🇵🇭 Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a 1st class highly urbanised city in the Davao Region, Philippines. It is the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area. It is the third-most populous city in the Philippines, and the most populous in Mindanao.
It is geographically situated in the province of Davao del Sur and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, but the city is governed and administered independently from it. The city is divided into three congressional districts, which are subdivided into 11 administrative districts with a total of 182 barangays.
Davao City is the centre of Metro Davao, the second most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines. The city serves as the main trade, commerce, and industry hub of Mindanao, and the regional centre of Davao Region. Davao is home to Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. The city is also nicknamed the "Durian Capital of the Philippines" and "Chocolate Capital of the Philippines".
Economy Davao is part of the East Asian Growth Area, a regional economic-cooperation initiative in Southeast Asia.
According to the foundation, the city has a projected average annual growth of 2.53 percent over a 15-year period; Davao was the only Philippine city to reach the top 100. As the largest city economy in Mindanao, Davao City also serves as the largest local economy in southern Philippines.
Economy: Industry Agriculture remains the largest economic sector comprising banana, pineapple, coffee and coconut plantations in the city. It is the island's leading exporter of fruits such as mangoes, pomeloes, bananas, coconut products, pineapples, papayas, mangosteens and cacao.
The chocolate industry is the newest development in the city. Malagos Chocolate, developed here by Malagos Agriventures Corp., is now the country's leading artisan chocolate recognised worldwide. On the other hand, Seed Core Enterprises is the country's biggest exporter of cacao to Barry Callebaut. Durian which is locally grown and harvested in the city, is also a notable export, although banana is the largest fruit export in the city. Local corporations like Lorenzo Group, Anflo Group, AMS Group, Sarangani Agricultural Corp. and Vizcaya Plantations Inc. have operations and headquarters here. Multinational companies like Dole, Sumifru/Sumitomo and Del Monte have their regional headquarters here also. The Davao Gulf provides livelihood for many fishermen. Some of the fish products include yellow fin tuna, brackish water milkfish, mudfish, shrimp and crab. Most of the fish catches are discharged in the fishing port in Barangay Toril, which are then sold in the numerous markets within the city.
The city also serves as the main trade, commerce, and industry hub of Mindanao and is also one of the financial hubs of Mindanao. Phoenix Petroleum is a multinational oil company based in Davao City and is the first company in the Philippines-based outside Metro Manila to be in the PSE Composite Index. Several industrial plants such as those of Coca-Cola Bottlers, Phil., Pepsi-Cola Products, Phil., Interbev Phil Inc. and RC Cola Phil., companies are located in the city. There is also a number of fruit packaging-exporting facilities, and food manufacturing plants as well as industrial construction plants such as Holcim Philippines, Union Galvasteel Corporation, and SteelAsia. The SteelAsia plant is now the largest and most modern steel rolling mill production facility in the country, completed in December 2014 and was purposely built to increase the national steel production and to reduce the construction costs in Mindanao.
Commerce BDO Network Bank (formerly One Network Bank) is based in Davao City and is the largest rural bank in the Philippines in terms of assets. Most of its branches are located in Mindanao (including 17 locations where it is the only financial-services provider). Government social-insurance agencies such as the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System also have locations in the city.
There are several commercial areas in the city: the city's downtown area, also known as the city centre, Davao Chinatown (Uyanguren), Bajada, Lanang, Matina, Ecoland, Agdao, Buhangin, Tibungco, Toril, Mintal and Calinan, the latter three located at the south-western part of the city.
There are many shopping centres that dot the city. Notable ones include: Gaisano Mall of Davao, which opened in April 1997, is the largest Gaisano Mall in the Philippines, Abreeza, which opened on May 12, 2011, is the first and largest Ayala Mall in Mindanao, and SM Lanang Premier which is the first SM Premier Mall in Mindanao. Other major malls in the city include NCCC Mall of Davao (now defunct), and SM City Ecoland, which is the first SM Mall in Mindanao among many others. NCCC Mall VP (formerly Victoria Plaza Mall), located on J.P. Laurel Ave., is the oldest shopping mall in the city, established in 1992. Felcris Centrale is a mixed use Retail Mall, supermarket, and IT office complex located along Quimpo Boulevard. Gaisano Mall of Toril, which is the second Gaisano Mall under the DSG Sons Group in the city, is a large shopping mall located in Toril District at the southern part of the city. Some minor malls/community malls include Gaisano Grand Tibungco, NCCC Panacan, NCCC Main Uyanguren, Gaisano Grand Calinan, Gaisano Grand Ilustre, and Gaisano Grand Toril. Construction of new shopping malls in the city are currently underway. Gaisano Grand Citygate Mall, which is the fifth Gaisano Mall in the city under the Gaisano Grand Group, is a large shopping mall being constructed in Buhangin District just a few km north of the downtown area. NCCC Mall Buhangin, is the second NCCC Mall in the city which is also located in Buhangin District just beside Gaisano Grand Mall Buhangin; which is close to the upcoming first uphill condo development Camella Manors Frontera. There are also proposed malls which include CityMall Northtown Davao, which will be the first CityMall in the city that will rise in a 1.5 hectare lot within the vicinity of Northtown, a 116-hectare residential estate by the Alsons Dev. in Barangay Cabantian, Davao City, and the Vista Mall Davao, which will rise in Tugbok District.