Palace welcomes revised travel advisory from Australia

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang welcomed yesterday the decision of Australia to revise and reissue its travel advisory on the Philippines, removing the reference to “imminent” threat of terrorist attack in Manila even as the overall level of travel advice had not changed.

“I believe that France has already revised its travel advisory and they took out that part where it said that there was a supposed imminent terror attack in Manila. So that has been revised and we’ve already said that we are very happy with what has happened because it shows us that our efforts to have the advisories revised are bearing fruit,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio station dzRB.

“And now, the revision of the Australian travel advisory, it’s a significant development because they have removed the part that was really the bone of contention. That the data that they used as the foundation of their advisories we had issues with. The President had said that data used were raw, not verified and he asked that the part (on imminent attack) be removed and Australia has responded,” Valte said.

“I think it’s a very significant development for us. There is a big difference between the travel advisory now and the previous one. I think it has corrected the Nov. 2 advisory,” Valte further said.

The main change in the travel advisory was the removal of the language that was added on the Nov. 2 travel advice referring to imminent threat of terrorist attack in Manila.

In its Nov. 2 advisory, Australia said reliable reports indicate that terrorist attacks may be imminent in Manila, including places frequented by foreigners such as large shopping malls and convention centers.

Australia and France are among the six countries that issued last month a travel advisory on the Philippines warning their nationals against possible terror attacks in the country. The others are United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

It urged its nationals to exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines because of the serious threat of terrorist attack and the relatively rampant crime.