General Santos, Philippines

After getting a go signal from the National Land Settlement Administration way back the late 1930’s, General Paulino Santos spearheaded the largest and first group of settlers to the beaches of Sarangani Bay. These pioneers (mostly locals from Luzon) plowed and cultivated their new luscious land diligently. Since then, influxes of locals from Visayas and Luzon Islands journeyed to this land and decided to settle for good. This movement or development had forces the native of the place (the B’laan) to migrate to the mountains. These nomadic locals had eventually changed their way of living as the new settlers boomed and continue to develop the place. Though the B’laans were ousted from their own land, they lived harmoniously with the new settlers with the help of the RA (Republic Act) 8371 which upheld the rights of these indigenous settlers.

Nowadays, General Santos City in the Philippines is considered to be the Tuna Capital of the country. It is located at the southern part of the Philippines in the territory of South Cotabato to be exact. It is considered to be one of the densely inhabited metropolitan in the Philippines having a population of more than half a million way back 2007. As its moniker goes, it is the Philippines leading manufacturer of sashimi grade tuna. Aside from the rice marine resources the city has, General Santos City is also one of the largest producers of rice, asparagus, pineapple, copra, coconuts and corn. GenSan (as fondly called by some locals) had been a recipient of the ‘Most Competitive City’ award in the Philippines for numerous times since 1999 to 2007. Source