Why Mindanao?

THE Philippines is 123 years old and in all these years, we have often worn the Luzon lens when we talk of the country; more so of the National Capital Region (NCR). There are people from Luzon who have not traveled to Mindanao because of the peace and order situation there and the preconceived notion that Mindanao is different from the rest of the country.

Mindanao is the second largest island of the country and the seventh most populous island in the world. It is divided into six administrative regions, 27 provinces, 33 cities and 10,082 barangay (villages). These regions are the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Davao Region (Region 11), Soccsksargen (Region 12), Caraga (Region 13) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The island is contiguous with 10,202,192 hectares in terms of total land area and is the food basket of the country.