MANILA: Four countries — Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the US — have warned their citizens against traveling to Zamboanga and other parts of Mindanao due to on-going clashes between the military and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and threats of kidnapping and terrorist attack.
Australia advised its citizens not travel to central and western Mindanao including Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Peninsula and Sulu Archipelago due to threats of kidnapping, terrorist attack, crime and clashes between armed groups and the military in Zamboanga City.
Australia cited the UK government’s advice to its citizens about a credible and imminent kidnap threat in Zamboanga del Norte.
Canada discouraged its citizens from going to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) – composed of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi Tawi – and in Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Peninsula due to threats of terrorist attack and kidnapping. The Philippine star
