Zamboanga City residents rebuild their lives two years after the MNLF attack

Construction heavy equipment now roam the barangays of Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina in Zamboanga City. Two years ago, armored personnel carriers, other mechanized assets and heavily-armed troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were deployed to these two barangays and three others.

 

The National Housing Authority has been building permanent housing units in Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina for residents who lost their homes, which the Moro National Liberation Front set on fire and razed to the ground during their attack on the city in September 2013.

 

The scars of those tense and deadly 20 September days are still visible. There are bullet holes on walls, buildings and on a lone steel gate. 

 

Around the gate are some of the houses being built for the displaced residents.

 

City Mayor Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco said in an interview with GMA News Online that 1,761 permanent housing units have been completed so far, with over 3,500 set for completion.

 

Climaco said they need to build up to 6,457 housing units for the displaced families, many of whom are housed in temporary shelters or bunkhouses built in Barangay Mampang with the help of the AFP Western Mindanao Command.


 

 

GMA News Online went around the neighboring barangays of Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina and saw that some residents have moved in to their assigned housing units.

 

Affected families are assigned their respective units with the help of the Department of Social Work and Development, which tags each family with a specific number. The tagging is the DSWD'S way of keeping track of beneficiaries via the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

 

To hasten completion of rehabilitation works in the affected communites, Climaco said they have asked the National Housing Authority to also include the sanitation facilities in their scope of work.

 

International relief organizations like the Catholic Relief Service have also stepped forward to help build homes for the displaced residents.

 

In Barangay Sta. Barbara, a new barangay hall is being built. The old hall was also among the structures the MNLF set fire to, destroying it completely. It had to be rebuilt from scratch.


 

 

Barangay chairman Abdulhamid S. Irin said the barangay hall got P4.5 million in funding from their congressman.

 

Irin also told GMA News Online that residents who lost everything two years ago are gradually rebuilding their lives.

 

Irin said before this year ends the 500 houses being built in the barangay would all be turned over to their assigned families.
 

The barangay chairman said his constituents earn a living as merchants, drivers of passenger tricycles and pedicabs, and as market vendors.

 

Some happen to have dormitory houses for students of nearby colleges.   

 

The rebuilding of Barangay Sta. Barbara and of other affected barangays includes public utilities such as potable water service, sewerage, and electricity.

 

Irin also said some school children of the Sta. Barbara elementary school are still going to another school that adopted them while new classrooms are being constructed to replace the ones destroyed when the MNLF attacked.

 

According to a billboard at the entry gate of the school, two three-storey buildings with 15 classrooms each would take 350 calendar days to build.



Construction reportedly began last March 16.

 

How much the two buildings will cost is not indicated on the billboard. The amount has been blacked out or painted over.


 

In Barangay Rio Hondo, the Department of National Defense will build a P124-million facility for the Fleet Marine Detachment of the Philippine Navy.

 

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it has earmarked P3.6 billion for relief and rehabilitation programs for Zamboanga City, but there is also another DBM disclosure that said President Benigno Aquino III told them to set aside P3.89 billion. — DVM, GMA News