Implications of Zamboanga Siege to Money, Credit, Banking and The Economic Activities of Zamboanga City

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By the end of the siege they would end up incurring debts which some of the households have to pay off before the interest reaches a high amount. Others would end up liquefying some of their assets to pay of the debts of to avoid incurring any. Because people tend to buy vegetables instead of meat, a surplus of meat would occur. Often the vendors would lower the price of meat to get rid of it before it turns rancid. But in this case, it still remains the same as dictated by the substitution effect. Substitution effect means that the expensive commodity that is being substituted will have the same price where as the cheaper commodity used to substitute the expensive one will experience an increase in price due to it becoming scarce. The households would then go and buy these giving the vendors an increase in sales. But this may not always be the case seeing that some households would not be able to afford it.

As mentioned earlier, businesses in the city of Zamboanga have stopped operating during the siege. This would include big businesses like the airport, seaport, malls, bakeries, pharmacies, schools, sardine factories, hotels, restaurants and banks and small ones like what the street vendors, jeepney, pedicab and tricycle divers have. The delays in flights have caused many to feel aggravated with their current circumstance, but nothing can be done since there is only one airport in Zamboanga City. These have also cost the different airplane services quite a few setbacks since they had to give refunds and reschedule flights to accommodate the cancelled flights. The airport might receive plenty of complaints but ultimately people will still avail of their services because it is faster to get to the other cities that way. The ones mostly affected by the flight cancelations were the different business travelers since they would not be at the place they have to be to conduct their business. They go for an alternative route and choose to go by water but the seaports were also closed. Trade was difficult to do at the time since the city was closed off to prevent any of the rebels a chance to reinforce or escape. Closing of malls has caused many to look for other places to buy food which meant more business for the small sari- sari stores that were open at the time. Some bakeries were open but only for a limited amount of time. The pharmacies were also opened for a while to accommodate the need for medicine by the people. They also donated some to the different evacuation centers that allowed the evacuees a reprieve from spending what they have left for it. Some schools will lose some of their human resources and garner quite a lot of things they have to pay for. They may even give some sort of refund for the students since the complete semester was not accomplished. Sardine factories were closed and many of their workers were having a hard time dealing with news. This is because there is a fishing ban implemented that will take place somewhere between the months of December and March. Especially with the holidays coming near, people will still try find ways to earn extra money to save up and buy what they need for the festivities to come as is their usual way of doing things. The different sardine manufactures have confirmed that there would not be an increase in the price of canned sardines. Hotels have lost a considerable amount of revenue since the siege prevented people from coming into the city to avail of its services. Several cancelations were made for several reserved rooms and venues. These had to be refunded and rescheduled. Restaurants are also out of commission for duration of the siege. No customers meant that there would be no income. This would be hard for them since most restaurants tend to use fresh produce. So there is a chance that the said produce has either been donated to the evacuees or was left to turn rancid. Most likely the former would happen. The banks were also closed causing a pause in financial transactions in the city. Withdrawing, depositing or loaning money through the use of banks was not possible at the time. ATMs were still functional but the amounts of money that can be withdrawn from them were limited and were less than what some of the citizens needed. Small businesses usually earn their income either weekly or daily. Street vendors were not able to sell their product for weeks for there were not many people on the streets. Same goes for the drivers of jeep, pedicabs, and tricycle drivers. There were instances when they had to beg people they saw on the streets in order to earn money to buy food for their families.

Days after it was declared safe to leave their homes, the citizens of Zamboanga swarmed the streets. They were all eager to return their lives back to normal. The airports and banks were operational. Flights were finally allowed to depart to their designated destinations. Stranded passengers were finally able to leave the city. Loans from banks will be harder to obtain now because people would have a hard time paying for it. They had to have a good background to back them up so they can obtain a loan. They also have to satisfy the 5 Cs of credit: character, capacity, collateral, capital and condition. The cause for it being harder to obtain a loan is that the economy of Zamboanga will still be in recuperation mode. An increase in the price of some basic goods would give several people no choice but to apply for loans given their state of financially, having not receiving their wages during the siege. Malls were filled with people geared to buy groceries. Speculation may have come in to play here. People would assume that even if it is safe, not many would be roaming the streets which would give them time to shop at peace. Since not many people would leave their homes, the assumption that there would be a surplus of commodities making them cheaper would settle in their minds. In this instance many have speculated the same thing causing traffic in the city to try to be the first to buy what they need. Problem is as the supply of basic goods depletes, the prices would tend to increase. So they still cannot simply buy the quantity of what they actually needed with a fixed amount of money to spend. Some schools were opened but others remain close. Those that were still closed gave their students alternative academic work so that the students can continue to their second semester without much trouble so long as they meet the requirements given to them by their teacher. Most of the requirements that must be done require the students to submit their work online. Some students were faced with the misfortune of becoming evacuees in the different evacuation centers spread out across the city. They would not be able to access the internet in the evacuation centers so they have to go to the open internet cafes in the city to avail a form of internet connection. This