Oct 10, 2014 Travel Alert For Australians To Philippines

[jpbago]

http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Philippines

 

If you are in the Do Not Travel area, your travel insurance is void.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Same warnings have been going out for years.  :)

[tothevictor]

I've been ignoring the smart traveler website pretty much since they put it up.   The warnings for Zamboanga and Sulu seem to be pretty permanent, not without good reason.  Then again, it seems that you're in more danger if you're in parts of Borne that are close to the no go zone.   I remember when I was living in Hong Kong and traveling regularly to the Phils for business the HK Government had a black travel warning for the entire Philippines.  Every time I landed at NAIA I would get a flurry of warning texts from the HK government.  Anyone who is familiar with what caused that particular alert to be raised (and it was in place for a good couple of years) knows very well that it had very little to do with actual personal safety in the Philippines but it arose from an argument over the handling of an incident in Manila where a bus got hijacked.  The Philippine government was unprepared to apologise to the HK govt because they saw that as an admission of guilt.  The HK Govt waved its enlarged member threateningly at the Philippines until Estrada went up and apologised earlier this year.  

 

Anyway, I digress.  The warning has some validity, Sulu is a dangerous place.  Have I ever allowed a warning like this to influence my travel plans?  Hell no.  Is it possible to get raped/murdered/ripped off/kidnapped pretty much anywhere?  Hell yes.  I wasn't aware of the insurance issue, then again I haven't traveled with insurance in at least 20 years.

 

I love the wording on the SmartTraveler alert "Keep away from places known to be terrorist targets".  Damn - that takes New York and London off the itinerary.