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Peaceful Paradise or Political Hotspot: Is it Time to Take Another Look at Visiting Zamboanga City

Floyd Whaley
4 min readJan 5, 2024

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For decades, the Philippine and foreign governments have urged caution, or flatly discouraged travel to many parts of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. That is starting to change.

Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao are increasingly open to tourism. Photo: Stephanie Ecate/Unsplash

One senior government official in Zamboanga City, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, says she knows that her town sometimes ends up in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

“Sometimes tourists are scared to come here because they hear bad news,” she says. “But once they are here, they enjoy it.”

While the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and Zamboanga City in particular, has experienced political unrest in years past the Philippine government is now promoting it as a safe and peaceful tourist destination. The U.S. government does not prohibit its citizens from traveling to Zamboanga City but it continues to advise its citizens to reconsider travel due to security concerns. Officials in Zamboanga City consider this to be an overly cautious position.

Fort Pilar is an excellent starting point for a visit to the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga. Located in the center of town, it was built in 1635 by the Spanish as a fort but then it was later turned into a shrine where many believe that miracles…

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Floyd Whaley
Floyd Whaley

Written by Floyd Whaley

Writer, editor and journalist in Southeast Asia and points beyond. Words in The New York Times, Reuters, Los Angeles Times and others.

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