US to keep travel warning against PH until situation improves, says Thomas

The United States will not lift its travel warning on the Philippines “as long as bombs explode in the Zamboanga airport, as long as kidnap-for-ransom gangs dominate the headlines, as long as bus owners are extorted through violence, and as long as political feuds are resolved through bombs and assassinations.”

So said US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. on Thursday at the 20th Mindanao Business Conference in Pagadian City.

But Thomas expressed confidence that “by the time I leave my position as ambassador of the US in the Philippines, two things will have happened.”

Pillar of friendship

“That I will be in a position to recommend to Washington that it change the travel warning on Mindanao because the peace situation has improved so remarkably, thanks in part to your efforts… and I hope that by the time I leave, we can talk about returning Peace Corps volunteers to Mindanao and resume a partnership that has been a pillar of our friendship for almost 50 years. Big dreams? I think so, but if anyone can help make it happen you all can,” he said.

Earlier, the US Embassy in Manila warned Americans anew about kidnap-for-ransom and terrorist groups, particularly in Mindanao, following the July 12 abduction of US nationals Gerfa Lunsmann and her son, Kevin Eric, 14, in Zamboanga City.

A relative of the Lunsmanns, Romnick Jackaria, was also seized.

The latest Department of State travel alert said “kidnap-for-ransom gangs are active throughout the Philippines and have targeted foreigners.”

“US citizens traveling, living and working throughout the Philippines are urged to exercise heightened caution in public gathering places.”

The state department also warned Americans about the “risks of terrorist activities,” particularly in the Sulu archipelago and other parts of Mindanao.

It warned that “terrorist attacks could be indiscriminate and could occur in other areas, including Manila.”

In late 2010, President Aquino assailed the travel warnings issued by foreign embassies in Manila, including the American mission, saying that they were not based on firm intelligence.

A few months after, a bomb exploded in a bus along Edsa in Makati City, killing at least four passengers and wounding several others. No one has been arrested for the blast.

In May, the Department of Foreign Affairs asked the US once again to lift its travel warning on the Philippines, citing “improved security conditions in the country.”

Unauthorized armed forces

In his remarks, Thomas pointed out that “it is the unauthorized armed forces of Mindanao that hold the entire area back.”

“We support the government’s ongoing peace efforts with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as we always have, to bring stability that breeds opportunity. We continue to partner in job programs for former MILF guerrillas to prove that positive change comes from peace agreements. And we support the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police’s ongoing efforts to confront transnational terrorists that find haven within and perhaps even promote conflict in Mindanao for their own nefarious ends,” he said.