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Philippine places expats might avoid

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PalawOne

`

Places expats might currently avoid (besides Juicy-Lucys) and why?


(Tourists & expats now seem safe but 'incidents' are still happening)



"Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Updates"


November 13, 2022 | 10:55am https://www.philstar.com/happens/578



23 hours ago


An Army officer survived an ambush in a busy thoroughfare in Cotabato City on Saturday night but his driver was not as lucky. Lt. Col. Manago Macalintangui, 49, and his civilian driver, Ramil Laguioman, were attacked at about 7:00 p.m. Saturday by men on motorcycles while at a busy stretch of Sinsuat Avenue. Laguioman, 34, died instantly from gunshot wounds. -- The STAR/John Unson


3 days ago


Seven people have been killed in fighting between the Philippine military and Muslim rebels in the country's south, authorities said Thursday, in one of the deadliest clashes since a landmark peace pact was signed in 2014.


The ongoing fighting broke out Tuesday in Basilan island province, off the main southern island of Mindanao, following what the military said was a "miscommunication" between its soldiers and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). For decades the Catholic-majority Philippines has been plagued by violent insurgencies, including a Muslim-led separatist uprising that has killed more than 100,000 people. A peace deal with the MILF, the largest of the rebel groups, was sealed in 2014. — AFP


October 1, 2022


The police and Army deploy in Maguindanao peacekeeping teams following Friday’s murder near a mosque a Moro datu belonging to a ruling clan. Two were killed, Datu Jamael Sinsuat, a former barangay chairman here, and his still unidentified attacker. The nephew of Sinsuat, Darius, was wounded in another shooting incident here hours later. — The STAR/John Unson


September 26, 2022


Three members of the 2nd Marine Battalion were wounded in an ambush in Picong town in Lanao del Sur on Sunday. Wounded in the attack were PFCs Stephen Saragal and PFC Elijah Taccas, and Pvt. Romy Torallo Jr., who were in a KM450 light military truck on a stretch of the Lanao del Sur-Pagadian highway in Barangay Punong when they were shot at with assault rifles. Police Col. Jibin Bongcayao said Monday the local police and Marine intelligence personnel are now together trying to put closure to the bloody incident. — The STAR/John Unson


September 21, 2022


Two incidents — a grenade attack and an ambush that hurt an escort of a senior Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader — rocked Lamitan City, Basilan at dusk Tuesday. Rajan Abdurahman, deputy base commander of the MILF in Basilan, and his aide, Harkie Jawabin Kasain were together in a black Hyundai car that gunmen shot along an unlit stretch of road in Barangay Colonia.


Kasain was wounded in the attack, now confined in a hospital in Lamitan City, one of two cities in Basilan that also covers 11 municipalities. Abdurahman told probers he has no idea on who could have perpetrated the ambush that he survived unscathed.


Meanwhile, a powerful blast ripped through the residential compound of former Al-Barka Mayor Mujiv Hassan Jakilan along Santol Drive in Barangay Bato also in Lamitan City. Al-Barka town saw hotly-contested elections between rival clans in May. — The STAR/John Unson


September 18, 2022


A resident of Tamparan town in Lanao del Sur landed in jail after police in a checkpoint found a vintage .30-caliber machinegun and an assault rifle in his vehicle Friday. Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Lanao del Sur provincial police director, said Sunday that Norhan Hamdag Ibrahim was flagged down by a police team in a roadside checkpoint in Barangay Pititanglaan in, Lumbayanague. -- The STAR/John Unson


September 11, 2022


The local government of Hadji Mohmmad Ajul town of Basilan surrendered Friday to the military at least 22 high-powered loose firearms it collected from various residents. Mayor Talib Pawaki turned over the loose firearms as part of the decommissioning to Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan (JTFB) and 101st Infantry Brigade in a simple rites held at Barangay Buton. Pawaki said the firearms were yielded by residents coming from the different barangays of his town.


September 8, 2022

Unidentified gunmen strafed with automatic gunfire a house in Sumisip, Basilan, killing three occupants and leaving three others injured early Thursday morning. Hours later, a former barangay council member was also gunned down by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants in Lamitan City. The strafing incident is suspected to have been triggered by a “rido” (family feud). — The STAR/Roel Pareño


September 7, 2022



An Abu Sayyaf leader, wanted for the string of kidnapping and bombing, was captured by the raiding police forces Wednesday morning in a village of Jolo, Sulu, security official said. Arrested was Abubakar Abdulkadil alias Basaron Arok, a sub-leader of the Abu Sayyaf group and Daulah Islamiyah (DI) based in Patikul town, said Police Col. John Francis Encinareal, regional director of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 9 (CIDG).


