Saturday, June 6, 2009

Ormoc City After 18 Years



"Good morning, Ormoc!" were the words I caught myself saying the moment I realized that we had truly arrived. It's nice to be back, at last, after eighteen long years.

It was raining a bit on a Saturday, the 23rd of May, which happened to be my brother's 16th birthday. Walking distance from the port is the TRN Travelers Inn, where we stayed. Rested the whole morning and got back to business in the afternoon to see the new Ormoc. Adventure time!

My family lived in the city when I was only two years old until after more than five years. How Ormoc has changed so much! Though I have only a few recollections of the old city, I could tell obvious differences. From the emergence of a number of colleges, malls, banks, popular fast food chains to the Superdome, its progress is something Ormocanons should be proud of.

It was only a two-day visit, but I will be back -- perhaps, nature tripping by that time.

Flashback: The flash flood tragedy in 1991 which killed thousands of people was one of the worst natural disasters that struck the country. It became an international news story and served a lesson that abuse of Mother Nature will have to take its toll. She can castigate and she will. Ormoc's flood mitigation project is an excellent structure addressing the threat of flooding. I can only guess that the city is virtually free of illegal logging activities. Ormoc cannot let the same thing to happen again.


The places I had visited:

Ormoc City Superdome
Ormoc City Hall
Ormoc Catholic Church: Sts. Peter and Paul Parish
Eastern Visayas State University
St. Paul's School of Ormoc Foundation Inc.
St. Peter's College
Fiesta sa Ormoc
Centennial Park
Veterans Park
The Project for Flood Mitigation in Ormoc City
Don Felipe Hotel
Ormoc Bay
Ormoc Executive Building
Gaisano Ormoc


54 comments:

  1. Very nice photos. I am glad that you are happy to be there again. Life is too short to be away from true happiness:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice photos. I bet it's a really nice place too.... Hope I have a chance to visit. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leyte is a very nice place... My last visit was on Feb... Check out the blog here: http://cite-technologian.blogspot.com/2009/04/once-again-great-supercat-ferry_08.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. glad u were near my place, lol. nice pics here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Dorothy L: Happy indeed! Thanks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. @peenkfrik: It is and very clean. Thanks Kim! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Bert Padilla: Wow, so you've been there! I had fun and I'm all ready planning for my revisit. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Imelda: So you're a Leyteno. Where in particular? Thanks for the compliment. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. @HOMER: Pack your bags up and head to Ormoc. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ganda ng place..How i wish i could be there too..Nice photos..;D

    Travel and Living
    Job Hunter

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Sir Joemill, fist time here.. am now following your blog so i can frequently vist, hope u can visit back..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Everytime I hear something about Ormoc i can't help but think of the 1991 disaster brought about by Typhoon uring and of course the "illegal logging".

    It's a good thing Ormoc has fully recovered from that mishap.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lovely! Hopefully I'll have a chance to visit Ormoc when I visit back... thank you for sharing and oh you deserve the award I gave you! =D

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was in Ormoc once and had a wonderful 2 weeks of my life...and even went further to the towns...I tried counting bridges as my guide asked me and I miss a couple because they're too short...and one more wonderful thing...your fresh water is crystal clear...no sediments.. even your beaches...

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Solo: For a first class city, it is very, very clean. Thanks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. @chubskulit: Thank you! I see that you have a nice family. Wish you all the happiness. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  17. @andy in the country: It was in the same year when my family moved to Abuyog (someplace in Leyte) and only months before the unfortunate happened. Got lucky I guess.

    Visit Ormoc!

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Glenda: Oh, you're most welcome and I'm truly humbled. Just let me know if you plan going to Ormoc. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  19. @deandean: I actually did the same and took pictures of them (bridges) during my travel from Ormoc to the southern part of Leyte). When is the revisit? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  20. hi joemill,

    my last visit in ormoc was last 2001. it was just a brief visit to see relatives and friends. We'd been to many places there and even went to baybay and i love the beautiful sceneries of the trip. looking at your pictures really brings back memories again of our trip.I was born in Camotes Island.

    by the way, thank you for the comment . have a nice day always.

