Another province has been ticked off my PH 81 province list when I visited the southernmost province in the island of Mindanao: Davao Occidental. There are a lot of beautiful places that I wanted to visit in this province like the Olanivan Island and Balut Island along the Mindanao Sea. Because we had time constraints, we just chose to visit the province’s capital: Malita.

I had a bit of a hard time checking online what sites to visit in Malita. Their website isn’t working weeks before our trip (even as of this writing: June 27, 2022) and travel blogs about Malita would only mention their travel spots without proper advice how to visit or who to contact with. Anyway, nothing would stop us from going because going here has been planned two years ago, exactly a week before the global pandemic was declared!

It only had been a few days since the province was opened to visitors (lucky us!) when we visited. The people of Malita welcomed us with their warm smiles and infectious friendliness, as they have longed for the day when travelers and tourists would make a comeback to their place. This translated to a wonderful albeit short visit to their town, commemorated with this travel post. I hope you, guys, enjoy reading it!

MALITA

Malita is the capital of the province of Davao Occidental, touted as the newest province of the Philippines. On October 28, 2013, a plebiscite was held that led to the creation of the said province that was formerly a part of Davao del Sur. Davao Occidental has five municipalities, with Malita as the largest and most populous.

Malita is located at the northern part of the province, only below Sta. Maria, which borders the province of Davao del Sur. It has a rugged and mountainous landscape, with a coastline at the eastern side facing the Gulf of Davao. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 118, 197.

I’ve heard a story that says the municipality got its name from the Spanish word, maleta, which means suitcase. When I asked some of the folks we have encountered during our visit, they have confirmed this story. When I asked why “maleta” exactly, the really didn’t know. An online story said it was brought about by a story surrounding a Spanish-American war veteran. He was reported to say “maleta” when his suitcase was swept away by the river waters when he went here. I find this story funny because it’s what other origin stories sound like, but who really knows? Just take it as a grain of salt because we don’t want to be victims of fake news. Ha!

Anyway, how do we go to Malita and what can we visit here? Here’s a short guide of what we did here:

How to go to Malita

From Davao City, ride the van or the bus going to Malita. Head to Davao City Overland Transport Terminal (also called Ecoland) and ask around where you could ride the bus (or van) going to Malita. It would take about three to four hours of travel depending on the condition of traffic going out of Davao City, and the number of stopovers along the way.

Where to stay in Malita

We chose to stay in a beach resort in Malita to enjoy the sound of the waves during our stay as well as the sunrise as its coastline is facing east. It’s sad that many of the beach resorts here in Malita are already closed when we visited, but there are a few that remained open including Arizona Resort.

Arizona Resort has various types of accommodation that you can choose from. They have rooms for couples, families and friends. They have such friendly staff that made sure we had a really good stay. And we did! Just look for their Facebook page and message them there!

WHAT TO VISIT IN MALITA

Malita’s beaches

As a coastal province, Davao Occidental has beaches all throughout its municipalities. We decided to stay in a beach resort in Malita to experience a taste of their beaches. What a great decision it was! Even though the beach here isn’t like the glorified white beaches we usually see being posted in social media, we very much enjoyed it still. It has this grayish yet fine sand, along with the calm waves of the sea. It also has a great view of the sunrise (as the coast of the province is facing the east), which I really appreciate because it was the best sunrise I’ve seen during our Davao trip!

Titus Paradise

I have to admit that when I first saw this place in my research about Malita, I wasn’t that much impressed probably because I thought it was an ordinary park on top of a hill. Oh boy was I wrong! Thankfully, I still insisted on going here upon our tour of the town. Because when we reached the top, what we saw was a very beautiful sight!

Overlooking the coastal town with its numerous fisheries, coconut trees and the Gulf of Davao, Titus Paradise is a must-visit when you go to Malita. Located along the national highway, it can be easily accessed by car, or in our case, tricycle. After reaching the entrance, you’d have to climb more than a hundred steps to reach the top. It isn’t that high, but you can still find it tiring so climb the steps at your own pace!

Davao Occidental Provincial Capitol

A new provincial capitol is being constructed when we visited, and it looked a lot bigger than the current one. It is said that its construction would take a few years to complete.

San Miguel Coal Power Plant

Now I was surprised to know that there was a coal power plant in Malita. It was our tour guide/ driver of our tricycle who suggested us to visit the place. And sure we did!

A coal power plant is used to produce electricity by burning coal in a boiler to produce steam. This steam flows into a turbine, which spins a generator to create electricity.

To refresh your memory, coal is a fossil fuel. It’s a black or brownish sedimentary rock that is dug from the depths of the earth. It is burned for fuel and used to generate electricity.

The 300 MW coal-fired power plant started its operations in 2016, and has since generated power to electric cooperative and power utilities.

Museo Malitaño

I was looking forward to seeing the museum during our visit but it was closed! I wanted to learn more about the town’s history and its importance for the whole province in a deeper level. Anyway, the museum is a cultural travel spot that showcases the history of the town, from decades-old newspaper clips mentioning the place, artifacts of its indigenous people, and photographs from a long time ago. I’ll make sure to visit it when I happen to come back to Malita!

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Interesting places, right? But there are more places travelers and tourists can visit here in Malita. Our guide (who was supposed to refer us to a friend of his) said Malita also has beautiful waterfalls, one of which can be visited an hour from the town proper. Alas, we were not able to experience it so if you’re planning to go here, contact their tourism to help you plan and make it a part of your itinerary!