My junior golfer daughter, Ashia Marie Nocum, has had a successful summer sports campaign in the US where she emerged as Champion in the 2015 College West Combine Skills Challenges, (Beaumont, California), having best overall skill stats over both girls’ and boys’ division in July.

Only on her second year in high school, 14-year-old Ashia for the first time played outside of her age-category abroad and won over players in the college level coming from the US, Canada, China, Singapore, India and Thailand in the skills challenge competition.

Here's the score card from the College Combine website:

Ashia likewise bested junior golfers from all over the world when she landed 3rd place in the Southern California Professional Golf Association (SCPGA)-PING 2-Day Summer Series (Oxnard, California). Likewise, Ashia placed Top 6 over 50 players in the 57th Annual Lee Hammil Memorial (Buena Park, California). 

We thank Ashia's sponsors who shouldered her plane ticket to the US, expensive tournament fees, green fees, practice round fees and playing fees.

The sponsors include Mighty Sports, Mighty Corporation's executives Caesar and Alexander Wongchuking; Eric Gutierrez of the San Roque Mining Corp., Jolly Ting of listed company Jolliville Holdings Corporation, Julio Sy of the Tao Corporation; and Mr. Jaime Dichavez and Mr. Johnny Sy.

Although we mostly stayed in hotels during tournaments, doing so for close to month with a family of five can cost an arm and a leg. Thus, we are so grateful to relatives and friends who took us in during the break period in-between tournaments that got us travelling from the farthest end of Southern and Northern California. Our relatives helped drove us around and even pampered us with food and gifts, more so during my birthday there last July 26.

They include my Auntie Estrella Torres, Uncle Ben, children Trisha and GJ who gave us a homey accommodation in their house in Ventura County and saw to it that I had my best birthday celebration in the US ever! There is my cousin Olga Natividad who celebrated her birthday with us; and the Alvarez family in San Francisco led by my cousins Rommel and Carol and children Jeff and Rizza who shared us their house and gave us all the comforts to make us feel so much welcome.

Special thanks goes to Ate Norma and Cris Crisostomo who took my mom Aida Nocum in and drove her to the best places and amusement parks in San Diego.

We likewise thank relatives who went overboard by bringing us to the best and most expensive buffet and Filipino restaurants. Millions of thanks to the Torres Family, Uncle Nonoy and Ate Mate Lopez, Carlos and Georgie Murillo and children, Auntie Esther; cousins Eden and Tuchie Barredo, Auntie Dolly Bordner, cousins Mulong, Reah and John Bordner; Gemma and Ian Nocum, Joseph Infante; Ann's classmate Lex Julain who also helped Ash last year and many, many more relatives who made us all feel so special.

We thank and dedicate to you all Ashia's successful US summer junior golf campaign. Ashia performed well because of all your love and support not only to her but also to our family of five and my mom Aida.

Here's Ashia's message to those who supported her:

"I would like to thank you for helping, supporting and sponsoring me in my road to become a professional golfer by participating in several tournaments in the U.S. as a representative of our country. Your support has opened many opportunities as well as help develop further my golf skills. Your contribution has enabled me to participate in highly distinguished tournaments, and those events broadened my discipline and character, on and off the field, which is invaluable to my future endeavors."

In gratitude to all the help Ashia -- who is celebrating her birthday this month along with elder sister Arizza and my wife Ann -- have decided to spend their special days raising funds for the poor kids and scholars being helped by our six libraries under our Kristiyano-Islam (Kris) Peace Library. 
 
Please join us for a brunch featuring exotic food from Zamboanga like satti, kurma, pancit sotanghon etc. from 9 AM to 11 AM on October 17 at the Kris Library headquarters at 9A Dona Isidora Street, Don Antonio Heights, Diliman, Quezon City 1127.

You may go to our Facebook page to make confirmation or to see how you can donate at this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1488014744854900/

Liking and sharing this message to friends and relatives can be a big help.

 The College of Engineering at the University of the Philippines is known as “Marlboro Country.”  That reference to a cowboy advertisement of a well-known cigarette brand is derived from the fact that the department is a testosterone-driven college populated mostly by male students.

 The department usually starts with many female freshmen but as the school season advances, only few female students are left to match wits with the male population who appears to have better aptitude in numbers.

 We are happy that thus far, our eldest daughter Arizza has survived the crunch at Marlboro Country where she is now on her fourth year as an industrial engineering student with a grading average of a Magna Cum Laude. We are praying she does not fall head over heels-in-love, get sick or burnout to fall off that high grade average.

 So far, so good. In being a number-cruncher, Arizza has clearly overtaken my limited talents as I am so terribly poor with numbers and anything related to them. I am better with my analytical skills, argumentation and deductive reasoning but have a poor memory. I am often embarrassed to easily forget names, faces of people and facts.

 On the contrary, Arizza appears to have a photographic memory that she clearly got from my father Armando Nunez Nocum and my wife’s father Salapuddin Sahi, a math teacher in Siasi. My wife Ann is good with numbers too.

 Still, I am proud to say Arizza somehow got the love for writing from me, my father too and my lolo Rodolfo Nocum. Well, almost. You see, all of the three of them are good in grammar, but not me. I am not only bad in grammar but careless in my writings too. Maybe, I’ve spent so much time swimming with the carabaos when my public elementary school teachers were teaching grammar in the boondocks of Zamboanga City.

