Going back to the future (2)

Mozart Pastrano

Second of three parts

AND so one hundred and five years after Magellan landed on Philippine shores, the settlement that became Cagayan de Oro was born into the annals of the Spanish colonial regime.

The town centro had three landmarks: the church, where today stands the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Augustine; the seat of government, Casa Real, now City Hall’s Executive House, and; the Fuerza Real, whose pivotal point is the site of present-day Gaston Park. From this embryonic centro unfurled the development of what we now call Cagayan de Oro.

It was at first called Cagayan (some historians claim that the site had been called Cagayan even before the Spaniards arrived), then the Partidos de Cagayan, and eventually Cagayan de Misamis. Three roads were at first laid out. The road emanating right from the doorway of the church was aptly named Calle de la Iglesia (today’s Burgos Street). This was the residential area of choice, because the houses had access to the river, and so the residents could safely park their canoes, the main transportation you took to come to town until cars arrived in 1901.

The road that kicked off Casa Real was, of course, Calle Real (Capistrano Street). This became a favorite address of commercial establishments.

And the farthest road, defining the initial ambit of the town, was the road that spilled north to the sea and was thus called Calle del Mar (Velez Street). This road led to the great unknown, for by 1875, the town’s road grid was only up till today’s Yacapin Street, merely two kilometers from the church—and Calle del Mar rolled on, in a blur of dust, for quite a way off.

When the cry for independence rang throughout the Philippine archipelago at the end of the 19th century, it resonated in the homes and streets of Cagayan. The sons of prominent families were properly educated and were aware of the issues and concerns that ate up the principalia. They took up arms and led the local resistance during the Philippine Revolution.

On Jan. 10, 1899, they declared Cagayan de Misamis as part of the revolutionary government of Emilio Aguinaldo—said to be the first time the Aguinaldo government was upheld outside Cavite. They flew the Philippine flag, the first time ever in Mindanao.

Among the revolutionary leaders was Tirso Neri. When the haze of war had dissipated and the American colonial regime was set in place, he was brimming with a glowing reputation due to his bravery and leadership during the revolution; he was named the town mayor.

To secure the town centro, Mayor Neri cleared up, in 1901, an area he called Divisoria. He envisioned this swath of open space as a fire breach to fend off the sporadic conflagration bedeviling the houses and stores of the Chinese entrepreneurs on the other side of the “great divide” (hence, Divisoria).

At the foot of Divisoria, by the river’s edge, was the public market. It is no longer there today, but Divisoria has become entrenched in the Cagayan experience as the heart of the bustling business district—with the fire breach now a public park that, instead of dividing the township, makes possible the coming together of the city’s burgeoning multicultural population.

During the Philippine-American War, the only definitive Filipino victory took place at Macahambus Hill, near Datu Salangsang’s village of old. There, Cagayan de Oro hero Col. Apolinar Velez routed an entire battalion of American troops.

Nonetheless, the American colonial regime took hold. More streets were opened up. Motorized vehicles became commonplace. The city began to publish Mindanao’s first newspaper.

And schools sprang up, opening doors of opportunity for one and all. As late as the 1930s, when the Jesuit Bishop (later, Archbishop) James T. G. Hayes established the school that separately became Lourdes College and Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.

The Ateneo moved its campus to the eastern end of Divisoria, considered to be at the outskirts of town. In fact, it was beside the cemetery, clearly outside the town proper. Today, the school may be said to be at the center of town, in more ways than one.

The development of two subdivisions at the back of the school—Cogon and Nazareth, the city’s first residential subdivisions—in the 1960s hastened the urbanization process that changed the social landscape of Cagayan.

By then, Cagayan had a new name. When Emmanuel Pelaez, then its congressman, authored the city charter in Congress, he had changed its name to Cagayan de Oro—and that was how President Elpidio Quirino christened the city when in June 15, 1950 he signed Republic Act No. 521, granting the status of Chartered City to the Municipality of Cagayan de Misamis.

Cagayan de Oro. Is this the fabled land of gold, with the miners in the upper reaches of the rivers on to something obscenely unimaginable? Or are we dealing with angels and demons, as in the mythical Oro fish slumbering in some cavernous tunnel in the bosom of the Cathedral? Could the appellation be metaphorical, as in Mayor Reuben Canoy’s inspiring push for this City of Golden Friendship?

Or could it be, as Mayor Oscar Moreno declares, the dynamic crossroads promising golden opportunities?

Cradled by the Macajalar Bay and the foothills of Bukidnon, the city has a sweeping total land area of 488.86 sq. km., with a general elevation of 10 m. above sea level. Today, almost half of the land area is still classified as agricultural land.

The city boasts 25 km. of coastline and one of the country’s safest natural harbors. All of 1,000 sq. km., Macajalar Bay, some 50 km. wide at the outset and 30 km. long, is a rich fishing ground, yielding a stupendous catch that is the envy elsewhere in the Philippines.

The strategic advantage of the city has been felt even beyond farming and fishing. It has the largest military camp in Mindanao, Camp Evangelista. It is home to the first university in Mindanao, not to mention the first Jesuit university in the Philippines. (The university, through its extension program, the Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute, or SEARSOLIN, has helped spur grounded rural development not just in the Philippines but also in Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Laos, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.)

The city’s homegrown mall, Limketkai Center, is the first mall in Mindanao.

The city is also where the Del Monte pineapples are processed for export, within the ambit of the pioneering economic zone called the Philippine Veterans Industrial Development Corporation (Phividec).

And the city is the nexus of what was once noted as the fastest growing regional economy in the country.

No wonder that the city is considered by National Competitive Council as among the country’s most competitive cities.

And why not? Cagayan de Oro is an agribusiness hub. It provides direct access to the rich agricultural areas of Mindanao, the source of 40% of the country’s food and livestock. It is at the forefront of the top cattle-producing region in the country, which happens to be the third largest poultry producer.

Moreover, it is a significant producer of oleochemical and other coconut products, as well as bananas and pineapples (both fresh and canned) for export. Cagayan de Oro is also a logistics hub.

An international port facilitates direct and cost-efficient movement of containerized cargoes to Manila, Cebu, and international shipping hubs. A multi-berth baseport handles inter-island passenger travel with connectivity to the country’s nautical highway and the logistics corridors of Mindanao. Laguindingan Airport, planned according to international standards, services air logistics requirements. And an extensive road network leads to and from the major production areas and markets of Mindanao.

Cagayan de Oro is an industry and services hub, too. Access to materials and markets has encouraged the manufacturing sector to cluster in and around the city. A landscape of advanced telecoms infrastructure, combined with the synergy of government and private sector initiatives, has made it a Next Wave Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) city.

And then again, the city is a thriving and internationally recognized educational center, providing a rich pool of skilled human resource.

What’s more, Cagayan de Oro is a leisure and living hub. It is acknowledged as the whitewater rafting capital of the Philippines, luring ecotourism adventure seekers to the other various offerings of ziplines and spelunking and diving, among others.

The city boasts large-scale commercial activities, including state-of-the-art retail and recreational facilities—malls, shops, specialty dining, even bargain finds. Then, too, there is a diverse range of housing options, offering environment-friendly quality of life.

And the city has a dynamic art and culture circuit, enriching the public life with a thrilling array of theater, music, dance, visual arts, literary, and indie film offerings. (to be continued)