A Tale of Two Cities by Arnold P. Alamon

A Tale of Two Cities 

by Arnold P. Alamon 

In my weekly commute for work, I travel between the sister cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. The trip is like a travel back in time for me, for Iligan displays many of the features that I love about my hometown a decade ago when the beast that is Cagayan now was still a manageable and livable city. Iligan has long been overtaken by her obese sister economically but I don't necessarily consider that bad thing. 

For one thing, the laid-back provincial feel has long been lost in Cagayan and you can experience this among its people. It is very hard to get a smile much more proper service among frontliners in stores and customer service because everyone is in a hurry, tired, and obviously over-worked. I am reminded of the feel of Metropolitan Manila especially its army of grumpy contractual workers eking out a living day in and out. 

In the most important matter of food, it has become very expensive in Cagayan. It is very common nowadays for hole-in-the-wall eateries in this city to charge Php 40 upwards for a single viand. If you want to survive on your meager allowance, there is no choice but to go vegetarian. There is good food around, but it will cost you because you pay for the gaudy ambience which you are sure to take in because of the long wait for your order to arrive. 

Iligan City, on the other hand, while having been excluded from the distorted cosmopolitanism that afflicts her sister city, still retains some of the matters that we have lost. Here it is easy to solicit a smile and a light friendly conversation about the weather with your manang vendor or shop attendant. It might not have fancy restaurants but it has it's own share of reasonably priced good food. 

There is an eatery at a curve where MisOr meets LDN, and this merging is represented in the halal and non-halal sections of their food choices and dining area. One can have a hot meal and the best bananas while staring at the sad lights of cargo ships on Iligan Bay. 

An important measure of the ease and convenience of life of the people here in Iligan is the fact that most of the residents can still go home to take their lunch in their respective homes. This singular convenience might not seem important for many but it reflects greatly on the traffic situation, degree of stress, and over all sense of well-being that Iliganons enjoy over residents of Cagayan. 

The tale of these two cities tell us of the divergent paths to development that they both undertook and the trajectories that they also will have to face. 

Cagayan has continued to benefit from its position as a major port and trading hub serving the whole Northern Mindanao region. It will likewise continue to attract more migrants who will cram its urban spaces, provide for cheap but overworked contractual labor in the service sector, and jack up food prices consequently. 

Iligan will stay as it is I believe. Despite the stunted project of industrialization with the moth-balling of the promising National Steel Corporation, there is still the presence of 1st stage industrial processing enterprises of agriculture-based raw materials. Its growth will also be carried by its role as a trading hub for the goods to and from the Zamboanga Peninsula albeit limited. But again that is not a bad thing. 

I think the two cities have much to learn from each other. Cagayan should look at Iligan as a reminder of its inclusive and simple past. Iligan should likewise not be blinded by the neon lights and malls that now dot the landscape of its bigger sister. For if there is any lesson that Iligan can cull from its big sister Cagayan, is that not all growth is good. The quality of life of a people is a better measure of meaningful progress.

forthcoming in the June 21 issue of sunstar cdo