Text & Photos by JOHN L. SHINN III
LAZT Founder-Editor
My early childhood days were filled with good memories of Basilan. My father
worked for Peter Murga managing a logging plantation in Mangal in the late 60s
and early 70s. My entire family would spend summer at the camp where baby
Rhesus monkeys were sold to us for 30 centavos each; where wild boar
(puerco'y monte) was the favorite dish each day and lazy afternoons are spent
at the big shed where rubber was being processed then pressed and bundled for
shipping to Firestone in Zamboanga City.
Despite Basilan's proximity to Zamboanga City, the beautiful and mineral-rich
island remains one of the most underdeveloped in the country today. With Abu
Sayyaf in their midst and an ever presence of the Philippine military fighting a
protracted war with the Muslim extremist group, Basilan is isolated now more than
ever from the rest of the country.
But I found out during a trip there in May 1995 that for many civilians, life must
go on in order for them to survive.
Below are some of the images I captured with my camera during my trip to
Basilan that year.
Copyright 2001 | By JOHN L. SHINN III
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