Saturday, September 14, 2013

Plight of soldiers in Zamboanga City draws focus of residents, news media

From GMA News (Sep 13): Plight of soldiers in Zamboanga City draws focus of residents, news media

Number of casualties rises as Zambo crisis continues

A wounded Army soldier awaits evacuation as fighting between government forces and MNLF gunmen continues for the fifth day in Barangay Sta. Catalina, Zamboanga City on Friday, September 13. At least 18 people have been killed and scores have been wounded in the conflict, according to the military.
 
During the first day of fighting in the Zamboanga city crisis, a soldier went up to a young resident in Barangay Zone 4 to ask for food, a city resident said.
 
All the soldier is asking for is left-over rice, to go with the dried fish around thirty soldiers were having for breakfast, according to 20-year-old Eyrhil Tom Bulahan of Barangay Zone 4.
 
This is the story behind a photo that has gone viral on Facebook - garnering over 14,000 shares and 8,000 likes as of posting time.
 
The photo showed a soldier - small in built and rather thin - walking his way to the resident with a long face. 

 
Bulahan 4 said he took the picture not to get attention, but to show the supposedly dire situation of soldiers deployed in the city.
 
"Awang awa na kami sa mga sundalo rito," Bulahan told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
 
"Sabi sa akin 'Sir, may pagkain ba kayo d'yan? Kahit tira tira lang na kanin.' Wala pa raw sila nakain since nung umalis sila ng madaling araw," he added.
 
Bulahan said he went back to their house and brought their rice they had for breakfast. He also brought for them water.
 
"'Yung mga kapitbahay rin namin naglatag ng mga tubig para sa kanila," Bulahan said.
 
Bulahan said he has a personal touch on the matter - after all, his uncle is one of the soldiers fighting in the war. 
 
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr. denied that their soldiers were not fed.
 
"That's not true. The photo can speak a thousand words. The soldiers are appropriately supplied by our respective units," Tutaan told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
 
He added that resolving the crisis, not the photo, should be a more pressing issue.
 
"It's not helping... The issue here is the situation and that there are no casualties from civilian sides," Tutaan said.
 
Meanwhile, as war reporters could be seen heavily clothed in bullet-proof vests and helmets, state troops would have to make do with frayed combat boots, a "24 Oras" report by Ian Cruz on Thursday showed.
 
Some soldiers had even stitched the holes in their boots themselves, the report said.

 
But for the AFP public affairs chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, it is the soldiers' "responsibility" to take care of their equipment.
 
"It's the individual soldier's responsibility to maintain the condition of the supplies were giving to them," Zagala said in the report.
 
Since Monday, state troops have clashed with armed followers of the Moro National Liberation Front, who entered the city supposedly to plant their flag in the city hall.
 
The MNLF has denied this, saying they were just having a peaceful caravan around Mindanao.
 

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