By Rene V. Carbayas
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The safety
and protection of hostages and the public remain to be the primary concern of
the local government of Zamboanga City.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said
that President Benigno Aquino III directed her to “situate all the hostages
(evacuees) in one particular area so that we prevent any security threat” and security forces will not be exhausted if they are scattered securing
the entire city.
“It is the direct instruction of the
President that we situate all the hostages in one particular area so that we
prevent any security threat,” Climaco
said in an interview while visiting the evacuees at Joaquin Enriquez Jr.
Memorial Stadium.
She added that what the government is doing
now is to “really provide food for all of the casualties particularly the
hostages (evacuees).”
“What we assure to the people is we shall try to provide for
them to the best that we can and we hope that this situation will not last so
that they can go back to normalcy. We have declared a curfew at 8 o’clock in
the evening until 5 in
the morning starting September 9. And we
will also be coordinating with our military and police operatives,” the mayor
said.
With the curfew imposed Monday night until
early dawn, there were difficulties in mobilizing volunteers to help in
managing humanitarian services at the evacuation center.
The mayor visited the evacuation center to
check on the needs of the Internally Displaced Persons at past 10 in the
evening Monday. She asked the evacuees to cooperate and help maintain the
cleanliness and sanitation of the area.
“The initial order that we have for the Crisis
Committee is relief operation and to open the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Stadium
for all the evacuees. And it is now being implemented and we see the need to augment sanitary facilities;
to augment also our health services, as we have set up our emergency hospital
in the Western Mindanao State University Gym,” Climaco said.
The Zamboanga City Social Welfare Office and
its few personnel and volunteers were distributing ready-to-eat food packs. The
team has to occasionally stop the distribution as crowd becomes unruly. Women
evacuees complain that men had the advantage to get food and this has left
women and children, including the elderly and people with disabilities at a disadvantage.
“I don’t think that even if they (volunteer
groups) will mobilize people at 8 o’clock in the evening, the stores are
closed. We do not want to add to the security threat. Perhaps we should welcome
all the volunteers in the morning,” the mayor said.
Before leaving the evacuation site, the mayor
asked the IDPs to pray for the hostages still in the hands of the armed groups
and for the city of Zamboanga. She proceeded to check on the Command Center at
the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
She reiterated that President Aquino wanted
the IDPs to be given utmost care and provisions while they are at the
evacuation center.
While the MNLF faction held hostage still
undetermined number of civilians, the mayor said that the government “will try
to get as much as possible negotiations on the part of the hostage takers.”
“But the non-negotiable will be, definitely
we want the safety and protection of all our hostages. And we will not allow
them to march to the city hall,” the mayor stressed.
Factions of the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) loyal to Nur Misuari have taken an undetermined number of civilian
hostages in selected coastal barangays
in Zamboanga City early Monday morning as they tried to march to city town
proper to allegedly declare independence and hoist their flag. Security forces
have set up blockade in strategic areas to limit their movements. (PIA9)