IcelleARTicles: ZAMBOANGA CITY – THE CITY OF FLOWERS

ZAMBOANGA CITY – THE CITY OF FLOWERS

            Zamboanga City is on the southernmost tip of Zamboanga Peninsula in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. It is bounded to the west by the Sulu Sea, to the east of Moro Gulf and to the South of Basilan Strait and Celebes Sea. The total land area of the city is 142,099.99 hectares or 1,420.99 square kilometers. As of 1985, the population of the city is about 500,000 composed predominantly of Christians. Chabacano, which is a mixture of 70 percent Spanish and 30 percent smattering of native dialects (like Cebuanos, Ilonggo, Tausug and Tagalog) is the dialect used most widely although reisidents could be said to be multi-lingual.

            According to a legend, the name Zamboanga is derived from the word “Jambangan”, said to be a flower garden nestling at the foot of Mt. Pulong Bato. This garden was considered the garden of Eden of ancient times. In recorded history, Zamboanga was known to the world in the tenth century by way of barter trading among Chinese-Malays and local inhabitants of the place composed of Subanons, Samas and Tausugs. This has been established with the finding of potteries of Ming and Yuan dynasties in archeological diggings in the place.

            The Spaniards first came in 1598 when a fortress was put up in La Caldera, now named Recodo. Then in 1635, Fray Melchor  de Vera laid the cornerstone of Fort Pilar and officially changed the name of the place from “Samboangan” to Zamboanga. The Spaniards stayed for three centuries in this place with Fort Pilar as the seat of government.

            The putting up of Fort Pilar marked the founding of Zamboanga. Among those who worked in the project were some 300 Spaniards and 1,500 laborers from Iloilo. Through all these years until January 1663, the fort served as the protector of inhabitants against marauders from the south. The abandonment of the Fort in 1663 was due to a serious threat by a Chinese free booter. For 58 years, the Fort was dismantled and the Christians remained settled in the rural areas. The Ilonggos settled in Tugbungan and Boholanos went a place which is now named after their leader – Bolong. During these years, piracy in the high seas went on unchecked; attacks were made in the Visayas but pirates did not attack this place because they considered the royalty in Zamboanga as their kins.

            Reconstruction of the Fort was done when the Spaniards came back in 1719 upon the insistence of the clerics. In 1734, the image of the Virgin of the Pillar was brought to Zamboanga from Zarragoza, Spain and embossed on the eastern wall of the fortress.

            The Fort Pilar used to be a sandstrip by the edge of the sea facing Rio Hondo to the east. The terminal of Rio Hondo was an exclusive community while the delta served as a docking place for fishermen. The citadel served also as the center of settlement of Spanish colonizers as well as natives from outlying coastal towns, seeking refuge from the plunders of intermittent pirate raid. Amidst this babel of foreign and native tongues, the quaint Chabacano was born.

            In its prime, Zamboanga was the most advanced region in the South. It was the center of the trade and commerce, home of the Mindanao Archdiocese, seat of Spanish culture, capital of political affairs, base of military operations, and more. It was LEALY VALIENTE VILLA (Loyal and Valiant CIty), a title conferred by the Spanish Crown in 1872 for the inhabitants’ courageous and heroic defense of its rampart against piracy and other forms of lawlessness.

            In February, 1899, Zamboanga took up arms against Spanish rule. Three months later, on May 18, one ragtag army under the command of General Vicente Alvarez, a Zamboangueño, stormed Fort Pilar and after intense fighting, forced Gen. Diego de los Rios to surrender the garrison, thus ending the long years of Spanish rule in Zamboanga.

            On November 16, 1899, a year after Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, American Forces occupied Zamboanga. General Alvarez tried to repulse the new enemy but to no avail.

            Riding on the crest of its old prestige, Zamboanga under the Americans became the first municipality to be organized in Mindanao and continued to be the center of political affairs in the region. From 1903 to 1913, it was the capital of the Moro province, and from 1914 to 1920, it was the seat of government of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu. Among those who served as governors of the region at one time or another were Leonard Wood, Frank Carpenter and the famous Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing. Each one held office in some corner of what is now the Zamboanga City Hall.

            Zamboanga was one of the first municipalities to be elevated to city status under the Commonwealth Government. It was inaugurated on October 12, 1936 with Nicasio Valderosa as its first city mayor. For a time, Zamboanga had the distinction of being the largest city in the world consisting of the district of Taluksangay and the municipalities of Zamboanga and Basilan and its adjacent islands.

            Zamboangueño generally agree that the decades of the 20’s and the 30’s were very good years for Zamboanga.

