AS DISPLACED residents of Sta. Catalina village in Zamboanga City continue to search for normalcy a year after the terror attack, a white great egret majestically stands creating a mirror image in an area where houses used to stand. KARLOS MANLUPIG/INQUIRER MINDANAO
ZAMBOANGA CITY—Commercial photographer Monica Limen is still searching for answers.
For a year now, one question continues to haunt her: “Porque ya cay na guerra (why did it end in war?).”
Limen lost her only son, 22-year old Rubin, who was killed by a stray bullet in the head during the fighting between government forces and followers of Moro leader Nur Misuari.
Monica and Rubin were among more than a hundred hostages taken by Misuari’s followers. They were used as human shields against soldiers on Lustre Street in the village of Sta. Catalina.
“I know the rebels committed bad things. They took us and used us as shields, but they never hurt or harmed us. They even made coffee for my wounded son and they covered us every time soldiers fired at us,” Monica told Inquirer.
“In fact, they gradually released all the hostages,” she said.
Monica attended the event dubbed “September to Remember” at the Christ the King chapel in Sta. Catalina, a gathering of victims of the terror attack by Misuari’s men and by a government response that many of the victims said was delayed at best.
Monica was unable to hold back her tears as other victims raised the same question as hers: “Why did it end in war?”
One of them, Michelle Candido, lost her three-year-old son when an explosion sent a shrapnel into the child’s head as he hid in a drainage tunnel.
“He would have been alive today if government acted swiftly,” said Candido. “A year after what happened, everything is still painful,” she said.
The scene is still fresh in the mind of Candido. Talking about her son, she said: “There was an open wound in his forehead. The next day he was still singing Zamboanga Hermosa (the city’s anthem). He ate breakfast given by the rebels and before he expired, he kept repeating the words ‘I love you, I love you.’”
At least 12 civilians were killed during the fighting that some residents of Sta. Catalina now say may not be necessary.
Jimmy Villaflores, village chair of Sta. Catalina, told Inquirer that war would have been prevented if local and national government officials acted immediately on the day the rebels entered the city purportedly for a peace caravan.
“I was with the MNLF, talking to them, asking questions and I was surprised that all throughout the duration of the siege, only ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) Gov. Mujiv Hataman was around,” said Villaflores.
“The local government knew my number, they can call me but it was as if they didn’t care that day,” he said.
“There would have been no war that day if our leaders were decisive. It took them more than 20 days to act. It was too late. So many lives and properties were devastated,” Villaflores said.
Asakil Alibbon, a former village councilor of Rio Hondo, demanded an investigation for the “arson of hundreds of houses.”
“We won’t rest until those behind the burning of houses are prosecuted,” Alibbon said.
Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, said families displaced in the city are still nursing their wounds and trying to overcome their fears.
“Psychosocial healing or psychosocial support services have to continue and must never end,” Gordon said in an interview here.
He said it is also important for the families to have their own houses to move on.
He said outside help continues to come in, like aid from the Qatar Red Crescent for people who are rebuilding their homes. Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao