Your VOICES.

Let me tell you a little something…Cagayan de Oro is a great place to live in.

Nope, that wasn’t a typo you just read…once more.

Cagayan de Oro is a great place.

No typhoon. Unheard of. Gutsy winds and downpours yes, but they do not come with charming names like “Reming” or one haughty “Milenyo” – them that hollers and wrecks. Not that we are excited about having one like we all await winter, but that’s one CDO pride: Typhoon-free. To be poetic about it, we are not fond of attaching our city to tropical storms — to a tropical fruit, yes, juicy Pineapple.

Back to this great city — In spite of its narrow streets that can trigger nerve constrictions due to rush hour traffic jams. In spite of one too many chewing gums wads stuck under your seat in a movie theater (My sticky fate struck while watching Johnny’s Pirates of the Caribbean; thought that I had mine sea creatures wedged in ‘my other cheek’).

In spite of dilapidated edifices with gray walls plastered with unusual business signs, marvelous cosmetic success-claims, anti-urination graffiti fit for the pigs – ayaw pahingi diri butakal! — (We are coming up with a photo essay of this collection, soon!).

In spite of bookstore salesladies who read their “Dabinsi Code” and locals who made a buzz about the “The Littermen” concert. In spite of students who can stare like Bamboo (Hoy! Pinoy ako!), ready to exterminate the whole jeepneydom for their rights to “SP” — and the equally dazed drivers who careen their PUJs like they are auditioning for Kamikazee’s co-lead vocal - do be do be doo…

In spite of the perplexity of the ‘Cathedral, Gaston Park and Island’ destination-calling – when in fact this is one but the same complex.

In spite of rush hour re-routing scheme that averts our appetites for JRJ-taken-out dinner.

In spite of Cruz-Taal liaisons and sex scandals…never mind, the latter are our contributions to a national fancy.

I love CDO in spite of it all because one thing about it will never change for me…this is home and we are the friendliest of the lot. (One HR of a foreign-owned IT company who has done the rounds hiring people in major Philippine cities has glorious words about CDO congeniality).

And “home” is the only place in the Philippines that will understand me that I like my Sisig with gravy – heck we can pour gravy on anything. It is only in CDO that street-food vinegar dips are the organic “tuba” variety. Never mind live organisms, yore lactobacilli. It is only in CDO that the conglomerate Jollibee Chickenjoy pales and crumbles compared to the homegrown “JRJ”, which by any name is jokingly called “Jollibee Ra Japun.”

And where else but in CDO that I could still see the fishes and mosses on the bottom of the limpid River flowing right smack..sa city mismo.

Beyond ‘Persimmon-Cinnamon’ confusion and ‘Motorela-Motorola’ affiliation, CDO is a wonderful place that boasts of affordable, delectable, hearty eats and the happening Night Café (and side spots) that keep the city vibrant.

In fact, I believe that there are still many things about CDO that are yet to be discovered – the mighty River, including. (You see, it took Marikina City a while to do a Riverbanks). And I’ve noticed that more and more Kagay-anons are becoming more exploratory – good foreign films, indie music, obscure bookstores, themed-restos and vintage fashion (ukay-ukay, if you may).

And to guide the locals to that curiosity err exploration, CDOkay will discover new things and not-so-new things that matter. Together, let us bite the bits and pieces that have seen and will see CDO live up to its “Golden Friendship” sash (How’s that for a feel of a winner?).

It really depends on you Kagay-anon, and your lust for life. If you are not getting the drift, ‘TRY MO‘ mag white-water rafting (or so you thought that I missed on this one).

We at CDOkay wonder at the sight of bridges. And we realize that things are providential. We are crossing the times to where we are heading…to things “Okay!”

Riding high with the rapids of time, CDOkay is doing a redesign. In full color, there still are “Try Mo”…”Cogon”…”Trabaho”…”Divisoria”…”Didto-Diri Directory”…”CDO-u-Know”…and “Public Posting Service.” We are on a binge, so “Plato” will make way for “Eat’s CDO!”

We are opening more interesting sections. Soon, you will start your CDOkay trip with “Chada” which is basically your scanner of all “okay” things CDO has to offer, bits about what to watch out for: Chada-Kaon, Chada-Sine, Chada-Bar, Chada-sound, Chada-Sites, Chada-Shopping.

Chada! We are living in the exciting albeit harried ‘24/7’ and we wonder what’s a “day’s end” mean. Whenever, whatever is yours, CDOkay is just a click away. CDOkay is not exactly stuff to write Cagayan de Oro City about…it’s stuff to write “about home.”