IF there is one thing that I like about Cagayan de Oro is that it is really a City of Golden Friendship not just for other Filipinos but also for foreigners. True enough, foreigners cannot own properties here but they have an uneasy runaround for that. They’ll let their Filipino wives be the registered owners of their businesses. And Kagay-anons don’t mind.
So now, we have Swiss folks owning videoke bars here. And these places are patronized by lots of people. That makes everybody happy.
Cagayan de Oro being a City of Golden Friendship doesn’t just come through blabbering. There are various systems instituted to make this place harmonious to foreigners. First, we offer incentives to any entity outside of the city who wishes to put up a business here. And then, there’s the infrastructure component. In the past five years, two key projects have been constructed – the Mindanao International Container Port and the Laguindingan airport.
And then German firm Steag has also put up a coal-fired electricity plant here. With the South Koreans and the Germans shopping in our city, we can be pretty sure that Cagayan de Oro will always be a financially developed place.
Another thing – cultural bias doesn’t exist here. Unlike people in nearby Iligan City, Lanao del Norte and Misamis Occidental who usually practice rido or “vengeance for honor” and fight each other, the people in Cagayan de Oro accommodate all kinds of people, even bad elements. And these “bad elements” do not do their crimes here, they do them elsewhere. They just come here to shop and simply have fun.
Even the common folks are happy. This can be best exemplified in the day-to-day conversations among laborers. They are simply contented with their lives.
In the real estate front, development is in full swing – whether at Xavier Estates Phase 5, Gran Europa, Camella or Pueblo – all located in the city’s western uptown front. And then there are also compelling real estate developments in the eastern sector – Alegria and Teakwood for example. There’s also Tuscania if you simply want to stay downtown.