The vote-rich provinces

Anyone who is running for public office must know the basic things.
First, how many total registered voters are there?
Second, How many do I need to get my self elected?
Third, Where will I get these votes?
Those running for national elective posts like the presidency, vice presidency and senate know by heart the vote rich provinces and cities, and how many registered voters these provinces have.
Common sense would dictate that by just landing consistently in the winning circle in these vote rich places, will increase the chances of getting elected.
Here is the list of total number of registered voters of the top twenty vote-rich provinces in the country, as per Comelec data as of December 14, 2009.
This data is obviously prior to the extension of registration of voters last December 21, 2009 as directed by the Supreme Court.
The order is from the highest number of registered voters to the lowest (twentieth):

01. Cebu Region VII 2,416,368
02. Cavite Region IV-A 1,654,986
03. Pangasinan Region I 1,622,094
04. Negros Occidental Region VI 1,550,850
05. Bulacan Region III 1,479,765
06. Davao del Sur Region XI 1,465,611
07. Laguna Region VI-A 1,440,660
08. Nueva Ecija Region III 1,289,804
09. Iloilo Region VI 1,257,661
10. Rizal Region IV-A 1,256,194
11. Batangas Region IV-A 1,226,698
12. Pampanga Region III 1,114,484
13. Quezon Region IV-A 1,020,010
14. Leyte Region VIII 1,013,569
15. Zamboanga Sur Region IX 920,995
16. Camarines Sur Region V 916,349
17. Isabela Region II 867,053
18. Misamis Oriental Region X 780,333
19. South Cotabato Region XII 733,566
20. Bohol Region VII 729,815.

Its is always helpful for a national candidate or campaign team to know the top vote-rich provinces.
With this information, they will know where to “strike” (whatever electoral meaning you may attach to that).
Expect in these vote-rich provinces, the concentration of campaign activities, like rikoreda, rallies, media boosts, among others.
If a candidate lands in the winning circle in as many vote-rich provinces as possible, he has a good chance of making it.
In the last presidential elections, Cebu province (No. 1) solidly delivered for administration candidate President Gloria Arroyo.
So did Bohol (No. 20).
Whether the “delivery” was done cleanly is another story.
So for national candidates, they know where to place their “operators”.
By the way, Negros Oriental is number 22 with 714,761 registered voters as of December 14, 2009.