Misamis Oriental Provincial Capitol

Part 6 of a series.

DAY 1.

After communing with nature at the Gardens of Malasag, we instructed our taxi driver to bring us to Limketkai Mall, the largest mall in the city. There, we bought some personal needs but we didn’t stay long and just took another cab to bring us to the Misamis Oriental Provincial Capitol.

Cagayan de Oro City is the capital of the Province of Misamis Oriental so it is home to the provincial capitol, the province’s seat of government.

Built sometime in 1948-1950, the Provincial Capitol Building features American Colonial Architecture

Located in front of the Provincial Capitol is the Vicente de Lara Park. Named after a former governor, the park features age-old mahogany trees that provide a therapeutic shade for the promenades. The park is a popular jogging area during the morning. In the evening, it simply becomes a place to laze away, a sweet escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. I LOVE how parks in Mindanao’s major cities are very-well maintained. Congratulations to the people of Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos!

FUN FACT: The park was formerly called MacArthur Park, named after American soldier Douglas MacArthur.

Improvement works on the park are still ongoing.

Standing on the middle of the park and unveiled just a few months ago is the Heritage of Misamis Oriental Monument.

The Heritage of Misamis Oriental Monument was sculpted by Eduardo Castrillo, the man behind the People Power Monument in EDSA. Sculptured with his constructivism method, the monument depicts the historical, socio-cultural and economic transformation of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro. The work of art is an attempt to capture the participation of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro residents in the Philippine revolution during the Spanish and American regimes, as personified by their leaders Don Apolinar Velez and Don Nicolas Capistrano, and of good governance represented in the monument by the late Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez. The symbolic sculptural tableau includes a mosaic of respected well-known leaders and statesmen, a Higa-onon woman with a child, a Muslim maiden playing an indigenous musical instrument, professional migrants, and historical landmarks such as the Cagayan de Oro river, Saint Augustine Cathedral and Xavier University. All the human figures are in double life-size intricately sculptured out of number 14 and 16 thick brass sheets while the 14×14-meter base was formed out of the original obelisk enhanced by fine tiles and mosaic glass.

Anyway, when we were about to leave the Provincial Capitol complex, I didn’t fail to notice the heavy traffic congestion along Velez Street that has been ongoing since the early afternoon…

Traffic… not good.

I hope the city government does something about it as though traffic may be an indication of progress, it is generally bad for the our health and the health of the world we live in.

(…to be continued)