Back to normal in ‘golden city’

It is really frustrating, nay, heart-rending, not only for the residents of Cagayan de Oro City, but also for the rest of the Filipinos, to be confronted with senseless violence, like the bombing of Rosario Arcade here last July 27, even as the world has taken notice of our country’s dramatic economic takeoff. And Cagayan de Oro City has been one of the places in the country registering impressive economic growth as shown by the rapid expansion of its commercial areas.

It is indeed a pity that Cagayan de Oro, also referred to as the city of “Golden Friendship,” would fall prey to a cowardly act of violence. And to think that this city has a tradition of nonviolent struggle against oppression.

Cagayan de Oro produced courageous, libertarian Filipinos who resisted the tyranny of the Marcos dictatorship at the time when many Filipinos cowered under martial law suppression. During the dark period of martial law, many patriotic Cagayanons like Reuben Canoy, Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Homobono Adaza bravely and openly denounced and fought against the curtailment of civil and political liberties. And they never wavered in their democratic commitment when the dictatorship ordered their incarceration. The courageous and patriotic acts of Cagayanons at that time certainly inspired other thinking and brave Filipinos to intensify the struggle for the restoration of freedom and democracy in our benighted land. Truly, it can be said that the seeds of People Power were sown in Cagayan de Oro.

Notwithstanding this dastardly violence, the Cagayanons responded the Sunday after the bombing with a massive outpouring of sympathy and outrage by filling up Cagayan de Oro churches, malls, restaurants and bars. Business as usual, still, in Cagayan de Oro!

—EDWARD B. CONTRERAS,

Pryce Hotel,

Cagayan de Oro City