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…
“Long-term counselling is needed because it will take a long time for them to overcome their trauma and fears. Not all children can cope, some are still afraid of the slightest noise, from fallen cabinet or things. Others who see men in fatigue uniforms thought there is another war,” said (Children's Rehabilitation Center) CRC spokesperson Jacquiline Ruiz
Balsa noted that 24,000 families have been displaced due to the conflict, 24,000 schoolchildren affected and 46,000 made jobless. International groups said this comprised a humanitarian crisis.
Children whether deliberately used or not are still victims and survivors of state violence in the Philippine context.
“It’s frustrating how the government has handled the security, why the coasts weren’t secured and could not prevent the MNLF from entering, and how they are handling the situation right now. We don’t know what areas are safe, which roads are secured and which establishments are open,” a debater from the Ateneo de Zamboanga team said.