These days, the project is taking shape. The image of a modern incineration plant has been shown on digital media to assure Davaoeños there is no turning back.
Funny, but Malacañang obviously heard of the project, and it is being rebranded in press statements as a “national government initiative,” with the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) as its face.
That is not governance. That is credit laundering.
I am sorry for my friends at MinDA, but as a Davao-based community journalist, I have been around for decades and knew the events as they unfolded from the past to the present. So let me set things straight and do the timeline because bureaucracy respects paper.
2010-2015: The Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Davao City government conducted a feasibility study. This was at the time former President Rodrigo Duterte was about to exit as city mayor.
March 2018: The Japanese government signed a P2.052-billion grant agreement with the national government for the Davao City project.
A 10-hectare property in Biao Escuela, Tugbok, was bought by the city government, not MinDA or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Sometime in August 2022, the Davao City Council passed a resolution asking President Marcos for a P3.486-billion counterpart fund.
Two years later, in August 2024, MinDA issued a press statement saying “the government is pursuing” the WTE and that MinDA is “assisting the DENR.” The DENR came into the picture because it is responsible for setting national policies, framework guidelines and oversight for waste management.
This is not the first time a credit heist has happened. The Coastal Boulevard and Bucana bridge that were started under the DPWH during Duterte’s term are being bannered as Marcos’ legacy.
The Bus Transport Modernization Project and the Housing Condominiums project, which broke ground under Mayor Sara Duterte and were built quietly with neither billboards nor publicity, are now headlined under “Bagong Pilipinas.”
Now back to the incinerator project. If you want to own the WTE, then release the P3.486-billion counterpart fund the City Council asked for in 2022.
As an aside, recently Finance Secretary Frederick Go stated that Mindanao, anchored by the Davao Region, is driving national economic expansion with a strong 5.1-percent growth rate in 2025.
The economic momentum is led by the Davao Region’s gross regional domestic product, which registered P1.14 trillion in 2025, making it Mindanao’s largest economy. The region is ranked as the country’s fifth-largest and fourth-fastest-growing regional economy, outpacing the national average.
The driving force of the dynamic economy is Davao City, which stands out as one of the fastest-growing highly urbanized cities in the country.
If you want to lead Mindanao, or Davao for that matter, then don’t lead by taking the microphone from those who did the work.
Davao does not need a godfather. Davao needs a partner who honors contracts, timelines and the truth. Let’s work on it, MinDA. Malacañang can have the credit; Davao City, the WTE project.
