Archive for the ‘About Cagayan de Oro’ Category
Where is Cagayan de Oro?
Monday, January 10th, 2011CDO Economic Development
Friday, June 18th, 2010We envy that city for producing a Manny Pacquiao. But have we known this latest knockout of a news that Cagayan de Oro is the fastest growing city in the Philippines in terms of economic development? A resounding “Yes!” — and we wonder how many rounds it took us to get this feat.
Here are a good number of reasons why CDO shows a lot of potential lately. Please count the superlatives and take pride Kagay-anons!
The city’s portal
Enter the City of Golden Friendship via air and sea. From Metro Manila it only takes an hour and a half by air, and 24 hours by the sea. Cagayan de Oro’s Lumbia Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the entire country. Guests to the city will like it that the welcome starts from the uphill with all the green scenery.
Via sea, the famed Macajalar Bay beckons. And there should be no hassle since Cagayan de Oro’s seaport is the most modern in the country outside of Metro Manila.
Power supply
You will know it when you see how well lit CDO is. Considered as Asia’s biggest, CEPALCO’s Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant provide the city with cheap but quality power supply.
Financial Institutions
When it comes to financial institutions, CDO has the most outside of Metro Manila. There are four Uni-banks, and almost all of the country’s leading commercial banks have branches in the city. To name a few: Allied Banking Corporation, BPI Family Bank, Equitable-PCI, Developmental Bank of the Philippines, and Metrobank and Trust Company.
Telecommunications
CDO has state of the art telecommunications to support its businesses and residents. There are five telecommunications company that offers national and international direct dialing options. The city also has well-established cell sites of major mobile telephone companies of the country.
Domestic broadband are also available providing Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) connections and WI-FI Technology (We have the list of WI-FI hotspots in CDO).
Economy
The city is often used as a springboard for conglomerates entering Mindanao. One of such multinational is the German owned STEAG State Power Inc. with a USD 305 million investment, considered as the biggest single foreign investment to come in Northern Mindanao in ten years.
Combined with Misamis Oriental, the city comprises a total of 50% Northern Mindanao region’s export.
Tourism
Cagayan de Oro also boosts a world-class 18-hole all-weather championship golf course tucked in the 360-hectare Pueblo de Oro Township. Golfing Philippines ranked Pueblo de Oro golf course as the 4th best in the entire archipelago.
Around 40% of the tourist coming to Northern Mindanao stays in CDO, and Misamis Oriental province. Most of these tourists are Japanese, Americans, Koreans and Germans.
Housing Facilities
For the past five years the city’s real estate has grown quite massively. At present, there are 120 subdivisions that cater both to the needs of the low end and the high end. Most real estate developers offers packages ranging from a lot area of 80 sq. m for the low-end, and 300 sq. m to 1000 sq. m for the high end.
Cost of doing business
Compared to other cities, CDO has cheaper economic rate. A Kagay-anon’s daily minimum wage is Php. 201.00-218.00, or USD 3.00-4.00. Even commercial lots are cheaper, Php. 8,400.00-15, 000.00 (per square meter) or USD 161.00-288.00. Telephone installation only costs Php. 2, 95-4, 500 (USD 57-86). Car rentals are as low as Php. 850.00-8,000.00 (USD 16.00-153.00).
Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro Geography
Thursday, April 1st, 2010Misamis Oriental
The land area of Misamis Oriental spans up to more or less 3,570.01 square kilometers, which has Binuangan as the smallest municipality (only 30 kilometers) and Claveria as the only non-coastal and the largest municipality (894.90 square kilometers).
Considering topography, Misamis Oriental is generally rugged as it has about 70% of hills and mountains. The remaining 30% is composed of coastal plains and valleys, which are traversed by rivers and brooks that offer an adequate amount of underground water. On the eastern side of the province are two already inactive volcanoes: Mt. Lumot and Mt. Balatucan, the tallest peak that is 2,560 meters high.
The types of soil found in Misamis Oriental include coralline, sandstone, shale, alluvium, clay and limestone.
