I was scrolling through Instagram the other morning, when I saw this Reel of a touristy-looking guy standing next to a sign in the middle of undeveloped land. He said something like “welcome to Boston, in the Philippines!” Being my weird self, I had to look up this location to see if it really existed. Sure enough there is a town in the Philippines, within a Province called Davao Oriental, that is named “Boston.” So, I proceeded to move further down the rabbit hole.
Some have argued that this town was named after New England’s largest city (which could still technically be true). However, others have said that it got its name in a more interesting manner. There are stories of an American sailor who landed his ship in a small fishing village somewhere in Davao Oriental, 100 years ago. The sailor came across a village elder who walked limply with a cane, and proceeded to ask him “What is the name of this place?” The sailor pointed at the sand underneath the elder’s feet, using it to try and describe his question. The elder thought that the sailor was pointing to his cane, and responded with “Bahstaan,” which means “cane” in the local dialect.” The sailor repeated “Boston” and smiled. And from then on, the name stuck.
Looking at images of this town online, it’s quite remote but still very beautiful. It’s pretty much what you would expect a fishing village on the coast of the Philippines to look like. Lots of palm trees, shelters made of stray materials, dirt roads, etc.
Other than the few images of this location that exist, there’s not a whole lot of information on it. The Wikipedia page for Boston, Davao Oriental has got to be one of the shortest I’ve ever seen. However, it does provide census information and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the town has a population of about 14,000 people. It also has a cool flag.
Yeah, setting up HQ for OneTake Asia would actually require a lot more infrastructure and development. Ambitious? Maybe just a little bit. In the meantime, it would still be an interesting place to visit for a company trip to Southeast Asia.
I thought I’d blog this to pay homage to the thriving relationship between Filipinos and New Englanders. Manny Pacquiao and Freddy Roach, Dan and Producer Reese, and Stober - OneTake Media’s friend of the program… the list goes on.
God Bless the people of Boston, both of them
Producer Reese out.
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Many great Filipino - Boston combos indeed.