Mondabon kayo!
Monkayo
is a first class municipality in the Province of Compostela Valley,
Philippines. This municipality is a political unit with a land area that was
once and for a long period of time a wilderness in the Northern hinterlands of
Compostela Valley. The name “Monkayo’’ is derived from a gigantic tree towering
a top Tandawan mountains and its Northern tip between and immediately adjacent
to the Agusan river. The gigantic Tree is called “MONDABON KAYO’’ (MONDABON
TREE). It was however shortened by the first settlers of the area as
“Monkayo’’.
It has twenty one barangays, thirty
seven public elementary school, nine public high school, one private, three
colleges, one university, one former state-run while the latter is funded by
the municipal government of Monkayo and one TESDA accredited. The economy of
Monkayo is predominantly an agricultural town, with vast tracks of land planted
to rice, corn and coconut.
Monkayo’s seat of government is located in
barangay Poblacion, a highly developed rural town center, and is 120 kilometers
away from Mindanao’s regional center of Davao City and some 30 kilometers from
Nabunturan, the provincial center. There are various means to travel to
Monkayo. The common modes of transportation within the municipality are
multicabs, jeepneys, motorcycles. Tricycles ply the routes that are outside the
main streets of the town. In mountainous areas, the habal-habal passenger
motorcycle is the main mode of transportation. You can reach Monkayo from Tagum
City for almost three hours riding a bus.
The popular food courts and entertainment establishments
were Calle Otso, Arkees, Night Bars, Clarion, Randy’s Bakeshop and Chicky’s
where you can find enjoyment and delicious beverages. Their cultural heritage
was from the Spanish influence that remains up to this day just like the
celebration of barrios or villages and of the day of their respective patron
saint called “Fiesta”. In these celebrations, you can witness the extraordinary
talents of Monkayoans wherein dances, songs, and other forms of arts and
merrymaking from numerous cultures have evolved creatively into the sights and
sounds of Monkayo.
The following celebrations were the pride of
Monkayo that bring compensation to the populace:
The Kariyawan festival features
pageantry with a Monkayo queen from one of the prominent families of the place,
and a cockfight at the Monkayo Sports Complex, where cockfighting aficionados
from all over the province converge. The innovative Monkayo Idol is the
ground-breaking municipal-wide search for the most talented and versatile
homegrown young singers, has opened a new dimension for the youth program of
the Municipal government. The Binibining Monkayo, as the
organization responsible for sponsoring the annual town beauty pageant which
selects the beautiful girl throughout the municipality. The Monkayo
Fiesta and Araw ng Monkayo are the heart of all celebrations. The most
appreciative of all was the Drum and Bugle Competition where
participants from different schools all through the town compete for the title.
The
municipality of Monkayo is also host to the gold-rich barangay of Mt. Diwata,
popularly known as “Diwalwal’’ (which in the local dialect means one’s tongue
is hanging out due to exhaustation), a 1000-meter high range known worldwide
for its gold ore deposit. This is one of the tourist spots that baited the
ravenous eyes of the visitors because of its gold affluent place.
Mt. Diwalwal is a small town of
40,000 people, mostly migrants from Cebu, Agusan and different places were all
dependent on gold. Small-scale mining has been their major industry sice the
gold rush in the area in the 80’s. You can sure one thing in this site, if it
wasn’t for this man there would be no Gold Ore Capital in Asia. It has
attracted a lot of foreign investors and has brought millions of dollars into
our country.
There are many scenic spots of
Monkayo where you can spend all of your moment in time. Among these picturesque
attractions was Octagon Farm, Upper Ulip Hot Spring, Lantawanan Inland Resort
(Union), Inland Resort of Maite, Pasian Caves, Sagay Falls of Salvacion, Buenas
Creek Inland Resort (Mt. Diwata), and Magdagandang Falls.
Another scenic spots that we can’t take for
granted are the Kumbilan Cave and Seven Waterfalls of Awao. These two creatures
were conveying satisfaction and adventurous flash which you can treasure the
most.
Kumbilan Cave has tunnel-like
features and wide chambers laden with beautiful formations. The presence of
stalactites and stalagmites and other formations in one chamber of the cave
responds to educational needs with regards to cave evaluation. Fauna observed
as occupants of the cave are snakes and fruit flies. The cave is home to the
“Kabyaw’’ fruit bats
On the
other hand, the gushing water coming form the Seven Waterfalls of Awao
was not that high in volume but still it does relaxed our bodies from the stoke
of strong current. The falls is really wide if it was all occupied with water,
water is cold not chilling and it is noticeable that the fauna on its
surroundings as well as the moss that was formed above the rocks where the
falls are flowing are still thick indicating that this falls is not frequently
visited by outsiders.
All of those creatures mentioned above are
all blessings form disguise. All of these blessings were part of the chronicle
of Monkayo. Indeed, all of these are Legion of Honors!
Proud to be Monkayoans!
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