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Investor finds rural village in Malaybalay ideal for subdivision

By Walter I. Balane

| September 28, 2012 - 8:58 pm

KALASUNGAY, Malaybalay City (MindaNews/28 September) – If there’s one thing that has attracted a real estate investor to this barangay, it’s the cool weather and quiet surroundings.

Alfredo Layos, owner of the Alsomavic Estate Development Corporation (AEDC), said the first thing that entered his mind when he decided to go into real estate business is to build a subdivision in this city.

AEDC is developing the 215-unit Midland Valley Homes in a four-hectare property in Zone 4, Kalasungay. The firm held the subdivision’s grand opening Friday with five units opened for public viewing.

The London-based Layos is operating businesses in Davao, Surigao, and Agusan del Sur. He said he chose Kalasungay for the subdivision project due to its different advantage as a rural area and the fast processing of business applications in the city.
Layos dismissed fears his business might not do well since Kalasungay, a highway barangay north of the city, is far from the commercial center.

“I don’t have to flow with the stream.

I will put up my business in this side of the city (and bring the progress here),” he added.   According to the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) which was revised in September last year, Kalasungay is proposed to revert to being a rural barangay for the period 2011-2020.

Under the 2000 CLUP, Kalasungay was classified as an urbanizing barangay.

Its present classification is “residential, cultural, agri-industrial, and institutional area.” In the next 10 years it is eyed as a residential haven and agri-forestry center.  Layos recalled that his dream to live and make business in Malaybalay dates back to 1983 when as a high school student in Libona, Bukidnon, he took the wrong bus and arrived instead in what was then a rustic town.

“I promised myself that someday I will be back to build a house here,” he recalled.

Layos said the subdivision, which aims to cater mainly to teachers and other government workers and private employees, is just the start of their development in the area.

He said he is planning to put up amenities that could also be made available to the public.   The Kalasungay barangay council welcomed the opening of the subdivision as the biggest real property investment in the village so far.  Village chief Ernie Paano told MindaNews it would boost the local economy through increased population and share in the real property tax of the city.  “It can also draw other investors to Kalasungay,” he added. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)