A homecoming for beauty queen boosts business in Cagayan de Oro

MANILA, Philippines - Businessmen in Cagayan de Oro have expressed hope  not only their homegrown beauty queen will catch the world’s attention, but the bustling economy of this city as well.    

Italpinas Development Corp. chairman and COO Romolo Valentino Nati, an Italian architect, said the spotlight on newly-crowned Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach has led businessmen to believe rays of opportunities will also shine brighter for this Misamis Oriental capital city.

“The crowning of Cagayan de Oro’s pride and favorite daughter Pia as Miss Universe is sure to generate a ripple of benefits for the city, particularly in terms of tourism and investments,” Nati stressed.

Wurtzbach, whose father is German, was born in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.  She moved to Cagayan de Oro where she attended kindergarten at Kong Hua School and primary school at Corpus Christi. She speaks fluent Cebuano (Visayan), English, German and Tagalog. 

 In 2008, the National Statistical Coordination Board declared CDO as “The City of Golden Opportunities” with its vast agricultural lands and coastal areas that facilitate easy trade and convenient transit to Luzon and other islands in Visayas. 

Aside from its superior agricultural advantages, CDO is also dubbed the auto hub of Mindanao, with major automobile showrooms, including Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota, dotting the Iligan-Cagayan de Oro-Butuan road. 

Tourism is also expected to boom soon in CDO, with its whitewater rafting assets. The city attracted half a million tourists in 2012, but over five percent of the total were foreign visitors.   

Business continues to hum in the city with the growth of its annual business registrations 45.22 percent from January 2014 to January 2015. Between January and March 2015, CDO registered 1,415 new businesses.

For IDC, a sustainable and design-driven real estate development firm, it has delivered on its commitment to complete the Tower B of Primavera Residences, its flagship development in Cagayan de Oro City before year-end and turned over the condominium units to their rightful owners on Dec. 16. 

“Italpinas aims to build in alternative locations with real housing demands and where a sustainable green modern design brings innovations that offers quality and Italian lifestyle to the upper middle-class of the Philippines,” Nati said. 

“The company’s flagship project, Primavera Residences, is the first of its kind in Cagayan de Oro City and is setting the bar for condominium projects in the area with its modern Italian design infused with eco-friendly architecture with its second tower units already turned over,” IDC president Atty. Jose “Jojo” D. Leviste III added. 

IDC’s series of milestones and achievements have made the company even more stable. Its achievements include its confirmed reputation as builder of one of the first IFC EDGE-certified condominium projects in East Asia, and its successful listing at the Philippine Stock Exhange, Tower B of its twin-tower — Primavera Residences here has recently been turned over; Tower A is now nearly complete and will be ready for turnover shortly.   

A mixed use commercial-residential building, Primavera is sustainably built at the Cagayan de Oro Pueblo de Oro Township, strategically located near SM Cagayan de Oro and major establishments uptown, including a call center. The building is built to maximize natural ventilation and light and equipped with photovoltaic solar panels on its rooftop.