‘Strategic ally’ RP unstable, dangerous — US advisory

After calling the Philippines its “strategic treaty ally,” the United States retained the country in its list of “dangerous or unstable” territories when it re-issued a damaging travel warning against Manila, citing heightened concerns on possible terrorist attacks.

Washington released the travel warning on the same day its envoy to the country, Harry Thomas, called the Philippines its “strategic treaty ally” in the midst of Manila’s brewing territorial dispute with China in the contested Spratlys in the South China Sea.

Travel warnings, according to the US State Department, are issued when “long-term, protracted conditions make a country dangerous or unstable,” which leads them to recommend that “Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country.” It is also issued when the US government’s ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.

Among the countries that meet these criteria include the Philippines, and states or territories known to have existing armed conflict and unstable security conditions such as Burundi, Yemen, Syria, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria.

Also included were Mauritania, Afghanistan, Mali, Eritrea, Libya, Pakistan, Haiti, Central African

Republic, Niger, Nepal, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Guinea, Congo, Colombia, Iran, North Korea, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

None of the Philippines’ South East Asian neighbors, including the reclusive Myanmar, which has been denounced by the West for its gross human rights violations, was in the same travel category.

Lower levels of U.S. travel advisories come in the form of “Notices to American Citizens” and “Warden Messages.”

In its June 14, 2011 Travel Warning, the Department of State warns U.S. citizens “of the risks of terrorist activity in the Philippines, particularly in the Sulu Archipelago and on the island of Mindanao.”

Terrorist attacks, it noted, “could be indiscriminate and could occur in other areas, to include Manila.”

The State Department also said that “U.S. government employees must seek special permission to travel to Mindanao or the Sulu Archipelago” due to sporadic clashes between lawless groups and the Philippine Armed Forces throughout Mindanao, particularly in rural areas.

Embassy spokesman Rebecca Thompson explained the US is not singling out the Philippines and that a travel warning is a standard precautionary measure for American travelers routinely updated every six months.

Thompson likewise noted that it was not intended to prohibit American travelers from coming to the country.

“The United States embassy’s first priority is the security and safety of American citizens,” Thompson said, but did not say the US government’s basis for the renewed travel warning against the Philippines.

On any given day, about 400,000 American citizens are in the Philippines, Thompson stressed, adding that because of this, it is their government’s responsibility to “ensure the well-being” of its citizens in the country.

“The embassy provides updates on security and other considerations that people should be aware of when they travel,” she said.

The US has long expressed concern about the presence of terrorist groups in the Philippines specifically the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group and the Jemaah Islamiyah in Mindanao. It has warned its citizens in the past from traveling to the country and other parts of Mindanao and to avoid public areas like ship and bus terminals, places of worships and shopping malls, wherein some of it were bombed and targeted by attacks.

Earlier this year, a bomb exploded on a bus near Manila’s business district, killing four people and officials did not rule out terrorism in its investigation.

President Aquino was incensed when the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France one after the other issued travel warnings against the Philippines in 2010, warning of looming terror attacks. Manila protested the advisories and sent diplomatic notes to the embassies of the six countries in Manila.  –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune