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Submitted_by: Peter Ian Natividad
email: actsmart@lycos.com
Barangay_Fiesta_Date: September 24
Barangay_Captain:
Distance_from_Cityhall: 13 kms.
I grew up in this barangay which is one of the oldest barangays of Zamboanga City. The main things I can remember about Mercedes is that the life of the barrio folks here was and still is very much centered in the Church and in agriculture. The Church, because the Mercedes Parish Church, who venerate our Lady of Ransom as its Patroness, was and is one of the oldest established Roman Catholic Paris Churches in the Zamboanga Peninsula if not in the whole of Mindanao. I just don't have the precise dates but I will post them at a later time. There was even a time up until the late 50's when religious missionary work done by the Jesuits and later on, the Claretian Missionaries as far as Zamboanga del Sur were reporting to this Parish. In terms of education, Mercedes holds a Primary grade Central school and a barangay High school. The Mercedes District School was home to the district supervisor who used to supervise other schools from as far as Divisoria in the direction of the city center, Cabaluay in the direction away from the city and barrio schools in the direction of the highland barrios like Guisao, Tolosa, Balunu, etc. before these latter places came under the newly installed Culianan District School. The barrio, as I said earlier was and is centered on Agriculture because it used to have a lot of coconut trees in every direction you turn your head to. Almost every prominent family who owned sizable lands in Mercedes had a so called "tapahan" where the harvested coconuts were peeled, opened, dried, processed and bundled as "copra" to be brought down to the city and sold. Most of the residents were engaged in agriculture if not with the coconuts, they work in the nearby ricefields either in barangay Talabaan or in barangay Gapuh. Mercedes is like a center in a way because the roads and vehicles going to any of these other barangays including Taluksangay has to pass through the center of Mercedes. There is another route via Lumbayao to Talabaan and Taluksangay but this route is seldom used by public transportation. Because of the agricultural nature of life in Mercedes for most of the people it was and is common sight to see Carabaos and cows in the side streets either with a rider or pulling the carts or "carro" as we call them. The barrio also used to have a lot of big mango trees either the well known "Mangga Carabao" or the "tsupadera" or the "juani" variety. Now, many Mercedenos are also working in the City. This barangay has produced a good number of nurses, teachers, government employees and private company employees. These are the people who make the daily morning trips to the city with the well known "Ford Fieras" before then the jeepneys later on. Then, the same exodus of workers make the trip back in the afternoon towards the evening bringing with them groceries and fresh fish from the city. Of course students studying in the city are part of these daily commuters too. Now we see double-tired public transports still designed after the original Ford Fiera vehicle but much sturdier because of their big diesel engines and with a bigger body. Much of the above picture though was till the the mid 80's. After this time much if not almost all of the coconut trees were cut down because of the lure for quick money. Dealers paid well per cocunut tree after the discovery of the quality of coco lumber. Also and maybe perhaps because there were and are no more trees to cut down from our denuded forests that's why they turned to the coconut trees. Most of the mango trees were also cut down specially the "juani" variety because of their big rounded and vertical trunks that also commanded price used to make wooden boxes and crates. I haven't been to Mercedes for quite some time now but when I was last there, which was about 3 years ago I saw much of the public roads cemented already with the famous Mercedes bridge rebuilt and remodelled. Most of the original Mercedes Primary Public School buildings were already replaced with new ones and the original Mercedes Barangay High School was relocated from beside the Primary school to San Isidro st. or commonly called "Cape" for the abundance of coffe plants in the area before. There are now a lot of "tricycads" i.e., pedal powered side carriages that can take you around Mercedes for a minimal fare. People still do a lot of agriculture but more and more professionals hail from Mercedes and with the increase in the number of houses being built it is fast becoming one of Zamboanga City's dynamic and populous Barangays. Mercedes is and will always be the home for all of us who might be living away from there at present not just for its Church, its big acacia trees, its river and its people but its influence on us as persons and the values it has given us in life.