I am a probinsiyana. I was born in Cebu City, my mother’s home city. I partly grew up there, as well as in Dipolog City in Zamboanga del Norte, my father’s home province. I have beautiful memories growing up in Dipolog.

As someone who has lived in Metro Manila for more than 30 years now, I saw how it has developed and become so congested, and how cities in the provinces (with the exception of some major ones, like Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro cities) did not progress as much and continued to lag behind developmentally. According to the National Statistics Office, the National Capital Region accounted for 36 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2018 and has a population of 12.8 million people, or 12.8 percent of the total.