In Davao Today editor Carlos H. Conde’s blog, he explains why terrorism was the likely reason for the cancellation of the 12th Asean Summit in Cebu:
Security or travel advisories by foreign embassies are a tricky thing. Many foreigners wonder whether to believe or just ignore these. In fact, the credibility of these advisories is such that Conde Nast Traveler, the worlds largest and most influential travel magazine, published in its October 2006 issue reports about the travel advisories being issued concerning several countries (including the Philippines). In all stories, the conclusion was: travel advisories are not as accurate and as realistic as many would hope.
But, as I said, travel advisories are a tricky thing. According to sources that Ive talked to regarding this subject, if an embassy issues an advisory telling its residents to refrain from travel to a specific place, most likely the embassy just wants to cover its ass, particularly if the place has a history of violence directed against foreigners, regardless of whether there is a credible threat or not. Better safe than sorry.
The thing that the public should really be concerned about is when many embassies issue the same advisory. This means the embassies had the same intelligence and most likely verified it. If two or three embassies issue similar advisories almost at the same time, that is a real cause for concern, my sources said.
What more if five repeat, five embassies did that sort of thing?
Terrorism
