Klarex admin revives ‘OKK’ center

By Franck Dick Rosete Correspondent

THIS city will soon again have a center where people can more easily raise their concerns in terms of security and ask for government assistance, as the local government here starts to revive its new “Operation Kahusay ug Kalinaw” (OKK) center.

Local officials of Cagayan de Oro led the groundbreaking and capsule-laying ceremony of phase 1 of the Divisoria Redevelopment Project, including the establishment of the previously called OKK Center and now the Resilience Center on Thursday, April 20.

City Mayor Rolando Uy said the rebirth of OKK Center must still be in Divisoria, the center of the city, as an area that became the center of business in the previous years.

“And now that I was given a chance, I tried my best to revive the OKK for preparation and for providing an easy process for the people in asking for assistance,” Uy said in his message during the groundbreaking at Divisoria here.

OKK is the centralized police station in downtown Divisoria that was significant to the city’s peace and order situation in the early 1990s under the administration of the late former Mayor Pablo Magtajas.

It can be recalled that around July last year, Uy promised to revive the OKK due to the series of crime incidents in the city. Apart from the station of the police authorities, the new Resilience Center will also house various city hall offices, including the City Social Welfare Development Office, the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Department, the Roads, and Traffic Administration, and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

MinDA exec meets with USTP Claveria head on smart agri park

Cagayan De Oro

CITY – The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), through its Lordilie Enjambre, Area Management Office-Northern Mindanao officer-in-charge, met with officials from the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) Claveria Campus, headed by Chancellor Renato Arazo, to discuss the establishment of Agropolic Science and Technology Park in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. The establishment of the park will institutionalize the innovation ecosystem of the university, which will significantly help in developing new technologies responsive to the needs of the industry and the economy.

USTP is in the process of formulation plans primarily to bridge the gaps for the protection, conservation, and development of an environment in support to the promotion of the agriculture sector in the locality and neighboring areas.

MinDA is one of the project’s partner stakeholders who will assist in the development plans, taking into account the needs and development aspirations of the local government units of Claveria, Gingoog, Magsaysay, Medina, and Tagoloan, as well as the development programs of national line agencies. (MinDA)

Engr. Jenito Asequia, chief of the City Engineering Office, said phase 1 of the Divisoria Redevelopment Project, which will cover Magsaysay Park, and the Resilience Center, is expected to be finished on June 10 this year.

Uriel Quilinguing, a veteran Cagayan de Orobased journalist who served as the editor-in- chief of the Gold Star Daily from 1988 to 1995, said the OKK Center during those years provided a relative and fast response to people’s concerns.

“Remember, there was no internet or cellular phones at that time in the 1980s. There was a direct telephone line (Misortel). There were standby police patrol vehicles, ambulance vehicles, and fire trucks if there were fire incidents,” Quilinguing said.

The OKK center, Quilinguing added, was a 24/7 peace and order and public assistance center, and he recalled that different news outlets during those times were also staying 24/7 in the OKK center for direct coverage.

The city government, through the establishment of the Resilience Center, is ready to help at any time in any calamity or emergency situation and to extend any assistance to those in need.

The said three-phase redevelopment project will be handled by ESR Construction, a Mindanaobased company, and it has a 360-day completion timeframe. ( MT)