Back to the City in Blossom: Cagayan de Oro

Back to the city of tasty ham and sweet pineapple

I’m back to Cagayan de Oro. The second time this year but only the fourth in my entire life.

I’m back as team leader of the PTF secretariat to the last of the out of town procurement training for observers we have conducted under the EC-OMB Corruption Prevention Project.

I have a nagging feeling that I haven’t really seen much of the city yet, despite my previous visits, and definitely none of the scenic northwestern Mindanao region. I hoped to at least, visit a Gawad Kalinga (GK) site this time around. Something I wasn’t able to do earlier this year. This time it was a wish that was finally granted by God.

Aug. 6 (Monday)

It rained hard that morning I left Metro Manila for CDO. After months of a nasty dry spell, the country is finally having some serious days of rain with the entry of only the third storm (Chedeng) this year (an average of 26 tropical storms passes through Philippine jurisdiction every year if my memory serves me right). The downpour made it more difficult for me to get a cab to the point that I thought I was going to miss a flight for the very first time. I made it though, by divine providence I’m sure.

The plane left the Centennial airport by 1:30p.m. and we arrived at CDO by 3:00p.m. I checked in at the training venue, a relatively new standard class business hotel named Mallberry Suites at Florentino St., Limketkai Drive at the back of the Robinson’s Mall.

Souvenir buying at Lumad

In the evening, after dinner, I went around Robinson’s which was just across the street from the hotel. I found a nice souvenir shop named Lumad which offers shirts, caps, coffee mugs and other items many of which bear the name of the city. The shirts are of good quality but are more reasonably priced than their more popular competitor, Island Souvenir.

Thankfully, I was still able to buy some Coke Light and snacks before Robinson’s supermarket closed that night.

Aug. 7 (Tuesday)

First day of the procurement observers training. The food at the breakfast buffet was great. While the training room assigned to us was relatively smaller than most of the functions rooms we had used in the previous training venues, it did serve its purpose.

With PTF Secretariat members Nestor Quiros, Sr. and Roberto Sarenas

Nelson Debuque, a trainers’ training participant from the Iloilo batch dropped by in the afternoon. He actually is from CDO working at the Regional office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). I informed him earlier of this training in CDO which is why he knew we were in Mallberry this week.

With Nelson Debuque and CFC elder Bro. Guilly C. Parrel

During the training I met several CFC leaders based in CDO who attended as participants. Among them were Bros. Tito Alex Besinga and Guilly Parrel, both are senior elders in the CDO community. Also present during the training were CFC couple Bro. Albert Mar and Sis. Ann Cui Lugod. I also met another CFC brod, Bro. Romeo Bato, the Chief Financial Officer of a company called De United Foods Industries Limited based in Nigeria, makers of Indomie. I understand that he has been assigned by his company to Indonesia where he now also serves as a CFC Unit leader.

Dinner at Mallberry's extended function rooms

Aug. 8 (Wednesday)

With CFC-CDO couple Bobby and Ann Lugod and

Bureau of Resident Ombudsman head and SFC member Ritchie Hipolito

In the afternoon, Nelson Debuque was able to request for a service vehicle from his office in NIA that we were able to use to visit several places in the city.

First stop was my first visit to the OMB’s regional office in Cagayan de Oro. Located near the Lim Ketkai Center, it is a modest two floor office at Sergio Osmeňa St. surrounded by business establishments and container vans which give you a feeling that you’re in some commercial port area. We were warmly welcomed though by the staff we had the chance to meet there Jofralyn Larrobis and Jonathan. If I remembered it right, the other employees were all away for a seminar in Davao.

With regional OMB staff

The office is part of the Doňa Emerita Commercial Complex in Osmeňa St.

Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Sacred Heart

From the regional office, I made a courtesy call to Nelson’s boss at the NIA’s regional office in the Carmen district and personally thanked him for their invaluable assistance while I was here in CDO. We were joined by several other NIA officers as we discussed current issues like the dry spell and how it has affected their irrigation projects.

With NIA engineers Dioscoro Tutot, Julius Maquiling,

Regional Manager Romulo Silvestre and Nelson Debuque

Inside the NIA Region 10 Office compound

Next stop was GK Pasil in Kauswagan district. There was a newly constructed mission center near the gate of the GK village I was to visit. There I met with local leaders like Bros. Tony Legaspi and Rene “Badz” Dimacutac who toured us throughout Pasil and its numerous facilities.

