dull latin city

[victor]

the "city of flowers" of past lived up to the name and our people were just as beautiful - sincere, warm and friendly. there wasn't much of an industrial activity then but zamboanga hermosa was what it was named for and sang about -- a pearly city with blossoming flowers wherever you go. people felt the love for nature and fellowmen while food from the seas was always bountiful and at costs that both rich and poor could have at home, at the beach, in their farms, or green backyards. there was in short a consistency between zamboanga's theme and what was real lifestyle.
times change . but for a long time zamboanga remained what it was because the leadership and the people preferred to keep it as peaceful as it was, and if progress was to be had these were calculated, somehwat unintentionally calibrated, and life went on in the typical zamboangueneo fashion. i i would go home every year for the Homecoming as i did recently and then again come december. usually, the touchdown would instantly log my mind into memory files of childhood, high school, college, and "first time" experiences of all sorts. zamboanga hermosa has always been my city of flowers.
i visited again this week and, as in recent visits, i have asked my former classmates the same question - what in God's heaven does the zamboanga theme "Latin City" mean ? this simply does not jive with anything that zamboanga or its people is all about - except perhaps our dialect sounding like (but not grammatically close enough) to a latin city which is far away from our archipelago.
themes or mottos may mean nothing to politicians. but what must remind them is that the words become a good drumbeating cheerleading stuff that help in rallying support for what people want of their city and lifestyle to be. and this bonds the cityfolk for efforts to achieve such an environment down in the barangay levels. and when we come to the bottomline, it isn't in the City Hall that the citizens' pride of their city is built but rather deep in the barangays, towns, barrios, where from their hearts the townfolk express their love for the zamboangueno lifestyle. the "latin city" label hasn't had any impact at all. i feel that it would, at best, please a visitor from that latin area. "latin city" therefore is literally irrelevant and useless. let's name zamboanga with more beautiful and relevant theme or motto - or simply revert to what it was and should be : the peaceful, lovely, friendly, clean and orderly "city of flowers".

[jun]

First of all I would like to acknowlege Celso Lobregat for the excellent job he is doing for this city. But one man alone cannot do eveything especially in a city as diverse as any. I agree with Victor. Latin city does not suit zamboanga city. when people say "orgullo de mindanao" latin city does not come into mind. zamboanga city has its own character and it is not latin. It has a muslim and christian character which is unique all on its own. Also there are no more flowers in zamboanga city. When i was growing up in the 70's and 80's yes it was a "city of flowers." Recently, a foreigner asked my brother why do they call it "city of flowers" when he can't see any, my bother said "you cant see them because people have fenced up thier property. He lied. We have to come up with a different name. Don't ask me because I have no idea .

I do have one request for the mayor. Since we have so many people unemployed in our city can we maybe find the funds to hire an army of street sweepers and deploy them at nite so as not to disrupt the chaotic traffic during the day? we can do these at least once a month barrio by barrio. Have each barrio use their fire department to spray the streets after their done. This will help with tourism and and not to metion the "cleanliness is next to Godliness" motto that we all like to use.

[spermatized]

Asia's latin city is a desperate attempt to label Zamboanga City. Yes you are right, the City has lost all of its flowers...so the solution is not re-branding it, but planting new flowers in specific locations... but thats not important, the important for the city of zamboanga these days is the presence of the BALIKATAN forces which doubled zamboanga's RED light areas....now you see a lot of GRO's and HOMOs at night...