Zamboanga City

City of Zamboanga,Zamboangueño Chavacano/,Ciudad de Zamboanga) is a highly urbanized, independent and a chartered city located in Mindanao, Philippines. It is currently ranked as the 6th most populous city (947,020 estimated population as of 2010) and the 3rd largest by land area in the Philippines (522/km2 (1,353/sq mi)). It is located at the southernmost tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula and is bounded in the north by the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Norte, in the west by the Sulu Sea, in the east by Sibuguey Bay, and in the south by the Basilan Strait. It is approximately 460 nautical miles (850 km) south of City of Manila, 365 nautical miles (676 km) northeast of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, 345 nautical miles (639 km) northeast of Menado, Indonesia, bounded to the west by Sulu Sea, on the east by the Moro Gulf, and on the south by the Basilan Strait and Celebes Sea. Its distance from Cebu City is about 372.57 nautical miles (690.00 km), and is 340.17 nautical miles (629.99 km) from Davao City.

The Ciudad de Zamboanga’s climates are generally of the third and fourth types where it is practically from June to December. The highest rainfall occurs on the month of July while the lowest rainfalls on the month of April. The city is outside the typhoon belt, hence, typhoons rarely visit the Ciudad de Zamboanga.

It is now the centre of economic activities in Mindanao with its modern international seaport, which is one of the principal ports of call for inter-island and international shipping. Its airport, which also classified as an international airport, provides air transportation to various domestic destinations. Both seaport and airport serve as transshipment points of various goods to neighboring cities and countries.

History

Ciudad de Zamboanga was founded in the late 12th or early 13th century, with the earliest people living there being the Subanen, an indigenous tribe of Malay origin. The Subanen people's name for Zamboanga, 'Sung Lupa', means 'Pointed Land'. Speculation that the name of zamboanga comes from the word 'Jambangan', meaning the 'Land of Flowers', is met by others insisting the name derives from the word 'Saguan' or 'Sambuan', A Malay word for the paddle used by natives to paddle the vintas in the sea. Still another possible origin is 'Sambon' which refers to herbal plants that grew abundantly in the city.Badjao, Samal, Tausug and the Yakan tribes from Malayan descent settled in the same part of Mindanao in the early 14th century.Mohammedanism and Islam gained predominance in the 15th century in the Philippines first as a non-indigenous religion from these Malay peoples after Jews and Christians arrived

American and Japanese period

Before the end of the 19th century; The Republic of Zamboanga was established during the American period in the Philippines and it briefly existed from May 18, 1899 to March 1903. The first President of the Republic of Zamboanga was General Vicente Alvarez and succeeded by Isidoro Midel and Mariano Arquiza.

During the American colonial period. Ciudad de Zamboanga hosted a number of American regional governors, including General John J. Pershing, who was military commander/governor of the Moro Province from 1909 to 1914. Gen. "Black Jack" Pershing became the Supreme Commander of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I when the US entered the war in 1917. The entire Moro Province of Mindanao was administered directly from the city, effectively making the Zamboanga Mindanao's first and only Capital City. Soon after the establishment of the Commonwealth, it was the center of commerce, trade, and government of Mindanao Island, being the capital of the Moro Province.

Martial law

In 1953, Cesar Climaco was elected Mayor. He was a flamboyant personality who pursued policies of good governance and cleanliness. On the 1961 Philippine General Election, Cesar Climaco was unsuccessful to run for the Senate under the Liberal Party, but he was appointed as Customs Commissioner under the Macapagal Administration, and later a prominent critic of Ferdinand Marcos. He was reelected as a mayor in Zamboanga city again in 1980, at a time when martial law was declared in the city because of growing violence. Cesar Climaco was assassinated on November 14, 1984.

Independent Philippines

After the Marcos regime, Zamboanga city was still enjoying its good economic activities, but the growth was not rapidly high due to incompetent leaders that ruled the city after martial law. At present, Ciudad de Zamboanga is the main hub in Zamboanga Peninsula through education, financial institutions, health and services, infrastructural projects and a center of foreign investment through BIMP-EAGA in relation with other major cities in Southeast Asia.