            Zamboanga was then the richest province in Mindanao in terms of revenues. That was the time when it no longer had to call upon the Insular Government for financial aid.

            On October 12, 1936, the National Assembly, through the efforts of Assemblyman Juan S. Alano, enacted Commonwealth Act No. 39, converting Zamboanga once again into a chartered city. The city’s territorial jurisdiction covered the municipality of Zamboanga and Basilan and its adjacent islands. The rest of the municipalities and municipal districts remained with the province of Zamboanga, which through the efforts of Senator Roseller T. Lim was later subdivided into two provinces, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

            Under a special form of government, Zamboanga’s growth was accelerated, making it the leading commercial and industrial city in Mindanao. The Zamboanga Port remains busy as ever. Most inter-island steamers call at Zamboanga on their way to Manila. Contact with the outside world is maintained by large vessels plying through Yokohama, Hongkong, Borneo and Singapore. Large factories, such as the Philippine Dessicated Company, Philippine Dutch Corporation, and a Japanese tuna canning firm, provide employment for the local residents and large revenues for the city.

THE LEGEND OF ZAMBOANGA

            On the origin of the name “Zamboanga”, there are no hard historical facts to go by, but two popular legends, both emanating from Sama traditions, provide credible insights into its origin. One relates to bamboo pole and the other to a flower garden.

            One version claims that the name “Zamboanga” came from the word “samuang” which in the Sama vernacular means “to drive a bamboo pole into the mud silt, between the vinta, or canoe and its outriggers in place of the anchor.” If this it to be believed, it could well be one of history’s classical comedies of error. For, as the story goes, a Spanish soldier who happened to stray into a river bank chanced upon a Sama boatman mooring his vinta with a bamboo pole. The soldier asked the boatman what the name of the place was, to which the latter, thinking that his inquirer wanted to know what he was doing, replied “samuang”. The soldier, believing in turn that he was understood, took “samuang” to be the name of the place.

            The other version is that in the ninth century, an ancient maritime group headed by Salingai Bongau went in quest of the fabled flower garden called Jambanga and sailed eastward from Srivijaya Empire in the direction of Zamboanga, which was then renowned as the Garden of Asia.

            In the course of the journey, one group away, headed southeast and landed in the place now known as Sandakan. The group called the place Jambangan. Soon, another maverick group broke away and landed in what is now Siasi Island, and they too, called the place Jambangan.

AYALA

            A long, long time ago, this place was inhabited by the Moros and Subanons. The people lived at the mouth of the Dumalon river and were ruled by the chief. The people spent their time catching fish in the river and hunting deer, wild pigs and monkeys for food.

            In 1865, Father Martin, a Spanish priest arrived in this place and was met by the natives of the village. The chief invited the priest to his home and called all the people in the village. The natives were so happy to have a Spanish priest. When the priest asked how their village was called, they could not answer for they did not know how their village was called, they could not answer for they did not know how to speak Spanish. The priest told them that he came from a place in Spain named Ayala and it would be nice if the village would be named after that place. This made the natives very happy so they shouted “Ayala! Ayala! and so from that time on, the village was called Ayala.

TETUAN

This barrio was a river delta when the Spaniards arrived here. At that time, the place was called “Lama-Lama” by the natives because here lived a Datu named Lama who was the head of the barrio.

Upon seeing this place, the Spaniards noticed that it resembled the Spanish town of Tetuan in Morocco where the Moors lived, so they called this barrio Tetuan 

The Spaniards made Saint Ignatius of Loyola their Patron Saint. This was taken after the name of a Captain in the army who was noted for his sterling character and courage.

That’s how Tetuan got its name.

TUMAGA

Back in the days when the Spaniards were trying to suppress Moro piracy in the Visayas and around the coast of Mindanao, Zamboanga was made the only Spanish military camp.

In the year 1870 when piracy was at its peak, the Spanish Governor General decided to establish a force to check the atrocities of the pirates.

In this Spanish garrison called Fort Pilar, reinforcement came with about five hundred Spanish and Filipino soldiers.

Since the water supply in Zamboanga was not enough, the Spanish commandant decided to find a source of water supply in the interior part of the place.

About four kilometers from Fort Pilar, the Spanish soldiers found a site by the river which they decided to be an ideal place for their camp.

The Commander, Colonel Pedro Real, who always came to take a bath in the river, was impressed by its scenic beauty that he composed a poem in Spanish dedicated to the river. The poem ran this way:

Tumaga, how glossy is your depth

In crossing off

Like crystal water

It’s good to bathe here

Since then the first words of the poem become the name of the place and the river.