CAGAYAN DE ORO – The fastest growing metropolis in the Philippines will soon boast of a global dimension, and sooner than you think!
Casual observers attribute the convergence of projects as a fortuitous event, but savvy magi wise in the ways of local taipans know better. This is no accident. This is the collective brainstorm of knowledgeable people with a vision that can see beyond the immediate horizon.
So what constitutes this unseen brain trust which enables it to perceive what we mortals cannot even imagine in our wildest dreams?
Let’s start two provinces to the west of the city where the Panguil Bay Bridge has finally been opened to vehicular traffic. This has unlocked the floodgates eastward for residents from Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental, who can now travel to Cagayan de Oro in a matter of hours via private vehicles or bus.
Just an hour’s travel from the city, the Laguindingan Airport expansion through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with Aboitiz InfraCapital (AIC) has finally been approved. The first phase involves increasing capacity to 3.9 million passengers a year, from the current 1.6 million. Starting 2026, capacity will be doubled to 6.1 million passengers, depending on the attainment of key performance indicators (KPIs). The Laguindingan airport is the country’s sixth busiest airport, and Mindanao’s second busiest airport after the Francisco Bangoy Airport in Davao City.
Rafael Aboitiz, AIC vice president and head of airport business operations, said they plan to market Laguindingan as an international airport after the official turnover in April 2025. AIC will renovate and expand the passenger terminal, install modern equipment, and improve the airport’s operations. With the imminent upgrading of the facility to international status, this would now unlock Metropolitan Cagayan de Misamis to international tourists, investors and immigrants.
Pueblo de Oro-Laguindingan Mountain Diversion Road
Current travel time by car from Laguindingan Airport to downtown Cagayan de Oro now averages 60 minutes depending on the traffic situation. Residents joke how it’s faster to travel (by air) from Laguindingan to Metro Manila, than it is to commute by land to Cagayan de Oro. However, the 4-lane 35.89 km. Pueblo-Laguindingan Mountain Diversion Road which is slated for completion by 2027 aims to drastically cut transit time by half to only 30 minutes from either end.
Motorists coming from the Zamboanga Peninsula, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Iligan City and West Misamis Oriental are expected to favor this artery in coming to Cagayan de Oro since it would lead them straight to the Uptown Area for their shopping and entertainment.
However, if they still prefer to travel further downtown, they would soon have two alternatives to the often congested Fr William Masterson Avenue: via the Macasandig-Manresa Bridge and CDO Alternate Bypass Road in Barangay Macasandig, while those coming from nearer areas of Misamis Oriental can choose to take the Opol-Canitoan Bypass Road.
However, regional planners are not confining themselves to roads and bridges in addressing the growing transport needs of the burgeoning Uptown area. The proposed CDO Aerial Mass Transport System is envisioned to be the first aerial cable gondola system for urban mass transit in the Philippines.
This innovative system will be capable of accommodating up to 20,000 daily commuters on its initial 3-kilometer route in Phase 1, connecting the Rodelsa Circle in Bgy. Nazareth to Masterson Avenue at the Uptown Area. It aims to ease the traffic congestion in Uptown Cagayan de Oro, particularly along Fr William Masterson Avenue.
A Global Village rises Uptown
Meanwhile, a virtual Global City is rising in the Uptown area driven by key infrastructure projects such as Xavier Ateneo’s Campus of the Future, Pueblo de Oro’s Masterson Mile North and Southridge Development/World Trade Center, and the residential subdivisions mushrooming in Barangay Lumbia.
XU Campus of the Future
The new 21-hectare PhP2.1-billion Masterson Campus, named after the late Fr William Masterson SJ, features an abundance of space, green areas, wide roads, dedicated bike lanes, campus-wide wireless connectivity, and healthy and adaptable learning facilities for virtual and physical classes.
The Masterson Campus will blend seamlessly with the adjacent 14.3-hectare Manresa Town, a mixed-use university town with generous open spaces providing students convenient and safe residential options, easy access to commercial establishments and future-ready offices.
This University Town concept creates strong synergies which will benefit both Xavier Ateneo and the surrounding uptown Kagay-an communities. The 21-hectare Campus of the Future will be buffered by over 25 hectares of surrounding forested areas (protected forests and animal sanctuaries).
Masterson Mile North & Southridge
The National Development Company (NDC) and the Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines (ICCP) Group, sister company of Pueblo de Oro (PDO), recently signed a Letter of Intent to erect a 5 tower luxury condominium, a 31-hectare (ha.) Silicon Valley type mixed-use development, and a World Trade Center within an expanded Pueblo de Oro Township.
The planned WTC will be situated in a 31-hectare property at the crossroads of the new Laguindingan- Pueblo de Oro Diversion Road. The new development, dubbed Southridge, would emulate the vitality of California’s Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay area. Development has already started for the 5.2 hectare (ha.) residential portion of Southridge.
The estimated cost of the Masterson Mile North Towers condominium project is PhP13.5 billion (USD245 million). The five-tower high-rise project is part of a total of PhP18 billion (USD327 million) in new projects that Pueblo de Oro Development Corp. (PDO) is allocating to key areas.
ICCP Group Chairman & CEO Guillermo D. Luchangco said the WTC aims to support Cagayan de Oro as the next metropolitan area of the Philippines.
“We are planning to bring in a World Trade Center like the one we have developed in Pasay City, Metro Manila. The significance of that is the branding. WTC is an association of over 330 WTCs throughout the world. It’s a brand name we’d like to bring to CDO which fits its role as an entrepot trading center. Our main target is to bring in international exhibitions. Sixty percent of exhibitions in the Philippines are held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM). This is what will help the country grow. An exhibition hall is one of the keys to international trade,” Luchangco noted.
The projected completion of the WTC project aligns with the expected commissioning of the Pueblo de Oro-Laguindingan Mountain Diversion Road, the Laguindingan Airport expansion, and the entry of international flights.
Already, global branded hotels and serviced apartments like Radisson Blue and Citadines by Ascott, are coming soon to the Pueblo de Oro Business Park to complement the WTC and anticipated influx of more tourists, investors and immigrants. A few kilometers away, no less than 56 residential subdivisions are now being planned and constructed in Barangay Lumbia to likewise accommodate the expected “gold rush.”
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