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Traveling to the Philippines

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The Philippines is the combination of more than 7,000 islands and situated in connection with many of the Luzon Strait, South China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea, and Celebes Sea. The country was the first and the only colony of the United States. The Unites States had established a large range of education to the islands after the Philippine-American-War while Filipinos also fought alongside with Americans during the World War II. Although the Philippines has a democratic system of government, it is threaten by several terrorist groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf Group, and New People's Army. Some of these groups are listed as terrorist organizations by the government of the United States. The Philippines has also been faced by natural disasters including typhoon as well as earthquake (“Philippines”). According to Central Intelligence Agency, not less than 133,000 people were displaced by conflicts as well as about 7 million people have been displaced by natural disasters. However, the government of the Philippines has resolved a decades-long struggle against insurgencies in the southern part of the country, in which they have finally led to peace talks including the Moro National Liberation Front as well as with the other organizations (Central Intelligence Agency). In addition to these peace talks, this paper discusses how the U.S. travelers are not targeted by these organizations as well as by natural disasters. In other words, the Unites States should remove the Philippines from its travel warning list based on human links, stable political condition, threats of terrorists, and natural disasters. One of many reasons that the U.S. travel warning list should be stopped for the Philippines is that the human links between the two countries. About four million Americans, Philippine ancestry, have been living in the United States as well as not less than 250,000 American citizens have been living in the Philippines. In other words, the human links have been formed a strong bridge for the two countries, and it is one of the most fundamental level of bilateral relations (“Philippines”). The below quote is taken from the Manila Bulletin, which discusses the human links. “As part of our responsibility to ensure the well-being of our citizens, the United States Government encourages them to make informed decisions as they travel around the world.... In the case of the Philippines, the United States does not advise its citizens against visiting any part of the country” ("US Embassy Statement on Travel Warning"). The quote has said that the U.S. government’s responsibility is to inform its citizens about the risks in particular places and to encourage them to carefully consider for their trips around the world. In the case of the Philippines, it just needs to provide the latest updates on security and other considerations for its citizens, not warning against its citizens. The U.S. travel warning list of the Philippines should have been removed because the United States should respect the mutually beneficial friendship with the government of the Phil

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