I knew very little to nil about Pagadian City up until my freshman year in the university. A schoolmate’s mother hailed from there, and his grandfather used to be a city leader. Pagadian today is a 2nd class city and the capital of Zamboanga del Sur. It also serves as the regional center of Zamboanga Peninsula and the second-largest city in that region, following Zamboanga City.
Pagadian City faces Pagadian Bay, and just northeast of it is Tangub City in Misamis Occidental, which faces Panguil Bay. By car, the distance between the two cities is about 70 kilometers. Between Panguil Bay in the north, and Pagadian Bay in the south, is the neck of Zamboanga — an isthmus or narrow strip of land between two bodies of water.
This land strip is approximately 10 kilometers wide, and the terrain is partly mountainous. It is the only land linkage between the entire Zamboanga Peninsula and the rest of Mindanao Island. Whoever controls this strip of land can control whatever travels by land — people or cargo — between the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Mindanao, anything that goes from west to east and back.
This isthmus is similar to where Metro Manila currently sits, which is between Manila Bay in the west and Laguna de Bay (a large lake) in the east. Pasig River runs from the bay to the lake, and is around 25 kilometers long. At its narrowest, the Metro Manila isthmus is only about 10 kilometers wide, from San Dionisio in Parañaque to Cupang in Muntinlupa.
Given this comparison, one can only imagine the development possibilities if there had been a river — a relatively deep and wide waterway — that ran from Tangub City to Pagadian City. I believe even if just a waterway similar to Pasig River going through the “neck” of Zamboanga would have allowed more trade and commerce to flourish.
Goods and people traveling from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City will have the option of a shorter route via water — rather than being limited to a single land route — towards Pagadian and Zamboanga cities — or Basilan, for that matter. Alas, the “neck” was not naturally blessed with such a waterway, that ships from Cagayan de Oro would have to go all the way around the peninsula to make it to Zamboanga or Pagadian.
Ship travel from Cagayan de Oro (in Northern Mindanao) to Davao City (in Southern Mindanao) is also long and tedious, going through the Zamboanga Peninsula in the west. Mindanao lacks a viable waterway that cuts through the island to connect its northern and southern coasts. In the case of Metro Manila, from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bay, the Pasig River connection exists.
The cities of Houston, Texas and Baltimore, Maryland are not coastal cities, and yet they both serve as hubs for international shipping. Both cities operate ports that cater to large ocean-going cargo vessels. In both cases, there are inland waterways that allow large ships — and thus goods and passengers — to come in from the ocean.
The Houston Ship Channel, which has been used to move goods since 1836, is particularly interesting since it was originally a natural watercourse that was deepened and widened by dredging.
To this day, its periodically widened and deepened to accommodate ever-larger ships. It is currently 160 meters wide, 14 meters deep, and 80 kilometers long.
While there are no natural water courses between Panguil and Pagadian bays at Zamboanga’s “neck,” I wonder if something similar to the Houston Ship Channel can actually be carved out of that 10-kilometer strip of land. More important, if such a project is indeed feasible, will this actually result in significant economic development in Western Mindanao.
Instead of having to go around the Zamboanga Peninsula, passenger and cargo ships from Leyte, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, and Surigao can just pass through a “Panguil-Pagadian Canal” or a Panguil-Pagadian Ship Channel” and make their way to places like Pagadian City, Cotabato City, General Santos City or Davao City — thus saving much time and fuel. Moreover, they will go through less treacherous waters, avoiding the Sulu, Celebes, and Philippine seas.
Models of successful interventions, with canals being dug up to shorten ocean travel, do exist. The Suez and Panama canals are the more famous examples. The Suez Canal allows sea travel between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, while the Panama Canal allows sea travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through the Panama isthmus.
The 169-kilometer Suez Canal was opened in 1869 to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea. The 77-kilometer Panama Canal was opened in 1914, as an alternative to an otherwise 13,000-kilometer journey around the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn, to and from the Pacific and the Atlantic. Both presently serve as highly strategic international shipping routes.
Costs of construction for both were, of course, extensive. However, considering their lengths, this is unsurprising. In comparison, cost may be more manageable in building a canal between Panguil and Pagadian bays, to cater mainly to local passenger and cargo ships rather than international cargo vessels or tankers. And considering that the isthmus to host the Panguil-Pagadian canal is only about 10 kilometers wide, the project will be a lot less massive than canals abroad.
I believe Japan or China may be suitable sources of funds for feasibility studies for this, or maybe even Russia, which has its own 227-kilometer White Sea-Baltic Canal that opened in 1933. This Russian canal, built by gulag or prison inmates, connects the White Sea in the Arctic Ocean with Lake Onega, and further with the Baltic Sea.
Opening a shipping route that goes through rather than around the Zamboanga Peninsula and Mindanao’s western coast may lead to faster travel time, and thus higher efficiencies, greater productivity, and perhaps more economic development. There is a cost to building a canal through the Zamboanga isthmus, if at all it is feasible, but I am hopeful that the benefits of such a project can offset the expense.
Marvin A. Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.
