SHOWCASE FOR CAGAYAN’S BEST, FINEST OPENS

Often seen as paling in comparison to the Ilocos and the Cordilleras, and known to many Filipinos only as the place that usually registers the country’s highest temperatures, Cagayan Valley now takes center stage and has a chance to shine and show the rest of the country that it has as much to offer and be proud of as the better known parts of the north.

The new Robinsons Place in Tuguegarao City, which formally opened recently, features more than its anchor establishments and popular chains. It is also raising the profile of Cagayan Valley’s homegrown brands.

Maristel’s Cakes and Cuddles’ Mango Bravo can stand icing to icing with the best in Metro Manila, but it is the hopia, unique and distinctive with its date filling, that a visitor should bring home as pasalubong.

Franco’s by Manio’s Pampangueña may be miles away from its Kapampangan roots in Tarlac but its dishes are no less authentic.

Migo’s Diner has snacks, particularly Tuguegarao’s signature

pancit batil patong and pancit cabagan.

Criselda’s offers another variety, pancit tasa, aside from batil patong and cabagan, as well as Ibanag favorites igado and dinakdakan.

Robinsons Tuguegarao provides the fitting backdrop for the homegrown enterprises with its rice motif both outside and inside, the 50th mall of Robinsons Land Corp.’s (RLC) homage to Cagayan’s main crop.

RLC president Frederick D. Go thanked the local entrepreneurs who joined the new mall, calling them “partners in making Tuguegarao even more vibrant and progressive”.

Tuguegarao Mayor Jefferson P. Soriano, an old friend of Go’s, is hopeful the new city landmark “will bring golden blessings, create jobs and raise incomes”.

Robinsons malls general manager Arlene Magtibay said it was just a happy coincidence, not a deliberate decision, that Tuguegarao was hosting a milestonemaking 50th mall.

But it was also fitting, she said, as Tuguegarao was a big city with good local governance and bustling economy.