East Coast Davao Oriental

Signature "ukay-ukay" RTW is the fashion of choice for many poor Filipinos. These are mostly relief clothes from abroad channeled by customs and port officials to the blackmarket. Bargain prices attract shoppers in downtown Mati, Davao Oriental.

The woman is picking coconut shells beached by the waves, not sea shells. When asked why, she says she will make "uling" and sell it to buy rice. Coconut charcoal fetch much better prices than copra. Manay, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

Under the bridge. Manay, Davao Oriental.

A smile for the camera. Children have fun riding a carabao-driven cart hauling coconuts. Brgy. Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental.

MAHAL ANG BUGAS, BARATO ANG KOPRAS. This young boy seems to mull over the steep dive in copra prices while kopreros deftly extract the coconut meat to be kiln-dried later.

Prevailing farm wage is around 130-150 pesos for every thousand coconut unhusked. A hardworking koprero can unhusk up to 2,000 coconuts on a lucky day but must take precautions or be impaled by the sharp metal stake if he gets careless.

Local compradors buy well-dried copra at 10 pesos per kilo but usually deduct a kilo from each 60-kilo sack for "resicada" or moisture content. (Photo taken July 31, 2009. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental.)

The view on the road to Pusan Point. July 31, 2009.

Fishermen repair their boat. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental on the way to Pusan Point, July 31, 2009.

Pusan Point in Caraga, Davao Oriental is the easternmost point of land in the Philippines and faces the Pacific Ocean. During the Second World War, Japanese troops established a beachhead at the peninsula.

Final destination. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, 31st July 2009.

NO FIRST SIGHT, FIRST LIGHT. Bad weather on the last day of 1999 kept watchers from witnessing the January 1, 2000 "millenium sunrise". Foreign media outfits who flocked to Pusan Point to document the first sunrise of 2000 went home frustrated. A rusty road sign is all that remains from the much hyped East Coast tourist attraction.

A Philippine Fiesta is never complete without lechon. Barangay San Ignacio, Manay, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

 The road sign says it all. Tarragona, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

Tarragona Public Market no more. After failing to get reelected, the former mayor withdrew his donation of the piece of land where the town market was constructed during his term.

Downtown Mati.