ZAMBOANGA CITY HALL THROUGH THE YEARS @ 2000 TO 2013

Zamboanga City Hall is a real historical landmark of Zamboanga City considering that it is already more than a century old.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Zamboanga_City#b

Zamboanga City Hall - The construction of this building started in 1905 and was completed in 1907 by the Federal Government of the United States for the then American Governors of the area which included: Leonard 0. Wood, Tasker H. Bliss, Ralph W. Hoyt, and Gen. John Pershing of World War I fame. Today, this serves as the City Hall of Zamboanga City where the Mayor holds office.

rainy October 12, 2013 with a tank still on stand-by by the City Hall (no, it is no longer there!)

in 2011

in June 2009

The Zamboanga City Hall is a focal point of the City and more so during the Christmas season

WHY?

...because of the festive air with all the beautiful lights of the City hall itself and also in the adjacent plazas. ...this is another update of these previous links which I thought I should do to complete the comparisons through the years...

zamboanga-city-hall-2000-to-2012 http://inpinaysfootsteps.blogspot.com/2012/12/zamboanga-city-hall-2000-to-2012.html 

zamboanga-city-hall 2011 http://inpinaysfootsteps.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html 

zamboanga-city-hall-lights-2011 http://inpinaysfootsteps.blogspot.com/2011/12/zamboanga-city-hall-lights-circa.html 

2000.

2007.

Just wanted to capture the perfect moment with less than perfect shots...

2007

2008.
The Zamboanga City Hall is now more colorful this Christmas.

2008

2010.

Embellishing the century-old City Hall has improved a lot over the years... the lights are brighter and the colors more varied.

They may have spent more, but I think they also made a lot of people happier -- young and old... from ZC and visitors, too.

2010

There is snow in Zamboanga City!

The lights really attracted everyone...and these white flakes you see are not artifacts/specks of the picture but "snow".

How everyone wanted to see the "snow"!

And young and old alike were just excited about it.

Yippeeee!!! We ♥ it here!

ZAMBOANGA CITY HALL 2010

And the surrounding plazas were also brightly adorned with the neon-lit Plaza Pershing and the meaningful Belen in Plaza Rizal.

2010

The entrance to Plaza Pershing and the gazebo all add up to the Christmas-y air!

And of course, the giant Christmas tree inside!

the brightly lit gazebo in Plaza Pershing

The Nativity Scene in Plaza Rizal is also as attractive and eye-catching! 

the tableau of the nativity in Plaza Rizal near ZC City Hall

A friend commented, that he didn't see this in Cebu that the Zamboanga City Hall area was so beautifully lighted for Christmas.

2011.

I posted about our century-old City Hall separately last year with this link: 
http://inpinaysfootsteps.blogspot.com/2011/12/zamboanga-city-hall-lights-circa.html  

2011

And the adjacent plazas were also brightly adorned with the neon-lit Plaza Pershing and the meaningful Belen in Plaza Rizal.

2011

2012.

I just had a glimpse of the Zamboanga City Hall this year!  They just lighted the ZC City Hall together with the other parks just a few days ago!

Everyone again drives around the area or strolls around, of course, for all the photo opportunities!

2012

And a glimpse of the neighboring Plaza Pershing...

2012

2013.

A lot had happened to our beloved City this 2013... a most memorable almost month-long Zamboanga Siege from the fated Sept 9 to the end of September and this was followed by flooding in many parts of Zamboanga City in early October!

Somehow, looking at our Zamboanga City Hall also instills hope on the people. We did not have the mardi gras for the 2013 Fiesta Hermosa, but the lighted City Hall was inspiring.
Here is a link: zamboanga-city-hall-lighted-for-fiesta.html

October 12, 2013 with the Lady of the Pillar at the City hall facade

Here is Zamboanga City Hall for Christmas 2013!

The Belen (Nativity scene) is now in the Center in front of the City Hall.

Yes, the Zamboanga City Hall is less festive and less colorful than in the prior years, but of course, it is fitting with the times.

This is the lighted Plaza Pershing for 2013!

The folks still flock to the area...which was heartwarming.

We continue to be so happy to see Christmas in the air in the heart of our City every year!!!. 

GLIMPSE OF STA. MARIA SCHOOL EVACUATION CENTER @ OCTOBER 2013

I would like to share images of the Sta. Maria Elementary School Evacuation Center.

I remember right after the height of the Zamboanga Crisis last September 2013 came the flooding in Zamboanga City, and this evacuation center had its own share of prolonged suffering with the flooded grounds in spite of the arranged shelter boxes throughout the grounds.