Population

The population of Ciudad de Zamboanga has registered an increase of 172,613 (an average annual growth rate of 3.54 percent) in seven years, latest data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed. The data released by the NSO regional office based in this city showed that from 601,794 in 2000, the population grew to 774,407 as of 1 August 2007.

Among the 98 barangays in this Ciudad de Zamboanga, Talon-Talon was the most populous with a 3.9-percent share of this city’s population. Next to Talon-Talon were Tetuan (3.8 percent), Baliwasan (3.6 percent), Pasonanca (3.5 percent), Calarian and Tumaga both with 3.3-percent share, and San Jose Gusu (3.2 percent).

Religion

According to statistics compiled by the Philippine government, the most dominant religion in the city is Christianity with 73% of the population adhering to the faith. The majority of Christians are Roman Catholics with minorities of Protestants and Orthodox Christians. The remaining 27% percent belongs to other non-Christian faiths such us Buddhism and Islam.

Language

The Official and/or Native language of Zamboanga City is Zamboangueño Chavacano, a Philippine-Spanish Creole. Other common languages in the city are Tagalog, English and Bisaya/Cebuano. Fookien (a Chinese dialect) and Tausug are also prevalent. Approximately 64% of the city’s population consists of the native families of the old Zamboanga, who were greatly influenced by the Spanish culture and lifestyle which is now called as a pure Chavacano de Zamboanga or Zamboangueño. Whilst 36% of the city’s population is composed of cultural minority members, groups of Muslim communities, such as the Subanens, Tausugs, Yakans, Samals, and the Badjaos are dispersed around the city.

Cinema

Ciudad de Zamboanga contributes the evolution of Golden Episodes in Philippine Cinema. In 1937, the first Filipino movie to achieve international plaudit was Zamboanga, a picture starred in by Fernando Poe and Rosa del Rosario. Hollywood director Frank Capra praised the film as the most exciting and beautiful picture of native life he had ever seen. Manuel Conde's Genghis Khan, released in 1950 was a rave at the Venice Film Festival in 1952; and dubbed in French, it was shown in Paris in 1954. Inspired by Conde's picture, Hollywood remade Genghis Khan, with John Wayne as its lead actor.

Telecommunication

Communication plays a major role in the development of a place. It links places and paves the way to wider dissemination of information and ideas. The major telecommunication firm operating in the city is the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). Public phones are also provided by PLDT in strategic places where the demand is high.

Ciudad de Zamboanga is also advance in terms of telecommunication service in the Philippines. Mabuhaysat Zamboanga Space Center is the company that was established primarily to build, own, operate and maintain an international satellite facility and other forms of telecommunications equipment that is capable of providing telecommunications and broadcast on a domestic and international level.

Mabuhaysat Zamboanga Space Center is for contingency purposes, the main functions of Subic Space Center is duplicated at the Zamboanga Space Center, albeit on a smaller scale. Redundancy equipment covering baseband, radio frequency antennas are incorporated in the Zamboanga Space Center. It is also equipped with an uninterruptible power supply system and a generator to ensure continuous power supply. The Zamboanga Space Center is manned by a satellite engineer who keeps the facility ready for any contingency action. Periodically, engineers from Subic Space Center visit for any upgrades.

Transportation

The Ciudad de Zamboanga is accessible by land, air, and sea. It is also the home of the busiest airport and seaport in the country for the past 10 years until now.

Land transportation

The city’s roads total to 567.2463 km. Of this, City roads account for 122.664 km; National roads 141.305 km; and Barangay roads, 303.244 km. Almost all city and barangay roads are concrete. The roads are regularly maintained through the relentless efforts of the city government in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The major means of transportation in the city are Jeepneys and the Tricycles. Buses are used for long-distance travels, there are bus companies serving the city to other major cities in Mindanao such us Ceres Liner, Rural Transit Bus, Mary May Express and other private bus companies. There are also bicycles with sidecars (locally known as sikad) which are used to ferry passengers in short distances. Taxi service in the city is not well-established, although there are some independent taxis operating in the city.

Power

The Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative is the franchise holder of electric power distribution covering the entire jurisdiction of the city and its ten island barangays. Zamboanga city is one of the biggest electric energy consumer in entire Mindanao, due to high demands of canning factories and other heavy industrial companies in the city. Moreover, there are 5 substations producing electric power in the city.

