Families displaced by Zamboanga siege find settlement

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Internally displaced families started to return to ground zero after the National Housing Authority (NHA) turned over an initial 120 housing units as permanent shelters Tuesday, exactly a year after they were uprooted by the siege of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels under Nur Misuari.

The return to their villages was an emotional event for the families who saw new shelters built in Sitio Paniran, among the 10,000 houses and structures in Barangay Sta. Catalina destroyed from three weeks of gunfire.

"When I see this (housing unit) I want to cry," said Jojo Abdusalam, who was forced out of his home during the siege.

"The government was true to its words to provide and build us victims with houses," Abdusalam said.

He said the shelter and neighborhood seem much better, orderly and conducive for living that before they left it.

"But of course we don't want that incident to happen again," the resident said.

The contracting company said the 120 duplex housing units in the the village were built using splash wall technology that would supposedly make them disaster resilient.

The 120 returning families joined the 42 other families of evacuees who earlier returned in Sta. Catalina.

Engineer Al-Kwarizmi Indanan, NHA district manager, said construction of houses on stilts in Mariki will kick off following the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday at the border of Rio Hondo Bridge.

Indanan said at least 642 houses on stilts will be constructed in Mariki while another 200 will be constructed in the coastal village of Taluksangay—all of which are for the Badjaos, an indigenous Muslim tribe.

He said a total of 7,176 housing units, mostly land-based, will be constructed and completed starting January to June next year.

One of the beneficiaries among the displaced residents tapped to work for the construction said he cannot wait to see the units he, his family and neighbors will occupy permanently.

Non-profit organization Qatar Red Crescent also committed to funds for the construction of core shelters for evacuees who remain living in squalid conditions in a sports stadium converted to an evacuation camp, Philippine Red Cross chairman and chief executive officer Richard Gordon.

"Qatar Red Crescent was asking to provide the land and we will provide the houses right now," Gordon told newsmen.

At least 2,304 families remained inside the sports stadium in Zamboanga. Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman vowed they will be relocated all to the transitory shelters by December 15 this year.

Soliman herself admitted the dire conditions of evacuees living in the stadium, but assured them of her department's continuous assistance.