There are three things to do in Cagayan de Oro according to this giant poster of Northern Mindanao Territories and Provinces posted at CDO Airport -- rafting, visit Gardens of Malasag and... yes, rafting. Natawa kami bigla.
"O, magagawa naman pala natin lahat," biro ni Mytee, college batchmate, network colleague and fellow trainer during PECOJON's Peace and Conflict Journalism (PJ) Training 1 held in Marco Polo Plaza, Cebu last June.
We were comparing what was in the poster to what we were expected to do for our PJ2 in CDO. Sabi kasi sa sched namin, we'll be doing rafting (probably on the last day). But for the first three days, we were expecting serious training and lectures at... guess where? At the Gardens of Malasag Eco-tourism Village.
A few kilometers away from the airport, the village is a mountain resort managed by the Philippine Tourism Authority in Barangay Cugman, CDO. It was pretty decent especially for a government-run facility and I've heard cheap too. There were kubo-like and cabin lodges to choose from, complete with amenities - aircon, bathroom and TV for some lucky ones like me. Plus balconies where you can get a great view of downtown CDO and the Northern Mindanao Seas.
Masarap sanang tumambay lang at makipagkwentuhan. Pero yun nga, we have things to do here so after settling and unpacking our stuffs, diretso na kami sa Seminar venue na kapitbahay din lang namin. There we ate our lunch (where I had buko soup for the first time) and then proceeded with our advanced Peace and Conflict Journalism Training.
Reunion ito with our fellow Cebu trainees (yun lang many was not able to attend because of the Manila Pen Siege, some were even among the arrested) and then a few more from the more recent Davao training.
We started with review of concepts learned during PJ1 and then ended our Day One with screening of independent digital film "
Loose Change 9/11" which suggested the possibility that the 9/11 attacks were actually planned and executed by the U.S. government itself.
My Day Two, started with me unable to catch CDO's sunrise as planned. No, I didn't wake up
late. I love waking up early in the morning especially when you are not in Metro Manila.
Mas madaling gumising at mas masarap gumising.
Kaya lang sa CDO, tirik na si Haring Araw by 6:30 am (kahit December). Plus, our cottage
balconies were facing north and as such it was difficult for me to capture the sun.
So instead, inenjoy ko na lang ang view sa umaga. This is what I love about mornings in the province -- masa
rap magpa-araw, masarap ang simoy ng hangin, walang problema o trabahong kailangang atupagin at higit sa lahat... masarap ang breakfast!
Especially kung ganito ang view mo:
Yes, better views of morning CDO from a restaurant somewhere in the upper part of Malasag. Nakakapagod lang paakyat pero okay na morning exercise na rin yun. Food as usual was great. But the company and conversations were even better. Hot topic pa rin siyempre ang Manila Pen siege.
Mytee and I played with my camera and took shots of some of our fellow trainees and trainors during breakfast. Yung mga great clear closeup portrait shots dito are Mytee's. Yung mga pasmado at nanginig and mostly horizontal shots naman are mine.
More lectures for the whole day about recognizing Propaganda if I'm not mistaken. In one activity I have to pretend I was Father Bossi, the italian priest kidnapped by... no one's for sure until now I guess. He was called "Big Foot" and "Gentle Giant" which is something I'm not, hence the need to stand on a mono bloc.
It wasn't all lectures though. After lunch we were able to rest for a while. Nagbrownout pa so everyone was able to rest. I saw Jay reading a book : )
Me and Mytee naman were toured around the village by sir Baños of ABS-CBN CDO, also PECOJON's coordinator for Northern Mindanao. Nakakita kami ng aviary, ng unggoy, ng usa at nagphotoshoot sa hanging bridge.
I think we were late for the next lecture because of this. Buti na lang, no dancing punishment like the ones we had to do in Marco Polo. More activities that afternoon and evening. We were tasked to write a speech for Presidents of two nations in conflict, Mahinda and Madanada. Our nation (I forgot which) had to declare war but without letting everyone know that we are only after water resources from the other country (sounds familiar noh?). Using all propaganda methods learned, we have to convince everyone that the other country was to blame and that we are left with no other choice but to go to war. Serious noh? Everyone was, while working on the speeches.
Pero ibang usapan na during the presentation. It was a fun activity with some groups' presidents taking their roles seriously and creatively, complete with costumes. Our facilitator Antonia Koop played along pretending she's from UN, I "cried" while singing our "National Anthem", and like real people from media, the speeches were extensively covered with photos and videos.