The CFC- PMC Organizational Chart

The CFC’s Provincial Mission Center in Kauswagan

Bro. Badz Dimacutac and Bro. Tony Legaspi toured us around the PMC and GK site

According to the CFC’c Ugnayan Magazine (May – June 2007; Vol. XVIII No.3) The province of Misamis Oriental takes pride in the fact that the PMC in Kauswagan is “the first CFC – owned global mission center in Mindanao with a regular fulltime staff of 22 serving all pillars of CFC.”

Guests to GK Pasil will pass by a huge lagoon to the housing site

GK skeptics should come see what they have done here in Pasil. Established as the first GK community in the area in June of 2001, the site has not only built houses for the poor, it has created livelihood opportunities for its beneficiaries, provided education for children, and created a clean and healthy environment for the once marginalized families to reside.

According to the abovementioned issue of the Ugnayan, there are 24 GK sites all over Misamis Oriental with 3 more in the pipeline.

There is a guesthouse where rooms are available for transient visitors

Beside the guesthouse is the GK site’s very own medical clinic

GK's successful 'path' towards progress

A tailoring and dressmaking shop

GK Pasil’s Kapitbahayan office

A bakery and food processing center

SIBOL school with SAGIP children in front

The gazebo where meetings were made

The GK arch to the village’s residences

GK Pasil’s chapel

“Consider the lilies…”

Sharing light moments over “Torta”, Binangkal”, and “Bagumbayan”

I truly appreciated the warm hospitality of my CFC brethren in GK Pasil. I hope that someday, I could come back and again visit their inspiring GK site sometime in the near future. Many thanks too to Nelson Debuque and the NIA family in Region 10 for their support!

With OMB-PTF staff Roberto Sarenas and his wife and Nelson Quiros

Later in the evening after watching the daily weekday episode of Jumong, I decided to do some promenading at the nearby Lim Ketkai Center. There I chanced upon the assigned OMB staff to this training session also taking time out to unwind and enjoy CDO’s nightlife.

P. Joe’s Diner at the Lim Ketkai Complex

Aug. 9 (Thursday)

With Bros. Guilly Parrel and Tito Alex Besinga

Homeward bound

I had to leave earlier before the training’s formal closing this afternoon to make it to my scheduled flight back home.

Mallberry’s spacious lobby

A pleasant haven at the heart of the city

Buying pasalubong for my loved ones from Vjandep Bakeshop

Before going to the airport, I had to first pass by the Vjandep store in Tiano Street to buy some pasalubong for my family and relatives. Though originally from the island province of Camiguin, Vjandep Bakeshop has been a must stopover of CDO visitors alike. Famous for its deliciously sweet ‘Pastel’ (dinner bun with sweet filling – usually with ‘yema’) it also sell products from neighboring provinces such as the Arabica coffee (Monk’s Blend) made by Benedictine monks of Bukidnon, ‘pinakurat’ and roasted nuts of Iligan City and Durian candies of Davao. This time among other items, I bought several pieces of CDO-made De Oro Best pork and beef jerky. Manufactured by Padla’s Homemade Products, this is a ready to eat food made of dried lean pork or beef meat flavored with sugar, kalamansi juice, seasonings and spices. I definitely recommend you try this stuff!

At the airport, two great things happened. One, the airport’s lady policewomen (God bless their souls!) were kind enough to allow me to buy and bring home a bottle of that precious pinakurat, which has been a growing frustration from several trips this year. Secondly, as we were queuing to board the plane to Manila, lo and behold! I met Gwen Gana, a fellow St. Mary’s College (SMC) alumni and daughter of Senator Aqulino Pimentel. Gwen had been a fellow alumni board member with me for as long as I remember! She was gracious enough to offer me a ride to an area in Quezon City which will bring me closer to my home in Fairview. With her was a friend named Estela Camino, Officer-in-Charge of the Inter–Country Adoption Board or ICAB. We first went to Gwen’s home in Magallanes Village in Makati where we had a short chat before she instructed her driver to bring Estela and I to Quezon City.

Inside the Gana residence in Magallanes Village

I think Estela was going to pass by her office in Cubao while I dropped off along EDSA going home.

All in all, this was a very fulfilling journey for me!

I thank God for this opportunity, for the new friends and experiences in the city in bloom!