BANGKOK: The Philippines tourism secretary urged the media Wednesday to “tone down” coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war, complaining that reports on extrajudicial killings were scaring away foreigners.
On a trip to Thailand accompanying Duterte, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo insisted the Philippines was a safe destination but said journalists were making the country a hard sell because of their focus on the killings.
“Help us because you know, it’s really difficult for me to sell the Philippines, especially when extrajudicial killings becomes the topic,” Teo told Filipino reporters following the Duterte entourage.
Teo said tour operators abroad were “always” asking her about the issue, citing Asia and Europe as regions where people were particularly concerned.
“I would always say it’s safe in the Philippines,” Teo added.
“To the media, please tone down a little the extrajudicial killing (reports),” she said.
Duterte was elected last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.
Since he took office nearly nine months ago, police have reported killing 2,594 people in the drug war while rights groups say thousands more have been killed in a state-sanctioned campaign of mass murder.
While most of those killed have been poor people living in slums, some foreigners have also died.
Duterte briefly suspended all police from the crackdown in January after it was revealed anti-drugs officers used the drug war as cover for kidnapping and murdering a South Korean businessman.
But, after describing the police force as “corrupt to the core,” Duterte brought it back a month later and vowed to continue the crackdown until all drug traffickers were off the streets or killed.
Duterte has over the past year become a well-known figure internationally because of the drug war and his caustic rhetoric against critics.
Duterte this week boasted that calling then-US President Barack Obama a “son of a whore” had made him famous.
He then used more foul language to respond to criticism from European lawmakers of the drug war, and called them “crazies.”
The Philippines, despite picturesque tropical islands and spectacular mountains, has long lagged behind its neighbors as a tourist destination.
This is partly due to decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies, as well as frequent kidnappings of foreigners by militants.
About 5.9 million tourists visited the Philippines last year, compared with 32.6 million for Thailand.
Philippines complains drug war coverage hurting tourism
Philippines complains drug war coverage hurting tourism
Over 1,400 Indonesians left Cambodian scam groups in five days: embassy
- Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments
- Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month
PHNOM PENH: More than 1,400 Indonesians have left cyberscam networks in Cambodia in the last five days, Jakarta said on Wednesday, after Phnom Penh pledged a fresh crackdown on the illicit trade.
Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia, some willingly and others trafficked, lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments, netting tens of billions of dollars each year.
Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month as the government pledged to “eliminate” problems related to the online fraud industry, which the United Nations says employs at least 100,000 people in Cambodia alone.
Between January 16-20, 1,440 Indonesians left sites operated by online scam syndicates around Cambodia and went to the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh for help, the mission said in a statement.
The “largest wave of arrivals” occurred on Monday when 520 Indonesians came to the embassy, it said.
Recent Cambodian law enforcement measures against scam operators meant more citizens would likely continue showing up at the embassy, it added.
“The main problem for them is that they do not possess passports and they are staying in Cambodia without valid immigration permits,” according to the embassy.
It urged Indonesians leaving scam sites to report to the embassy, which could assist them with securing travel documents and overstay fine waivers in order to return home.
Indonesia said this week that its embassy in Phnom Penh handled more than 5,000 consular service cases for citizens in Cambodia last year — more than 80 percent of which were related to Indonesians who “admitted to being involved with online scam syndicates.”
Cambodia arrested and deported Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, accused of running Internet scam operations from Cambodia, to China this month.
Chen, a former adviser to Cambodia’s leaders, was indicted by US authorities in October.
Analysts say Chen’s extradition has left some of those running Internet scams from Cambodia fearing legal consequences — after the criminal enterprises ballooned for years — with some operators opting to release people or evacuate their compounds.
