No!

Noynoy gets angry at the MNLF Devastating Effects on Our Country

Nur wants Mindanao and turn it into a Bangsamoro

Special insights on rebuilding our nation included inside

Solution to the Problem inside

How peace was

broken down

into two

The Zamboanga Crisis and it’s Effects

Overview of the Zamboanga Crisis

The MNLF is a Muslim political organization led by Nur Misuari. Nur Misuari, the leader of the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed a peace treaty in 1996 that allowed the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Misuari became its first governor. With this, ARMM is now in the influence of a Muslim type of governed country. People say that the cause of this was because of the government and it's people at Mindanao. Misuari tried to proclaim the in-dependence of the Bangsamoro Republic on August 12, 2013 at Talipao, Sulu, although it was largely ignored by the government and this was the reason that caused the uprising of the Zambo-anga crisis. The initial confrontation occurred around 11:00 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, Septem-ber 8, 2013. Nur Misuari stated that this is a war on the Philippines to gain independence for their own and reclaim Mindanao to turn in into a Bangsamaro Republic form of Government. During and after the conflict, there are many effects that happened in the country's economics, politics, society and culture.

The conflict burned all this money in a pointless act of war.

Closed trading centers, closed businesses - all of this is nothing less than a recipe for disaster. Since the fight began, the city has lost an estimate of 331.47 million pesos daily, according to earlier re-ports.

The National Statistical Coordination Board provided a breakdown on the losses:

Agri, Forestry and Fishing - 77,727,526

Manufacturing (only canned sardines) 67,000,000

Transportation and Storage - 20,661,889

Trade - 45,788,363

Financial Intermediation (Banks and non-banking) 19,462,644

Real Estate, Renting, Business Activities 15,200,539

Public Administration and Defense 15,053,128

Other Service (Education, Medical, Health, Recrea-tion, hotel, among others) 42,191,780

Total: 331,336, 685

Although Daniel Lim, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) said that Mindanao will be able to overcome the negative effects of the crisis, he also said that Min-danao’s economic growth has been set back.

“We will certainly survive from this crisis. This may slow down our growth, but it will definitely not stop Mindanao from growing,” he said, also stating that “the incident may have caused Mindanao to step back in terms of economic growth, but we will move forward again.”

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said “If this is just a short-term, fleet-ing event, then there won’t be any impact, especially since it’s happening down south. Zamboanga is not a major trading port.”

PHP 331.47 Million… burned daily.

“But it will always be a sore thumb, especially if it lasts long. Imagine if we didn’t have these issues in Mindanao. That’s a very rich area.”

However, investors are likely “taking a second look” at the Philippines because of these issues, which may make it difficult to get investors.

Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chair Lu-walhati Antonino assured Mindanao citizens that the region’s economic gains and the progress on the peace process will not be wasted.

“Whatever Mindanao earned in the recent years will not be lost because of this armed conflict,” said An-tonino, adding that government is currently pursuing “long-term and inclusive community transformation” as a way to recover from the damage of the crisis.

Ricardo Juliano, Vice President of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said that while the Zamboanga crisis will affect the image of Mindanao as an investment destination, the citi-zens of Mindanao will always bounce back.

“We will rise again as we always have. We are pio-neers and we can always rely on our pioneering spir-its in safeguarding our home,” he said.

Juliano also said he is pleased with the way the gov-ernment has dealt with the crisis, but said that more needs to be done to repair the damage.

“In my opinion, this crisis was managed decisively, and I am glad that the government didn’t give a ‘free pass’ to the rebels similar to what happened during the Kabatangan hostage-taking incident in 2001, also in Zamboanga City,” he said.

Weeks and weeks of fighting, killing and crisis, what will this bring us? Of course the answer will be .... Nothing .... Chaos will not lead to anything good. Think about young children without anything to eat and young adults that have a dream and their dreams gets crushed .... all this caused by the Zamboanga Crisis. Our country is already experiencing pov-erty, hardships and trials and now the people of Zamboanga are in crisis .....

Because of the MNLF the people of Zamboanga are ex-periencing difficulties, there were gunshots and explosions everywhere and innocent people get killed and injured. The people were gathered in a relief operation center to keep them safe and away from explosions and the gun shoots. But do you think they're all right? Do you think just because they're in a operation center they're already okay? I don't think so .... Even if the people of Zamboanga are in a safe compound they are experiencing poverty. When the MNLF came to Zamboanga, people were afraid and were threat-ened in result groceries and food shops were closed and in result people have nothing to eat and drink and now are re-lying on you, yes you ..... They want you to help, to donate food and other essential things ......