 While some people are either good in numbers and bad in English and writing or good in writing but poor in numbers (as I am), Arizza and my dad Armando and Lolo Rodolfo seem to be good in both. I envy such kind of God-given talents denied of me.

 In fact, weeks after Arizza won the prestigious Magsaysay Award Essay Writing Contest, she also helped the UP Team of engineers and statisticians land second place in the National Statistics Competition. I think the Ateneo team won that contest but Arizza won in the individual category. Winning both essay and statistics contests simply blows my mind!

 Arizza seems to have done it again by being chosen by UP and the prestigious Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand as one of the country’s representatives to the 13-country Asian Engineering Student Network (AESN) Camp 2015. Arizza is the lone female delegate in the five-man Marlboro Country team that left Manila yesterday for week-long engineering meet.

 This development comes after Arizza was chosen to be among three Philippine student representatives in the Southeast Asian Global Undergraduate Leadership Programme (SEAGULL) sponsored by the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Institute for Societal Leadership (ISL).

 SEAGULL brings together 20 student leaders from 11 Southeast Asian countries who will be trained in various Asian countries in the coming months to be the next generation of leaders in the Asian Region.

 Arizza returned Saturday just to re-pack her things, have dinner and lunch with us before leaving for the AESN meet in Thailand – quickly switching roles from an academician and NGO leader in Singapore into a number-crunching geek in Thailand.

In a letter to Arizza, Chulalongkorn Dean of Engineering Bundhit Eua-Arporn, Pd. D. said the AESN Camp will see the gathering of 40 “top engineering undergraduate students from Asia and Oceania” who will be trained and prepared for the “opening of the (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Economic Community in 2015.”

 Note that this is the year when most trade and economic barrier among Asian and Oceania nations will be opened to foster better trade, commerce and growth for the Asian Region.

 Accompanying Arizza in the AESN Camp are:

 1.   Mr. Dominic Aily G. Ecat, BS Industrial Engineering

2.   Mr. Joaquin Vicente C. Ferrer, BS Civil Engineering

3.   Mr. James Renier T. Domingo, BS Industrial Engineering 

4.   Mr. Kenji M. Miyazaki, BS Mechanical Engineering 

 They are accompanied by Ms. Joanna Resurreccion, Ph.D., the associate dean for student affairs of UP’s College of Engineering.

 The 13 countries participating in the Asian engineering meet include Japan, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand (host country).

 But if you ask Arizza, she'll always say that her success comes from back-breaking hard work. We've seen how she and younger sister Ashia practically gave up their childhood for their individual passions -- academics for Arizza and junior golf for Ashia.

If that is the yardstick for success, then I'll say I'd prefer to have poor grammar but rich memories of fun and carefree childhood spent swimming all day in the river near our public elementary school, chasing frogs in the rice fields and fishing for hito and catching shrimps.

We thank friends from the Philippine media -- notably The Philippine Star and The Daily Tribune -- for featuring our daughter Arizza Sahi Nocum who was chosen to be among the elite batch of young change-makers from 11 countries in Southeast being trained to be the new generation of leaders in Southeast Asia.

Here is the news about it:

Press Release

 Christian-Muslim UP Student is one of

PH’s Representatives in ASEAN Leadership Summit

 By Rochelle Rocaclez
   Kris Library Volunteer


Christian-Muslim youth leader Arizza Ann Sahi Nocum left for Singapore yesterday to represent the Philippines in the pioneering batch of students from 11 Asian countries qualified to join the first Southeast Asian Global Undergraduate Leadership Programme (SEAGULL) put up by a leading university in Singapore.

 Nocum, a junior Oblation Scholar at the University of the Philippines, will join fellow UP students John Paul Sawali and Leah Marie Gemanil who also qualified to be obtain full scholarship for the cross-country leadership development program sponsored by the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Institute for Societal Leadership (ISL).

 The international leadership program, which aims to “create effective, committed societal leaders for the future of the region,” will take student representatives from 11 Asian countries in a leadership study and training program in various Asian countries in the coming months.

 “I am so overwhelmed by this opportunity. As a representative of the young people of this country, it is my duty to gain all I can from SEAGULL and translate my insights and experiences into actions that can positively impact the Philippines,” share Nocum.

 The 20-year-old junior industrial engineering junior at University of the Philippines (UP) sits as administration of the multi-awarded Kristiyano-Islam (KRIS) Peace Library, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the poorest young people in conflicted areas in the country.

 For building libraries, setting up free computer use and distributing books in various conflict hotspots of rebel and terrorist groups in the Philippines since 2001, Nocum bagged the Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs Award (YWPA) 2011, the Smart Communication’s Community Idol Award in 2010; the Cobra Energy Drink Pinoy Hero Award for the Youth in 2013; the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Essay Writing in 2014; and nominated as among 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by the Filipina Women’s Network.

 SEAGULL 2015 is a pioneering three-leg programme hosted by the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Institute for Societal Leadership (ISL). It will bring together more than 20 exceptional young leaders from 11 different countries in Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and East Timor.

 The first leg of the SEAGULL program is Singapore and will be held from January 12 to 16 and the succeeding period is in July and September in others Asian countries.

 SMU and ISL have sent invitations to all major universities and colleges in the Philippines and across Asia. Nocum and fellow delegates John Paul Sawali, a 5th Year BS Civil Engineering and Leah Marie Gemanil, 4th Year BS Education from UP, passed the series of written and oral interviews held through the Internet and online video conference sites.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) has been globally recognized as a premier academic institution throughout Asia. Established in 2000, SMU has earned its international reputation of providing a world class research and distinguished teaching.

