tell your mom to also consider davao city. the place is great and the academic institutions there are pretty classy too. i know a lot of people who are doing very well here in manila, in cebu, in the us and in japan who are grads of davao city based colleges (ateneo de davao, davao doctor's college, davao med school, etc . )
business wise, i think davao city is long over due for a boom. medyo may naiwang bad rep lang because some people think mindanao is still a frontier type place, tipong wild,wild west ang dating. but in realty it has great infrastructures, peace and order is excellent, beautiful tourist spots are a dime a dozen (lots of impeccable beaches and beautiful mountain resorts), cost of living is pretty neglible, and more importantly, clean water is abundant all over (pati ang chicks abundant din

) .
and btw, tagalog is very much utilized over there so communication problem would be very minimal imo