In terms of climate, the province is moderately stable as it is located outside and away from earthquake faults and the typhoon belt. The weather is usually the coldest during January, with August being the warmest. The wet season begins in May and ends in October, while the dry season starts in November and ends in April. Moreover, its standard temperature is 27? Celsius.
Regarding land use, Misamis Oriental’s forest land takes up 47% of the area, with the rest of the 53% as disposable and alienable lands. In a report by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR Region 10) in 1996, the forest land took up merely 62.43 square kilometers.
According to a previously conducted survey, the area of disposable and alienable land in Mis. Or. is 173,944.80 hectares. Its area of protected forest land is 168,846.70 and its built-up/protected land totaled up to 10,786.50 hectares. Lastly, its industrial land area is said to be 3,432.00 hectares.
Cagayan de Oro City
Situated near the central coast of Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Cagayan de Oro is in the southern part of the second largest archipelago in the world, otherwise known as the Philippines. The southern area of the city is bordered by the Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon provinces. It is also bordered on the west by the municipality of Opol and on the east by Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. On the north is the Macajalar Bay, which faces the sea of Bohol.
The total land area of the city is 488.86 square kilometers, which is about 13.9& of the entirety of the Misamis Oriental Province. Likewise, it includes 25 kilometers of shoreline and one deep-water harbor called the Macajalar Bay. About 44.7% of the surface of the city is said to be an agricultural land and 38.4% of it is categorized as open spaces.
In terms of topography, Cagayan de Oro is generally a flat coastal plain that sits along the Macajalar Bay. Its highland areas are segregated by steep and inclined hills. It is comprised of terraces, mountains, canyons, gorges, hills and plateaus that border the city in the south, from east to west. Its lowland area is dominantly flat, with an elevation of not more than 10 meters above the sea level.
The most abundant type of soil in the city is clay. It is particularly found in Bulua, where most of the pottery business is established. Apart from this, there are these types of soil: clay loam, sand and loam.
Considering land use, Cagayan de Oro is occupied with 34.88% of agricultural area, which leaves the 63.22% of land used for other purposes.
-by Rose Anne Quirante-
(Photos taken from myscrapbook-lyh.blogspot.com and cache.virtualtourist.com)
Northern Mindanao’s IT/Business Parks, Export Areas and Industrial Estates
Thursday, April 1st, 2010Pueblo de Oro IT Park
IT (Information Technology) and business parks in Cagayan de Oro are ready to accommodate first class technology and quality manpower. One park in particular is the Pueblo de Oro Information Technology Park, the exclusively PEZA-approved IT park in Mindanao. It is a 20-hectare location situated at the center of Pueblo de Oro’s 360-hectare township, which is particularly known for having a world class 18-hole all-weather championship golf course that has been ranked as the nation’s 4th best course by Golfing Philippines. Apart from this, Pueblo also offers medium-to-high-end housing, has private schools (Xavier University High School and Grade School), the SM shopping center and the Koresco Hotel, a 50-room Korean-owned hotel.
The IT Park, situated about five kilometers from Cagayan de Oro proper, is located along Masterson Avenue, a national highway that leads to Lumbia Airport, which is about six kilometers away from the park.
Pueblo de Oro IT Park’s vision is to lure in locators engaging into content development, software development, research and development assistances, computer-based support assistances, hardware design and all other sectors similar to the mentioned.
Alwana Business Park
Situated in Barangay Cugman, Cagayan de Oro, this 80-hectare business subdivision was established in 1981, but was formerly a wood factories area. A decade passed and the management decided to make the rest of the district into a residential and industrial site, complete with a zoning system. It was then segregated into various parts. Forty hectares of land were reserved for industries; 20 for Alwana Village, a high class residential township; 26 for recreation and parks; and 10 for different commercial institutions. Alwana Business Park also has recreation and sports facilities.
Alwana is a multi-functional business site, complete with ready-to-occupy business spaces and storehouses. Currently, it is processing the application of its already established exhibition center to be turned into an Information Technology building and zone.
First Cagayan de Oro Business Park
A project developed by All Asia Capital and Minergy Systems Inc, this business park involves the establishment of an area of 200 hectares within the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate. The said project is said to have at least three phases.
