MANILA -- It is the prerogative of other countries to warn their citizens from traveling to areas they deem unsafe.
This was stressed by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana when sought for a comment after the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issued a travel advisory following the bombing in Jolo, Sulu, which left at least 20 people dead and 112 wounded on Sunday.
"None. We cannot question other countries’ duty to warn their nationals. (It's the) same as it is our own prerogative to give similar warning to our citizens," he said in message to reporters late Monday.
Earlier, the United Kingdom FCO advised against all travel to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups.
It also advised against all kinds of travel, except for essential ones, to the remainder of Mindanao (excluding Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao Islands) and to the south of Cebu province, up to and including the municipalities of Dalaguete and Badian, due to the threat of terrorism.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo dismissed claims made by the international terror group Islamic State that it is behind Sunday's attack.
"That’s still propaganda as at this time. They have been doing false claims in the past. An example is the Resorts World incident (in June 2, 2017 where scores of people suffocated to death after a gunman went amuck and torched some of the gambling tables)," Arevalo said in a separate message. (PNA)
