Ilonggos in Metro Manila should come home

ILONGGOS are one of the bigger groups of provincianos in Metro Manila.

By their nature they are good mixers and they live wherever convenient for their kind of livelihood or business.  You will find them residing in almost all the districts and cities of Metro Manila.

No less than the present City Mayor of Manila, Francisco “Isko” Domagoso Moreno, is of Ilonggo decent with his father coming from Antique province.  They now speak Filipino but you could generally detect the Ilonggo accent when you converse with them.

The unique accent is something hard to remove from many native Ilonggos when they speak even if they now live or work in other places. Worse, some speak English with Ilonggo intonation. 

While working with a commercial bank and assigned in Naga City in the Bicol Region, we met a customer who worked with a pharmaceutical company and would come to buy a bank draft with us every week to remit his collection to  Manila. Our branch had newly opened and whenever he visited we would converse with him in Pilipino. 

On one occasion, we asked from where he was. When he said he was from Iloilo. We told him that we suspected all along that he was Ilonggo because of the accent of his Tagalog. We laughed at our discovery because he suspected all along that we were Ilonggo, too, because of our accent when we   conversed with one another. From then on we decided to speak in native Hiligaynon with one another.

Unless your business or profession will make it very necessary for you to operate and live in Metro Manila, we invite you to come home to Iloilo. As we cited in last week’s article, the best testimony to convince you that Iloilo is the best place to live and do business are the two recognitions it received recently, viz:

1) Proclamation of Iloilo by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry or PCCI as the Most Business-Friendly Urbanized City in the Philippines

2) Iloilo’s international airport was ranked 18th in the Best of Asia Airports, and

3) There is no heavy traffic with our expanded roads in the city, as well as in the municipalities of the province.  You can therefore decide to live even at your hometowns, if you wish. The major roads to the city are well paved.

Maybe for some of you, because of job or business reasons you stay in Metro Manila, try to come home to Iloilo this holiday season and treat yourself to a tour of the city and suburbs at Christmastime.      

It is important that you make plans right now. You will make the best decision in your life and discover that you can live longer and cheaper in the province than in the chaotic and polluted concrete jungle that is Metro Manila!

GEM OF THOUGHT

“Where are you lady fair, nymphet you maybe?

At the very spot, where I took the shot,

I kept   on coming back,

Oh Lady by the Sea, you have stolen my heart!

***

For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN

1 COMMENT

  1. So true..im an ilonggo and married to a manilan..when i retired working as a seaman,i decided to retire in Iloilo particularly Dumangas where i bought 2.5 hectrs of palaisdaan..its a dream come true,i enjoy fresh fish and veggies..my bp 200/110 down to normal..im enjoying my life to the fulliest…

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