Missing bandits affecting Bohol tourism
Over the weekend, we heard the sad stories that many of the big resorts in Panglao Island had cancellations by as much as 50 percent of their reservations. One friend even intimated to me that he knew a guy who had a weeklong reservation in a resort in Panglao, but when he arrived in Tagbilaran, he called the resort to cancel his reservation and returned back to Manila in the next flight. Thanks to the sudden excursion of the Abu Sayyaf Group led by Abu Rami who was killed in action. But the bigger problem in Bohol right now is that the Armed Forces of the Philippines have not yet accounted for the five missing ASG who are still at large.
I would like to believe that the missing ASG terrorists still in Bohol are why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea has issued a "temporary, special travel advisory" for Bohol. If all the supposedly 10 ASG were killed in that encounter last week, I don't think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea would have issued that temporary travel advisory.
So the million-peso question is why hasn't the Philippine Army found those ASG terrorists? If this were Basilan, these five terrorists could have easily melted into the population. But this is Bohol, they cannot use the populace as their cover as they would stand out like a sore thumb! We can understand why we can't find any more news reports on what the military has been doing in Bohol…but the silence is unnerving.
I dare say that if those ASG terrorists are not captured or killed very soon, tourists will certainly avoid coming to Bohol and its tourism-based economy would suffer greatly. Like I said before, Bohol, except for a few areas where Dagohoy used to hide from the Spanish troops, isn't really a forested area and thus, roaming armed bandits can easily be seen and reported especially in this age of people having cellphones with cameras.
Meanwhile to assuage tourists planning to go to Bohol, the senior officials' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bohol hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry will still push through as scheduled this week despite security concerns. Bohol is hosting the 10th ASEAN and Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement Trade Negotiating Committee and Related Meetings. The DTI-hosted Ministerial meetings will be held at the Henann Resort in Panglao Island beginning today until April 22.
We are thankful that the ASEAN delegates are trying to help our tourism by holding their meetings despite still questionable security issues. But then you should know that those ASEAN delegates know well enough that their security arrangements are very well taken care of by the host nation. But the ball is in the court of our Armed Forces for them to find the five ASG terrorists or perhaps they should tell us that the five already moved out of Bohol…which then would bring us the question 'where did they go?'
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President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte just came back from his first official visit to the Middle East where he had meetings in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. That particular trip was for the president to give importance to our Overseas Foreign Workers many of whom face imprisonment in their host country or worse…the death penalty. This is classic of President Duterte who would go to the farther reaches where he can find OFWs and listen to their plight.
Duterte reported in his arrival speech that some 138 undocumented Filipinos were granted amnesty by the Saudi government, while Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III reported that in Qatar, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez entered into agreements and business ventures that would generate US$ 250 million in investments and 16,000 jobs for Filipinos. Well that is the positive side of this presidential visit. But I would like to know more details about this new business venture.
More importantly, studies should be made as to why 138 undocumented Filipinos found themselves in Saudi Arabia. If they are indeed victims of illegal recruiters in the Philippines, then I dare say that a crackdown of these unscrupulous businessmen should be done soon.