            I am not of a church-going man, but in November last year, I asked my family go with me to mass after reading that the sermon then was about the Parable of Talents. You know this is the Biblical story where Jesus said that God gives everyone a special talent and that these talents should be used, nurtured and shared.

            After the mass and over lunch, I told my children that God gave them talents for a reason and that they must not only develop them but share them to other people. For one, I said, we should all take time to again activate the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library advocacy which we recently became too busy in our individual businesses, works and studies to attend to.

          I told my daughters Arizza and Ashia that thus far, God has been blessing them so much with both of them having received at their young age local and international awards – including citation of honor from the Philippine Senate – for excelling in academics, public service and junior golf here and abroad.

         I said this only means they should give more as much have been given them, just as the Bible says.
 
         Both of our daughters promised to find time within their busy schedules to help the poor and needy being assisted by our non-government organization Kris Library.

          It was amid this conversation that Arizza received an email from the prestigious Singapore Management University (SMU) informing her that she was among three students from the Philippines chosen to represent the country as among the pioneering batch of the Southeast Asian Global Undergraduate Leadership Program or SEAGULL!

            “God does act fast in giving blessings to you and our family,” I told Arizza, exclaiming in joy.

            Information provided by SMU shows that SEAGULL is intended to train the next generation of leaders in Southeast Asia, the rising tiger in the world stage.

           “SEAGULL aims to develop your capacity to be a societal leader by providing you with high-level analytical skills, exclusive opportunities to be mentored by some of Southeast Asia’s most prominent personalities and a chance to exercise those insights meaningfully with actionable projects for important causes,” the SMU invitation said.

            “Southeast Asia needs a new generation who understands that leadership is not confined to political office or the highest echelons of the business world, but thrives in the hearts and minds of the purposeful. SEAGULL will convene the next generation of societal leaders for the most populous and promising region in the world. You will be part of the first cohort of the SEAGULL network.”

           An “exclusive, fully-sponsored leadership development programme,” SEAGULL will gather together “22 handpicked change makers” from “11 Southeast Asian Countries” who will undertake a cross-country immersion program starting in Singapore for a one “life-changing experience.”

           This morning, with excitement yet heavy heart, we saw Arizza off for the week-long SEAGULL immersion session in Singapore to be followed by two more immersion period in different Asian countries in July and September.

           Although happy for her, we knew this is just the beginning of our daughter’s global adventure as she will also be leaving for Thailand next week to represent the University of the Philippines (where she is a junior industrial engineering major and Oblation Scholar) in another academic undertaking. It was only a few months back when we also saw Arizza off for a trip to London to represent the Philippines in a global public speaking competition.


           We will be missing our daughter more and more but we know she is in God’s good hands as she had been working and sacrificing much to spread the blessings arising from the talents and abilities God has given her.

           Last December, the family had to forego of a planned “winter wonderland” vacation in Japan after Arizza insisted that we should go to Zamboanga City to spend time with our families there and so that she, the Kris scholars and volunteers can proceed in distributing 30 boxes containing 8,000 books to six poor public schools in conflict areas in Zamboanga City for the benefit of thousands of students.

          You can also share your talent, time and resources by becoming volunteers or sponsors of Kris Library. You may do so by contacting Arizza via her email address:  arizza.nocum@gmail.com

          The Parable of Talents simply boils down to the Law of Karma – the good you do comes back to you a million times.

     Four days before 2013 ended, my 13-year-old daughter Ashia made an incredible achievement in local junior golf history -- she made her record-breaking 6th hole in one! Of the Filipino junior golfers in her age class, I have never heard one making such number of aces.

       And the best thing is that it happened just when I was playing along with her after an almost two years break from the game I have a love-hate relationship with. I love it because of the challenges it brings, the exercise, the camaraderie with media friends; and most of all the VIP clients I get to have through the game.

       But I also hate it because of the high cost of the game and the very long time it takes to play it and mostly out of town at that. Recently, I had to return to the game as I start to have an increasing number of public relation and social media campaign clients who are addicted to golf. When invited to play, I send my daughter Ashia or make up excuses, but I am really running out of excuses not to play.

       And so off I went reluctantly to practice with Ashia last December 28, 2013 and how lucky I was to be there when she made her historic sports record. I initially thought that her caddy was joking with us.

            Of her six holes in one, I only witnessed the first one made in the US – where I was caddying her – and the rest was witnessed by fellow players, their parents, the caddies and my wife Ann. I guess my wife is the one with lucky charm as I view a hole-in-one as more of a luck than skill.

            When people ask me after learning about Ashia’s holes-in-one why I was not there to celebrate a very important milestone in the world of sports, I usually answer: “If I am with her, who is going to make a living so Ashia can play an expensive game?”

            I give the same answer when fellow golfers jokingly tell me why I can’t play as good as my daughter.

            More on this matter later, but for now we are sharing with you a press release my PR firm did to seal Ashia’s history-making feat:

                                         13-Year-Old Jungolfer Hits 6th Hole-In-One

            Junior golfer Ashia Marie S. Nocum, who is known to have the most number of aces in her age group, hit her 6th hole-in-one Saturday morning at the Capitol Hills Golf and Country Club (CHGCC) in Quezon City.

The 13-year-old Nocum, who made her first ace in a junior golf world tournament in the US at age six, used an eight-iron to ace the 135-yard 4th hole during a practice round at the Capitol golf where she is a member.

“I’m speechless. I did not expect to make my 6th hole-in-one in my home court. I’ve been regularly practicing golf since I was five years old here but a hole in one eluded me at Capitol golf all these nine years,” said Nocum, a Grade 9 student at the Mirriam College High School in Quezon City.

For her feat, the Ayala Land Inc. golf course under CHGCC General Manager Jose Dagdagan awarded Nocum with P5,000 cash and guest playing vouchers.

The hole-in-one was witnessed by Nocum’s father Armand Dean Nocum, a former reporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and caddies Sheryl Olores and Marian Atipin. The ace was certified by CHGCC starter Jessie Agustin. Nocum used a Callaway golf ball to ace the hole.

            Nocum hit her first ace during the practice round of the July 2007 Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in Colina Golf Park Course in San Diego, California. Nocum landed 5th place in the world tournament.

            The second ace came on February 2008 during the Champions for the Future golf tournament at the Riviera Golf and Country Club Executive Course.    

On March 9, 2008, Nocum aced Riviera’s Hole No. 4 during another Champions for the Future golf tournament.

            Ashia’s 4th hole-in-one happened on April 17, 2009 during a practice round for the qualifying tournament of the 2009 Callaway Junior Golf Championships at the Manila Southwoods golf course in Cavite.

            After a three-year hiatus from competitive golf, Nocum returned to the game and made her 5th ace at the Junior Golf Association of the Philippines’ tournament at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo, Rizal on August 26, 2012.

            Ashia's 5th hole in one was witnessed by fellow junior golfers Sam Bruce, Mika Fortuna, Sophia Blanco, their parents and caddies.

            Although now Quezon City-based, Nocum also represents Zamboanga City and Muslim Mindanao since she is born of a Mindanao-born Christian father and Muslim mother.

Apart from playing golf, the young Nocum is also active in the family-run NGO Kristiyano-Islam (KRIS) Peace Library, which is engaged in building libraries, distributing books and school supplies and putting to school Muslim and Christian scholars in conflicted areas all over the country.

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            The 103-story Empire State Building, lighting up with white, blue, red and yellow to symbolize the Philippine flag, is once again standing proudly as the world’s “tallest building” in the eyes of Filipinos.

            Over the weekend, the iconic building – which stood as the world’s tallest skyscraper for 40 years following its completion in 1931 – lighted up with the colors of our flag to bring awareness to the thousands of people killed and millions affected by the deadly fury of super-typhoon Yolanda.

            In its tweet, building officials said they lit up the colors of the Philippine flag to “raise awareness” about the tragedy brought about the typhoon here to the people of New York, America and the world. Such awareness is seen to bring in millions of dollars more in aid badly needed by our countrymen battered by the typhoon's wrath in the Visayan Region.

            We can’t thank Empire State officials enough for doing their part to help our fellow Filipinos across the seas. Thank you very much!

            The Empire State Building has been part of my childhood. It always reminded me of how man can push his capacity and technology to the limits. It was the first building for which I first learned to utter and spell the word “s-k-y-s-c-r-a-p-e-r.”

            However, in a visit to New York in August, our family hesitated spending about US $30 per-head to go up the view deck of this building famous for the King Kong and Superman movies. It is also a favorite structure being singled out for destruction by aliens, dinosaur, Godzilla, meteors and countless end-of-the-world scenario movies around the world.

              The hesitancy is borne out of the fact that we’ve recently went up to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which at 163 floors (829.8 meter) stands as the world tallest. Clearly, The Burj not only eclipsed the Empire State Building in height but in modernity as well, the pride of the Arab being laden with all the modern technological marvels. For one, going up The Burj by elevator (which gives you a feeling of taking off in a plane) to its view deck is faster than our elevator ride at the Empire State building, which seemed to have taken forever.

            The Empire State Building, however, gives a better view of the Manhattan and New Jersey skyline as well as the Statue of Liberty and parts of the Central Park. On the other hand, the Burj experience is quite similar to riding a plane, many of which fly below the building and appear like airplane toys from above. You can also see the endless stretch of dessert of sand from Burj Dubai.

            And so for taking time to help victims of one of the country’s deadliest typhoons, the Empire State Building again stands as tallest in the world and one with a big heart to boot. Even the Burj Dubai may soon lost its crown to another skyscraper, but the Empire State will always remain tallest in the minds and hearts of grateful Filipinos.

            In this case, height does not matter.

            By the way, Kris Peace Library has last week started a donation drive to help the victims of Typhoon Yolanda. We have made our Kris Library in Quezon City (pls check the address here) a drop off point and our Paypal site (pls go to this link) available to donors who want to help in cash or in kind.

            We are going to turn over the donations to Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez and Councilor Kring-Kring Gonzalez who were among those who helped us build our first of five Kris Libraries in Zamboanga City in 2007.

            Like the Empire State Building, we all stand taller and stronger than this tragedy. Thanks everyone for your help.

What’s a parent to do?

On the one hand, there is history to be made for our junior golfer Ashia in becoming the first Chrsitian-Muslim Zamboanguena and Mindanaoan to join the ICTSI Lady’s Open in Baguio.

This prestigious event will prepare Ashia should she turn pro in golf less than four years from now. At 13, Ashia will only be playing as junior golfer amateur and should she win the game, will only get a trophy while the pro will get millions in pot money.

Right now, we have no plans for Ashia to eventually turn pro. We’re only after a possible golf scholarship being offered by numerous US universities for junior golfers like her. You see every year, US universities with golf varsity teams need about 300 junior golf players but they only come up with less than a hundred in the US so they hunt for good players in the Philippines, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and Thailand. Many of the golf pros playing with Ashia are already there in the US.

Ashia’s joining the Lady’s Open would bring her nearer to that US scholarship target as she gets exposure and test her skills playing among the professional legends of Philippine golf.

Ashia has prepared for this game and we have spent considerable amount of resources getting her good golf pros or golf trainers (after a bad tournament in a recent US tournament made us realize that Ashia really needs help from professionals and we should not scrimp on cheaper but less effective golf trainers,  pls read).

She had started to gain confidence by winning local golf tournaments and getting known for it.

Then the Zamboanga siege happened. Yes, I talked to some rich friends and clients of the my public relations and online reputation firm and they extended help, which they channeled through the Red Cross and other agencies since my non-government organization in Zamboanga – Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (Kris) is not ready yet to undertake such a mission.

I should already be happy and contented with such move in doing something concrete to help my beloved Zamboanga.

But then I realized such move appears inadequate and superficial. OUR FAMILY and Kris and all our supporters must do something more than give foods and relief goods. We must help in the rebuilding of this great city now being avoided by business investors, local and foreign tourists; and generally everyone who had initial plans of either visiting Zamboanga, doing business in Zamboanga or making it their home.

That need cannot be fulfilled by simply throwing relief goods to the evacuees and refugees. To show love for Zamboanga, we must go there to show that it is safe and to get materials to promote it online, something that my staff – adept in the online wars and campaigns – are adept at doing.

And so I broached the idea to my family and gotten mixed reaction. My Muslim wife Ann, ironically is so much against it as she gets feedback from Tausig relatives of planned retaliations from the families of slain and imprisoned MNLF. Fortunately, Ashia herself is supporting it and is willing to sacrifice her historic game she prepared for  three months.

I had no problem with eldest Arizza, Kris Library administrator, who did a fund-raising of her own and would have flown here alone at the height of the war had we not prevented her.

On the personal level, my trip here would have the effect of me losing a new PR and communication deal from an old client – a Senator -- who would have wanted me to do a communication plan project for several months starting THIS WEEK. To me that is the BIGGEST loss as it affect my business firm’s logistical needs and that of my family as well.

But  we made our choice.

Today, instead of having a grand vacation and enjoying the sweet amenities and the old world charm in a 5-room villa in our favorite Baguio Golf and Country Club where Ashia is playing, the entire family will be mixing it up with war-shocked children who will receive our relief goods, school supplies and books  intended for war evacuees being sheltered at the Divisoria Elementary School.

I know there have been other donors who went before us and gave so much more, but we think by coming to this beautiful city begging for our help is the biggest help we can give it. We are giving it the gift of ourselves, our time,  our career and financial sacrifices.

If we have to convince people to trust the peace and order stability of the city, no one can do it better than the Zamboanguenos themselves! And that means getting out of our comfort zones.

And this is the challenge to all Zamboanguenos now living outside of Zamboanga – to put aside all fears to come here and tell the world when they return that Zamboanga is back on its feet. Zamboanga is back in business. Zamboanga will rise again. Zamboanga will be great again!

Vamos a Zamboanga! Great to to be home!

At first glance, P3.8 billion seems big. But for a city that had been losing P50 billion daily due to the attack of the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga, P3.8 billion (according to the Zamboanga City Chamber of Commerce) seems small and almost inadequate to fully rehabilitate a city that could have lost almost half a trillion in the war that has reached for about two weeks now.

It is also saddening that the MNLF must first attack Zamboanga City for the national government to infuse billions to help the city. Had it done so in the past -- along with other poor towns and cities in Mindanao -- people will not be so poor and desperate to wage attacks and terroristic acts for mere P10,000.

For its neglect of Mindanao, the national government, the close to 100,000 million Filipinos and sadly the Zamboanguenos are paying for the injustice of the Mindanao people whose land contribute 25 percent to the national coffers yet receive so much less from the national government.

Actually what we need is a serious and long-term solution to the Mindanao problem and not band-aid solution. We wonder, for example, why the fully developed Iloilo, Cebu and other rich cities in Metro Manila are getting billions in funds while Zamboanga City gets so little. If it did get much, it is not reflected in our sorrounding or in our peace and order problem where 1 person gets slain almost daily. Criminals rule the city and most of the killings remain unsolved.

As I have always stressed in my previous writeup here, what happens in Mindanao -- or Zamboanga City -- affects the whole country because one bullet shot there is heard all over the world via Internet!

Here's the news from the Manila Times newspaper:

P3.8B to rebuild ZamboangaSeptember 19, 2013 10:21 pm
by CATHERINE VALENTE AND LLANESCA T. PANTI 
REPORTERS

President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Thursday said that the government is readying P3.89 billion for the reconstruction of Zamboanga City, which suffered extensive damage after almost two weeks of clashes between Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels and government forces.

The President said that the government has a total of P6.1 billion in contingency funds to rebuild the city.

The national government, he said, was also coordinating with the Zamboanga local government on rehabilitation plans which includes the construction of temporary houses for residents who lost their homes, cash-for-work programs and educational assistance.

“What I’d like to assure the people is we have the necessary funds on hand to take care of that (reconstruction),” Aquino told reporters.

Officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Hosing Authority, and the city government have already started discussing reconstruction plans. They have identified target areas, especially some structures that were burned down by the rebels, according to Aquino.

“My understanding yesterday is that the (resettlement) site has been identified. But, again, there are people who do not want to be distant from the coastline, so that will have to be taken into consideration,” the President said.

Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that Aquino called up Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to discuss the continuing relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction plans for Zamboanga City.

Based on a situational report from DSWD, there are 23,794 families comprised of 118,819 individuals that have been affected by the fighting.

Lacierda said 89 percent of the displaced families were staying in evacuation centers, while 1,790 families chose to stay with their relatives or friends.

There are 57 evacuation centers serving 21,261 families or 112,961 individuals. The largest is the Joaquin F. Enriquez Sports Complex, also known as the Grandstand, where 63 percent of the affected families were staying.

The DSWD, through a number of food service providers in the city, provides 70,000 ready-to-eat packed foods for the evacuees every day.

The agency is conducting a computerized profiling of displaced families using its Disaster Assistance Family Center, family access cards for validation, and profile generation purposes as basis for providing relief and shelter assistance for families whose houses were badly damaged by the fires.

House contribution
The House of Representatives also pledged to help rebuild Zamboanga, with congressmen each pledging P10,000 from their monthly salary to raise P2.89 million.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales 2nd and House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora signed House Resolution 3 that calls on all lawmakers to donate to the efforts to rebuild Zamboanga City.

“The House of Representatives will extend financial assistance to the victims of this crisis which has resulted in massive damage to property and infrastructure, adversely affecting the livelihood of the people of Zamboanga. This resolution recognizes their need for immediate aid and relief during this most difficult time,” Belmonte said.

A congressman receives P90,000 as monthly salary.

Belmonte earlier condemned the MNLF for the siege that led to the burning of homes and destruction of schools.

“Violence is definitely not at all the solution to achieve the peace sought by our brothers in Mindanao and by the Aquino government,” Belmonte said.

Still in Zamboanga
The President on Thursday said he will remain in Zamboanga City until the standoff between the MNLF and government forces is over.

Aquino said that he wants to personally oversee operations in the area.

”I’ll stay (in Zamboanga) until the crisis is over. I”ll return (to Manila) after I can explain in detail what the government plans to do . . . And I don’t expect that to take too long,” Aquino said.

He downplayed criticisms that he was micromanaging the situation in Zamboanga City.

”We assign people responsibilities because we knew they were capable of fulfilling them,” he said. “As both Commander-in-Chief and the President, at the end of the day, everything is my responsibility, so I am very involved.”

”I ask them what is needed, authorize the releases of funds; I am talking to Bangko Sentral to ensure the cash supply, am talking to Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Transportation and Communications, and Department of Agriculture to ensure that basic food stuffs are available from the time before I left Manila to the present—to include not just Zamboanga City but also Basulta [Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi],” Aquino added.

As a proud former member and volunteer-trainor of the Zamboanga City Red Cross Chapter, I had a mixed feeling of excitement, worry and yet felt adrenaline rush in seeing some members of the local Red Cross getting hit by mortar attack from the Moro National Liberation Front Forces that now occupies part of my city.

In my mind, I was telling myself, “How I wish I am in their shoes and getting hit for my beloved city and country.” In fact, to me, even death in that manner is worth it. The worse way to die is in bed or in the course of doing mundane stuff like getting a heart attack in the middle of the night, in traffic or while taking a shower (which some of my VIP friends died while doing).

Still, how can I be in their shoes when my glory days at the Zamboanga Red Cross under Mr. Vic Leozo is but a fading memory, although I still remember submitting this black and while “totoy” high school picture to Mr. Leozo when I was one of those chosen to represent the Zamboanga City Red Cross Chapter in a delegation that went to Davao to compete in a Frist Aid competition.

I can’t even remember whether we won or not. It was also around that time that I nearly killed someone who went on to become a councilor of Zamboanga City – Honorable Councilor Charlie Mariano.

In one of the first aid trainings I helped give in Claret High School, I remember demonstrating the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on my schoolmate and fellow Red Cross volunteer Charlie Mariano. But then I forgot I had a huge White Rabbit candy in my mouth and which I blew in Mr. Manalo’s mouth! We later had to get him to choke the candy out of his throat!

I just saved a future city councilor who I also near killed hehehe!

Back to the matter of heroism, actually not all of us should be wearing Red Cross uniforms to become heroes. We don’t even have to wear briefs or jockeys outside of our pants or underpants to become Superman or Batman.

We can only be ourselves yet not be afraid or lazy or selfish to do something for our fellow man. At the very least, we only have to get out of our comfort zones and do something that will benefit other people – better if they are total strangers – and good causes that do not necessarily benefit us.

Heroes are just ordinary people that do selfless acts. Heroes are just ordinary people that get out of their comfort zones to go into discomforting situation to help their fellow man.

Heroes are people like you and me who just got tired and bored of posting, commenting and sharing their Facebook, Twitter etc posts and decided to do something concrete for their fellow man.

In short, heroes are people who decided that they are not gonna be victims of circumstances and wallow in self-pity for themselves and their city (like Zamboanga) and decided to do something about the situation.

No one is born a hero; circumstances make him one.