Not only did poverty occur but also injuries and death. Because of the explosions and gun fires from the MNLF in-nocent people were injured and passed away, even though there were survivors they were still harmed and the doctors and nurses are having a hard time to help all the people in need because there were too many. Families that have lost their members are weeping and are in pain because of the deaths of their close ones and love ones. All though we cannot do anything for those who died, we can hope for the crisis to stop and we can hope for peace .....

After the crisis, UN gets involved in this situation and de-clared the situation a humanitarian crisis.The UN relief agency pointed out health and safety concerns as more than 117,000 displaced residents remained in 35 evacua-tion centers, most of which lacked adequate toilet and sani-tation facilities, thus exposing evacuees to health risks. “The Government recently announced that its stand-off with the MNLF faction has ended. However, the humanitarian crisis continues ......" The government now hopes that people who lost their homes in the fighting will be housed in bunk houses until they can rebuild it.The UN High Commission on Refugees and the UN Children’s Fund have also taken initiatives to protect women and children in the evacuation centers where incidents of abuse have been reported ........

The crisis did not bring us to anything good ..... Why could have all this happen to us .... Let us just hope for a better world and hope that the people of Zamboanga remain and that the society may achieve peace and all may be okay .....

People of

Zamboanga!

What

Happened

To The

Society?

Guns are shooting and people are running to hide in their homes. Is this the work of our government or is it the work of the MNLF?

Day 1 of the Zamboanga crisis, four barangays were occupied by the MNLF: Rio Hondo, Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, and parts of Talon-Talon. The group held 20 civilians hostages in Barangay Sta. Catalina. Zam-boanga City Mayor Isabelle "Beng" Climaco-Salazar felt the need to ask these hand them over the baran-gay peacefully but this only resulted to creating a larger conflict between the two forces.

Nur said to Climaco by spokesperson Rev. Absalom Cerveza that the MNLF want to take over Mindanao and convert it into a bangsamoro republic. Religious laws and tolerance for the Muslims would be implied in their government but Climaco knew that the Christian communities living within the province would be af-fected so she denied Misuari's request and quickly sent military support from the military bases in Min-danao. The group held 20 civilians hostages in Barangay Sta. Catalina and the Zamboanga City Hall where the MNLF intended to hoist the Bangsamoro Republic flag was placed.

News of this spread to the ears of the president of the Philippines, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and he prepared a meeting with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police. On the second day, the Philippine government deployed a larger force in the city. A naval blockade was set, and more troops and units were deployed. The president also tried to make a peace pact with the MNLF leader Nur Misuari but it ended in a failure.

Aside from the problems with the Zamboanga crisis, the government is thrown with hundreds of questions from reporters, students and citizens of the country. Noynoy struggles with these problems everyday and with requests from the city government of Zamboanga to quickly send forces for the crisis. Noynoy also states that these troops will be used for defensive purposes only and their main goal is to capture the MNLF forces without killing them.

Nur steals Mindanao from Noy-noy?

Vice President of the Philippines Jejomar Binay had spoken by telephone to Nur Misuari, and they agreed on a ceasefire. Nur Misauri’s spokesperson Rev. Absalom Cerveza said that the current situation in Zam-boanga city is a war of independence and denied that the MNLF came to Zamboanga for a peace caravan. Zamboanga City police chief Jose Chiquito Malayo who tried to negotiate with the rebels to release more hostages was reportedly abducted and held hostage by the rebels. Agreements so far were commonly re-jected by Misuari by repeatedly saying the same answer which is to hand over Mindanao to the Bang-samoro Republic Government.

September 28, 2013, Malacañang said that the nearly three-week crisis in Zamboanga City was now over. " Our task from Day 1 is to ensure the safety of the hostages that were taken as well as to get civilians out of harm's way and that has already been accomplished." Secretary Voltaire Gazmin announced: "So far, the security crisis is over and now we go to post-conflict phase."

The Zamboanga City Regional Trial Court ordered the arrest of Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari and three others over charges of rebellion and violation of the International Humanitarian Law. The 57 co-accused of Misuari and the three other commanders are already in detention.

On September 20, 2013, at the Zamboanga International Airport, President Aquino said that he was still willing to discuss the peace deal with the MNLF.

