LAST Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, I witnessed the ceremonial turnover of the Davao Museum collection and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Zonta Club of Davao City, the Davao Museum Foundation, and the Ateneo de Davao University.
Yes, the beloved Davao Museum of my childhood is entering a new era. It will have its new home in my alma mater, the Ateneo de Davao University. And I am excited about this important milestone in preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of Davao and Mindanao.
My very first experience of a museum as a young child was the Davao Museum of History and Ethnography located at the Insular Village in Lanang, Davao City. It was the only museum of its kind in the city then, and it was established through the efforts of the Zonta Club of Davao City, a professional women’s organization.
It started in 1976 when Don Enrique Zobel, chair of the Filipinas Foundation (now Ayala Foundation), offered a lot at Insular Village to the Zonta Club for the development of the museum. The Davao Museum officially opened in August 1977.
The museum project was led by past Zonta President Veronica Dalisay Tirol, along with Nenita Azarcon and Concepcion de Asis, who were all collectors of ethnic artifacts. The museum, which was inspired by their collection, was envisioned to be a place that would help “preserve the artworks and artifacts of the different ethnic groups in the Davao provinces.”
Zonta’s mission, through the Davao Museum, is “to inculcate pride in the historical heritage of Davaoeños, to preserve and promote the culture and the arts of Davao, and to shape the cultural identity of indigenous peoples in particular, and Davaoeños in general.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, Davao Museum was the only place you could visit to see Davao’s rich cultural heritage. It is where I first saw artifacts from Davao’s indigenous tribes and photos depicting our city’s historical events. It helped me appreciate the diversity of our city and made me proud to be part of a city of pioneers. These were things you did not learn in school or experience in daily life as a kid in those days. There was no Kadayawan Festival then that showcased our different tribes. There was only the Davao Museum.
However, it was too far from where we lived, so I could not go to the museum as often as I would have wanted to. So I was glad to be part of “giving birth” to the Museo Dabawenyo when I was working with the City Government of Davao in the mid-2000s. It took us more than 30 years to build another museum in the city, just near City Hall, and it was through the initiative of another generation of Davaoeñas.
As I listened to the women leaders of Zonta Club and Davao Museum Foundation, I proudly noted how Davao City’s museums have been led by women.
The first one is by Zonta Club, and the second one, the Museo Dabawenyo, is by Mrs. Soledad “Nanay Soling” Roa Duterte. Through Nanay Soling’s tireless advocacy, the Davao City Council passed City Ordinance No. 0266-06 on Nov. 15, 2006, creating the Museo Dabawenyo. The ordinance was authored by two women legislators, Councilors Maria Belen S. Acosta and Susan Isabel C. Reta. Museo Dabawenyo officially opened in March 2008, and I am proud to have served as its inaugural head. The Davao Museum Foundation is being managed by another woman leader, executive director Sylvia Lorenzana.
I believe this is not just a coincidence that women are spearheading the establishment and management of our city’s museums. It is because women are the primary culture bearers of a community. Women play a critical role in preserving, transmitting, and innovating the intangible cultural heritage that defines a community’s identity.
Women are the primary nurturers and early educators. From the moment a child is born, even when still inside the womb, their first exposure to culture often comes from women — mothers, grandmothers, aunts, older sisters, godmothers.
Women are the first to teach a child their native language, including its unique dialects, accents, idioms, and lullabies. This is the first and most fundamental layer of cultural identity. Through daily interactions, women teach children values and social norms. They are the first storytellers, passing down folktales, myths, legends, and family histories that contain the community’s collective wisdom, morals, and worldview.
Women are also the community’s custodians of culinary heritage. Food is a central pillar of cultural identity, and women are most often the keepers of this knowledge. Traditional recipes for festivals, holidays, and daily meals are passed down from generation to generation, often from mother to daughter. These are rarely written down but preserved through practice and memory. The kitchen is a cultural classroom that ensures continuity of rituals that bind the community together.
Many traditional art forms are dominated and sustained by women. Weaving, embroidery, and basketry are often female-dominated crafts. The patterns, colors, and techniques used are a form of non-verbal language that tells stories of a community’s history, environment, and beliefs.
In many cultures, women are the primary practitioners of dance, music, and ceremonial performances that are essential to cultural expression and continuity.
Even though formal religious leadership is often male-dominated, women serve as the backbone of religious and ritual life. They are frequently the pillars of practice and ritual observance within the home and community. They maintain household altars, lead family prayers, and observe fasting and dietary laws, ensuring that spiritual traditions are woven into the fabric of daily life.
But women as culture-bearers do not only preserve, they also innovate. Women are often on the frontlines of cultural change and adaptation.
As families migrate or as modern influences enter a community, women are often the ones who decide which traditions to strictly maintain, which to adapt, and which to let go. They blend old and new to ensure cultural survival in a changing world.
In times of extreme upheaval — like colonization, war, or famine — when male populations are decimated or displaced, it’s often the women who remain and become sole repositories of language, song, and tradition, ensuring the culture’s survival.
Women are, therefore, foundational architects of cultural identity, ensuring that a community’s unique values, knowledge, and artistic spirit are not only remembered but are also lived, adapted, and passed on generation after generation.
Both the Davao Museum and Museo Dabawenyo are currently building their new homes. I look forward to working with more women from different generations to showcase the amazing HERstory of Davao women in both museums.
