Navy: Unfair to tag Phl as hotbed of terrorism

It is unfair to tag the Philippines as a “hotbed” of terrorism after it was confirmed that the two suspects in the mass shooting in Australia stayed in the country for an entire month, Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said yesterday.“

- By JANVIC MATEO

Just because the father and son passed by the Philippines (does not mean) that they were radicalized here. It doesn’t mean that we’re a hotbed of terrorism. On the contrary, our figures will show that terrorism is on the downtrend in the Philippine setting,” Trinidad, former chief of staff of Task Force Zambasulta, told “Storycon” on One News.

“This is unfair to all the efforts of the Filipino people, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and all government agencies who over the years have brought down our terror problem to an inconsequential level,” he added.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday confirmed that the suspects in the Bondi Beach mass shooting in Sydney, Australia — father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram — stayed in the Philippines for almost the entire month of November.

The two arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Nov. 1, then boarded a connecting flight to Davao.

They left the country for Sydney, from Davao via Manila, on Nov. 28.