by:$Sean$Cheng,$Jerome$Isip,$Philippe$Yang,$Elton$Tan

Class$of$9D$Group$8

ZAMBOANGAGA CRISIS

What is the Zamboanga Crisis?

The Zamboanga crisis was an armed conflict between the government and a rebel insurgent group called the

MNLF, or the Moro National Liberation Front. The crisis erupted September 9, 2013 when the MNLF tried to raise their flag at the Zamboanga city hall. The people refused

to have them raise their flag, which inevitably led to armed conflict between the MNLF and Armed Forces of

the Philippines in the area. These tragic events led to a 2 week standoff between the government and the MNLF.

On September 28, 2013,the Philippine government declared that they are finishing military activity within the area, meaning that they were victorious over the

MNLF. But despite all this, it still leaves a lasting impression on our country and it's current state.

POLITICS

!!The!three!week!crisis!in!Zamboanga!sparked!by!the!Moro!Na8onal!Libera8on!Front(MNLF)!a>ack!seizing!five!barangays!was!an!internal!security!opera8on.!The!expected!na8onal!government!response!was!the!combined!might!of!military!and!law!enforcement!ac8on.!The!government's!response!to!the!Zamboanga!crisis!was!a!test!of!the!security!sector!ins8tu8ons'!capacity!to!govern.!It!also!mirrored!the!shiHs!in!the!protocols!and!prac8ces!that!redefined!the!role!of!the!arm!forces!in!exercising!its!internal!security!mission!as!well!as!the!role!of!civilian!ins8tu8ons!such!as!the!local!government!unit!and!the!police!in!providing!the!balance!of!military!power!in!a!conflict!situa8on.

SOCIETY

The Zamboanga crisis has affected the majority of the population of the people living in the area. For one, people living in the area were forced to relocate and evacuate from their current homes, to avoid being caught in the crossfire. On morning of September 9, the MNLF entered the city and killed 4 people. They then proceeded to occupy 4 barangays, Rio Hondo, Sta. Barba, and parts of Talon-Talon. More than 200 hostages were taken. Some of the hostages were even used as human shields. From this, classes were suspended in majority of schools and government offices in the area, some of which were used as shelters for refugees. Many public stores and markets were forced to shutdo also. There was also an imposed curfew on the people. All these came together to virtually shutdown the entire city.

ECONOMY

The Zamboanga crisis doesn't really have a big impact on the country's economy because Mindanao, specifically Zamboanga isn't a major trading point in the Philippines. According to a government official, Zamboanga has a small contribution to the country's gross domestic products. At the end of last year, the contribution of the whole Mindanao to the total gross domestic product of the country is just 15-16 percent. Despite these said, the crisis is still a sore thumb. If these issues didn't exist, Mindanao is a rich area. The area is rich with resources, but not maximized because of the issues between the government and the rebels and because of its troubled history. There is one copper-gold mine in the south of Mindanao, located in General Santos City. It is one of the largest undeveloped mines in Southeast Asia.Zamboanga also used to be a major port for second hand goods. Although the crisis didn't have a huge impact in the country's economy, it affected the businesses of locals in Zamboanga and had a ripple effect to its neighboring cities. People from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi conduct most of their businesses in Zamboanga, and it stopped when the MNLF-Military fight broke out. The businessmen and locals still believe that they will be able to survive the crisis. Daniel Lim, the President of the DCCCII stated "“We will certainly survive from this crisis. This may slow down our growth, but it will definitely not stop Mindanao from growing,” he said while adding “the incident may have caused Mindanao to step back in terms of economic growth, but we will move forward again.” He didn't guarantee that this crisis will not happen again, but he believes that people will develop and because of itsgreat impact on their city's economy, people will be in favor of peace and order.

CULTUREThe Philippines celebrate different fiestas or festivals year round. Different provinces celebrate different fiestas. The fiestas are generally an important factor in Philippine spiritual culture and they are celebrated in veneration of their patron saints.

Zamboanga is known for the Hermosa Festival, also called Zamboanga La Hermosa festival. The Hermosa Festival is celebrated to honor the Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Our Lady of Pilar). This festival is an important part of the people living in Zamboanga’s culture for it has been done annually since 1926. The people of Zamboanga were happy with having both Muslims and Christians living together in peace and harmony until an issue came by.  However, because of the unrest caused by a group of supporters from a faction of the MNLF in the city, added by the recent flooding caused by typhoon Santi, the fiesta was then cancelled. These incidents forced the government to react and send troops to help protect the citizenry’s lives as well as send mission groups to help misplaced citizens.

In just a few days of unrest and calamity, the decades-long hard work of a people striving for peace and prosperity in the city of Zamboanga or, in Mindanao in general, has been shattered.  The people of Zamboanga had no choice but to cancel the fiesta which has been almost a century-old tradition to cater to the emergency needs of those terribly affected by the conflict brought about the beliefs of a minority group, which was then topped by the unfortunate destruction brought about by a natural disaster.

