"The Philippines is not a lair of terrorists. What we are is a nation in pursuit of peace, the kind that comes from reduced poverty, a strong and experienced leadership and a well-trained police and defense establishment," the President said in a speech read by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo before delegates of the 18th Interpol Asian Regional Conference yesterday.
Mrs. Arroyo, who was in Davao City for a campaign sortie, lamented the negative advisories issued by the United States, Australia and Britain to its citizens even though the military has neutralized the bandit Abu Sayyaf group.
She maintained that there were only a "few hundreds hiding in the remote jungles of Mindanao" and the government had initiated peace negotiations with the communist National Democratic Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with the help of the Norwegian and Malaysian governments.
"Despite all our efforts, some countries continue to issue travel advisories against the Philippines. Some people, perhaps a few nameless armchair bureaucrats, hold this false perception of a nation in turmoil – of a people in the grip of manic violence – and translate it into policy," Mrs. Arroyo stated in her speech.
"... Policy that hurts our tourism, policy that diminishes the work we have done thus far to help other governments as well to fight terror ... I leave it to you as experts in the field of crime and terror to judge whether our country is indeed unsafe and unfit for foreign visitors," she added.
Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble agreed that the Philippines is a safe place for business and travel. He noted the government’s efficiency in fighting the region-based al-Qaeda terror affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah, and the local Abu Sayyaf with the arrest of their key leaders in various police and military operations in the country.
"The Philippines is experienced in fighting the Abu Sayyaf ... very experienced in working against the Jemaah Islamiyah, very experienced in ensuring its information about al-Qaeda. That is something that we need as citizens of the world to help us, the governments and societies to address the worldwide problem of terrorism," Noble said.
He cited the need for better information exchange and partnership in the global fight against terrorism.
Representatives from at least 63 countries are attending the 18th Interpol Asian Regional Conference to boost the global war on terrorism after the train bombings in Madrid, which killed at least 199 people and injured 1,400 others.
Philippine Center on Trans—national Crime (PCTC) executive director Reynaldo Velasco said that the gathering is necessary for countries to have a unified and coordinated effort to fight international terrorism.
There was, however, some confusion during the opening of the conference yesterday, as some members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Press Corps were not included in the official list submitted to Interpol security.
Several media personnel who filed their accreditation forms as early as Friday last week at the PNP-Public Information Office were also not in the list.
"The PNP Press Corps found the incident an insult to our persons and our respective media organizations and we condemn at all cost the discrimination against the media by the PNP as host of the event," a protest letter sent to PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. by the local press said.