FIRST TIME. Sixty-five divers join the start of the Bay Deep Mati Freediving in Pujada Bay, Mati City, Davao Oriental on Saturday (Sept. 24, 2022). The four-day festival is the first freediving event in the country. (Courtesy of Mati-CIO) MATI CITY, Davao Oriental - Pujada Bay, which made it to the list of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World in 2019, is hosting the four-day Bay Deep Mati Freediving Festival, the first in the country. Sixty-five freedivers showed up Saturday during opening day, which also held a sunrise yoga, Pilates activities, and underwater photography and videography workshop at Dahican Beach and Waniban Island. In an interview, Mayor Michelle Rabat said the Department of Tourism-Davao Region (DOT-11) intends to put Mati on the tourism map with the event and at the same time, flaunt the beauty of Pujada Bay. "We want to position Mati as a tourism hub to invite foreigners and other diving enthusiasts," she said. Rabat encouraged freediving enthusiast to li
The Davao Oriental's Pujada Bay, as seen from Mati City, the province's capital. (Photo courtesy of Michael E. Peligro) DAVAO CITY - Pujada Bay remains a "Class A" inlet based on the latest study by the Davao Oriental State University (DOrSU). The DorSU evaluation contradicted an article released by Rappler.com entitled "Davao Oriental State University (DOrSU) study confirms Pujada Bay's alarming pollution levels" published on August 19, citing the supposed dangerous pollution levels of the haven. The clarification was made by the alleged source of the Rappler article, Dr. Lea Jimenez, director of the DOrSU-based Regional Integrated Coastal Resource Management Center in the Davao Region (RIC - 11). Jimenez said the research study entitled "Nutrient Mapping of Pujada Bay" in 2015 mentioned that eight water sample stations are spread across the area to test contamination levels. In a statement Friday, DOrSU affirmed that Pujada Bay remains as &qu
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Local fishermen rescued two Indonesian fishermen drifting off Pujada Bay in Davao Oriental for more than two weeks.
AN Indonesian fisherman has his vital signs taken after he was rescued with a colleague off Davao Oriental.
Commander Antolin Cayabo, head of the Coa