To sum it up, the main effects in the politics of these series of unfortunate events would be that one, the government would be blamed for these events, second, the government will deal casualties as to sending the troops for battle, third the government's funds will be decreased due to the effects of the people living in Zamboanga, fourth, there would be debates on the Zamboanga government and it's Muslims regarding their law and customs and lastly the two religions in the Philippines which is Christianity and Islam will be more tolerant of each other.

As a closing remark, I would like to give a quote to the authorities and leaders in the government in terms of their sovereignty on their people. “People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” ― Alan Moore

That was the problem, the MNLF acted rashly about declaring war against the government. They changed how they were accustomed to which is staying hidden. This caused everything to fall apart from there. The peace was destroyed due o a simple man who wanted to change how they acted as quickly as he can with the solution as war. It did not bring any success in the matter; instead lives were taken by a stupid and im-prudent action.

Our culture is not easily changed, neither is it easy to be sustained. Urges to make a change and make everything better for us is always in constant flight in people’s brains. That is why once the crisis ended, the government moved immediately in doing what is needed to be done to fix this conflict, fix the issue that the MNLF wanted to do.

Independence was what they wanted. Ever since their group, the MNLF, was started they wanted to be known. They are the same Muslims who kept Mindanao from being touched by the Span-iards. They wanted something, an independent state. They wanted their own rules...

They wanted their own state, simple as that, a state with their own laws that could benefit them, the Muslims and their religion and to what they are accustomed to. All of these inner conflicts were caused by a single factor, their culture. They wanted what they think was right for them. They wanted what they knew would help their fellow Muslims. But our government would not give it to them. So they took this matter into their own hands. This resulted into the Zamboanga Crisis.

Their want for their independence conceded into their thoughts of rebelling. This thought concluded into affecting their neighboring provinces, such as Basilan, Sulu and Tawi – Tawi, which belong to ARMM. All of these provinces carry out most of their affairs and issues in Zamboanga. The uprising itself caused the various barangays into a series of uproars.

This was not something they were used to. They did not know what to do in times like this because a full-fledged internal war has never occurred with each one of them witnessing it.

Some of the MNLF were even forced into working for Nur Misuari, Muslim Rebel Leader, with money. Can you believe that? Forced to do their dirty work, people were paid to do the task they were given. The people only did it because they said they needed the money is what they said.

Culture was the main factor of this siege in Zambo-anga. Culture started it all. The culture the MNLF was used to was before the MILF problem was solved, iso-lating themselves from our government and trying to make their own sovereignty. So when the MNLF found out about the solving of the MILF problem, they cracked. They wanted them to be also noticed by the government. They wanted to converse with the gov-ernment to be independent as well. But there was one problem; they are focusing too much on the small de-tails, the easiest ones to be talked about after they had the base finish. Rather than how the MILF solved their problem by directly finishing the basics of fixing their issue.

MNLF Cultural

Siege

What You Can do to Rebuild the Nation (Individual Components of the Group Members)

Joshua Dy 17

Stopping all the problems of the world is not something that any of us can do alone. It’s something that should be done through teamwork.

A simple yet effective way for students like us to help is to raise awareness of the problems. If more people know about the problems, more people can help out with the issue and contribute as well. If no one knows about the issue, how can anyone do anything about it?

We can talk about the issue with some other people like our neighbors, relatives, etc. and try to convince them to help by donating or other ways. Even on the computer, we can also do these things online.

During the Rise of Nation States, the main reason for wars was religion. Uprisings because of inquisition, internal conflict, and other things were caused because of this. Although no one is forcing the Muslims to convert, a lot of people still look down on Muslims because of the popular image of them being terrorists or they do not respect their beliefs.

This can be stopped by being an example - respecting the Muslims and their beliefs, not making fun of them because of this, and not hating them. Like what was said by the guest speakers a few assemblies ago, if the Christians and the Muslims start to really hate each other, it might lead to an all-out war. If we set the example of respecting their religion and living in peace while looking equally at them, others can do the same.

OJ Trinidad 30

Like what I said, it is difficult to change what is needed to be done. Though I say it is something hard to achieve, with confrontations and peace evident as something to be put in mind, we can fix anything. Oh and do not forget two other points, teamwork and patience.

Spreading awareness is simple as quick as a few words or a few pushes of buttons on your gadgets. Espe-cially since that right now students have been experiencing using social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook; even simpler than that is by walking up to a person, saying a few words like; “Peace!”

