Almost every weekend, I have to travel from General Santos City to Kabacan. Though there is a much shorter route (but taking three rides – Gensan to Koronadal City, Koronadal to Tacurong City, and Tacurong to Kabacan), I usually take the longer one (from Gensan to Digos City and from Digos to Kabacan). The latter is thirty minutes longer, but the trip is more continuous and the sites along the way are prettier and much inspiring.
One of the beautiful things I got to see during these trips is the Davao del Sur Coliseum located along the highway at Barangay Matti, Digos City.
The coliseum was built back in 2010 with a budget of 268 million. It has a seating capacity of 5,000 and is fully air-conditioned. Governor Douglas Cagas hopes it shall bring economic stability to Davao del Sur.
The coliseum was the venue for the first final games of the PBA (Philippines Basketball Association) played by Talk ‘N Text and Powerade Tigers last January 20, 2012. Weeks prior to that, a countdown bulletin was set up along the road and I got to see the rundown of number during my trips. Accordingly, an estimated P3.5 million was earned for the game of which P1,842,090 came from ticket sales and P1,723,550 from sponsor contributions.
Even before the finals game, three PBA games has already been hosted there. The first one, played by team Talk ‘N Text and Rain or Shine, was held during the grand opening of the coliseum last December 4, 2010. The second was on June 25, 2011, as part of the week-long celebration of the 44th Araw ng Davao del Sur.
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has been considering the sports complex to be the sports training center in Mindanao. Governor Cagas aims to improve the sports tourism in the province through his program of making Davao del Sur an Agro Industrial Commercial Eco-Tourism province. The coliseum is only one of the components of a P500-million five-structure Davao del Sur Sports-Cultural and Business Center Complex which shall also include convention centers, swimming pool, volleyball court, restaurant and dormitory, track and field, parks and playground.
Literature courtesy of Zamboanga.com.
Photos courtesy of these sites: Visitphilippines.com, Hinampang.com, Skyscrapercity.com
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