The most recently proposed industrial park up for development in a few years is the Laguindingan Industrial Park, which would be situated along the soon-to-be established Laguindingan Airport.
PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate
Dubbed as the largest industrial estate in the Philippines, it spans over 3,000 hectares. PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate-Misamis Oriental (PIEMO) covers the Villanueva and Tagoloan municipalities.
Within this estate is the largest locator called the Philippine Sinter Corporation (PSC), a subsidiary company of Japan’s Kawasaki Steel. The company, which is currently manned and owned by JFE Steel, has sintered ore that is among the top export products of the province.
The other 71 locators in the estate include companies that specialize in manufacturing and services. Other businesses formed within the estate are TLC Beatrice Foods, San Miguel Corporation and Limketkai Food Manufacturing Corporation.
-by Rose Anne Quirante-
(Photos taken from pueblodeoro.com, alwana.com, and himantayon-cagayan.info)
Cagayan de Oro’s Neighboring Municipalities
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010The City of Butuan
Butuan City, or as locals call it, “Dakbayan hong Butuan” or “Lungsod ng Butuan,” is the regional center of the Caraga Region. Situated northeast of Agusan Valley in Mindanao, it stretches across the Agusan River and is bounded to the east by Agusan del Sur, to the northwest by Butuan Bay and to the north, south and west by Agusan del Norte. Based on the census in 2007, it has a total of 298,378 inhabitants.
Apart from being the regional center of the Caraga Region, it has regional offices of various government agencies headquartered within the city limits.
Butuan was formerly Agusan del Norte’s capital until 2000, during the employment of Republic Act 8811, authorizing the transfer of the capital to the city of Cabadbaran. Despite this, Butuan is still the province’s seat of government since majority of the government offices are located there, counting the provincial capitol.
The City of Gingoog
Gingoog City (pronounced as Hingoog due to the Spanish pronunciation of G, which has the H sound), “Dakbayan sa Gingoog” in Cebuano and “Lungsod ng Gingoog” in Filipino, is a third class city located in the Misamis Oriental province. As of 2006, the city was said to have a total number of 111,787 inhabitants, based on the Philippine census.
The city is settled in the Mindanao island, which is the second largest of the archipelago of the landmass of the Philippines. It is located about 74 kilometers west of Butuan City and 122 kilometers east of the City of Golden Friendship (Cagayan de Oro). It is bounded on the south by the municipality of Claveria, Misamis Oriental; on the north by Gingoog Bay; and on the east by the municipality of Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental. Gingoog’s total area of land is estimated at 744 sq. km.
Gingoog is subdivided into as many as 79 barangays, including the following:
•Bakidbakid
•Binakalan
•Mimbalagon
•Maribucao
•Agay-ayan
•Anakan
•Bal-ason
•Pigsaluhan
•Murallon
•Eureka
•San Miguel
•Libertad
•Barangays 1 to 26
Some of the city’s best accommodation establishments are: the Century Pension House, Mountain Air Hotel and Eastland Restaurant, as well as Mansion by the Sea.
Balingasag
Balingasag is considered a 3rd class municipality in Misamis Oriental. As of 2000, the census reported that in the municipality’s 9,618 households, there were 51,782 people.
Like Cagayan de Oro, it also plays a part in Philippine history. The Vega Ancestral House, which is situated in the Poblacion district, is a preserved colonial house that has been visited by Filipino leaders such as former President Sergio Osmeña and General Emilio Aguinaldo.
Balingasag is as well subdivided into 30 barangays, which are:
•Barangays 1 to 6
•Quezon
•Rosario
•Napaliran
•Balagnan
•Baliwagan
•Blanco
•Waterfall
•San Juan
•Calawag
•Dansuli
•Hermano
•San Isidro
•San Francisco
•Linabu
•Mambayaan
•Linggangao
•Samay
•Binitinan
•Kibanban
•Cogon
•Dumarait
•Camuayan
•Mandangoa
•Talusan
-by Rose Anne Quirante-
(Photos taken from img39.yfrog.com, charmainepallugna_com, and
