US travel advisory stays—embassy

The travel advisory stands.

A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Manila said yesterday that Washington is not inclined to withdraw an advisory warning American citizens against traveling to Mindanao.

US Embassy spokeswoman Karen Kelley issued the statement shortly before embassy officials went to attend a meeting requested by Malacañang on the controversial advisory.

"The announcement has been issued and it stands as it is. It is very specific. As to the concerns, it is very detailed," Kelley said.

She explained that the advisory was issued in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on Sept. 11, the worst act of aggression on US soil.

"We have an obligation to inform traveling American nationals of the situation in the Philippines," she said.

The travel advisory as well as a directive to recall American officials and contractors from Mindanao were publicized last weekend, citing heightened risks to Americans in the area due to Muslim extremist activities.

But Vice President and concurrent Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. said yesterday Manila would try to "rectify" the advisory issued by the US State Department.

He said he would try to convince US Embassy officials to withdraw the advisory at a meeting in the Palace yesterday.

"Yes, (we will ask them to rectify it)," Guingona said.

According to Kelley, the US Embassy has said that US nationals in the country are not completely documented because their registration upon arrival is non-obligatory.

In a public announcement, the US State Department said that a number of security-related incidents highlight the danger of travel in the Philippines.

The State Department noted that kidnappings of foreigners, bombings, and other violent incidents call for Americans to exercise great caution throughout the Philippines.

As a result of the Sept. 11 attacks on US installations, Washington believed that its citizens may be targeted by extremist groups.

The abduction of three Americans from a resort off Palawan last May 27 by members of the Abu Sayyaf was also a basis of the advisory, the embassy said.

One of the three, Guillermo Sobero, is believed to have been beheaded, and his remains finally found. The other two, missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, remain in captivity with more than a dozen Filipinos.

US citizens have also been warned to avoid the southern and western areas of Mindanao, including Zamboanga City, due to incidents of terrorism and violence.

On Monday, bombs went off in three hotels in Zamboanga City, practically coinciding with US-British air strikes on Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Other areas where Americans are prohibited from going are the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan, as well as Tawi-Tawi and Sulu in the Sulu archipelago.

The advisory drew a howl of protest from the government, with Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and the presidential spokesman saying that most of Mindanao was "safer than the Bronx (New York)."

Palace Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao even joked about the Philippines possibly issuing its own advisory warning Filipinos against travel to the United States, where security has been tightened following the retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan.