Zamboanga City
Southward Bound
By M.D. dela Cruz Tan
PHOTO DETAIL, BY GEORGE TAPAN, COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM
PUBLISHED: JUNE 2009

“Ven aqui (Come here)!” the mestiza guide, Girlie, said aloud in Chabacano, beckoning me to approach her – though, when already there, I could hardly understand what she was saying.  Without fail, it gave me a sense of dislocation, like being in another place (even country), where the senses are overwhelmed by everything peculiarly new.  This is Zamboanga City, after all, where everything is Filipino – but not quite.

However, this comes as no surprise.  Long before the Spaniards unified the Philippines into a nation as early as the 1500s, Zamboanga (then called Jambangan from the Malay word for pot or land of flowers, supposedly a tribute to the orchids and bougainvilleas that used to abound in the place) was already thriving.  Already mostly unified under Islam, which was introduced at these parts of the world via the Middle Eastern countries, the native Tausugs, Samas, Subanons and Badjaos were already trading with the Malay and Chinese as early as the 13th and 14tth centuries, aside from having their own system of local governance (the co-existence of local leaders under the datu system).  In so many ways, the place was already well established even before its ‘discovery’ by the Spaniards.  

Fast forward half a millennium later, to the present-day Zamboanga, and things didn’t seem to have changed much – Zamboanga is still a world of its own, waiting to be discovered, and then re-discovered again and again.

“Pick your pace,” the mestiza said.  And so I did. 

“We have so much to cover, so much to do,” she added.  And so we did.

BACK IN TIME

Past is reactivated with a visit to Fort Pilar.  While the place now houses some of the most valuable artifacts gathered from the city and its environs, at various times in the past it had been a jail, home of gobernadorcillo, barracks, and headquarters of the various nationalities to visit the place.  Starting off as the southern outpost of the Spaniards in 1635 (the cornerstone of the famed Fort Pilar was laid by Melchor de Vera, a Jesuit priest), it was attacked by the Dutch in 1646.  Although it survived the damages inflicted by the mayhem, it was deserted in 1663 when the Spanish troops concentrated in Manila to drive away Chinese pirates.  In 1719, it was rebuilt under the management of Juan Sicarra, and, a year later, was stormed by Dalasi, king of Bulig, with 3,000 Moros.  It was cannonballed by the Brits in 1798, witnessed the mutiny of 70 prisoners in 1872, and was again abandoned by the Spaniards in 1898 before the American occupation in 1899.  During World War II, the Japanese seized it.  Finally, it was taken over by the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.

Thus, more than anywhere else in the city (or the whole of southern Philippines, for that matter), this is the one place that witnessed history and survived to tell it and is therefore worth visiting.

Not far from there is the Zamboanga city hall, an imposing edifice built in 1905 by the US government for the former American governors of the area (e.g. Leonard O. Wood, Ralph W. Hoyt and John Pershing).  It is now the center of the city government – a peculiar building that is part-American, part-Spanish, with the additional touches that reflect the influences of Islam and the culture of the aborigines of the city – truly Zamboangueño. 

When with time to spare, survey the facing Plaza Pershing (originally Plaza de Don Juan de Salcedo, though was renamed to honor Gen. John Pershing for his work as a governor of the Moro province), a typical Spanish square of the old ayuntamiento of the 17th century.  Now surrounded by modern establishments, this is one of the places that continues to reflect Zamboanga at its most basic: “The old and the new combined,” Girlie, her hands widely spread as if to encompass the place, said – she, herself, a reflection of that.

GO SPIRITUAL

In Taluksangay, a village at the outskirts of the city, can be found the first mosque in Zamboanga peninsula.  Built by Hadji Abdullah Maas Nuno in 1885, this is also the first Islamic center in the Philippines recognized by other countries, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo. 

But here’s one for the misinformed: Did you know that Christians make up 72 percent of Zamboanga’s population of more than half a million?  “As such, the use of ‘Muslim Mindanao’ to describe the southern parts of the Philippines is erroneous,” Girlie insisted.  “The diversity is more amazing than could be imagined.”

With the predominance of Christianity, a major attraction is the Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragosa, whose statue is embossed on the eastern wall of Fort Pilar in 1734 as a frontspiece.  Like the original statue in Zaragoza, Spain, Zamboanga’s Virgin of the Pillar has been attributed with miracles – e.g. The saving of the locals with the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the dream of a sentinel to inform him of the arrival of marauding pirates.  Be there in October and witness the religious fervor that only Filipinos can muster, though re-contextualized with various cultures celebrating it like it is theirs, as well.

	1 | 2