My column, The Long View, for today took its cue from Monday's newsletter:From a conversation close to 20 years ago with Dodong Nemenzo: internal migration changes, so that formerly Tagalog areas have become Ilocano (the Ilocos itself, because of migration abroad, has become “depopulated”), formerly Cebuano areas in Mindanao have become Ilonggo, yet there is a Cebuano enclave in Ilonggo areas; a priest in Cebu around the same time told me Cebu is 10% Moro, dating to the exodus of Moros from Mindanao during the 1970s.From a local politician, a trend going on for three or four elections now: as the economy has expanded and more ways to move ahead open up, fewer and fewer people are interested in running for office. The politician said, in the past every party had multiple aspirants for every position; now, they’re hard-put to scrape up a slate; the result is formerly warring families/parties divide up positions among themselves. Another reason for this is, may be related to item 1: as old populations move away and new migrants take their place, the ties between the political families and the electorate weaken; the result is an increasingly mercenary electorate which has no ties to the candidates and no interest beyond being paid for their votes. This makes even the most local of local races extremely expensive, which pushes political families/parties to divide the positions rather than contest them, to bring down costs.I decided to flesh these ideas out a bit more with data from some academic papers and media reports. Space limitations meant I wasn't able to include the portion from my conversation with Dodong Nemenzo (I think I first mentioned this in my blog back in 2009, see Notes for a prospective article on the emerging politics of a national identity, specifically, VII. In contention: Internal and External Migration):The old territorial-linguistic identities are challenged by:1. Migration abroad2. Internal migrationOf these, the former much more studied than the latter; also, the former is far more in the public consciousness as a phenomenon than the second.I. Impact of migrationA. internal-Quezon: Ilocos/Bicol migration, exodus of Tagalog population-Depopulation of Ilocos-Inquire from Dodong Nemenzo:*changes in linguistic map of Visayas: shifts in Cebuano/Ilonggo speaking areas.*Cebu now 10% Muslim*Mindanao: increase in Ilonggo-speaking vs. Cebuano-speaking areas*ARMM: dispersion of Muslim groups to other areas of Cebu, Manila, Baguio, Pangasinan; dimunition of Bangsamoro image among Moros who fled violence and fellow Moro warlordsB. external, i.e. OFWs and permanent migrants*depopulation accompanied by cultural/ethnic chauvinism or efforts at linguistic preservation-Pangasinan language concerns of Popoy de Vera-U. of Hawaii Ilocano language advocacy-Observation of priests at U. of San Carlos Recoletos: Cebu has 1st generation of primary Tagalog speakersC. Urban vs. Rural Divide-Rigoberto Tiglao 1980s Marxist critique: country’s now fundamentally urban-Yoly Ong: Urban centers/cultures, Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao: fundamentally similar in political opinion-Expanded NCR: represents amalgamation of all ethnic groups, with large Visayan component particularly in Metro Manila itself (see Nemenzo comment that Visayan influence is best seen in changes to Filipino/Tagalog grammar in Metro Manila and hence, national media); ironically, this has triggered, as much as a national public opinion has been created, the political consolidation of provincial political leaders and their machines in 2004-2010.Please click on the link below, to read my column in full. (Let me know if you'd find it more convenient for me to include my column in full in future newsletters).