Zamboanga Adventure: Exploring Asia's Latin City (Ground Zero of the Zamboanga Siege)

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It may be grim sight to look at but it was a reality that we could not hide from the world but only accept that there are really times that we even though we are all Filipinos living in one country, we could not agree to work out our differences in a peaceful manner.

That building that now looked like Swiss cheese was formerly a school but ridden with holes by weapons from government forces so they can drive away the alleged spliter group of the Moro National Liberation Front  (MNLF) away from the town they recently occupied by force.

We will never really know what drive these seemingly misguided elements to do such horrible acts because we mostly heard only from the side of the government. But in wars like these there are really no winners. Both lose in their hope for peace and unity, and the real losers are the families whose lives were lost, their properties damaged, and quite a number of them displaced. The conflict had paralyzed the economic activity of Zamboanga City. I am honored that I am now helping the city regain its foothold on its former glory.

The residents affected were from the barangays of Sta. Catalina, Rio Hondo, Kasangyangan, Mariki, and Sta. Barbara. Some of them settled in evacuation and relief centers while some are all lined up at the boulevard named after Filipino politician Roseller T. Lim, "The Great Filibuster".

Paolo Onesa Releases Debut Album "Pop Goes Standards"

Wazzup Pilipinas!

I missed the album launch of Paolo Onesa last March 19 at Cucina ni Bunso in Quezon City so it was a good thing for MCA Music to provide me a copy of his album during their next OPM artist album launch which was at the Johnny Alegre Infinity Stories album launch held at Tiendesitas in Pasig.

I decided to at least listen to the album first since I didn't have the pleasure of listening to him sing a few songs like what these artists do during their album launching. However, it took a long time before I could even open the album and play it due to a lot of backlogs.

Lucky enough that Holy Week is here and there are very little events scheduled for the week thus it was the right time to unwind and listen to some crooning from the Voice of the Philippines' “Ultimate Heartthrob Crooner.”

Paolo rightfully earned that monicker as evident from his album Pop Goes Standards as he takes you away (to dream land where you do nothing but fall in love) with his soothing voice caressing hit songs to the tune of signature pop-jazz standards.

Zamboanga Adventure: Exploring Asia's Latin City (Yakan Weaving Village)

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Located in upper Calarian, northwest of downtown lies the Yakan Weaving Village. The place does not look like a village because it's quite small and you'll surely miss it so easily because the only signage available is a dirty and worn-out tarpaulin that says Yakan Village Weaving Association with the word "Association" blocked by a wood used to put the signage in place. There's another signage beside it situated on top but its obviously not helping much because majority of the signage only displays a cola brand advertisement.

It seems they desperately need some funding to come up with a more decent signage. I hope the government could at least support them to become at least more visible for potential tourists. I admire what the Department of Tourism (DOT) is doing by inviting members of the media on a media junket and introducing the Yakan Weaving Village to us so we could help share their existence.

The Yakan people are among the major indigenous muslim tribes in Mindanao. They are the traditional settlers of Basilan Island in the Sulu Archipelago, situated to the west of Zamboanga. Some of them settled in Zamboanga City due to political unrest which led to the armed conflicts between the militant Moro and government soldiers.