Philippines
Unacceptable economic contrast. Homeless people living in the shadows of those involved in million-dollar investments. Treated like rats. Nobody cares about their existence.
Zamboanga
In 2013 more than 200 people lost their lives in the battle of Zamboanga, an armed conflict between the forces of the Republic of the Philippines and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front. Two months later the city, deeply affected and still in ruin, was trying to heal its wounds. The child in the photo, oblivious of the situation. Yet.
The Battle
The Zamboanga City crisis was an armed conflict in Zamboanga City between the forces of the Republic of the Philippines and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, generally known by other factions as the Rogue MNLF Elements under the Sulu State Revolutionary Command, led by Ustadz Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibon.
The crisis erupted on September 9, 2013, when this faction attempted to raise the flag of the self-proclaimed Bangsamoro Republik at Zamboanga City Hall, which had earlier declared its independence on August 12, 2013 in Talipao, Sulu.
On September 28, the government declared the end of military operations in Zamboanga City. Commander Malik remains at large, and several skirmishes are still being reported.
