When my grandparents were getting ill, my mother’s siblings requested them to migrate to Metro Manila. And so they heeded and left the city.  When my maternal grandmother died at Metro Manila, my grandfather then insisted that he go back to our hometown to spend his twilight years.  And the rest is history.  Truly, there must be something special in our hometown.  And it was Tacloban City, Leyte.

We grew up in a subdivision where others refer to as the floating subdivision, that is, the V&G Subdivision, which occupies a large area of the topography of Tacloban City.  A heavy downpour of rain and so much more of typhoons would cause our subdivision to be isolated from the rest of Tacloban City.  Back then, as an innocent child and wishing for suspension of classes, it was indeed a great quality time to just eat together as a family on a relatively long dining table, laugh and share stories of all sort.  Our humble abode withstood all those natural calamities, be it an earthquake or typhoon.

I am the eldest of six and we are proud to say we were given the proper education by our middle-class parents.  Everything was a struggle for them especially with the age gaps that we have.  I am a CPA-Lawyer and my three brothers are a Physician-Medical Technologist, Electronics Communication Engineer and a Marine Deck Officer, respectively.  We have two sisters, one is a Certified Public Accountant and the youngest is currently in college taking up Architecture.  For further studies and career opportunities, we have to leave our hometown in the meantime but every special occasion demands an attendance at home.

For all the achievements that we made and endeavors we have to undertake, Tacloban City has always been there as our central support system.  And even on my quest to be a travel blogger, Eastern Visayas has been so supportive that in the 2013 October issue of Espejo Magazine, it was a full page feature of myself as a blogger.  No amount of words can be explained how grateful I am despite me being a prodigal son of the city.  By prodigal, meaning I am rarely seen in the city.

While continuous communication is made with my childhood friends despite the distance, we still get the excitement of having to meet in the city each time I go home.  It really feels good to be home. 

The year 2013 was an intended year for me in reconnecting and discovering more of my hometown and sharing it to the rest of the world.  After almost 15 years, I was able to witness the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival and despite the typhoon, the show went on with a spectacular display of talents.  I was amazed and proud of the rich cultural heritage of my province.  From then on, several invitations were received from my childhood friends that we shall take a road trip of Samar and Leyte even if entails going home every weekend as my work is based in Metro Manila.  I did not accede with the simple reason that there are so many time for that.  I can always do that on holidays and long weekends if schedule permits.

Tacloban City was truly a highly urbanized city and more investors were willing to enter the market.  It was becoming organized and the local government indeed implemented its industrialized urban plan which I had the chance to had a sneak peek when I was in high school while my friend Jaja and I interviewed the then Mayor of Tacloban City, Bejo Romualdez back in the year 2004.  During that time I had doubts of the plan being implemented as how could the city construct an astrodome or an amphitheatre in a location which was then populated by residents in possession of the land since time immemorial?  And it was done as I saw it before my own eyes during my homecoming on December of 2011.

I am not a registered voter and if the same is a crime I would gladly surrender myself.  Thus, this is not to promote any political partisan but just to say that when given the resources and the concrete plan, in due time, a goal shall be achieved.

And 8 November 2013 came.  The day fate comes into play and changed the lives of every resident of the provinces of Leyte and Samar including my beloved hometown, Tacloban City.