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Garden Orchid Hotel is putting up a 10-story
extension to accommodate more visitors. Mayor Celso Lobregat of
Zamboanga City recently opened the Paseo del Mar beside Fort Pilar
and the Jardin de Maria Clara in front of Pasonanca Park. Zamboanga
City, formerly known as the city of flowers, is now Asia’s Latin
City. The Spanish-sounding Chabacano definitely produces an exotic
atmosphere. One can almost imagine being in Latin America.
Columbia is taking great interest
in Zamboanga City. Frencie Carrereon, petite and dynamic journalist,
is submitting stories in Chabacano for publication in Columbia. And
according to her, the Columbians love it. She is an example of what
Mayor Lobregat has captured with the slogan “Adelante Zamboanga”
(adelante—ahead of).
Mayor Lobregat believes that
Zamboanga City and Mindanao in general are victims of negative
misperceptions perpetrated by the media. Threats and terrorism are
not isolated to Zamboanga and Mindanao, the mayor told me when I,
together with 18 members of the local Kiwanis clubs, trooped to the
more than 100 years old City Hall building last Friday. “If you
change your lifestyle, if you show fear, you give the terrorists a
moral victory.” So while the national media gave as much space to
speculations as to facts when the bombs exploded in Cotabato City
and Iligan City, Zamboanga City was busy inaugurating facilities
meant to make life better for visitors and residents alike.
Zamboanga City is the country’s
third and sixth largest city in terms of land area and population,
respectively. Much of the city remains forestland—of which a large
portion is old growth forest—and agricultural land. The city is
like the USA, Mayor Lobregat explained—it has an east coast and a
west coast. Thus, fishing is a major source of livelihood. More than
30,000 people are reportedly employed in the fishing industry of
this “sardine capital” of the Philippines.
Seventy three percent of
Zamboanga City’s population is Christian, with the remaining 27
percent being predominantly Muslim. The city’s annual population
growth rate of 3.56 percent is way above the national average due to
a net in-migration. Many come to Zamboanga City to seek their
fortune, or just a decent life. With the formal opening of the Paseo
del Mar and the Jardin de Maria Clara, more business opportunities
and jobs have been created—both places have small restaurants that
offer various kinds of foods and flavors. For the ordinary
Zamboangeno, these parks provide beautiful and peaceful surroundings
for a break after office hours.
The Zamboanga police is involved
in various civic outreach programs. Thus, last Friday’s feeding of
malnourished high school students at the Zamboanga City National
High School Main was sponsored by the finance department of the
Philippine National Police Region 9 together with the Kiwanis clubs
in Zamboanga City. Yes, malnutrition haunts even our high school
students and many of the students were as short as elementary school
children. These children whom come from very poor families
wouldn’t even have been in school if not for the scholarships
provided by some local politicians. The teachers explained to me
that the canteens in the school—which has a student population of
about 9,000—have been asked to donate in cash or kind in order to
sustain the feeding program beyond the month sponsored by the PNP
and Kiwanis.
Police Supt. Rex de la Rosa of
the PNP 9 Finance department believes that reaching out to the
community, especially the children, is one way of preventing crime.
We want the community to treat us as a friend, not a force to fear,
de la Rosa, a native of Bacolod City, told me.
The global financial crisis has
reached this southern tip of the Philippines. There have been
retrenchments. But some retrenched employees already found jobs
again as business seems to have bounced back. And business was brisk
at Cusina Maria Clara on July 17 when Mayor Lobregat cut the ribbon
and formally inaugurated the Jardin de Maria Clara. A bucket of beer
came with one free bowl of dinuguan. The Americans, too, came to the
inauguration, not as an indicator that international tourism is
booming yet. Rather, these were the civilian-clad US soldiers
reminding us that Zamboanga has a unique space in the map of
international geopolitics.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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