Some of the far land islands in the Ciudad de Zamboanga do not have electric power. Due to lack of funds to connect electricity in some islands. the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) brings optimism to the people living in the islands for they are now able to use electricity using solar energy. Ciudad de Zamboanga has 98 barangays, all of it having the convenience of electricity.

Conrado Alcantara and Sons (Conal) Holdings constructed a coal-fired power plant with an initial capacity of 100MW on a 60-hectare land inside the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (ZamboEcoZone). The company expects to complete the power plant in about four years to meet the expected rise in the demand in electricity of the city by 2014.

Conal Holdings is also planning to set up another coal-fired power plant inside the zone with a capacity of 200MW once the 100MW plant becomes operational. The coal-fired power plant will supply the power requirements of the locators at the zone including the city. There are 33 locators from varied industries that are currently operating inside the zone. Conal Holdings is also planning to construct a port at the ZamboEcoZone's three-kilometer seafront in Barangay San Ramon, west of Ciudad de Zamboanga.

Bypass Road

The traffic in the downtown area is one of the problem facing the city. The 1999 feasibility study is know on the Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippines) and with the help of District II Representative Erico Basilio Fabian to finalized the Multi-Billion pesos a thirty two (32) kilometers bypass road project it is basically links from barangay Culianan to the west coast in barangay Limpapa creating an integral link to two crucial economic and trade centres namely the Sangali Fishing Port in the east cost and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority site in San Ramon will commerce next year. The Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippines) intends to complete before the term of the President Benigno Aquino III ends in the year 2016. It will provide for an auxiliary route where traffic could then be diverted and help ease congestion we are currently faced with in the city proper.

Economy and industry

The Ciudad de Zamboanga is one of the wealthiest cities in the Philippines. Its economy is mostly concentrated on agricultural and aqua cultural products. Most of the investments in the city come from the local business people. This means that unlike other major cities in the country, Ciudad de Zamboanga has been growing through homegrown businesses.

Ciudad de Zamboanga is known for exporting products like rubber, pearls, copra, mahogany, and other fine hardwoods, fish, abaca, and fruits; rice is still imported from countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and some parts of Europe and North America

Banks

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) it is the second branch opened in the Philippines with the encouragement of an American general that the second branch of El Banco Español Filipino was established in Zamboanga by Gen. John J. Pershing, the famous American military governor of Zamboanga, encouraged the bank's management to open a branch in that part of Mindanao. The branch was finally established in February 1912, a month after the bank was officially renamed "Bank of the Philippine Islands" (BPI). That branch of BPI was eventually designated by the insular government as the official depository of funds for the province of Zamboanga and of the Zamboanga custom house. Gen. Pershing chose to locate his official residence on the second floor of the BPI branch in Zamboanga City.

Presently, there are more than 60 banks operating in Ciudad de Zamboanga. The banks with the most number of branches in the city are Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Allied Bank, Banco De Oro (BDO), Philippine National Bank (PNB), One Network Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Union Bank of the Philippines. 3 brands of interbank networks of automated teller machines (ATMs) are widely used in the city; these are BancNet, Expressnet and MegaLink.

List of Universal Banks in the Ciudad de Zamboanga are Allied Bank, Islamic Bank of the Philippines, Banco De Oro (BDO), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), China Banking Corporation (ChinaBank), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Philippine National Bank (PNB), Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, Security Bank, Union Bank of the Philippines, and United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB).

Commercial Banks are Asia United Bank, Bank of Commerce, East West Bank, Maybank, Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM), and Philippine Veterans Bank.

Tharift Banks are Equitable Savings Bank (ESB), GE Money Bank, Philippine Postal Savings Bank, Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), and RCBC Savings Bank.

Rural Banks are Zamboanga City Rural Bank, Rural Bank of Siocon, Philippine Farmer's Bank, One Network Bank, First Valley Bank, Pen Bank and Bank of Makati.

Most of the banks in the city are the head branches in the Zamboanga peninsula (and even in the country) such as Islamic Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and One Network Bank. The city also hosts several other financial firms.