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Vast
Potentials
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KNOWN
AS THE CITY OF GOLDEN FRIENDSHIP, Cagayan de Oro has been cited
by two Philippine leading think tanks for the vast potentials
it holds for investors and businessmen who manage to see beyond
the fabled warmth and hospitality of its residents.
Roberto
de Vera, author and regional studies director of the University
of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P),cited
Cagayan de Oro as the best positioned for future growth and
investments among 23 leading urban regional cities of the Philippines. |
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Investment
Center
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In
his 2000 paper
"Investing in Regional Cities: the Next Big Thing,"
de Vera describes how Cagayan de Oro is not only the gateway to
Northern Mindanao region, but is its regional shopping center
as well.
Although it ranked
only 16th among the 23 cities in the study in Gross City Domestic
Product (GCDP) with P4.93 billion, it led all others in investments
with P16.5 billion. It was also the only city in Mindanao among
the top five cited by the study in investments posted with
the Board of Investments (BOI) in 1999. |
Focused
Vision |
Cagayan
de Oro was also cited in a 2000 study by the Washington Sycip
Policy Forum -- a think tank of the Asian Institute of Management
-- because of its "focused vision for its economic future."
The
study said Cagayan de Oro's competitiveness was enhanced by
its strong economic ties such as with the Northern and Central
Visayas regions, Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor (CIC), and
the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
Although
other regional centers like Davao were also progressive, its
average household income from 1994 to 1997 dropped 10%, while
those of Cagayan de Oro and General Santos increased. |
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Infrastructure
Support
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Another
unique feature of Cagayan de Oro is the way by which its strong
real estate property development is balanced by inter-regional
infrastructure development such as the Laguindingan international
standard airport, Mindanao
International Container Port, Tubod-Tangub bridge and widening
of its Iligan-Cagayan de Oro-Bukidnon Road (ICBR), the road
artery which links it to key satellite areas.
With
over 100 subdivisions containing 80,000 lots covering over
1,000 hectares and counting, the real estate boom in the city
is likewise balanced by intercity infrastructure such as the
planned construction of three additional bridges across the
Cagayan river, Licoan flyover and the East and West coast public
utility terminals aimed at loosening the city's tightening
gridlock. |
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Wide
Consumer Base |
Which
is just as well, since although Cagayan de Oro city itself only
has half a million residents, it serves a consumer base of well
over three million people covering the five provinces (Bukidnon,
Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Occidental)
and six cities (Cagayan de Oro, Gingoog, Iligan, Oroquieta,
Ozamiz, and Tangub) of Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) as its
regional shopping center.
Already,
SM City and rival Big R Super Center have set up mixed-use
shopping malls to rival Gaisano's three malls and the local
titans Ororama and Limketkai which all boast of department
stores, concessionaires, national food chains and cinemas equal
if not better than similar stores in other booming regional
centers like Cebu, Bacolod and Davao.
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Industrial
Parks
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Besides
retailers, light and medium industries are also finding Cagayan
de Oro and its satellite areas an ideal home with its mix of
affordable industrial parks, reliable and affordably priced
utilities, and central location linked to the rest of the country
and the ASEAN region with seamless transportation and communications.
The
3,000-hectare PHIVIDEC
Industrial Estate-Misamis Orientalis
the country's largest, with the 200-hectare First Cagayan de
Oro Business Park and the 80-hectare Alwana Business Park now
online. Three others are in the pipeline: Laguindingan Industrial
Park, El Salvador Economic Zone, and Gingoog Special Economic
Zone.
Already,
19 light and medium industries are operating in Cagayan de Oro,
the largest of which are Del
Monte Philippines, Inc. and Nestlé
Philippines, Inc.'sASEAN
regional manufacturing center for coffee and milk powder. Another
30 or so industries are operating in the Phividec Industrial
Estate-Misamis Oriental. |
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| Exports
Boom |
In
large part due to this mix of industrial infrastructure and locational
advantages, exports topped the US$200-million mark in 2001 as
downstream industries, taking advantage of the city's proximity
to the agriculture powerhouse Bukidnon, churned out an increasingly
diverse array of products to complement the region's predominantly
coconut-and-pineapple export base. |
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Telecom
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Another
reason for the continued increase in exports and gross city domestic
product are Cagayan de Oro's recent and planned transportation
and communications projects through which the lifeblood of this
regional dynamo flows. Already served by five telephone local
exchange centers (LECs), and four mobile phone companies, the
present 65,000 land lines are set to double by another 50,000
in the next two years, further boosting teledensity beyond 10
phones per 100 persons. Two paging networks and nine Internet
service providers provide pinpoint local and global reach. |
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Improved
Services
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On
top of this, 122 banks and 203 public and private schools provide
support services, accounting for over half the region's total
for both categories. Health services are equally impressive:
Eleven public and private hospitals provide over 1,500 beds
-- half the total in Region 10.
These
are further backed by some 49 barangay health centers, 66 family
planning clinics, and over 200 medical and dental clinics.
Medical facilities include world-class institutions like the
Northern Mindanao Heart Center and Mindanao Eye Center. |
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Multicultural
Peace
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Tourism
is another sunrise industry. Regional and national convention-goers
find irresistible the city's close proximity of hotels and accommodations,
wide variety of easily accessible exotic tourism destinations
and amenities including an 18-hole world class golf course and
a country club.
Not
the least, the leisure industry appears to be crossing even
political and ideological lines as Cagayan de Oro has been
relatively spared the rash of violence which has rocked Mindanao's
urban centers as of late. Although its peace and order situation
is by no means impeccable, still it has been spared the wholesale
bombings and killings many have come to associate with Mindanao.
The
most logical explanation for this is multicultural harmony:
Despite the diversity of beliefs and ideological convictions,
residents share the same admiration and affection for the City
of Golden Friendship, the city that has become a home even
to migrants and ever-increasing number of visitors over the
years. 
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