Mati, officially the City of Mati, is a component city and capital of the province of Davao Oriental, Philippines located on the southeasternm…Mati, officially the City of Mati, is a component city and capital of the province of Davao Oriental, Philippines located on the southeasternmost side of Mindanao. Mati comes from the Mandaya word Maa-ti, which refers to the town's creek that easily dries up even after heavy rain. Pioneer settlers were the Austronesian indigenous peoples Mandaya and Kalagan, and the Arabic-Indo-Malayan-influenced Maguindanao and Maranao.