Welcome, Welcome to the Samal City Island Property Forum where we will post Major Developments on Tourism, Infrastructure, and Real Estate Opportunities in Buying & Selling. Its official name is Island Garden City of Samal (Filipino: Pulong Harding Lungsod ng Samal, Cebuano: Pulong Harding Dakbayan sa Samal) and it is made up of Samal Island and the smaller Talikud Island in the Davao Gulf, making
it a part of Mindanao island group. It has a population of 95,874 people according to 2010 census. Samal is a part of the Metropolitan Davao area and is located two kilometers away from Davao City, the largest city and the primary economic center of Mindanao. The name Samale was derived from the Sama-Bajau peoples, the natives who were the first inhabitants of the island. The first datu in the island was Datu Taganiyug, a native of what is now Peñaplata, today the governance center of the city. In the past, the people of the island name a place about what was the said place known for. For example, the name Peñaplata was derived from the word "piña" or pineapple because of the abundance of pineapple in the area. This, however, is folk etymology as peñaplata literally means "rock of silver" in Spanish. Tagpopongan is the first barangay in the island which name was from the word "tagpo" or meet. It was so called due to the fact that in the fact this place is chosen by the datus as their meeting place. The word Samal was also known before because it was commonly used as surname by datus.
