Parroquia de San Pedro

Davao’s 1848 conquest in the hands of the Spanish-led expedition was a turning point to the history of Catholicism in Davao. The significance of this event betrays the expectation of a region to be forever subjugated and controlled by colonial grip. Two key facets, however, stand out in the conquest, namely the spread of Christianity and the founding of settlements.

After Davao’s fall, Don Jose Oyanguren y Cruz, the Spanish conquistador, requested the Recollects to take over the pastoral care of the region, and asked that an old friend, a friar in Siargao, be transferred to Davao to open the first Catholic mission. This was approved within months after the conquest. Fr. Francisco Lopez de San Antonio de Padua, a Recollect, assumed as first apostolic administrator of ‘Yglesia Mision de Cabezera de Bergara dela Nueva Guipuzcoa.’

The first San Pedro Church, built from wood and native materials, was erected on a lot that was part of the original townsite. The church premises stretched from the bank of Davao River (Bucana area) to the cathedral site. Its prized estates included what it is now known as Osmeña Park (originally Davao Garden) and the lot where the Sangguniang Panlungsod now stands. It was not until January 30, 1857, that San Pedro Parish was renamed Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol de Davao. Fr. Toribio Sanchez, a Recollect, was at the time the parish priest and concurrent pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish of Pundaguitan (Sigaboy).

Oyanguren, a former Tondo judge, was given the honor to label the new mission. He gave the name San Pedro, after the parish in Vergara, Spain, where he was baptized. The same appellation was lent to the road that traverses the makeshift church in the heart of the new pueblo of Davao. Two years after Davao was founded, its population remained small. The General Pastoral Plan of the Diocese of Cebu reported on June 17, 1850, that it was home to only one hundred thirtynine (139) persons, chiefly families of exiles who joined the Oyanguren expedition.

Amid the slow but dynamic growth of the Davao church, the bid of the Jesuits to return to Mindanao started to show in written records. The first sign of their future takeover of the Recollect parishes did not surface until March 4, 1860, when Jesuit superior Fr. Jose Fernandez Cuevas, on a voyage around Mindanao on board the ship Elcano, dropped anchor in Davao Gulf.

Very little has been written about the visit, except that he stayed from March 6 to 9 to conduct clerical functions after he was informed that the parish priest, Fray Celedonio Pardo de San Nicolas, had died two months ago. Vital to the call was the consultations with village officials and the briefing he made on the future plan to assign Jesuit missionaries in Davao.

On June 1, 1868, the Jesuits in Manila decided to take over the Davao mission with Fr. Ramon Barua as superior, supported by Fathers Domingo Bove and Ramon Pamies, and Bro. Antonio Gairolas. The event marked the opening of the extensive spread of Catholicism in the region.

The turnover was emotional, which is the case when a missionary, already adored in his place of work, relinquished his station and moved to another assignment. Fray Francisco Lenguas de la Reina de los Angeles knew this by heart. Prior to this, the outgoing Recollect had to sell his personal effects, furniture, books, and other memorabilia. Except for the simple meal the residents prepared for the visitors and the departing priest, there was nothing special during the turnover.

The entry of the Jesuits in Davao would lay the ground for what can be regarded as the key to the conversion and transformation of the region into a center of Catholicism. Despite the later arrivals of non-Catholic sects, the region still prides itself of being seventy percent Catholic. (Antonio V. Figueroa)