Peaceful but...

After issuing a travel advisory to its citizens last month warning them of possible kidnappings by terrorists in Cebu and Bohol, the United States Government has shifted its focus and issued another travel advisory this month warning its citizens of the threat of kidnappings by terrorists in the island of Palawan. And like what happened in last month’s travel advisory, local authorities are issuing words of assurance to tourists about security in the concerned areas.

This seems to have gotten to be a tug-of-war between governments of developed countries like the US, the United Kingdom and Canada and the governments of subject nations like the Philippines every time travel advisories are issued. What comes out ends up sounding contradictory, which could be confusing to tourists.

In the case of Palawan, for example, even as the US issued the travel advisory, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), through the chief of its Public Affairs Office Edgard Arevalo, said they have not monitored any threat specific to the said province like what was indicated in the travel advisory. “But that doesn’t mean that we are taking the report lightly,” he added.

It does seem like the AFP contradicted the US travel advisory. A closer look would show, though, that the contradiction is in the presentation or angling.

Travel advisories are actually just that, advisories. The wordings of the advisories are such that, while these mention threats sourced from “credible information” these do not prevent their citizens from traveling to the mentioned areas like Palawan. Consider this line from the recent US advisory: “US citizens are advised to carefully consider this information as they make their travel plans and to review personal security plans...”

The advisory is in essence not in conflict with what Arevalo wanted to convey, only that his stress was on safety. Yet to the assurance that Palawan is safe was added the promise to look into the threat mentioned in the advisory.

Travel advisories can therefore be seen this way, too. Their issuance can be welcomed if it raises the level of vigilance of everybody—tourists, local governments, residents, and yes, even the police and the military.