We are a race of linked brown men and women. We are connected with imaginary extensions and with that, we can make a difference through spreading to our fellow Filipino brothers and sisters. A connection with other Filipinos is a key to bring awareness that not only the Middle East and those Muslim countries are having problems with culture.

We do not need to be racist against Filipinos who are Muslims. That is what causes these wars. We need not to make fun of them and their beliefs; that is what starts the chain reaction of ideas of guns and tanks. Everything that had happened during the course of the Zamboanga crisis had one single source which is the discriminations of Muslims by the Catholics.

So, remember, a simple word, a simple phrase, a simple push of a button and even a few taps on a screen is all it takes to speak with everyone around the world.

Paul Chua 12

The Zamboanga crisis has been declared : Finished ! But do you think the crisis is really over? I don't think so .... The Zamboanga crisis might be over but not the crisis. Some of the people of Zamboanga are know experiencing poverty and some lost their houses. What can we do as one nation? What can we do to re-build our nation? ......

What can the Government do to help rebuild the nation of Zamboanga? There are a lot of things that the Government can do to fix this problem. One of the solutions is .... The Government can implement medical operations since there were a lot of people injured and some don't have enough money to pay for the hospital bills, the Government can give them free off charge treatments so that the injured people can be treated properly and so that they can avoid sickness and death. Another way to help rebuild the nation is ..... The Government can spread the issue about then Zamboanga crisis by making seminars about the things that happened in Zamboanga and also by asking the news channels to make more news reports on the things happening in Zamboanga, through this the awareness and knowledge about the Zamboanga cri-sis will increase and help or donations from the people will increase because if the people are not aware of the things happening or happened in Zamboanga they will not be able to help, so if the Government helps raise awareness of the Zamboanga crisis, more people will be able to help ......

Of course, as one nation and as Filipinos we should do our part to help fellow Filipino citizens. The peo-ple should do their part to help in rebuilding our nation. Some concrete ways on helping is .... The Govern-ment helps raise awareness about the Zamboanga crisis and our part is to help those people in need, when the Government raises awareness about the Zamboanga crisis, we know already what is happening and we should help those people by donating money, can goods, clothes and other useful things even if it is in a small amount because no matter how little it is, it will still help in rebuilding the nation ...... For exam-ple, the Government will be building houses for the people of Zamboanga, if one person donates a little money and others donate little money when we add it all up we will be able to accomplish building the houses for the people. Another way to help rebuild the nation is ..... To respect each other's religion, be-cause as you know some people are blaming the Muslims for the things that happened in Zamboanga since they believe that the MNLF are all Muslims, they assume all Muslims all over the world are cruel and bad. We should never assume things, when we assume that all Muslims are bad, no one will be able to re-spect them and when we don't respect them it might cause more chaos because it might lead to a fight be-tween the Muslims and Filipinos, so in order to help rebuild the nation, the Filipinos must respect the Mus-lims so that peace may be easier to achieve and so that chaos may not take for .......

As young people sometimes we think that we may not be as much help as adults do but in reality we can do little things to help out. The Zamboanga crisis has ended with lots of people in need of help. What can we do as student of Xavier School, what can we do to help rebuild the nation? One of the ways to help rebuild the nation is by donating can goods or other essential things, as we know some of the people in Zamboanga are experiencing poverty for they have no money, and when we donate can goods we are able to help them ........

In the end we know that each one of us has a part in rebuilding the nation and in order to rebuild the nation we must accomplish our part in rebuilding the nation ......

Emman Uy 32

The Zamboanga crisis left a great aftermath to its people and our society. We must learn as people of our country to help the victims of the crisis. Right now as we speak of, people in Zamboanga have already been cut off from their homes due to the war against the MNLF. We might think that the stereotype of Mus-lims are being terrorists or drug dealers but this does not fall for all of them. We can see in news reports that some or most of the Muslims there living in Zamboanga actually want peace and understanding to one another to become united and understand that we are all Filipinos striving to fight for our country. Again, due to the effects of the war against government vs. MNLF, we are encouraged to help victims as a person, a peacemaker and a Filipino.

