I was born and raised in Zamboanga City, so I’ve always been fond of it, then I moved to Cebu for college. 4 years after, I arrived back (mga 3 weeks ago) to celebrate my grad and do all family shenanigans, only to feel that we are not really progressing here. 🥲

I’ve experienced a handful hour-long blackouts already the signal interruptions — in Cebu, my fingers can count just how many times these happen, and they’re only under a minute. Five blinks, and the power is back. The traffic’s worse here too. Congested, even the smokes cannot breathe. Dating scene is weird; people are too pushy and “kauyabon” but they sure don’t have the financial independence to maintain the responsibility commitments bring on the table.

Despite this, I cannot remove what seems to be an inherited nostalgia. In fact, my criticism doesn’t at all suggest I want to leave as soon as possible. It’s more about pain that everything still feels the same since I left, if not worse: the poor are still poor, if not poorer. Employment is scarce. Economic crisis is pervasive across the country, but ZC looks like it directly drinks every crisis multiplied.

The black sheeps in most Asian families, for me, are right when they said that living far away from home — in a better city — gives you a fresh set of eyes, in that by the time you return to your hometown, you’ll see it in a different light.