ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 06 Mar) A twelve-year old Muslim boy tags his younger brother to beg for money and food in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.
He says he lives in the Muslim enclave of Rio Hondo, one of the poorest in Zamboanga, now branded by local politicians as Asia's Latin City, because of Spain's influence and the "corrupted" dialect known as Chabacano, which is widely spoken here.
The boy says he and is brother go out every morning and returns later in the night, when they is enough money to buy a kilo of rice. His father died a long time ago and his mother does the laundry and takes care of their shanty in the village.
Many Muslim villages in Zamboanga City have been neglected because most of the government projects are concentrated in Christian areas. Help does not come easy for people like them in the so-called Asia's Latin City. (Mindanao Examiner)
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