This was our experience at the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (Kris Library) literacy advocacy. We started the advocacy – then known Kariton y Libro and later A-Book-Saya Group (ABSG) – in 2001 precisely because of the MNLF hostage-taking incident in Cabantangan as well as the kidnapping of my relatives in my barangay in Manicahan, Zamboanga City.

Maybe if I were not born into a barangay now known as the “jump off” point of the Abu Sayyaf and my mom had not received letters from Abu Sayyaf asking her to give them money so they will not kidnap her, I would not be CRAZY to put up Kris Library and do something to educate people in conflict areas so they may turn back from the culture of guns and violence.

Actually if I look back and compute the money I’ve lost by giving time and effort running, financing and raising funds; and spreading the message of Christian-Muslim unity for Kris Library, I’d say that I've lost millions that could have gone to our family savings or financed my love for travelling. You see, with my kind of communication business where VIP clients almost always require my personal appearance at meetings, time spend on the Kris Library advocacy is time lost in business! 

But we all have no regrets, we'd do it all over again!

Indeed! I confirm what some of my relatives say that we are indeed CRAZY to put up the Kris Library advocacy. Thus, I do not consider myself or my daughter Arizza Nocum or our volunteers as heroes, we are just plain crazy folks like some of you.

But then the attack on Zamboanga City shows that we are not crazy after all. The wounding of the Red Cross volunteers show we are not crazy after all. The deaths of the policemen, navy men and civilian casualties show we are not crazy after all.

Thus, I enjoin all my beloved Zamboanguenos to go crazy too. Let us all – anywhere we are in the world – resolve to get out of our comfort zones, leave our computers and do CONCRETE ACTION to help our city and its beleaguered people.

If we are abroad, we can do so by either sending funds or relief goods to trusted non-government organization or charitable institutions to help the victims and later to help vulnerable children there get good education that they may grow up to be responsible citizens and not terrorists, kidnappers, robbers and rebels.

If we are living in Zamboanga City, we must take courage to report crime and testify to crimes. Even before the MNLF attack, Zamboanguenos were already under attack by rising and unsolved kidnapping, murder, robbery and other serious crimes for lack of witnesses. We must also report and testify to crimes of corrupt local officials and policemen who do not solve crimes or are in collusion with criminal syndicates.

Those in the city can also attend to the immediate needs of the victims and the military fighting the MNLF by cooking food for them and giving clothing, used bags and other basic needs of those whose houses were engulfed by fire.

Deadly and violent circumstances in life -- like the one we have now in our city -- will draw out our true character as a people, are we going to be cowards crying in self-pity or stand up to the aggressors by showing them we are bigger and better than them in our unity and determination to help each other and make our city rise again!

The MNLF, the Abu Sayyaf and their supporters will have a fun time laughing at us for cowering in fear and doing nothing. They have already occupied our city, will we still allow them to invade our minds and hearts and bring us to submission? Shall we stand up to or kneel down before the aggressors?

What differentiates us from the animals is that God gave us superior intelligence and free will to decide what to do with our lives. We can decide to be victors or victims. The world is watching what Zamboanguenos will decide to become.

Let us resolve to stop being victims today and do something crazy!

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas yesterday virtually admitted that they have a failure of intelligence in the military and police (pls read my post HERE). At the second day of the Zamboanga standoff, he said they continue to be clueless about what is really happening to the city, more so the hostages. He said they merely rely on media reports.

Anyare! (Anong nangyare)

If that is the case, we might as well send the media to run the biggest military command outside of Manila -- the Southern Command military force. Same with the PNP regional command that is also located in the city. It seems media persons are braver, more creative and steadfast in penetrating the MNLF's lair. Where are the civilian intelligence officers of the military and police?

Anyare?

Where are the armchair generals who claim they knew about the impending MNLF attack three days before it happened? Are they just better at playing golf at the Camp Aguinaldo golf course where I see them often? Clearly, they are as clueless about the attack as they are now.

So sad and scary, it seems the Blessed Virgin Mary at our beloved Fort Pilar is our only hope.

With a military and police forces like what we have in Zamboanga, who needs enemies?

Blessed Virden del Pilar, please help us in this hour of darkness -- including cluelessness in military and police intelligence.

Here's the Inquirer story:   
 
Misuari forces dig in, use human shields
By Julie S. Alipala
Inquirer Mindanao
Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

ZAMBOANGA CITY--What’s really going on?

Local and national government officials have yet to provide a clear picture of what was really happening in the villages on the second day of a standoff between the armed followers of Nur Misuari and government troops.

“We have not been able to enter, nobody has been able to enter these areas,” Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said. “There has really been no head count. Most of the details that have been repeated come from media. The intelligence units of the military and police are trying to validate this.”

Misuari’s men were reportedly still holding at least 40 residents in two coastal villages here on Tuesday, punctuated by skirmishes with government troops and with feelings of dismay over the city officials’ inaction.

“I had not seen anybody from our city government or the police who helped us since Day One,” said Gina Lazaro, a resident of Sitio Lustre in Barangay (village) Santa Barbara.

Lazaro’s uncle, 70-year-old Ben Leonardo, is one of 34 people being held captive by gunmen loyal to Misuari, founding chair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Misuari’s men landed by boat from nearby Sulu and Basilan provinces and poured into the fishing villages on Monday, causing panic in the city of nearly one million people.

Misuari had earlier declared “independence” on the eve of another round of peace negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government in Kuala Lumpur.

