrow, I am coming home to my late father's town, Dumanjug, some 74 kilometers south of Cebu City. I have been invited to give a leadership seminar by my distant cousins, Mayor Gungun Z. Gica and his brother, Vice Mayor Wado Z. Gica.
It will be a two-day learning session to be facilitated by this writer under the auspices of the entire town officialdom. All municipal officials including the department heads, as well as the barangay officials are attending. I am excited to be of service to the good people of this very beautiful town in the 7th District, located in the southwestern part of the province, facing the island of Negros. Dumanjug is actually the first town of the seventh congressional district, coming from Barili, which the last town of the 3rd District. It is a progressive municipality with millennial executives, the Gica brothers, who may be the youngest town top officials in the whole province.
The seventh district is composed of eight towns, namely DRAMMBAG or Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, Malabuyoc, Badian, Alegria, and Ginatilan. These used to be parts of the second district, but thanks to the Garcias and Congressman Willy Caminero, who decided to divide the southern kingdom of Cebu. I used to jokingly refer to such a move as Garciameandering and Camineromeandering, I call the second district ADABOSS or Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander, and Samboan. The division made the second and the seventh districts the poorest among the seven congressional districts in the whole Cebu Province.
But Dumanjug is the richest town in the poorest congressional district. Dumanjug has the biggest revenue among all the district towns. It has also the biggest population among the eight towns, the highest number of barangays. There are only two third-class towns in the 7th District, Dumanjug and Badian. Moalboal and Alegria are fourth class, and all the rest, Ronda, Alcantara, Malabuyoc and Ginatilan are fifth-class towns. In terms of area however, Moalboal is the biggest, (124.86 square kilometers), next is Badian, 110.07 sq. km., then Alegria, 89.49 sq. km., and then Dumanjug which is only 85.53 sq. km. Ginatilan has 70.10 sq. km., Malabuyoc, 69.27 sq. km.; Ronda, 57.10 sq. km.; and Alcantara, 36.20 sq. km.
Dumanjug has the highest revenue in the 7th District, P126.080 million in 2016. Moalboal has P110.298 million, and all the rest with less than P100 million annual income. Dumanjug has 37 barangays and a population of 51,210 based on the 2015 survey. Its number of voters has been tallied at 36,705 in the 2019 elections. Dumanjug also has the highest population density, considering its area and its population, which is 600, compared to Moalboal with the biggest area but with population density of only 250. It was founded in 1855, compared to Badian, 1825; Malabuyoc, 1832; Alegria, 1850; Moalboal, 1852; Ginatilan, 1857; Ronda, 1913; and Alcantara, 1932.
Dumanjug is the only town in Cebu that has produced three governors, Dionisio Jakosalem in 1907-1912; Pablo Garcia, 1995-2004, and Gwendolyn Garcia, 2004-2013 who is now the incumbent since 2019. My late father was born, studied, and grew up in this town. I am coming home to serve papa's relatives and friends.
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