Grand party held as De Oro turns 65

WHEN President Elpidio Quirino signed in Malacañang on June 15, 1950, the law creating Cagayan de Oro City, Ma. Clara Canoy (encircled) was already there. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

WHEN Cagayan de Oro City turned 65 years old on June 15, Mayor Oscar S. Moreno told his senior associate, Eileen Canoy Escobar-San Juan, to pull out all the stops for a grand party.

San Juan formed a team to prepare a special evening to honor the city’s development partners.

And the Canoys and Gaisanos and Limketkais and Pelaezes, among many others, arrived in full force at the Grand Ballroom of the Luxe Hotel at Limketkai Center on the eve of the city’s Charter Day.

The event was graced by no less than Ma. Clara Canoy. “Tita Inday” to some of the big names in the city, she is the wife of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) founder Henry Canoy. She also happens to be the daughter of the city’s first mayor, Maximo Suniel. She was there when then President Elpidio Quirino signed the City Charter in Malacañang on June 15, 1950.

Fr. Roberto Yap, SJ, president of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, was there. So was Dr. Mariano M. Lerin, president of Liceo de Cagayan University.

The business community’s name-droppables rubbed elbows with the city’s artists and public intellectuals.

United Nations-Habitat country program manager Christopher E. Rollo, who grew up in Cagayan de Oro, came, too.

Same with the chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Noriaki Niwa.

Program management specialist Mir Tillah attended on behalf of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

It was, indeed, the perfect time for the city to party.

When the United Nations drew up a list of the emerging cities of tomorrow, Cagayan de Oro City was the only Philippine city and one of two Association of Southeast Asian Nations cities that made it to the list. The list was made public during the World Urban Forum in April 2014.

That same year, Cagayan de Oro maintained its standing among the most competitive cities in the Philippines, ranking second only to Makati City.

Cagayan de Oro also clinched the grand prize in the most competitive category of Liveable Cities Design Challenge, organized in 2014 by the National Competitiveness Council, USAID, World Wildlife Fund and Asia Society, among others. The prize-winning design, drawn up by the city’s top architects and urban planners, was a landmark with a disaster-resilient design meeting the following criteria: aesthetic and form, physical and land-use efficiency, ecological balance and environment, infrastructure and utility optimization, disaster-resilient design and innovations, economics and social benefit, governance model and feasibility.

Today, Cagayan de Oro is among the four Philippine cities chosen by the UN as its partner in its Achieving Sustainable Urban Development program. Under this program, a new city center is planned wisely to ensure the city’s resilience in the midst of various disasters and multiple stressors.

Cagayan de Oro’s other distinctions that it received this past year—Leadership in E-Readiness given by the Department of Science and Technology for the city government’s accessibility through online transactions; Top 25 Destinations of the Philippine Gems conferred by Isla Lipana & Co. because, as a travel destination, the city is considered breathtaking, in good condition, peaceful and secure and accessible; and the Kalasag Award handed by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for the city’s ability to handle disasters—celebrate the city’s effective governance, economic dynamism and vibrant metropolization.

No wonder it continues to make waves on the world stage: It is the only Philippine city invited to be a part of the City Resilience Profiling Project, a worldwide project of the UN in the face of climate change.

Under the leadership of Moreno as city mayor, Cagayan de Oro has clearly established itself as the next big thing.

Mayor Moreno has reformed the City Hall bureaucracy toward efficient and transparent public service. Before, getting a business permit entailed undergoing 18 steps, which involved transactions with different offices, namely, the City Treasurer’s Office (five different desks in this office alone), Bureau of Fire Protection, City Health Office, City Planning Office, City Administrator’s Office, City Mayor’s Office and the City Business Permits and Licensing Division. On the average, this procedure took three days to accomplish. Today, the 18 steps have been streamlined into only three steps, which all take place in one automated setting called the Business One-Stop Shop, currently hosted at the City Treasurer’s Office. The entire process can now be accomplished in 30 minutes to one hour at the most.

Streamlining business processes has increased investments coming in, pushing Cagayan de Oro as the “economic hub” that could lead the development in the entire Mindanao. A leading economist dubbed Cagayan de Oro having a very good chance to become Mindanao’s new business and financial center. He noted the city’s thriving economy as sustainable over the long run because it has robust fundamentals: peace and order, stable power, very good human resource and enough investors. And now, investors—both domestic and foreign—are staking their vote of confidence in the city. Mozart Pastrano/Inquirer Mindanao