Zamboanga kids cry on seeing razed houses on way to school

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Children from war-ravaged communities are having a hard time returning to school.

Jasmina Arjan, an 11-year-old sixth grader at the Rio Hondo Elementary School, said she always holds her emotions when her father, Julambri, brings her to school.

“I always want to cry. It is really hard to see that our house is already gone,” Jasmina told the Inquirer.

Jasmina’s family has moved to Barangay Sinunuc, some 12 kilometers away from Rio Hondo, following the 23-day clashes between government forces and Moro National Liberation Front members in September last year.

Before the clashes, the Arjans lived on Camedia Drive in Rio Hondo, just a few meters away from the school. Now, Jasmina sees the debris in her former house when she goes to school.

School principal Ahmad Cadir told the Inquirer that it is very difficult for them to even make the 558 school children smile.

“When we brought them here for a clean up last Jan. 6, they were filled with emotions. The children were running toward their houses and they were all crying, yelling, pitiful really,” Cadir said.

Cadir said aside from conducting psychosocial activities, they have also prohibited the students from going near their former houses.

At the Rio Hondo Elementary School, 198 pupils live in nearby transitory sites (government-identified relocation areas) while 360 are either staying at the Don Joaquin Enriquez Sports Complex or with relatives.

Still, Cadir said, the parents are firm about sending their children to school even if they had to spend more on fare.

Cadir said Marine soldiers guarding the former war zone also do not allow the entry of vehicles, forcing children and their parents to walk at least half-a-kilometer to the school.

Cadir said their students went down to 558 from last year’s 937.

Rolando Rubio, teacher in charge for seventh and eighth graders, said he always tells his students of the “need to move on and that it’s just one of the challenges we face as we grow older.”

Of the 172 seventh and eighth graders, Rubio said only 70 live in transitory sites. The rest are staying at the sports complex.

At least nine classrooms were razed during last year’s fighting, leaving only two two-story buildings and seven school tents erected by the Tsu Chi Foundation.

The school also does not have access to water.

At the Zamboanga East Central Elementary School, where students from the Santa Barbara Elementary School are temporarily holding classes, the number of students has swelled to 2,023, according to school principal Daisy Ebrada.

With only six tents, three improvised learning spaces and five classrooms, Ebrada said they had to hold classes in shifts.

Sitti Jumahari, a grandmother of two students, said she was wondering why the city government would not allow them use of the old Santa Barbara Elementary School or what was left of it.

“Not all the classrooms were razed,” Jumahari said.

Ebrada said they were still awaiting word from the city government if buildings at the Santa Barbara Elementary School would be rehabilitated.

Pedro Melchor Natividad, Schools Division Superintendent, said they “didn’t have any idea (if there would be rehabilitation of schools).”

Last school year, Natividad said they registered 15,396 elementary students from Rio Hondo, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, Mariki and Talon-talon, villages affected by the war last September.

This school year, there are only 12,321 students in the said schools. He said the other students could have enrolled elsewhere.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar said it was not true that education officials were not invited or consulted during the rehabilitation planning stage.

“All agencies were invited to sit down and plan for the rehabilitation and recovery process,” Salazar said.

Salazar said that at the planning stage, the UP Planades, which was tapped by the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction design, presented a plan for 7,200 housing units, schools, mosques, roads and police and military posts.

“The schools will have to be included in debris management, meaning all structures have to be flattened. There is a need to plan where to put roads, electric and water utilities,” Salazar said. The mayor said they were hoping that by June 2015, permanent housing and school facilities “will be made available.” Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao