03/21/2014......[COLUMN]......LOWDOWN by Jojo Robles/Manila Standard: FORGOTTEN ZAMBO... Before Tacloban, there was Zamboanga. And if government has been failing miserably in the effort to rebuild the heart of Waray counrty, it seems to have abandoned Mindanao’s “City of Flowers” altogether, after nearly wrecking it in a display of overpowering military might. More than four months after typhoon Yolanda hit, evidence of government’s bungling of the relief and rehabilitation effort continues to turn up. But it is the plans to rebuild Zamboanga City, pulverized last September by government forces after the Aquino administration decided to bomb invading fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front out of once-peaceful regional hub, that seem to have gotten lost along daang matuwid. It’s been half a year since President Noynoy Aquino decided to play a real-life version of “Call of Duty” in Zamboanga, leveling the city with ordnance after a small band of MNLF rebels raised their flag there. The separatists were repulsed, but many Zamboanga villages were demolished by the siege, which displaced more than 100,000 persons and converted many places that were not destroyed into evacuation centers. Aquino bragged after the Zamboanga invasion that the government had already set aside P6.1 billion for the rehabilitation effort, even if only P3.89 billion were needed to bring the ravaged city back on its feet. But as of this week, Mayor Beng Climaco was still pleading with the United Nations to help the local government rehabilitate Zamboanga, which she said does not have the capability to do the job alone. Climaco also reported in the city’s Web site that the first phase of housing projects for the displaced families, the bulk of whom are still housed in the Joaquin Enriquez sports complex, has only just been approved. And there is still no report of displaced residents actually given new homes, six months since the siege that destroyed their residences ended. What happened to the billions in aid that Zamboanga was supposed to have received from Manila? How has the money been spent—assuming it even got to Zamboanga at all? Last January, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines castigated the government for allowing the displaced Zamboanguenos to “languish in different evacuation centers, with some just living in the streets.” “We hope that the government will fast track the relocation and rehabilitation for the internally displaced,” said Zamboanga Archdiocese caretaker Msgr. Manongas. “Their condition is not really fit for human habitation, it’s a miserable condition that the government should address faster.” Even more than Tacloban and other nearby areas, government has a responsibility to rebuild Zamboanga, because it was man-made bombs that brought the city to its knees, not a natural calamity. But you never hear anyone in government talk about aiding Zamboanga anymore—meaning that the city has fallen off the list of “priorities” that Aquino keeps talking about. Forget about that promised aid from Manila. The only way for Zamboanga to get back on its feet is if it does that by itself. #30# ========= PICTURED: Mayor Salazar, DILGs Mar Roxas and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. Precious times were lost in the first 4 days of the Sept. 9 siege. The siege could have been prevented if only these people in this picture---gave a chance to negotiations... =========
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:23:08 +0000
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