By Nelson Constantino
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, (PNA) — The British government has expressed confidence the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would be a big step towards lasting peace and spur economic development in Mindanao.
In a press briefing, Thomas Phipps, the British embassy’s second secretary for security, said they intend to “revisit” London’s travel advisory to Mindanao, particularly those under “orange” alert level as soon as the peace accord is signed.
Phipps said the embassy does not change its overall advisory “99 percent” of the time and only regularly updates it for additional information.
“One of the questions we’ve been considering, as we see progress in the peace process, is: Should we revisit our advice for Mindanao? At some point, if the peace agreement is signed and if we are confident of a lasting peace agreement, what is the threshold for change?” he asked.
If there would be any change in its advisory for citizens regarding travel to Mindanao, the orange-colored area, which gets an “advice against all but essential travel,” will be the first area of change.
“Frankly, Davao is safe. We travel to Davao frequently,” he said.
Davao City is orange-colored on the British embassy travel advisory map.
“The rest of the area that is red gets more consideration,” he added. Western Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago are red-colored on the map.
The British Embassy color security advisory was patterned after the United States Homeland Security Alert on possible terrorist attacks which was categorized into red, orange, yellow, blue, and green colors.
Red color stands for severe risk of terrorist attacks, Orange for high risk of terrorist attacks, Yellow (elevated) for significant risk of terrorist attacks, Blue (guarded) for general risk of terrorist attacks, and Green (Low) low risk of terrorist attacks.
The peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF have been going smoothly with the two of the four annexes already signed by both parties. Those on transition and wealth sharing have been signed, while those on power sharing and normalization are still under discussion.
The peace agreement is hoped to bring peace and subsequent development in the resource-rich island of Mindanao. The Moro fight for self-determination has been going on for the past 40 years or so. Earlier, the Philippine government also reached a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front, with the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as part of such agreement.
Citing Britain’s own experience with the peace process in Northern Island, Phipps said that “unfortunately…you see a spike in the violence as some groups want to undermine progress being made, and some carve out a role for themselves in the peace dividend.”
Phipps reiterated that the embassy would be careful in making any change in its overall advisory.
For 80 percent of the country, the British embassy encourages its citizens to visit, he said.
“Majority of that is map green. All of this area is fine for British citizens to travel to,” he added.
Stephen Lysaght, the embassy’s charges d’ affairs, said the embassy’s consistent travel advice regarding the Philippines has resulted in more British tourists and businessmen coming to the country for fun and work.
There are more British visitors to the Philippines than any other European citizens, like the French, Spanish, or Italian, said Lysaght.