Palace: New US travel advisory has ‘improvement’

There is an “improvement" in the new travel warning issued by the United States to the Philippines, Malacañang said Wednesday as it continued to assure the public that steps are being done to ensure the safety of tourists in the country. “We’ve seen an improvement in travel advisory provided by the United States," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing, citing four amendments from the advisory issued late last year. In November 2010, the US advised its citizens to avoid congregating in public places “that are frequented by expatriates and foreign citizens including American citizens" Lacierda said the phrase was removed in the new advisory. He said there was also no mention of the October 10, 2010 bus bombing incident in Mindanao and the January 25, 2011 bus bombing in Makati. “In the present travel warning, US citizens traveling, living and working throughout the Philippines is urged to exercise heightened caution na lamang," he said. He further said that in the November advisory, the US citizens were warned of the active presence of kidnap for ransom groups that target foreign nationals and urged to hire their own security. He said the advice to hire own security had been removed in the recent travel warning. “There’s been a recognition that while there are kidnap for ransom gangs, medyo nag-ease yung concern ng America dahil hindi na sinabihan yung mga nakatira sa Mindanao o Sulu na maghire ng sariling security," he said. Lacierda assured the public that the Aquino administration will continuously try to “ensure public safety to our citizens and to the visitors." — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News