Mindanao's Golden City
Cagayan De Oro City is Northern Mindanao’s
catalyst for regional development
By Maricar T. Manuzon
If one is to go by travel advisories, then Mindanao
is by no means an attractive destination. But to one who has
actually been there, it will be nothing short of naivete to
make such a sweeping generalization of the state of this vast
area which comprises, alongside Luzon and Visayas, the Philippine
archipelago.
Cagayan de Oro city-at-a-glance
Though Mindanao has made the news headlines
here and abroad for the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and other local
insurgencies, most of its provinces are actually sites of
tranquility and progress, where local inhabitants and foreign
visitors peacefully go about their daily business.
| Night
Café |
Cagayan de Oro would not
be a city without the night life which popularly
delineates an urban area from a rural one. De
Oro has its own version of Singapore’s street
restaurants, or Roxas Boulevard’s sidewalk
eateries. Along Valencia Street, fronting Xavier
University, are rows of stalls selling barbecues
and other food items, as well as alcoholic and
non-alcoholic beverages. Practically every night,
the street becomes a gathering place for young
and old people alike who find the place a fit
venue for light to heavy fares, and games of cards
and checkers.
Dubbed as Night Café, the existence of
such a place since its opening in December last
year, however, is constantly being attacked by
local mediamen as it supposedly promotes unfit
pastimes and vices in a place so close to the
city’s biggest academic grounds. But, a
fun place is a fun place for the fun-loving Cagayanons.
For the more serious diners, there are first-class
restaurants like the Cagayan-on Restaurant which
serves seafood favorites such as lobsters, squids,
and oysters, as well as grilled ostrich meat and
other native cuisines. The city also has a thriving
café lifestyle headlined by the Cebu-based
Bo’s Coffee. |
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Cagayan de Oro City (CDO) is one outstanding
example of a peaceful and progressive place in Northern Mindanao
– top that with a year-round typhoon free climate. It
is actually known as the “City of Golden Friendship.”
And the whole of Northern Mindanao (Region 10) is counting
on it to be the region’s catalyst for development, as
it is fast evolving into the most promising economic center,
tourist destination, and convention center in Southern Philippines.
CDO is the provincial capital of Misamis Oriental.
An hour-and-a-half plane ride from Metro Manila, and a 35-minute
plane trip from Davao City, it serves as the main entry point
to Northern Mindanao, and the jump-off point for excursions
in Camiguin Island, Bukidnon, and Marawi City.
Cagayan De Oro’s name was derived from
the word cagaiang, the name given by the Spanish colonizers
to the settlement’s river because of its close similarity
to the Cagayan River in Cagayan Valley in Luzon. When the
Spanish colonizers found gold in the riverbeds of Cagayan
in the mid-16th century, the words “de Oro,” meaning
‘golden’ were attached to its name.
Economic Center
With its low-cost and reliable energy source,
ample air and sea ports, modern road networks, and rich reservoir
of quality human resources conversant in both English and
Tagalog – a factor of the city’s large middle
income group and high literacy rate – it is no surprise
that Cagayan De Oro is host to a robust manufacturing sector
comprised of multinationals, as well as major local companies.
Known old-timers in the city are Nestle Philippines,
which manufactures milk and chocolate products; Del Monte
Philippines (pineapple, ketchup, and tomato products), Republic
Biscuits Company/ REBISCO (food processing), Swift Foods,
Inc. (food processing), and Zuellig Pharma (product distribution).
Traveler’s
treasure
by Nonette
C. Climaco |
When big name personalities
need to spend a night or two in Cagayan de Oro
City, they all stay in Pryce Plaza Hotel. Our
group was, therefore, not surprised to bump into
one presidential candidate when we visited the
city at the heat of the campaign period in March
2004. We were told that other presidential candidates
were in the hotel just recently.
Why not? Pryce Plaza is ideally located on top
of Carmen Hill which gives visitors a vantage
point of the city below and the dramatic mountain
ranges beyond. For the three nights that we retreated
to our rooms following a hectic day, we never
tired of gazing at the lively lights from the
city. Most of the hotel’s 81 guest rooms
and suites provide this wonderful scene.
We also had a splendid view of the city while
having breakfast at the hotel’s Café
Cagayan with its trademark cathedral windows.
Visitors are sure not to miss their flights
since Pryce Plaza is only a leisurely 15-minute
drive to the Lumbia Airport. We experienced the
hotel staff’s hospitality when they arranged
for our transfer to the airport – at a minute’s
notice. Add to this their personal touch of packing
our pasalubong of Del Monte steaks and tuna bellies
and storing them in their freezers, preserved
for the day we fly back to Manila.
