"The reform we needed"

I grew up in a province where progress is far less manifested than other parts of the country. Here, where
reasonable job opportunities are rare and where workers are not compensated well with what they
deserve. I grew up in an environment where people's perspective of success is being able to work at least
outside our province. I grew up with the idea that in order for us to realize our dreams and have better
future, we need to go out for there is no assurance of good life in where we are. I long for that day when
opportunities would be equally available in every region of the country.

Every province needs the same development as what is manifested in the most urban areas. With all the
evident potential to prosper, most provinces remain underrated and underdeveloped. As a result, people
tend to take risk and leave their family with the hopes of getting better opportunities in other places. I
saw children cry because their parents will be working on distant places. I saw families broke because of
distance, distance that they have to take not because they wanted to, but because taking it might be the
only way to have their lives be better. Every province needs the same emphasis as what is given in Metro
Manila.

I long for that day when all our nurses, engineers, accountants, and other professionals do not need to go
out of their homeland just to venture to some place that will give them the salary they deserve. I long for
that day when people do not need to go far from home just to land into jobs that will compensate their
worth and the quality work they give. I long for that day when our kids do not need to cry because their
parents will work away and will not able to hug them whenever they need comfort. I long for that day
when our parents do not need to cry of how they missed their family so much yet have no choice but to
wait until their contract expire. We need that day when people do not have to go away in search for better
opportunities. We need change, we need a constitutional reform.

In order to realize a progressive change, we have to start into something. According to CORE, "Angat
Probinsya, Angat Pamilya" is an inclusive tagline highlighting the needs and hopes of each Filipino who
dream of a better Philippines for themselves and their provinces so they could experience better lives not
only in economically-advanced Metro Manila but in their own provinces. Perhaps, this program is the head
start we needed and the forward move toward achieving the equitable progress we have been longing
for. The concentration of funds, industry, and opportunities were long been manifested in Central Luzon,
Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog. This needs to be changed, each province needs the same emphasis
as what is given to the more developed regions. Economic progress is the most important goal of every
nation and indeed, a progressive country needs progressive regions.

We tend to visualize a society in which every right is protected and opportunities are granted equitably.
The correlation of the responsibilities of a family to the society and the society for every family must be
emphasized and understood by everyone because each one contributes to the betterment of the other.
Every Isabelino deserves a better Isabela. Every Filipino deserves a better Philippines. Macro-level
development needs micro-level efforts and movements. Indeed, "Angat Probinsya, Angat Pamilya" is a
good move and the reform we needed toward the betterment of Filipino families, and of provinces which
extends to the betterment of the Philippines as a whole.