Abdulkadil was arrested by the tracking team of the CIDG Sulu field unit led by Police Maj. William Maisog and forces from the Special Action Force (SAF) during the law enforcement operation in his hideout in Barangay San Raymundo about 6:19a.m, according to Encinareal. Abdulkadil or Basaron Arok has standing warrants of arrest for kidnapping with ransom, homicide, and murder issued by courts in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. — The STAR/Roel Pareño


September 2, 2022


Police say that agents shot dead an uncooperative trafficker and seized P34,000 worth of shabu from his companion in a sting in Panamao, Sulu Wednesday that went awry. Rogelito Daculla, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Friday says Ben Haibel was declared dead on arrival at a hospital where PDEA agents rushed him for treatment. The slain suspect, his sibling Tayung and a companion identified only as Dams, were subject of an entrapment operation Wednesday in Barangay Seit in Panamao. — The STAR/John Unson


August 31, 2022


The police and military are looking for 10 suspects in the fatal ambush Tuesday of the municipal police chief of Ampatuan, Maguindanao and his aide. In a statement Wednesday, the headquarters of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region said the suspects, led by Guiapar Abdulkarim, are identified with the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. Police Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of PRO-BAR, separately told reporters Wednesday that the Army’s 6th Infantry Division is helping them locate the culprits. — The STAR/Unson


August 29, 2022


Soldiers killed in a brief encounter Sunday in nearby Talayan town a man they said was a henchman of Imam Bongos, who is tagged in deadly bombings in central Mindanao in recent years. The gunfight that resulted in the death of Karutin Kalantungan, said to be of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, erupted when he and his companions opened fire on soldiers dispatched to Barangay Damablak, Talayan to check on their reported presence in the area. Col. Oriel Pangcog, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said Monday Kalantungan was an aide of Imam Bongos. — The STAR/John Unson


August 23, 2022


An Abu Sayyaf leader who was locked up for a string of kidnappings and other atrocities is facing more charges after he was served an arrest warrant in his cell in Sulu province. Personnel of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-9 served the warrant on Ben Ahaddi Quirino — alias Ben Tattoo — a Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, who is detained in the Sulu Provincial Jail in Patikul, Sulu.


Police Col. John Francis Encinareal, CIDG-9 director, said his personnel dispensed the warrant as part of its Oplan 'Pagtutugis' and 'Salikop' against wanted persons. Encinareal said the warrant was served against Ben Tattoo for double murder and frustrated murder with no recommended bail issued last January 18, 2018 by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) 9th Judicial Region Branch 3 of Jolo, Sulu. — The STAR/Roel Pareño


August 22, 2022


An Abu Sayyaf fighter managed to evade a raiding team of elite military and police personnel in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan on Friday afternoon. The Navy-led operation, which was backed by the Army and the police Special Action Force, was for the capture of notorious Abu Sayyaf member Tawakal Bayali, alias Jaber in his hideout at Sitio Oval, Barangay Tipo-Tipo Proper. Lt. Senior Grade Chester Cabaltera, Naval Forces Western Mindanao information chief, said Bayali was able to escape after sensing troops were tracking him. — The STAR/Roel Pareño


August 13, 2022


Authorities say soldiers shot dead a member of the New People’s Army and arrested another in a brief clash Thursday in Maitum, Sarangani. Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, says Saturday NPA member Gilbert Matingkal died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in a gunfight with personnel of the 38th Infantry Battalion. Matingkal’s sibling, Ronel, also an NPA member, yielded peacefully when he sensed that their hideout in a secluded barangay in Maitum had been surrounded by soldiers. — The STAR/John Unson


August 10, 2022


Gunmen killed a couple and a passerby in a daytime ambush in the Datu Salibo town in Maguindanao on Tuesday morning. In an initial statement late Tuesday, the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office said Salik Solaiman, 47, and his 42-year-old spouse, Guiara, died on the spot. A 39-year-old villager named Narex Bangkaling, was hit by a stray bullet in the head and died in a hospital later. — AFP

August 10, 2022



Police say that gunmen killed a couple and a passerby in a daring daytime ambush in the hostile Datu Salibo town in Maguindanao on Tuesday morning. The Maguindanao Provincial Police Office says Salik Solaiman, 47, and his 42-year-old spouse, Guiara, died on the spot. A 39-year-old villager named Narex Bangkaling, was hit by a stray bullet in the head and died in a hospital later. — AFP


August 7, 2022


Emergency responders rescued 18 passengers of an outrigger boat that capsized around 3 kms from the shores of the seaside Maimbung town in Sulu on Saturday. In a statement Sunday, the Sulu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said the rescued boat passengers are residents of Talipao, supposedly bound for Tapul to attend an important clan gathering. Tapul is an island town which is quite distant from Patikul municipality in mainland Sulu province. — The STAR/John Unson


August 2, 2022


Authorities say gunmen killed three in a Moro family, one of them a five-year-old girl, before dawn Tuesday in a secluded area in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao. Major Maximiniano Gerodias, chief of the Mamasapano municipal police, says the fatalities, Abdulkadir Matuwa, his wife Zahera and their five-year-old daughter, Nhala, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds. Gerodias says the attackers, armed with M16 assault rifles, surrounded the victims’ house and opened fire. — The STAR/John Unson


July 29, 2022


The military is anticipating possible retaliation by a local terror group for the death of its bomb-maker in a clash with soldiers in Maguindanao province Monday. Personnel of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion shot dead Ramos Amilil of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in an encounter before dawn Monday in Barangay Duguengen in Shariff Saydona town in Maguindanao. Amilil's companions immediately scampered away when they sensed that Army reinforcements were closing in. — The STAR/John Unson


--

mugteck

USA still tells its citizens to avoid Mindanao, and anyone working for the government is not allowed to visit Mindanao.

