I went to Davao last week for the second leg of the Philippine Book Festival, and for the ceremonial rites of our acceptance of a National Book Development Board Book Book partner site. Yey!

Despite all the drama of leaving behind my daughter for the first time, I’m back, safe and sound, in Nueva Ecija. Nothing remotely concerning happened… except that I didn’t get to do anything I planned!

Instead, the trip was uneventful. Here’s what transpired during my weekend at PBF Davao.

Day 0: Off to Davao

For how to get from San Jose City to NAIA, read this.

My office mate, also a new Book Nook partner site, and I arrived at Davao at around 9:30 PM.

By that time, we were both already very sleepy. As DepEd personnel who have attended quite a handful of live-in seminars and conferences pre-pandemic, we were expecting good accommodations from an event held by a government agency.

Little did we know we were in for the shock of our lives with the free accommodations being in a dormitel, where we had to stay in bunk beds with four more people! Yikes! My friend ended up moving to another hotel, which was a challenge to find, as the PBF happened during the Kadayawan Festival. I stayed and endured sleeping in a top bunk – money concerns – which was okay too, since I met nice people from different regions.

Day 1: First Day of Panagtapok

Going into this affair, I was expecting decent food. After all, the organizers asked if anyone had any dietary restrictions. In my experience with conferences private and public, they accommodate food restrictions, even if that meant you will be served just fruits, salads, or side dishes.

I had none, despite having indicated that I was plant-based. For breakfast, there were a lineup of traditional animal-based fares to choose from. I made do with fried fish and egg, which went on until the last day. On the first day, I went to SM Foodcourt to find vegan food. There was this one fully plant-based store, but the food I had was super dry and tasted like vege-meat. This was very disappointing because my quest for going back to veganism during this trip failed.

Now, for the conference. All the events for PBF Davao was held at SMX Lanang. This included Panagtapok – the first-ever conference for Book Nook partner sites.

The venue, one of the meeting rooms, was nice… but it was really cold. Literally deathly. There must be something really wrong with my body because I was shivering and shaking from the air-conditioning when everyone else seemed fine. Despite having gained weight, I still can’t stand the cold.

Then, there’s my issue about the absence of tables for the participants. It was useful for activities that required us to move – which was two – but posed a challenge for note-taking and writing tasks.

Now that I have laid down my complaints and some notes to ponder for the organizers, the contents of the conference were excellent. I learned a lot about the readership situation in the Philippines, as well as an understanding of the Book Nook project.

Unfortunately, here’s another complaint. We started early… and ended late. There were time management issues that led us to finish sometime around 8:30… and we didn’t even finish all the speakers lined up for the day! To make matters worse, they didn’t give us food until the last session ended. So, everyone was cold, tired, and starving.

Day 2: Opening of the PBF Davao

Despite sending us back to the dormitel super late already, our wake-up call was at 4:30 a.m., as the shuttles would start leaving starting 5:30. With five of us in the room who had to use the bathroom, that meant having to move fast and skipping breakfast.

That’s all because the Vice President of the Philippines was going to be the guest of honor during the opening of the PBF. Because I don’t really care about politicians (and people in general), I participated in the Scavenger Hunt instead… and ended up being the first person to finish! As my prize, I picked this book from…

Now, for the opening of the PBF. It was nice and lively. But I’m really more concerned about the books. I enjoyed going from booth to booth. I thought I would be buying a lot of books, but I thought about my baggage allowance and whether it’s within our family’s monthly budget – after all, it’s still ghost month.

We started with the second day of Panagtapok at around 10:30 a.m. That’s okay because we still had two speakers left behind yesterday.

It was still cold in the conference venue, but the topics were excellent. My favorite was that of Professor Jun De Leon, an expert in folk culture. I learned that Filipinos learn more in communes, and so benefit more when learning happens in the context of communes. This is why the Book Nook project is not a library but a community reading space.

All-in-all, Day 2 went better than Day 1. I was also excited because there were no activities indicated in the program for Day 3 other than the awarding ceremonies… which they changed in the last minute.

(But I didn’t join that tour. After all, I was the first scavenger hunt finisher.)

We finally got to sleep!

Day 3: Book Nook Ceremonial Rites + Flight Back to San Jose City

As we didn’t join the PBF Tour scheduled for the day, me and my new friend Mariegold took our time preparing ourselves for the ceremonial rites. We left Green Windows at around 11:00 am and arrived at SM Lanang at 11:30 am with my luggage and all.

We took our packed lunch in one of the makeshift rooms for the NBDB Team, and went around the festival area again. I finally decided to buy a book for Sprout – a Mindanaon story book from Sarangani. Once home, I told Francis that we must take home a local storybook for her wherever we went. I also bought the last copy of a compilation of children’s stories that Mariegold was part of, Hiraya. She signed it for Sprout, who would be celebrating her second birthday a week later.

Then, we went to SM Department Store to buy Mariegold’s shoes and some cinnamon rolls for pasalubong from Annipie.

The ceremonial rites started late and I was so scared that we would miss our flight. Thankfully, we finished at about 7:30 pm. After saying goodbye to our new friends, we were rushing to the airport for our 10:30 pm flight. We made it around 8:00.

Aaaand… that’s basically it for Philippine Book Festival Davao! That’s what I did for the first time Sprout and I had to be apart.

All-in-all and despite all the flaws of the conference, I think my first post-pandemic trip outside Luzon was a lot of fun. I met a new friend, was features as the first finisher of the scavenger hunt, and became part of the Book Nook family. And, oh! Did I mention I managed to have a selfie with my ultimate favorite Manix Abrera?

It was still a lot of fun and I enjoyed my second book fair. But I was also excited to finally come home to my little girl.

My (Unsolicited) Thoughts About Davao City

I had high hopes for this Davao City trip. Unfortunately…

I did not witness any event during the Kadayawan Festival. Maybe it’s me and my unwillingness to take a Day 4, but unlike here where the whole city bursts with festivities during fiestas, it seemed to me Kadayawan was restricted to very selected portions of Davao City.

I did not get to eat a lot of fruits. Going into this trip, I planned to eat lots of free fruits because it was Kadayawan. But in the dormitel where we stayed, the only produce availabe were bananas. I also went to Bangkerohan to find fruits, and I did manage to find mangosteen for PhP 70.00 per kilogram. But I got traumatized by the awful durian! Ugh. Never again, that one.

Davao City seemed to be… quiet. It was much more alive back when I went for a conference in 2016. (Perhaps because a Davaoeño just won as President.) But this time, it was uneventful and boring.