ABOUT ZAMBOANGA
Officially, the City of Zamboanga (Chavacano de Zamboanga/Spanish: Ciudad de Zamboanga). Zamboanga is a corrupted word for the Bahasa Sug jambangan, which means garden. The highly-urbanized city is located on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is one of the first chartered cities and the sixth largest in the country. Zamboanga City is also one of several cities in the Philippines that are independent of any province, though it is usually grouped with Zamboanga del Sur for statistical purposes.
Philippine Commonwealth Act No. 39 of 1936 signed by President Manuel L. Quezon on October 12, 1936 in Malacañang Palace created and established Zamboanga as a chartered city. It has been known variously as "El Orgullo de Mindanao" (The Pride of Mindanao), nicknamed the "City of Flowers," and affectionately called by Zamboangueños as "Zamboanga Hermosa" - Chavacano/Spanish for "Beautiful Zamboanga." Today, the city is commercially branded for tourism by the city government as "Asia's Latin City," a clear reference to Zamboanga's identification with the Hispanized cultures of "Latin America" or the USA's "Latino" subculture, the current City Mayor, Celso Lobregat is himself descended from a Spanish-Catalunian bloodline (The Llobregat River runs through Spain's biggest Mediterranean city - the City of Barcelona). Zamboanga City was formerly a part of the Commonwealth Era Moro Province of Mindanao. Its ancient inhabitants were vassals of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo
AIRPORT
Although Zamboanga City airport is an international airport, there are no direct flights from the city to a foreign countries or vice versa at the present time. There are however a direct flights from Manila and Cebu City both an international port of entry. On domestic travel, Zamboanga City has a direct flights to Manila and Cebu by Philippine Airline, Seair & Cebu Pacific with connecting flights to different cities. The following cities has an international airport: Manila, Cebu, Zamboanga, Davao, Laoag, & Subic City (Olongapo)
CLIMATE
The city has a naturally mild climate with a pronounced dry or wet season — relatively dry from November to May, wet during the rest of the year. Tropical cyclones or typhoons rarely affect the city because it is outside the typhoon belt. Average temperature is about 27 °C or 80.6 °F, while annual rainfall is 1,362.01 mm.
TRANSPORTATION
Ninety-nine per cent of the local road network is paved with concrete. In the rural areas the government has constructed 667 kilometers of farm-to-market roads. A law established a free port and special economic zone in the city. It is the only free port in the country outside of Luzon.
Zamboanga City has 19 seaports and wharves, twelve of which are privately owned. The biggest and most modern is the government-operated main port which can accommodate 20 ships at any one time. There are 25 shipping lines whose vessels regularly call at the port of Zamboanga.
The local airport has been upgraded to Zamboanga International Airport and can service international flights, although no regular international flights come to the city. Four airlines make regular trips to Zamboanga. Others are expected to enter the Zamboanga route soon.
Asian Spirit will soon have regular flights from Zamboanga to Sandakan, Malaysia.
LOCATION
The city is located on the southwesternmost tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula, on the island of Mindanao. It is 460 nautical miles (850 km) south of Manila, 365 nautical miles (676 km) northeast of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, and 345 nautical miles (639 km) northwest of Manado in Indonesia. It is bounded on to the west by the Sulu Sea, to the east by the Moro Gulf, and to the south by the Basilan Strait and Celebes Sea. It is about 1 hour and 50 minutes away by plane from Manila and an hour away from both the cities of Cebu and Davao. The highest mountain in the city is the Batorampon Point,
DEMOGRAPHICS
The most common languages and dialects in the city are Chavacano, Bisaya, Filipino, English, Fookien (a Chinese dialect) and Tausug.
The most dominant religion is Christianity with 75%-85% adhering to the faith. The majority of which are Roman Catholics. The remaining percentage belongs to other non-Christian faiths (Islam, Buddhism, etc).
Muslim immigrants or visitors from the islands south of the Zamboanga Peninsula (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan) compose much of the Muslim population in the city.
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