One year later, a bigger battle continues

A year has passed since September 9, 2013 when a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) attacked Zamboanga City which resulted in a three week urban battle with the Philippine military. Rappler’s Karlos Manlupig reports that ‘normal life’ has slowly resumed in Lustre street, the site where some of the most intensive fighting took place. However, there is still evidence left over of a battle that interrupted an otherwise peaceful neighborhood. Today, many hundreds of families still live in evacuation centers. About 167 evacuees, mostly children, have died since last year due to malnutrition and illnesses inside the evacuation centers. The United Nations says a continuing humanitarian crisis threatens to kill more lives if something is not done soon to relocate these families to better, more permanent homes.

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