Premiere Convention Hotel
Pryce Plaza’s 806-square meter Grand Mindanao
Ballroom can accommodate up to 1,500 people and
is unsurpassed not only in Cagayan de Oro City,
but the whole of Northern Mindanao. There are
function rooms that are best suited for smaller
meetings and events. All these rooms are equipped
with the latest technology in visual and lighting
facilities.
Not only does Pryce Plaza offer world-class
convention, meeting, and exhibition facilities,
it also provides a relaxing atmosphere that is
evidently lacking in most urban hotels. This comes
from the lush greenery and the stillness of Pryce
Plaza’s surroundings – something that
a tired traveler would always treasure.
For reservations and inquiries, please contact
Pryce Plaza – Manila Office at (632) 899-9430,
e-mail pryce@info.com.ph
or visit www.pryceplaza.com.ph
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CDO’s neighboring town of Tagoloan, meantime,
is host to the 3,000-hectare PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in
Misamis Oriental (PIE-MO), one of the biggest in the country.
It has 71 investors with 24 manufacturing firms engaged in
diverse industries like steel manufacturing, food processing,
and other industries. Some of the industrial estate’s
locators are LimKetKai Manufacturing (food processing), TLC
Beatrice Foods (food processing), SMC Beverage Packaging Specialist,
Inc. (PET containers), and Philippine Sinter Corp. (steel
and ore).
CDO has been home to Mindanao International
Container Terminal (MICT), the most modern container port
outside Metro Manila. In 2002, the port registered a total
shipping cargo tonnage of 14.3 million metric tons, twice
Davao’s shipping volume of 7.2 million metric tons.
The establishment of the P3.24 billion, 85
percent-JBIC (Japan Bank of International Cooperation) funded
Mindanao Container Terminal Port (MCTP) at PHIVIDEC will further
improve Region 10’s access to international markets.
With the MCTP project set for commercial operations within
the first half of this year, transport costs in Bukidnon and
the rest of Mindanao will be reduced, as its strategic location
offers traders and producers the most cost-efficient transit
between Mindanao and the Visayas and Luzon, as well as major
foreign markets like USA, Japan, and Europe.
One-of-a-kind Township
To cite one more example of the city’s
progress, there is Pueblo De Oro – a 360-hectare property
for mixed use development located between the airport and
city proper. Its development started in 1995. Pueblo is a
township project masterplanned by Louis Berger International,
where no less than SM mall and Xavier Secondary and Elementary
Schools are priced tenants. It is also the future site for
Church and Residence of the Archbishop of Mindanao.
More importantly, it also features joint-venture
subdivision projects covering basically all the economic classes
from A to E. And, of course, it is also, first and foremost,
a golf estate – starring an 18-hole, all-weather championship
golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, and ranked
as the country’s fourth best course by Golfing Philippines.
A consummation of Pueblo de Oro’s progressive
development into a compleat township would be the creation
of an IT hub within the business and commercial area of the
property. The IT hub – planned to be an eight-hectare
development - is being positioned right next to the mall.
Its registration with Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
is ongoing, as well as the Office of the City Council’s
request to make CDO an IT Hub. Once declared an IT Hub, enterprises
within the area would enjoy investor incentives including
income tax holiday for four years for non-pioneer and six
years for pioneer IT enterprises, additional tax deduction
equivalent to 50 percent of training expenses, and permanent
resident status to foreign investors with initial investments
of US$150,000 or more.
According to Mr. Guillermo Luchangco, Chairman
& CEO of the ICCP Group, the main proponent of Pueblo
de Oro, the estate is an ideal site for IT-related businesses
as it has, in the past years, completed the key necessary
factors – water, electric power, telecommunications,
amenities, and services - that make such businesses flourish.
Add to that the pool of about 4,300 graduates being churned
out per year by CDO’s 18 universities, colleges, computer,
and vocational schools.
For inquiries on Pueblo De Oro, contact Pueblo
Business Park: Tel. No.: (063) 88-858-8976 or email: podcmkt@cdo.philcom.com.ph.
For inquiries on PHIVIDEC and MCTP, contact
PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority: Tel. No.: (063) 88-567-0 135
or email: pia_mo@phividecauthority.com.ph;
Website: www.phividecauthority.com.ph
For more information on Cagayan De Oro City:
http://elgu.ncc.gov.ph/ecommunity/cagayandeoro/
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