He has criticized a preliminary peace deal signed last year by the government and the MILF, claiming that it marginalized the MNLF and a peace agreement signed in 1996.

President Aquino, speaking to reporters in Manila, refused to set a deadline for resolving the crisis. “We can’t be giving deadlines when what we want to ensure is that no more civilians are affected, hurt or killed,” he said.

A Scout Ranger Battalion (SRB) based in Negros Island and over 100 policemen from Cebu were deployed to Zamboanga on Tuesday to augment government troops there.

The departure of the Army’s 500-strong elite 1st Scout Ranger Battalion was “very, very unexpected” considering that they were in the midst of anti-insurgency operations in Central Negros, Brig. Gen. Francisco Patrimonio, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said in Bacolod City.

Knocking on doors

The initial attack killed four people and left 14 injured, Roxas and Zamboanga Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar told a joint news conference on Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, the mayor said there were six dead and 24 wounded, and gave no explanation for the revision.

A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, said 180 MNLF gunmen could be hiding out in the communities and armed with rifles and mortars, revising an earlier estimate of 200-300 gunmen.

Nearly 3,000 families have fled their homes and are now staying at the city grandstand, Tetuan Church, Tetuan Elementary School, Mampang Elementary School, Talon-Talon National High School and the Department of Public Works and Highways compound, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said in a statement in Manila.

Soliman said 287 people sought shelter at the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and were given food. They were later transferred to the city grandstand.

Although the gunmen have not harmed their captives, Lazaro said, “they knocked on doors announcing that they were taking the houses until it’s over.”

‘Good luck’

Belman Malandi, barangay chair of Santa Catalina, also expressed disappointment when he was advised by a staff of Salazar to fend for themselves for a while “because the mayor is in a meeting. Good luck.”

“All throughout the day (Monday), I have been calling the mayor. No reply, no advice, not even a shadow of anybody appointed as member of the crisis management committee,” Malandi said.

He said he was not trained to negotiate and felt helpless handling the situation, with MNLF forces holding 35 people 400 meters away from his barangay hall.

Jimmy Villaflores, a councilman of Santa Catalina, said he was forced to intervene. “I am supposed to secure my family, but I am here trying to appease the Moro rebels, feeding the hostages, assuring them that our government will soon be here to secure them,” he said.

The MNLF forces in Santa Catalina are led by Ismael Dasta, a Basilan-based commander of the MNLF National Security Operations Command.

Police not around

On Monday night, Dasta agreed to release a 10-year-old boy as requested by Army Col. Johnson Aseron, head of the 32nd Infantry Battalion.

In Barangay Talon-Talon, village councilman Teodyver Arquiza received five hostages on Tuesday. Six more men are still being held by MNLF unit led by Maid Ajirin, he said.

Roxas attributed the release of the five to police negotiators. Arquiza, however, said he and resident Moctar Muarip worked for the release.

“It’s not fair to attribute to police officials our efforts when they were not even around to help us,” Arquiza said.

Roxas said 180 people were being held hostage. “These are only estimates, and whatever the number is, it does not appear that they are being treated as hostages because they freely move about. They are not handcuffed or in any way tied, or restricted in movement.”

On Monday, Salazar said in a statement that 200 people were being held in Mampang. After journalists who checked the place found none, she acknowledged the mistake, saying she got the figure from the military.

Community guides

Commanders of the MNLF forces admitted using the residents as “human shield” and as guides.

“We need them to serve as our guides. We don’t know the place,” Basher Arkid, an MNLF commander from Basilan, told the Inquirer in an interview.

Arkid’s men are holding six hostages in Talon-Talon. He said the hostages would be freed once they reached Santa Catalina where they would meet the main group of Dasta.

Dasta’s group, which is holding 34 hostages, will be waiting for Arkid’s group in Bonggo a coastal community in between Santa Catalina and Talon-Talon. Dasta also told the Inquirer that his group needed the hostages as human shield and guides.

“They do not know their way around,” said one of the hostages, Junior Santander Morte, 60.

‘Only a game’

Another MNLF group that arrived from Sulu is stuck in Santa Barbara. “They are fully armed and they see everything as only a game,” said a resident, who refused to be identified for security reasons.

Unlike the other groups which preferred to stay along the road, the MNLF’s Onggong group led by Habier Malik occupied several establishments and houses in Santa Barbara.

They have kept firing their guns since Monday night and even busted a power transformer, resulting in power loss in Santa Catalina and Santa Barbara.

One of their hostages is diocesan priest Michael Ufana, residents said. Another, retired police officer Eddie Macaso, was freed Tuesday afternoon.

At 3 a.m. that day, Marines, Army and police started pounding the locations of the Onggong group.

A fire broke out at 3 p.m. in Santa Barbara, but Villaflores, a councilman from the adjacent village of Santa Catalina, said he could not say if it was started by the gunmen.

Trying to negotiate

“The security forces … have stabilized the situation. It has been contained and isolated and won’t spread to other areas,” Roxas told reporters, adding that authorities were trying to negotiate with the gunmen.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said government forces “were able to intercept” other MNLF forces who had been on their way to Zamboanga, but gave no details.

MNLF spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla told dzMM radio that the rebels were prepared to dig in. “Our forces will stay where they are. They are on a defensive posture,” he said.--With reports from Michael Lim Ubac, Nikko Dizon and Cynthia D. Balana in Manila; Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas; and AFP

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/source/inquirer-mindanao
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