Palace: No reason for HK to issue black alert vs Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang said yesterday that there is no basis for Hong Kong to issue another black travel alert against the Philippines because of the commemoration of the Rizal Day 2000 bombing.

“We don’t know where that was coming from. Some of the countries have downgraded their travel advisories. So we have no knowledge on what basis did Hong Kong issue that black travel alert,” said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. Lacierda said the Palace would ask the Department of Foreign Affairs what action they had taken regarding the new travel alert.

“But so far, again, we are wondering where that came from,” he said.

Lacierda also said he could not understand why the United Kingdom issued a travel advisory and included a warning against rabies.

“Rabies? Well, I’ll have to ask (Health) Secretary (Enrique) Ona if there’s a rising incident of rabies,” Lacierda said.

Asked if it was a bit too much for the UK to cite that in its travel advisory, Lacierda said he would have to confirm first with Ona. 

The Hong Kong government clarified that there is nothing new with their travel advisory against the Philippines. 

The Security Bureau said they only updated their travel alert to include “possible terrorist threats” earlier cited by the governments of Australia, Canada, China and the United Kingdom.

“Some overseas administrations had noted the risk on possible terrorist attacks, including places frequented by foreigners, such as large shopping malls and convention centers,” the Security Bureau said in its outbound travel alert as it further listed down the links to the travel advisories of the four countries.

A Security Bureau spokesman explained that the additional information in the outbound travel alert was only intended to provide information on assessments made by other governments. 

“The additional information is not an updated assessment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The same was done to other countries where a travel alert is in force,” the spokesman said in a statement. – With Carina Roncesvalles