PREGUNTAVER

The HK black travel listing of the Philippines makes me want to get a pair hair cutting shears and send it as a gift to the Philippine Tourism secretary. With tourism being eyed as a major income source, the ban will substantially reduce the arrivals of the largest group of people that traditionally comes to the country. What a waste of marketing efforts. The Philippines should do something about this.

I traveled to Manila from HK and upon arrival, switched on my HK mobile phone. I was immediately greeted by a message coming from the HK government that the Philippines is in the black travel list and HK residents are warned. I heard that a lot of HK insurance companies will not pay for accidents and illnesses of HK residents if its contracted in the Philippines. If that is true, I will not be surprised if HK residents will continue to stop coming to Manila

In the Philippines, one of the recognized heroes of good governance passed away in a recent plane crash. With plenty of things left to be done, high ranking government officials rushed to his residence and his office to secure his storage cabinets that contain his work files. The guy handles very important matters for the government after all. Let us hope that whoever replaces him will continue his good work.

Watching a History Channel documentary about the Malayan emergency reminds me that the communist insurgency in the Philippines is still an ongoing concern. Dubbed as the longest running Maoist rebellion, the New People’s Army has outlived Maoism in China. Some people though, claim that most of the rebels now are devoid of ideology and are more of a torn to the people in the country side.