PHILIPPINES: Foreign Tourists Drugged In Manila,Their Credit Cards Used To Make Transactions

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel alert for the Philippines on Friday after several reported cases of con artists drugging foreign tourists in Manila and using their credit cards to make transactions.

In the notice, the ministry urged Taiwanese people traveling to the Philippines to stay on high alert and to avoid strangers who come up to them to start a conversation.

The ministry said that Taiwan's representative office in the Philippines has recently received several reports of Taiwanese tourists being drugged by scammers, who stole credit cards from the victims while they were unconscious.

The victims all reported similar situations, in which a gang of three to four Filipinos approached them when they were alone and invited them to restaurants, drugging them into deep sleep to steal their credit cards or other valuable belongings, the ministry said.

The latest case reported to Taiwan's representative office in Manila involved a Taiwanese woman who was in the Philippines to receive vocational training, according to a source.

It occurred on June 24, when the woman was approached by three other women and one man at a shopping mall and was later drugged by the conmen and remained unconscious for 24 hours, the source said.

After returning to Taiwan, the victim found unauthorized charges on her credit card during the period when she was unconscious, the source said.

The ministry warned that such scams are more likely to occur at popular tourist destinations in Metro Manila, such as the Mall of Asia, Rizal Park, the Malate district and Burgos Street.

The ministry said the representative office has reported the cases to the Philippine police and asked them to take actions to ensure the safety of foreign travelers.



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PHILIPPINES: Army Fights On, Despite Start Of Ramadan

Philippine security forces dropped more bombs Saturday on a southern city where they have been battling Islamist militants for five days, vowing no let up despite the start of Ramadan.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the southern third of the Philippines in response to the clashes, which have claimed at least 48 lives and he has said are part of a campaign by the Islamic State group to establish a local caliphate.

"We have identified where they are consolidating so we are doing surgical air strikes to destroy the local terrorist group," local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera said.

Truckloads of extra marines were also seen driving into Marawi, one of the biggest Muslim-populated cities in the mainly Catholic Philippines with about 200,000 residents.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi in response to an attempt by security forces to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of IS.

They planted black IS flags, took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage from a church, and set fire to buildings.

Thirteen soldiers, two policemen and 31 militants have died in the fighting, according to authorities.

Two civilians were also confirmed killed inside a hospital that the gunmen had occupied on Tuesday, and the military has said it investigating reports that nine people were murdered at a checkpoint the militants had set up.

Duterte has vowed to extinguish the threat of the militants, whom he has said belong to the local Maute terrorist group but are being backed by criminals in the area.

Nevertheless, Duterte also said on Friday that he was prepared to talk with the group's leaders.

His spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said this was partly an offer made in the spirit of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in the Philippines on Saturday.

Together we pray for an end to terrorism that falsely claims to advance Islam and seeks to subjugate our land to the brutal IS, Abella said in a statement.

In this spirit of Muslim peace, the president has offered the hand of peaceful dialogue to terrorist groups, to avoid bloodshed in this time of prayer, fasting and mercy.

However there appear to be an extremely small chance of talks, unless they are to negotiate the release of the hostages.

Military spokesman Herrera said the security operations to rid Marawi of the gunmen would continue despite the start of Ramadan.

It is painful for the Maranao (the name for local Muslims) that it is Ramadan but our action now is to protect Marawi,Herrera said.

These are the impacts of the local terrorist group's actions.

PHILIPPINES: Philippines Woos More Russian Tourists After An Agreement With Federal Agency Of Tourism Of Russia

The Department of Tourism eyes more Russian tourist arrivals after inking an agreement with the Federal Agency of Tourism of Russia in Moscow today.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said the Joint Action Program of Tourism Cooperation is expected to boost tourism between the Philippines and Russia as both parties agree to establish contacts between the national tourism organizations of both countries.

"The Russians are coming though they are very particular about safety and security in any prospective destination. The agreement signifies Moscow's confidence in the Philippine government's capability to resolve peace and order issues," Teo said.

She said Russia was a high growth market with 9,152 arrivals in January-February period this year, representing a 29.2 percent increase from last year.

The Russian government is also mulling a Russian language training program for Filipino tourism industry workers, according to Teo.

Teo is part of the Philippine delegation which accompanied President Duterte in his visit to Russia.

The Department of Tourism said it was not surprised that Philippines dropped in tourism rankings, but it was doing its best to improve inbound visits.

"The Department of Tourism's (DOT) does not find surprising the slight drop of the Philippines' ranking in the latest Travel and Competitive Report," DOT said in a statement Tuesday.

The DOT said it also "takes cognizance of the 2017 WEF Report released this week as a significant study, a useful resource in planning and prioritization."

Philippines' tourism ranking dropped five notches, according to the 2017 World Economic Forum's (WEF) Travel and Competitive Report.

This year, the country ranked 79th out of 136 countries, while it ranked 74th out of 141 countries in 2015.

The country's rating was dragged down by its lack of cultural resources and business travel. Other factors included ground and port infrastructure and air transport infrastructure.

In 2016, the country received 5.4 million visitor arrivals, according to the WEF report.

But DOT said the administration was "certainly taking steps to boost tourism sustainability and inclusivity, by improving business climate and creating jobs with new policies and measures being instituted at both national and local levels."

DOT said it was working to relax visa policy and process, especially on China, with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Finance, and the Bureau of Immigration.

The department's 2016 and 2017 budgets were reduced due to the completion of activities in the previous administration's National Tourism Development Plan.

Improvements and new construction at major international airports are currently being fast-tracked under the Public-Partnership Program programs, DOT added.

Meanwhile, Egypt has unearthed an ancient burial site replete with at least 17 mummies, most fully intact, the latest in a string of discoveries that the country's antiquities minister described as a helping hand from the crypt for its struggling tourism sector.

The funerary site, uncovered eight meters below ground in Minya, a province about 250 km (150 miles) south of Cairo, contained limestone and clay sarcophagi, animal coffins, and papyrus inscribed with Demotic script.

The burial chamber was first detected last year by a team of Cairo University students using radar.

The mummies have not yet been dated but are believed to date to Egypt's Greco-Roman period, a roughly 600-year span that followed the country's conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, according to Mohamed Hamza, a Cairo University archaeology dean in charge of the excavations.

Egypt is hoping recent discoveries will brighten its image abroad and revive interest among travelers that once flocked to its iconic pharaonic temples and pyramids but which have shunned the country since its 2011 political uprising.

"2017 has been a historic year for archaeological discoveries. It's as if it's a message from our ancestors who are lending us a hand to help bring tourists back," Antiquities Minister Khaled Al-Anani told a news conference announcing the find on Saturday.

Salah Al-Kholi, a Cairo University Egyptology professor who led the mission, said as many as 32 mummies may be in the chamber, including mummies of women, children and infants.

Archaeologists have excavated a slew of relics in recent months that include a nobleman's tomb from more than 3,000 years ago, 12 cemeteries that date back about 3,500 years, and a giant colossus believed to depict King Psammetich I, who ruled from 664 to 610 BC.

Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed said last month the new finds could boost tourist arrivals this year to about 10 million, an improvement from the 9.3 million visitors that came in 2015 but still far below the 14.7 million from 2010. No 2016 figure is yet available.

The tourism sector, a crucial source of hard currency, has struggled to regain ground amid a growing number of militant attacks, including two Islamic State church bombings last month.