VICTORIA Ong-Banzon, known to family and friends as “Hariette,” could have easily secured a high-paying position in top corporations in Makati, Ortigas, Bonifacio Global City, or even abroad in Singapore, Hong Kong or New York. Yet, like all her siblings, she chose to return home to Capiz, now known as Roxas City.“After finishing my degree in Industrial Engineering, there was this certain feeling that beckoned me to come home,” Ong-Banzon explained. She missed her family, desired to be with her aging parents and was eager to initiate countryside development in their hometown.

Ong-Banzon’s father, businessman Vicente Ong Jr., was the eldest of 11 children of Filipino-Chinese-Spanish mestizo Vicente Ong Sr. of Iloilo City and Valladolid.