While thousands of Metro Manila residents bemoan hellish traffic and other inconveniences, it’s worth noting that there are other people elsewhere in the country who have it far worse.
“Fifteen refugees, 10 of whom were children, died of various diseases in the past four weeks in a sports arena where about 100,000 people have camped out after they fled from Muslim rebels who occupied five coastline barangays in Zamboanga in September 2013,” reports A. Perez Rimando in Manila Standard Today.
Hundreds of rebels, policemen and civilians were killed in three weeks of fighting, but later on the refugees faced another kind of danger.
According to city health officer Rodelyn Agbulos, the latest casualties brought to 143 the total number of deaths from such diseases as tuberculosis, gastro-enteritis, hepatitis, and malnutrition.
Agbulos was quoted as saying, “The sports arena is congested and hygiene is a major problem. People live in tents, in the grandstand and bleachers and are exposed to the elements.”
In case anyone has missed it, the refugees have been living in this sorry condition for almost a year now.
The report noted though that “Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco said President Aquino has pledged P5 billion for construction of new houses for the evacuees through the National Housing Authority and the Department of Public Works and Highways.
