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.