PalawOne

USA still tells its citizens to avoid Mindanao, and anyone working for the government is not allowed to visit Mindanao.
-@mugteck

`

Good to know Mugteck.


As would be expected, your U.S. Government is working well to protect citizens


Australia also advises, "Do not travel to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula; the Sulu Archipelago and the southern Sulu Sea area. Reconsider your need to travel to eastern Mindanao."


Ref: https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/philippines

Wellsfry

@mugteck True.. We Live in Dapitan, near the Dakak beach resort... We visited Zamboanga 6 months ago... and I DID NOT feel safe... I don't know if it was because of the warnings I was on edge, or because I just felt eyes all over me everywhere we went... not that I don't anywhere here... But I have NEVER felt unsafe here in the Dipolog area... Totally safe.

Cherryann01

I did say this before but it is worth saying again - If you do travel to any places where travel is advised against, check your travel insurance policy. Most policies will be void if you travel against Government/Foreign Office advise.

PalawOne

Hey there Wellsfry, would totally agree with you being concerned about feelings of being safe or not. People scoff at premonitions, but too many times in my lifetime anyway such feelings have been helpful, and enabled me and the family to avoid safety concerns within our immediate environment. And now I feel sure we would also feel the same as you did when you were there.


It's great Wellsfry that you've never felt those feelings, and feel totally safe, when you're near your home.


And as usual CA you offer good common sense and practical, helpful advice for world expats. Thanks to the both of you gentlemen.

PalawOne

My wife and family come from the Palawan Islands regions of the Philippines.


For years they've quite often said that they don't feel entirely safe in the far-south

areas of Palawan island. That is Brookes Point Municipality is about as far south as

they're comfortable. Bataraza and Balabac Municipalities will make them nervous.


Wikipedia notes that, "The U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning in May

2015, advising foreigners against travel to the southern part of Palawan Isle (that's

Bataraza and Balabac areas) The warning continues to be in effect as of May 2017."

However, we don't know the present US Government Department of State status.


Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan

sekmet

Besides these southern areas, anywhere else to avoid?

PalawOne

Besides these southern areas, anywhere else to avoid? -@sekmet

`

If you mean "areas to avoid" on Palawan Island, I'd say just in the very far south.


No need to have any safety concerns at all, anywhere else on Palawan. All good.


But, if you mean in the Philippines as a whole, personally I'd be wary anyway of central and western Mindanao.


For example,


"OVERVIEW 08/03/2022"


https://www.acaps.org/country/philippines/crisis/mindanao-conflict


The Mindanao island group (Mindanao), with a population of 24 million, has long had the highest poverty rates in the Philippines despite its natural resources and a promising agricultural sector. Mindanao is prone to natural disasters resulting in displacement – as is the rest of the country. Displacement in Mindanao is also caused by clashes between the military and armed groups that reject or are no longer involved in peace talks with the Government.


Besides conflict, displacement, and poverty, a shadow criminal economy, clan politics, and intercommunal tensions also disrupt the livelihoods and economic potential of Mindanao, requiring a nexus approach to response. Over 100,000 people are in protracted displacement in Mindanao because of conflict and violence.


Mindanao has a four-century-long history of Moro resistance against forces from outside the island, with conflict between the Philippine Government and armed groups lasting since the late 1960s. The communist New People’s Army is active across the country, including in Mindanao. The Islamic State has had influence in Mindanao since 2014. The siege of Marawi city in 2017, in Lanao Del Sur province, was a five-month battle between pro-Islamic State fighters and the Philippine military.


The conflict displaced 400,000 people to nearby towns and left houses and infrastructure destroyed or damaged. Although reconstruction is taking place, approximately 17,000 IDPs are still unable to return after four years because of the destruction.


The establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in March 2019 has been a major step towards conflict resolution between the Philippine Government and several autonomy-seeking groups, particularly the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). BARMM is the poorest region in the country.


Armed conflict and violence are still common in BARMM’s poorest provinces of Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao, and Sulu, where clashes between the military and armed groups such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf Group occur frequently.


"UPDATE FROM THE FEBRUARY 2022 RISK ANALYSIS" 


20/10/2022  MEDIUM RISK LEVEL


https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/insecurity-in-mindanao-conflict-and-state-sponsored-violence/


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