The Politics of Desecration: The Unmaking and Remaking of Zamboanga City The recent revelation concerning the desecration of Fort Pilar by the National Museum is reflective of how the Lobregats have ruled our city. It epitomizes what is wrong with “Mi Ciudad” for the last 30 years under the mother-and-son tandem reign. And by and large, it explains why Zamboanga City has deteriorated and retrogressed through the years; pathetically overtaken by other past unknown cities in Mindanao. The writing is all over the wall. They unmade and remade Zamboanga City, and its treasured history, into their own image, such that, any vestiges and of the rich and proud cultural history and legacies of its past, including its unique and colorful identity, has been erased, desecrated, demolished and supplanted by the Lobregat’s own version of corrupted history. The unstoppable 30-year rule of the Lobregats has brought, for the most part, systemic destruction of the moral standards of Zamboanga City. Because of their outrageous disregard and utter disrespect of her, the Lobregat’s, with all shameless boldness, has conveniently unmade “Zamboanga Hermosa” and remade her in accordance with their image. Sans remorse, they intentionally destroyed Zamboanga’s cultural identity and heritage and supplanted by all things “Lobregat.” Take the following examples: 1. Tetuan Highway (old name) to Maria Clara Lorenzo Lobregat Highway (new name) 2. Divisoria National High School (old name) to Caling Lobregat High School (new name) 3. Zamboanga City High North (old name) to Don Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School (new name) 4. Pasonanca Park (old name) to La Jardin de Maria Clara Lobregat Park (new name) 5. “City of Flowers” or “Jambangan” (old name) to “Asias Latin City” (new name). Note: Our local history will show that Zamboangueños or Zamboanga City has no Latin American extraction or ancestry. 6. Zamboanga City to Ciudad Latino (CL?) new name. 7. Maria Clara Lobregat Art Gallery and Museum. 8. “Centro Latino” (CL?) – Name of the two-storey multi-purpose building inside the Paseo del Mar complex. 9. “CL” (?) – Letters design in some of the public school buildings grill iron windows and gates. 10. Picture of Celso Lobregat in all of the City Business Permit plate. (What’s the idea?) 11. Paseo de Jardin Park Walk and Paseo del Mar (when these could be named after any of the illustrious past local Christian and Muslim leader) On the other hand, the Zamboangueños (Valderrozas, Alvarezs’, Tarrozas, Ledesmas, Arquizas, Jaldons, Suarezs’, Enriquezs’, Ferrers, Climacos, Atilanos, Agans etc.,) who toiled hard with their blood, sweat and tears to make Zamboanga City as the “Orgullo de Mindanao” and “Malacañang of the South” has been relegated by the Lobregats, by design, to the dustbin of history. And just like the artifacts and treasures that were looted at Fort Pilar by the National Museum, the Lobregat’s have wantonly “looted” Zamboanga City of its precious heritage. In the midst of these spoils relished by the Lobregat’s for decades, where are the thinking class, the intelligencia, the cultured class, and the professionals? And how about the Fourth Estate (i.e., TV, radio and print)? A good number of them are a disappointment. As vanguards, they are tasked to balance the equilibrium of the rampaging and unabated political power of the Lobregat’s. Have they been, perhaps, complicit and hypnotized as well into “towing the line” of the powers that be?
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:22:14 +0000
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