 |
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE |
The Philippines is terrorist infested if we are to believe both the US government and our own government. Muslim terrorists make Mindanao and nearby islands unsafe, and the New People’s Army which only recently gained the tag “terrorist” “operates throughout the Philippines,” as it is stated in the latest travel advisory of the US Department of State for the Philippines.
The public announcement issued last Jan. 10 concludes, “The terrorist threat to Americans in the Philippines remains high. In view of a number of security-related incidents and the possibility of future terrorism, kidnappings, and other violence or criminal activity, Americans traveling to or residing in the Philippines are urged to exercise great caution and maintain heightened security awareness.” The announcement encourages Americans to avoid “crowds and crowded places, including nightclubs and bars, and to exercise special caution in public places such as shopping malls.”
The killing of an American tourist on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo in 2002 is indirectly blamed on the New People’s Army. Bombing incidents in Metro Manila and Mindanao, and kidnappings for various purposes are mentioned as concrete examples of terrorism and violence. While the operations of the Abu Sayyaf Group are mostly found in particular areas of Mindanao, Americans are warned that the Abu Sayyaf “has demonstrated its ability to travel long distances by boat to kidnap foreigners” and thus, the Abu Sayyaf is likely to have the ability to reach other locations in the Philippines as well. “Accordingly, Americans should defer travel to isolated beach resorts in the southern portion of the Philippines,” the public announcement concludes.
The Philippine government reacted with expected objections, calling the travel advisory “reckless.” “Travel advisories paint a very unfair picture, where isolated and disparate events are seen as portraying the situation in the entire country,” a press release of the DFA reads. “We have consistently objected to travel advisories. It is regrettable that the US, in reviewing its ‘Public Announcement’ on the Philippines, did not take into account the situation on the ground — the fact that other countries have revised or altogether eliminated travel advisories on the Philippines; the fact that embassies that had temporarily closed their doors have resumed full operations; and the fact that Philippine security and intelligence agencies have scored important victories against terrorists.”
Seen from outside the Philippines, the country can seem an awfully dangerous place to be. Last October, when I was in Denmark, I noticed how fast the press was to connect the Bali bombings to the bombings that occurred in Zamboanga City a few days later. What to us seems like something isolated and local can quickly look like an international conspiracy hitting indiscriminately any part of the country. Naturally, if you are not familiar with the Philippines and if you are planning your vacation, a vacation for which you have been working hard and saving money, you would choose a place that doesn’t figure in the news because of its bombs and blasts.
Did the government make a mistake in declaring various rebel groups terrorist? Personally, I think it was a bad thing for tourism to declare the NPA a terrorist group. It put an existing local situation — a situation that has existed for decades — on the world map of terrorism. Politically, it may have worked to put pressure on the communist rebels, but it won’t help the tourism industry. Some tourists may even look on a local guerrilla war — a Communist insurgency — as exotic and interesting, bringing associations of Che Guevara (whose face is on teenage girls’ t-shirts, Che least of all would have thought that would ever happen). On the contrary, there is nothing exotic about terrorism.
Tourists must be warned. As with other forms of consumption, those shopping for tours and travels must base their choices on information. In the long run, it would be bad for the reputation of the country if harm were done to foreign visitors only because we failed to provide the information for them to take the necessary precautions. The US travel advisory is actually not unfair or inaccurate. It simply advises American travelers to take extra precaution — and to avoid specific localities in Mindanao. The US government is doing its job by looking after the safety of those of its citizens who are traveling. If such precautionary approach can prevent future kidnappings and other acts of violence involving foreign visitors, it should be welcomed, not objected to, by the Philippine government.