On September 9, 2013 Zamboanga people were taken by surprise. A siege, provoked by a group of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga City, Mindanao, started from a central part of the city. It lasted for nineteen days destroying almost ten thousand (10,000) houses and displacing almost one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) people who were forced to leave their houses. Most of them experienced a long agony remaining in tents, along the streets, in the grand stand and other transitory sites.
The reason of this siege was related to a group of MNLF willing to enter the city in a form of demonstration and show of power. This happened in the stage of the on-going negotiation between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF), a plan that was strongly opposed by the military to give a clear signal that MNLF plan was not the proper way to enter the city. It is quite difficult in this short news to make a deeper analysis of what happened in Zamboanga City from September 9, 2013 onward and to come up with a conclusion against or in favour to the parts in conflict.
What we wish to REMEMBER now is that we have to rebuild what was destroyed not only externally but also internally, to help people to move from that bad experience and lesson to a more positive understanding why this happened in our midst and to find appropriate solutions to continue to move together for the common good.
For sure the siege of Zamboanga had different motivations and ideologies different from the more recent siege of Marawi where it appeared clearly the radical ideologies in Marawi. But, if we move into a deeper analysis the two sieges, Zamboanga and Marawi, can be explained as a development of some ideologies that are present in Mindanao today, as well as in other parts of the world. Today Zamboangueños and all of us are called to remember the many sad stories related to the Zamboanga siege with suffering, but also the many stories of generosity and collaboration among the people on local, national and international levels.
We are living in a society where fear is still deep no matter how we cover it with many signs of progress and promises. We can say that there is a kind of “trauma” in our society and we have to face it with courage, not to cover it. We need to be realistic and accept that many decisions and tensions are fruits of fear. Thus, many decisions are not balanced in all levels of society, including our personal decisions. Fear is not rational and can create a chain of violence if we are not able to stop it.
During the siege in Zamboanga, among the many things done by Silsilah and other groups and leaders willing to end the siege soon and in the best of the way was a movement of some leaders who worked hard to stop the rumours that the siege of Zamboanga was a religious confrontation between Christians and Muslims. Silsilah with other leaders, Muslim and Christian, made a statement of solidarity denying that the conflict was a religious conflict. We brought the news on television and shared the statement through other channels of communication, organizing also a big prayer gathering at the grand stand, which is the biggest sport complex of the city. It was done in the presence of more than thirty thousand (30,000), Muslims and Christians who have been forced to leave their residences for the on-going siege in their areas.
Silsilah now has taken the initiative to remember the sad event of five years ago in Zamboanga. To REMEMBER with hope. The hope that what happened five years ago in Zamboanga with be a lesson to do more and better, to be closer to the people to share love and respect for all as brothers and sisters. With this spirit we have prepared in Padayon Center, Sta. Catalina, a place dear to Silsilah because it is the place where members of Silsilah started to live together in 1987 to be witnesses of dialogue and peace in that poor area of the city. A place before with a lot of violence.
We prepared there a kind of exhibit with documentation in the midst of buildings which are still a memory of the conflict in that place. Padayon Center of Emmaus and Silsilah was center of the siege in 2013 and was occupied first by the rebels with the hostages and later by the military. On September 9 we will be there to remember with the people inviting also many children, who every week are there to have a special program for them called “Bukas Puso” ( Open heart ) to share love especially to poor children with activity of formation, recreation and food. It will be a simple gathering and a sign of hope with a clear message that is in the spirit of dialogue and peace of Silsilah.