White Water Rafters Lounge boosts Cagayan de Oro’s OTOP

Cagayan de Oro City  — The One-Town, One Product (Otop) identified for this capital city of Northern Mindanao has just gotten a boost in the arm with the White Water Rafters Lounge which opens within the next two weeks at the SM Cagayan de Oro Car Park Building.

“We are supporting Cagayan de Oro’s unique Otop with this facility which we will be providing free-of-charge to the industry,” said Bienvenido Paul C. Ferrer III, SM City Cagayan de Oro Mall Manager. “Besides the air-conditioned facility which will be free for the use of all white water rafters, we are also making available for them adjacent comfort rooms which we usually open only for big events.”

SM City Cagayan de Oro is the nearest mall to the white water rafting jump-off point in Barangay Kabula, a mere five kilometers away from the mall. At present, most outfitters use Plaza Divisoria in downtown Cagayan de Oro or Limketkai Center in Lapasan as their gathering place. Both are approximately over 14 kilometers to Bgy. Kabula.

Besides the convenience of starting off nearer the white waters, the SM White Water Lounge will also make available to interested entrepreneurs “wall shops” where they can provide white water rafters with frequently used (and forgotten!) items needed for river rafting such as sunblock, strap-on sandals, shirts, shorts and batteries for cameras and videocams.

The Department of Trade and Industry in consultation with the local government of Cagayan de Oro recently identified white water rafting as the city’s unique Otop.

Started over 12 years ago by members of the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (now the NORMMS Ecological Foundation, Inc.), it is the Philippines’ first and only year round river rafting course and is a mere 40-minute jeepney ride from the ‘traditional’ jump off point in downtown Plaza Divisoria.

In 2001, the Cagayan de Oro Whitewater Rafting Adventure, Inc. became the first commercial white water rafting operator in the Philippines (there are other white water operators in Cagayan Valley and Davao but these do not offer year round operations). There are now six white water “outfitters” serving the basic and advanced Cagayan River white water ‘runs’.

All six players offer two types of runs: the beginners or amateur course runs 12.9 kms. with 14 Class 2-3 rapids and lasts 3.5 hrs. (including side trips) while the advanced or extreme/expert course is 18.6 kms. long with 22 Class 2-4 rapids which can take as long as five hrs. to traverse.

The industry’s river guides have to undergo and pass a grueling training program which included first aid and basic life support/CPR under the Phil. National Red Cross (PNRC), river running for 2.5 months with a certified trainor from the International Rafting Federation (IRF), Mabuhay Host/Frontline Servicing under the Dept. of Tourism Region 10 and Cagayan de Oro Historical Walkthroughs with the city tourism and historical commission.

Just recently, a team composed of local IRF-qualified river guides competed for the first time ever in the World Rafting Championship 2007 held in Inje, South Korea and gave a good account of themselves despite much bigger and veteran opponents from European, American and Asian countries.

DTI adopted the Otop in 2004 from Japan’s highly successful One Village One Product (Ovop) started in 1979 at the Oita prefecture (or province). Ovop helped people from a particular place develop a product or service unique to their area into global standards with a wider market. Its main advocate, Oita Gov. Morihiko Hiramatsu was awarded the 1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his advocacy in helping Asian communities develop their human resources through self-reliance and creativity.

The Ovop website reports that by 2002, Ovop had helped develop 338 local specialties, 148 facilities, 133 cultural items, 111 revitalized regions, and 80 items related to environment, or a total of 810 products worldwide.

Thanks to Ovop, Yufuin town, considered the birthplace of Ovop, now welcomes over 3.8 million visitors every year, or more than the entire Philippines did last year.

In the Philippines, over 1,200 Otop enterprises have already been identified, among them the sinamay cloth of Lagonglong, goat’s milk of Naawan and coconut sugar of Balingasag, all in Misamis Oriental. (PR)