It is our duty as a Filipino to strive helping rebuild our nation and protect it from falling. We the Filipinos in our country can help giving the victims of the crisis medical attention, seminars and helping rebuild their homes. Other than those, what we Filipinos, Catholics can do most importantly is to pray because when all hope is gone, the best thing to do at that very moment is to pray for the war to be gone. No matter how far you are, even if you're in abroad, as long as you are and love being a Filipino, you can bring peace and love to the people in Zamboanga by sending money through the internet or even going to the place where the crisis is help deliver relief goods. There is actually more ways to help one another and I do hope for the people in the country to understand that good deeds lead to another and the good deeds that you gave will someday come back to you no matter how long it takes.

As for the government, what they can do is to speed up the process of the peace pact between them and the MNLF. It is best to understand that nothing can be achieved through fighting and that it is both the gov-ernment and the MNLF who will lose because in the end it is them who paid the price of losing lives and wasting money. It was right for the government to react to the crisis and try to make peace with the Mus-lims but Nur still wanted to claim their land and turn it into a Bangsamoro republic form of a government which led to Noy-noy sending troops for battle. The main reason why Misuari resulted into arms and fight-ing was because the Philippine government ignored their request and denied it several times which made them wait and Misuari was getting impatient. The government should convince the MNLF to stop this fight-ing and give up Zamboanga city at least to them. As for the people the government should not only focus on attacking but also be wary that a lot of communities are affected because of this. The government should take away some of their funds to the people for their health care, food and clothing. In discussions of the elements of a nation state, stated in the British Empire, the downfall of their English Monarchy was because of the internal issues concerning religion (Catholics vs. Protestants) and this is the reason why the government should be tolerant of the other religions. It is best for the president to go to the departed sol-diers that died in the fight because that would show respect and dedication to the country and to the peo-ple.

My school sponsors donations and asks their students to donate for the victims if the calamity. As a Xavier student, I can help them in little ways by donating relief goods and we are to at least give more than what we are asked to give to show sincerity to our Filipinos. Our CLE classes took the time to lecture and teach us that it is important in many ways to pray and reflect on the crisis in terms of what you can do to help. To be more specific and to expand on what I mean by giving more than what is asked, I meant that to give bet-ter quality food that can last for days and give clothes that I am willing to give away because in the end, I won't regret anything that I have sacrificed for because the smiles you see on TV is enough to fill up what you have given to them. In CLE, they discussed that God blessed us with lots of goods and money for a reason and that reason is to use that blessing to help the victims of the calamities. We also discussed that no one has ever become poor by giving.

In the end, we understand that there are many ways for the people living in the society to help and that there are times when all hope is lost but there will always be someone to lift you up and lighten your burden and that someone is saying that we have to help the people of our country and do our best to give more than what is asked. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” ― Mother Teresa

Sources:

Sources and Credits

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2013/09/26/troops-capture-dozens-more-mnlf-rebels-305411

http://www.mb.com.ph/rebels-stocked-ammo-and-food-in-houses-long-ago/

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2013/09/26/mnlf-occupied-island-falls-gov-t-troops-305463

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/328410/news/regions/malik-unlikely-to-surrender-mnlf-spokesman

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/09/28/13/palace-zamboanga-crisis-over

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-28/philippines-deadliest-defense-crisis-in-south-under-aquino-ends.html

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/497493/scattered-fighting-erupts-in-zamboanga-city

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/501193/doj-awaits-court-order-to-transfer-captured-mnlf-fighters-to-manila#ixzz2hPrN8Emr

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/503639/zamboanga-rtc-orders-arrest-of-misuari-3-others#ixzz2hPsdlv33

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/501169/zamboanga-faces-massive-humanitarian-crisis#ixzz2hPull7RM http://www.mindanews.com/mailbox/2013/10/01/mindanao-business-sector-still-upbeat-on-mindanao-economy-following-zamboanga-crisis/

http://business.inquirer.net/142257/economic-impact-of-zamboanga-issue-minimal-says-central-bank-exec

http://www.rappler.com/nation/40831-navy-elite-zamboanga-city-crisis

http://www.interaksyon.com/business/72669/p6-62-billion-thats-how-much-govt-should-bill-misuari-for-zambo-crisis

http://www.gov.ph/2013/09/30/minda-chief-says-mindanao-can-survive-zamboanga-crisis-will-prevail-over-odds/

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/70505/zamboanga-crisis-causing-ripple-effect-in-neighboring-provinces-regions

Articles made by: Emman Uy 32, OJ Trinidad 30,

Joshua Dy 17, Paul Chua 12