Zambo City residents mark 5th anniversary of 2013 siege

Zamboangeños on Sunday started their day with a holy Mass as they marked the 5th anniversary of the Zamboanga City attack that left hundreds dead and drove thousands to evacuation centers.

GMA News stringer Jayvee Francisco reported that some residents of Barangay Sta. Catalina, where the 19-day siege began on September 9, 2013, started their commemoration of the deadly attack by a group from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with a Mass.

On September 9, 2013, a group of MNLF men led by Commander Habier Malik laid siege to the city, taking control of the KGK Building, making it their camp for 19 days until they were forced to yield to security forces. 

Government soldiers engaged the rebels in a fierce war that had destroyed houses and structures in Barangays Sta Catalina, Rio Hondo, Marikii, and Kasanyangan.

Thousands of barangay residents were forced to seek refuge in evacuation centers as the rebels burned their houses in the course of the war that left scores of civilians, soldiers, police, and rebels dead.

Even though the KGK Building has been rehabilitated, the scars of war are still visible in establishments and houses around "ground-zero" of the attack.

Survivor Monica Limen told GMA News that despite the passing of five years, the bitter memories  of the war have remained fresh in her mind.

She said she cannot hold back her tears every time she remembers how they were being herded in the streets as human shields. She lost her child who was cut down by a stray bullet.

After five years, Monica and her family still live at a bamboo house at a low-cost housing project of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in a resettlement area.

Another survivor, tricycle driver Edwin Ramos, said he avoids to stray on Lustre Street near the KGK Building so he won't remember the horror he had gone through, especially at that moment when his young nephew died in his arms after being hit by a bullet from a military tank.

Colonel Rolando Gomez, Commander of the 11 Infantry Battalion ng Philippine Army said that under the Task Force Zamboanga, they have already laid out a security template in places that were most affected by the 2013 siege.

Organizers of Sundays commemoration and thanksgiving activities said a feeding program and rice distribution event were to take place after the Mass. —LBG, GMA News