Hermosa Festival

PERSONAL ACTION PLANS:Elton Tan The government and Filipino people should work hand in hand to rebuild our nation. What the government can do is to focus on effective implementation of public policies and rebuilding public trust in government. One way to do this is to help the people understand what the government is trying to accomplish. They should be encouraged to participate in all government projects and programs. The government should also focus on things that matter in people's lives like how to improve their skills in order to have a good job that will sustain their needs. Part of the rebuilding process also is changing the image of our country throughout the world which the government and people should accomplish to attract more tourists and foreign investors to visit our country because more tourists and more investors would mean more income for our country which will also provide more employment opportunities. As a student, I can help in rebuilding the nation by joining and encouraging my parents and relatives to join varied nation building activities or service-oriented activities like education session for children, tree planting, clean-up drives, and health missions. I believe that working together has the power to transform our country into a nation of compassionate, responsible and productive citizens. There are great things happening in our country that many Filipinos are not aware of due to lack of interest in the affairs of government simply because of the negative feedback that the people are frequently hearing. It's now time to transform these negative feedback into something positive to attract foreign investors. Our country needs all the heroes who will step forward to end the poverty and crisis in our country. We should be able to create an environment where every Filipino is given the chance to contribute to the work of nation building with a special emphasis on poverty alleviation.

Jerome IsipOur country, over the past few months has been struck by multiple calamities and unfortunate events such as the Pork Barrel Scam, Typhoon Santi, and the aforementioned Zamboanga Crisis. With all these events happening so close together in such a short span of time, some people are lead to believe that achieving peace in our nation has become nothing more than an impossible dream. In reality, peace in our country really is achievable, but only if we try and actually do something about it. Take for example, the Zamboanga crisis. What can we do to be able to help those affected? We can start by offering donations in material goods, or by participating in relief operations. The people who were forced to leave their homes had to stay in local schools for refuge. Here they also needed to scavenge what ever source of food they could find, since supplies were short seeing as almost the entire city was put on shutdown. By donating some goods, we would be able to feed the thousands of people who are in need of food there. And if everybody just donated a little bit of what they have, it would amount to something large. But what if we don't have the money to donate, or the time volunteer? We could help out by just simply spreading the news. By doing this, the new will reach people with the resources to help and will be able to provide support for those affected. This applies especially to us as teenagers. Since social media is very popular among teenagers, we can use this platform to spread news about these calamities in hope that more people would be informed on this and will try their best to contribute to the cause. Through all these actions, if everyone just tried to contribute just a tiny bit, we would be able to achieve peace in the Philippines. Maybe not just even peace,it could make our country prosper even further than it is now.

Sean ChengThe Philippines today is falling apart in unity as one nation itself. There are several problems and issues that have arose. There are problems within the government, like the Pork Barrel scandal, and there are problems outside the government, like the unrest in Zamboanga City and natural calamities happening in different places in the country. I feel the government should be deciding quick and immediate on all these different problems. If they do not do so, this may lead to many more bad things to happen in the future and the culture of the Philippines may change because of some practices not being done anymore due to the possible danger in doing them out in the public, like the festivals that are celebrated in the different areas in the Philippines.

The Filipino People can also help the government in striving for peace and unity by simply volunteering to help other area in the Philippines who have been struck with chaos and calamity. Even those who may not be able to be there physically attending the relief operations, they can always donate a few canned goods or a part of the amount of money they have and simply pray for those who have been greatly affected by these calamities. For the peace and harmony of the MNLF and some other Liberation groups with the local people and the country, the government should give and agree to some of the requests or conditions that they ask for while at the same time setting or bargaining for a limit on what they ask from the government. But first, how can the government help the citizens who are in need of help and in danger if there are problems within the government? They should first fix and implement a rule or law that will prevent corruption like the Pork Barrel scam to happen again. We, as students, can also do a big part in uniting the country. We can start in uniting the school to not have any negativity towards others. This can be done by not having anymore bullying, no more fighting, and no more discrimination. Students can also set an example for others by influencing those they see fighting or about to show hate and anger towards each other, by advising them not to act in these destructive ways.

Everyone can clearly see that the Philippines is improving from its older self, which was chaotic and corrupt. The people, mainly in Zamboanga or areas in Mindanao, were living in peace and harmony no matter what religion you believed in. Whether you were Muslim or Christian, there was no conflict until the unrest began by a group from the MNLF. Culture, economy and society were doing very well until these catastrophes happened. Hopefully by doing what I stated or suggested people can do in their everyday lives, the Philippines can some day be a united nation and there will no longer be any disputes among the people

Philippé YangTo rebuild the nation, Filipinos could help one another and give donations in kind and in cash so that the people who lost their livelihoods, houses, businesses could easily could easily rebuild them and live a normal life again.I know that there are lots of Filipinos willing to help out because in the past, there were a lot of calamities and conflicts that happened in the Philippines, and Filipinos willingly helped each other and they strived and gave out their best to bring the donations to the places affected. Hopefully, it will be like that again this time when help is most needed. Also, the government should also have a tie up with the locals who are willing to help and give donations so that the goods and help could be easily transported to Zamboanga. Also, the government should just settle the conflict with the territory in a peaceful way so as to avoid a siege and war between the Government and the Muslims. If these wars and conflicts are stopped, the the people in Zamboanga and Mindanao could live an orderly, peaceful and normal life. Imagine if these conflicts didn't exist, then the people wouldn't have to worry about surviving everyday, they wouldn't have to worry about their relatives, businesses and how they could keep themselves safe. The government should also promote peace and give the people seminars on why peace is important. As a student, I could also help rebuild the nation by encouraging people to give donations and by promoting peace to others. Hopefully, by promoting peace, it would be a domino reaction,people would also promote it to others, until it spreads to the whole country. I believe that this kind of crisis won't be out permanently, something similar to it may happen but if the people's minds are set for peace and they are all in favor of having peace and order, then it would be easier to resolve future conflicts.

SOURCES: Images were taken from rappler.com. Information used was taken from news websites such as the Philippine Star and ABS-CBN News.