Archive for October, 2007
Posted on October 30, 2007 - by king
3 Generations of Tradition: Cagayan de Oro’s Oldest Store Looks forward to the next 71 years.
By Mike Baños
In the center of Wadhu’s Quality Store stands a 1931 NCR cash register, bought by the store’s founder by mail order from Sears & Roebuck in the United States 71 years ago. During the world war two, the owner wrapped it in grease and buried it in his backyard. After the war, he dug it up and it still serves the same store now run by his grand son Wadhu John.
That cash register is the living testimony of the traditions that has made Wadhu’s Quality Store Cagayan de Oro’s oldest surviving retail store, a tradition established by the store’s patriarch and carried on by the third generation who now runs it.
Seventy one years ago, Wadhu Dharamdas Uttamchandani set up in Cagayan de Misamis (as Cagayan de Oro was then known) ‘Wadhu’s Home of Quality’ near Plaza Divisoria, the town’s social and commercial center.
Mr. Wadhu arrived as a 12-year old boy from India in the Philippines in 1924. He was employed at the Indian Bazaar owned by his uncle Nebhraj Ramchand Buhdrani in Zamboanga City for 12 years where he gained his basic knowledge and business savvy in the retail trade. (more…)
Posted on October 30, 2007 - by king
What makes Cagayan de Oro tick? Or why Cagayanons (natives and non natives alike) love our city?
By Gwendolyn Ramos-Garcia
I have long pondered the question because of the vast number of transplants who have decided to stay and make Cagayan de Oro “home”.
Some understandably uprooted themselves from their hometowns and settled here because they married into local families. Prime examples : Segundo Gaston of Silay and Dionisio Fabella of Pagsanjan who married my grandfather’s 2 younger sisters, Celerina and Rosario Neri, respectively; Diego Imperio & Crispin Joaquin to Celerina’s & Rosario’s younger sisters, Gracia and Violeta, Jose Montalvan of Belmonte, Cuenca, Spain to Concepcion Corrales y Roa (my great grandmother’s sister), Dr. Francisco Xavier of Antique to Dolores Roa ( my grandmother’s sister), Valente Camacho of Bataan to Luz Chaves y Neri, Benjamin Denosta to Enriqueta Garcia y Corrales, Casimiro Tamparong of Ozamis to Felisa Neri, Silvino Maestrado to Josefa Chaves y Abejuela, George Willkom of Ohio to Maria Ramos (cousin of my grandfather, Lucio), Dr. Jose Marfori to Carmen Neri, Justininiano R. Borja of Bohol & Ilocos to Dulce Valdehueza y Roa, Monico Gacula to Nena Montalvan y Corrales, Manolo Jaldon of Zamboanga to Flora Yamut, Hernando Pineda of Manila to Trinidad Reyes y Roa, Fernando Torres to Victoria Avancena, Rosauro Dongallo of Cebu to Didi Valmores, Mike Siojo to Naty Tabique, Jaime Munoz & Johnny Wilson to sisters Soly & Editha Corrales, Bernabe de la Fuente of Cotabato to Mercedes.Velez y Xavier (actually, 3 de la Fuente brothers, all boarders at the Ateneo de Cagayan, married 3 local belles – Mercedes Velez, Dulce Bautista & Violeta Fernandez). and the list goes on & on.
But what about those who did not really have close ties to this town ? What magnet drew them to Cagayan? Was it a new job assignment or a business venture? Or perhaps just a (more…)