Can you imagine how wet they were?
This was taken already more than two weeks after the flood!

This end of October 2013, we visited the Sta. Maria School evacuation center (ably manned by the DSWD, ZCSWD and some of the faculty) where Ciudad Medical Zamboanga together with Bounty Fresh (Chooks to Go c/o Ron Natividad) shared food packs for the evacuees. This was still in line with the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Ciudad Medical Zamboanga.

 

Here is the Evacuation Center:

As viewed from the covered court!

And some close-up shots:

Shelter Boxes from Rotary International

taken from the covered court

 

Here are some of the people we met, although, we weren't able to stay to long to really socialize with them!

 

And here is Ma'am Juvy, CMZ HR Manager joining the kids play, while CMZ AO Ma'am Ruby looks on (probably, also wanting to join them!)!

I still think the Sta. Maria Evacuation Center is relatively arranged and organized as an evacuation center! 

We do hope, though, that they may soon be resettled in a better place!!!

A GLIMPSE OF TETUAN CENTRAL SCHOOL EVACUATION CENTER @ OCTOBER 2013

Ciudad Medical Zamboanga had a whole day affair at the Tetuan Central School for a composite program involving a Medical Mission including Breast Wellness - Psychosocial activities (for all ages graced by Jolibee) - Food and Relief Operations last October 2013 as part of the Tenth Year Anniversary of CMZ !

We made friends with amiable little girls called Charlotte and company.  I was asking how they lived there and they willingly invited us to check out their living conditions as they stayed in several classrooms of this elementary school.

So here is a glimpse of their life in an evacuation center. Most of the evacuees here are from Sta. Barbara, Lustre, Sta. Catalina and Mariki!

Welcome!

There are still signs of the several days with heavy rain. 

They also have stores around the place...

Here is Room 2 and Room 37 (I hope I remember the rooms right!). Charlotte shared that there are about 5 families living in each room.

T 

The kids have already gotten used to their life in the center and have found ways to entertain themselves such as by games and dancing. But, they also shared that they were afraid of the MNLF and the exchange of fire during the Stand-off. They also sometimes fear the sound of the hovering helicopters! 

It was unfortunate, though, that the kids were afraid of having their heads chopped off because someone shared to the kids, a cellphone video of children who were beheaded. It seems the kids thought that this video is current, but, it this may have been an older video probably from another country because we did not hear this kind of atrocity during this Zamboanga City Siege 2013.

I would like to request the adults: Please do not frighten the kids in that way. Some kids verbally expressed that he couldn't sleep at night after watching the video.

Then, I was teasing Charlotte that she could be a beauty queen when she grows up. However, she said she'd prefer to be a soldier!!!

As we moved around the evacuation center, here are more scenes...

And this family lost their houses during the fire in the conflict area.

These are the portable comfort rooms for urinating only. They had other toilets nearer their rooms. 

Some can still relax in this times.

The situation in this evacuation center is still fine considering that the evacuees respect the places they are living in now.  They clean the place and the classrooms still look clean and arranged.  And, the families have learned how to live with each other. 

The kids' smiles are so sincere and it was so interesting that they could cling to me and yet, I still felt comfortable. (And, the JSOTF-P [American troops] have also mentioned that the kids were also so friendly with some of their members) Two of the kids smiled and said, "Can you take us home?"

One of the things the kids were really asking if there are toys to be given away...fortunately, we also distributed toys and clothes aside from relief goods! I realized even in dismal events, the children still needed things which could give them joy.

This was a very enlightening day for us. The kids can easily adapt against all odds. There are some who are still afraid, thus, the importance of Stress Debriefing should be emphasized.

It seems after the series of grave natural calamities such as the Earthquake in Cebu and Bohol and now, Super Typhoon Yolanda, we in Zamboanga City are now feeling blessed. We did undergo a very dragging and dangerous incident, but, it seems what happened in Zamboanga in three weeks happened to Yolanda's victims in just a few hours and sparing  no one.

We are now in the Rebuilding Phase, although, this isn't that easy either. Some of the evacuees may have gone home by now. We do hope that they too could rebuild their own lives and rise above this adversity!


P.S. Thank you to everyone from CMZ who participated in the Medical Mission including Breast Wellness - Psychosocial activities (for all ages graced by Jolibee) - Food Distribution and Relief Operations

      Thank you to our partners from the pharmaceutical industry and suppliers.

     Thank you to our partners from Chooks- to- Go! (through Ron Natividad) for our food.

      Thank you to the office of Senator Trillanes (through Cezar Carmel Tamba) for our relief goods.

        Thank you to the community partners and from the DSWD group.