Cagayan de Oro

City in bloom
By Earl D.C. Bracamonte


With all that is happening in the capital city of Misamis Oriental, it can be said that Cagayan de Oro (CDO) is a city in blossom and boom.

And because of its strategic location along Macajalar Bay in the central coast of Northern Mindanao, CDO serves not only as provincial but also the regional center for the entire Region 10. The bustling city has 57 urban, as well as, 23 rural barangays dotting its 48,886-hectare land area.

A City in Blossom
Stretches of beautiful beaches line the city's coast. A leisurely drive along the coastal areas affords one of spectacular views of sea and sky, especially during sunset. The Bay is also ideal for windsurfing and jet-skiing. Whitewater rafting and river tours are tops for the adventurous and sporty. If you've seen films like River Wild and Vertical Limit, you know what I mean. Moreover, other extreme activities like zip-lining and rappelling can be had at the Macahambus Adventure Park.

CDO has a climate characterized by relatively dry season from November to April; and wet season from May 'til October. Those planning to visit the city must take note that the heaviest rainfall occurs in the months of June to October while the driest month is March.

For a touch of history, the Gardens of Malasag Eco-tourism Village is a botanical garden setting showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Northern Mindanao while the Xavier University Folk Museum displays an array of Bukidnon relics and that of the Maranao tribes. The Museum of 3 Cultures in Capitol University, on the other hand, offers interesting artifacts representing the Lumad, Moslem and Christian early settlers.

Eco-tourism is not the city's only revenue earner. Boosting its fiscal position is the presence of multinational companies who throw in big investments as well as socio-civic undertakings. These ventures not only afford employment to the residents but also afford privileges, like school buildings, for the marginalized sectors living in far-flung districts. A case in point is softdrink giant Coca-Cola Bottlers.

A City in Boom
The Little Red School House, a multi-grade program/class school building, is Coke's initiative in the South. The 3-classroom structure costs an aggregate amount of P1.7M to complete. Its objective is to serve the remotest areas not only in Cagayan de Oro but all over Mindanao. We visited one such classroom in the hinterlands of Claveria town; the 82nd completed structure of a hundred undertaken by the bottling company.

The Mababang Paaralan ng Bulahan was erected in 1976 and seated only 167 students from grades 1-6. Today, the 35-year-old elementary school serves 207 pupils since 2008 with the addition of the Little Red School structure.

“We need computers as part of our instruction materials. Students here are very much behind in technology. Another obstacle in the learning process is dire need. Crop picking accounts for our pupil's absences from classes during the harvest months of March ‘til May,” shared Prescila A. Balaba, a Grade 6 teacher and the school-in-charge.

As of press-time, there remains a 128,000-classroom backlog in the entire archipelago that needs to be addressed.
CDO's 11-hectare Coke plant in nearby Villanueva town is bigger than the Sta. Rosa plant in Laguna. By the 3rd quarter of 2011, the facility's first 2 (of 7) lines will be operational. This new plant opened as much as 400 regular employment positions to locals; with fifty percent given to women. This played well with CDO's vision of realizing an agro-tourism-industrial scheme. The two lines that primarily functions will supply CDO and the rest of Misamis Oriental province. Each line will produce 300 bottles of softdrink per minute. By 2013, all 7 lines will be fully operational. With this development also comes a solid waste management facility as well as water treatment schemes that will turn waste water into potable water again. 

To view the real-time project developments in CDO, simply log-on to http://oxblue.com/pro.
Coca Cola Bottlers' other plants in Mindanao are located in Davao, General Santos and Zamboanga. “If Coca-Cola brought economic development in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, then, by analogy, we can say that it will bring in more progress to a burgeoning city like Cagayan de Oro,” enthused media relations manager Wally Panganiban at the close of our plant tour.