Let’s set aside politics and the stallion of chopsticks comedy, Vice Ganda. It’s the Kadayawan Festival in Davao City, a grand celebration and thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest of various fruits that are at their peak season in August.

But there is more to why we Davaowenyos are in a celebratory mood. The Supreme Court voted unanimously to void the impeachment case against our very own Vice President Inday Sara Duterte prompting the Senate to park the articles of impeachment in the garbage bin.

A survey done this week by Numbeo placed Davao City second to Singapore as the Cleanest Cities in Southeast Asia.

The peaceful climate of Davao City and the brand of political leadership that we have are beacons to domestic investors. Its mind-boggling development rapidly changes the landscape as scores of vertical infrastructure are racing to the skies. The coastal boulevard promises to have the most beautiful scene in the world.

The Kingdome of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the world’s biggest covered arena with a 75,000-seating capacity.

A 45-kilometer bypass highway linking Davao City and Davao del Norte is 91 percent done based on the latest assessment. It includes the 2.3-kilometer twin-tube mountain tunnel which will be the longest in the Philippines. The Davao-Samal bridge is rapidly taking shape and will be the longest in the country.

One of the stunning upcoming urban development centers in Davao is the P33-billion estate project that is set to transform the erstwhile 22-hectare Davao Golf Club into a thriving central business district called Davao Global Township.

DGT is the first estate development of leading Vismin Developer Cebu Landmasters in partnership with the Villa-Abrille clan of Davao. Davao Global Township was recently awarded as the best township in the country and reputed to be the best in Asia.

DGT is best described by CLI executive vice president and COO Franco Soberano: “It’s not just a central business district, it’s really a public space that celebrates Davao’s progress, culture and coming of age as one of the top cities in the Southeast Asian region. It is envisioned to be a source of pride for Davaowenyos, on top of generating businesses and opportunities for them and the neighboring communities.”

As we Davaowenyos proclaim, “Life is here.”

If at all there is an empty space it is the absence of our revered leader, the former mayor and president Rodrigo R. Duterte, under whose leadership was transformed what was known then as the “Killing Field of the Philippines” brought about by the atrocities of CPP/NPA terrorists and the haven of drug syndicates into the most peaceful place on earth.

It is, therefore, a supreme irony that despite what he has done for the city and country the power-hungry political syndicate kidnapped him and surrendered him to foreign authorities under dubious circumstances. But there will always be a day of reckoning. Make no mistake about that.

For now, we celebrate the city’s progress and development, and I for one am certain that the man we call “Tatay Digong” is smiling in his detention cell happy with contentment that he did not only make Davao the Most Peaceful Place, the Cleanest and among the Most Livable Places in the country but in Southeast Asia.

Happy Kadayawan!