MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / May 14, 2014) – The United Kingdom has warned its citizens against travelling to southern Philippines due to threats of terrorism and clashes between security forces and insurgents, and kidnappings.
“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to south-west Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of on-going terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups. The FCO advice against all but essential travel to the remainder of Mindanao for the same reasons,” it said in an updated advisory which can be accessed on this URL https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/philippines.
Britain said there are several terrorist groups operating in the Philippines that continue to pose a threat.
It also said there is a high threat of terrorism throughout the Philippines and terrorist groups – among them the local Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya, including the communist rebel New People’s Army and other associated groups – continue to plan attacks and have the capacity and the intent to carry out attacks at anytime and anywhere in the country.
It said although there is hope that the Bangsamoro framework peace agreement will bring the 40 year insurgency in the south of the country to an end, extreme elements within the two main insurgent groups, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, continue to pose a security threat, including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters which broke away with the MILF and is responsible for the series of attacks on military targets in Mindanao.
Just recently, the BIFF under Ustadz Ameril Umra Kato set off a bomb in Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay town killing two soldiers and wounding several more. The explosion hit a military convoy carrying Col. Gener del Rosario, commander of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, on their way to the 6th Infantry Division in Awang town.
The United Kingdom also cited past against civilian targets in Mindanao – in 2013 attacks have taken place in Cotabato City and Cagayan de Oro and there remains a threat of attacks throughout much of Mindanao – “attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by foreigners like airports, shopping malls, public transport and places of worship.”
“Be aware of the risk of terrorist attacks to all forms of public transport: road, rail, sea and air. Terrorist groups have threatened to attack passenger ferries and other vessels, particularly those operating from Mindanao. You should avoid using public transport throughout Mindanao,” the British travel advisory further said.
It said there is a threat from kidnapping, particularly in the southern Philippines where kidnapping could occur anywhere, including on coastal and island resorts and on dive boats and sites in the Sulu Sea.
“Foreigners have been targeted in rural, urban and coastal areas in the past. In April 2014, two foreign nationals were kidnapped while yachting in the Sulu Sea. In February 2012, 2 foreign nationals were kidnapped from Parangan in the township of Panglima Sugala in the Tawi-Tawi island province.”
“The long-standing policy of the British government is not to make substantive concessions to hostage takers. The British government considers that paying ransoms and releasing prisoners increases the risk of further hostage taking,” it said.
Britain was referring to the two German yachters Stefan Viktor Okonek, 71, and his companion, Herike Diesen, 55, who disappeared recently at sea off Palawan province. Their empty yacht was recovered by Philippine authorities off Palawan in the Sulu Sea.
And the two European wildlife photographers Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland; and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, from Switzerland, who were taken captive by in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town two years ago. (With a report from Mark Navales)
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