An official from a foreign business chamber said Wednesday that Mindanao remains “undeniably” a safe place to travel and invest.
In a press briefing here Wednesday, Tony Peralta, chairperson of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP)-Southern Mindanao Business Council and Honorary Consul for Finland, said it is necessary to put it in a clear messaging platform that the island is safe.
Peralta pointed out that in May this year, Canada revised its travel advisory and no longer included Camiguin and Dinagat Islands as among the provinces to avoid travel.
Unlike its former “avoid all travel” advisory, Canada currently notifies only against “non-essential travel” to the provinces of Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental.
Peralta said Mindanao Development Authority’s (MinDA) study on “Mindanao’s trust, respect, and safety” should be widely disseminated to prove that the island is safe and secure.
He is referring to a 2022 study involving the experience of safety, demonstrated respect of the police to the community, people’s trust on the police and the overall satisfaction on the police services to secure the community.
“It is very unfair to quote Mindanao provinces as dangerous areas to come in. We have been here long enough to know what is safe and unsafe,” Peralta said.
Meanwhile, MinDA Secretary Leo Tereso Magno vowed to continue utilizing the study to be for the agency’s “safe Mindanao” campaign.
“We hope the negative travel advisory will end because we know Mindanao is safe. Even the ambassadors also knew it,” Magno said. (PNA)