    ReplyDelete
  21. @eden: Thanks to you too. It's always nice to hear stories like this. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  22. @harry seenthing: You have to experience it! Thanks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. i remember what happened to ormoc city last 1991 I'm glad that ormoc city is ok now

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Carms: The city went zero after that and miraculously bounced back. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nice blog man! I've always wanted to visit Ormoc. Hopefully I can and visit the places you did.

    ReplyDelete
  26. My Goodness...After reading all of these comments, now I want to visit Ormoc. I don't remember the 1991 disaster; Horrible doesn't hardly describe what happened, from what I am reading, and I am very glad that the city was able to "bounce back." Thank you for coming by my blog and becoming a follower! I am going to do a "Shout Out" on your blog tomorrow (Tuesday), so you'll have to come by and check it out! :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. i foresee myself returning to leyte one of these days. might drop by ormoc again

    ReplyDelete
  28. @aa14: Hope you can and can't wait to read your side of the story then very soon. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  29. @A.Marie: Looking forward to that and you know the right person to contact should you want to pay a visit to Ormoc. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  30. @backpacking philippines: That's my place. Thanks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  31. hi I'm from Leyte too, I grew up in Manila and been visiting Leyte from tiem to time, my family still livign there, last i visited Ormoc was 2006, had a great time there, it was so busy and continuing to develop into a very popular city in leyte,,, is the airport gone ahead? sabi kasi nila magbibuilt daw ng airport dun eh, sana natuloy... please let me know kasi i mgiht go back to leyte soon..

    ReplyDelete
  32. @Lindz: Business is a lot better now, the Ormoc Airport opened last year! Thanks Lindz! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  33. So, the new Ormoc is the "young rising teenager" then... Wish you all the best. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  34. GOod thing Ormoc recovered already. i feel for those who lost their loved ones in that tragedy. thank you for sharing!

    and thanks for visiting my blog! :D

    care for exchange links?

    Solo
    Travel and Living
    Job Hunter

    ReplyDelete
  35. Wow! You've visited a lot of places! Hope I could go there too some day.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Its a very upbeat and optimistic post! Hope you feel home again very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  37. @Solo: Sure. I'll add you up to my list. Thanks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  38. @KY Chua: Teenager really huh? Ha ha! Thanks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  39. @paulo: Not quite a many as far as I'm concerned. Take time to unwind in Ormoc. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  40. @Buenos Aires Photoblog: Thank you so much. I appreciate that! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi Joemill,
    May I invite you to please join Filipinos Unite!!!. You may do so by commenting on my blog containing your name, address, name of blog and its url or by sending an email to melalarilla@gmail.com containing the same set of information. Thank you very much. God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  42. @Mel Alarilla: Thanks for the invite. Filipinos Unite! God Bless!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Well and said. I am also a blogger from Ormoc. A christian blogger to be exact. It's just nice to see blogger who was originally from Ormoc.

    Here's my sites:
    http://thedisciplers.com
    http://wsmuniversity.blogspot.com

    Hope you'll have time to visit my blogs too.:) God bless!!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. @otto: You're seeing the whole of Ormoc Bay. ;)

    @Vince: I've read that you're a pastor. Thank you so much. Reading your blogs. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  45. This one great story on how resilient we Filipinos are. Despite the tragic incident, the people saw an opportunity to grow and mend their ways.

    ReplyDelete
  46. @J.D. Lim: I'm hoping people all over the country will see this as a lesson. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  47. I've been in Ormoc City. I love to keep on coming back. People are so nice and generous. I wanna say thank you to Mayor Eric for giving me the chance to produce an inde film here in Ormoc City. Here's the teaser of the movie that I did produce. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQzhQyPvalI

    ReplyDelete
  48. @ryan: Thanks for sharing your work and for loving Ormoc. This is a big step for Ormocanons. :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. hi, good site very much appreciatted

    ReplyDelete