Photo Essay : Rubbles of Zamboanga City villages

: Lustre Street, entrance towards Sta Catalina. (davaotoday.com photo by Earl O. Condeza)

: Building in Lustre Street. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: A hole at a building on Lustre Street. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: A hole at a building on Lustre Street. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: The alleged headquarters of MNLF commander Habier Malik, whose whereabouts are still unknown. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Police standing guard atop the KGK Building, Lustre Street. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Atop the KGK Building at Lustre Street, the alleged hideout of Muslim fighers. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Moro symbols on the wall. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Another view of Lustre Street. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: A bath amidst the ruins in Sta. Barbara. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Santa Catalina. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

: Some 8,000 evacuees at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)

photos by ACE R. MORANDANTE
DAVAO TODAY

Zamboanga City – Two months after the Zamboanga siege, the ruins of Santa Barbara and Santa Catalina villages both stir and remind the courage and hopelessness, survival and anguish over burnt homes, disrupted lives.

Gyms and schools-turned evacuation centers are teeming with some 8,000 families, who mostly fear to return to their war-torn villages.

Philippine Marines patrol the villages in a bid to control previously occupied areas of Moro fighters.

Relief group Balsa Mindanao arrived in Zamboanga City recently and provided psycho-social counseling for children and mothers, and medical and dental services for the villagers. (davaotoday.com photos by Ace R. Morandante)