FOREIGN travel advisories against travel to Mindanao are often based on outdated reports that fail to capture the island’s dramatically improved security landscape, according to a top official from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).
MinDA Assistant Secretary and Deputy Executive Director Romeo M. Montenegro raised the issue during the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) Roadshow in Davao City on August 24, 2026, where he discussed how security perceptions continue to affect Mindanao’s engagement with foreign governments, development institutions, and prospective investors.
Montenegro said MinDA has been regularly engaging foreign embassies, particularly on the security concerns reflected in their travel advisories.
“I'll start first. First is the perception, especially triggered by the issuance of foreign advisories by embassies. We've been engaging most of the embassies on a regular basis,” Montenegro said.
He cited the annual Mindanao Development Forum as a major venue for these discussions, alongside engagements with international development institutions.
“In fact, the largest gathering that we've been having annually was the Mindanao Development Forum, where apart from discussions with development partners—World Bank, ADB, JICA, EU, and several others—for in-country strategic investments in Mindanao, we also have simultaneous conversations with different embassies, especially in light of their travel advisories to Mindanao. Australia, number one, is sometimes coming out with these warnings, and some other countries,” he said.
Montenegro said foreign governments use various sources in developing their security assessments, including consultants based in the Philippines and abroad as well as information from international organizations.
“However, we've noted that many of these were based on perhaps outdated reports. They have their own sources of actually coming up with—they have a host of consultants, not just from within the Philippines, but from their mother countries that inform them—because they also get sources from different other UN agencies in terms of consolidating all these reports about Mindanao,” he said.
He acknowledged that security concerns remain in some areas of Mindanao.
“We do acknowledge that there are still pockets—small pockets—of areas in Mindanao that need to be an area of concern. These are regularly, strategically being worked on and sorted out by our government authorities,” Montenegro said.
“But if you move around Mindanao today compared to moving around Mindanao 20 years ago, it's entirely different,” he added.
Montenegro cited Patikul, Sulu, as an example of how the security situation in some parts of Mindanao has changed.
“When you type in the word Patikul 15 years, 20 years ago, what comes out in a Google search is the conflict, the armed clash happening in Patikul, Sulu. But when you Google Patikul today, what will come out in the Google search engine would be coffee shops by the bay at night, and a thriving local tourism,” he said.
He also linked the changes in Sulu’s security environment to the redeployment of military forces.
“So it's very reason why the Marine battalion was pulled out of Sulu about four years ago—because it doesn’t make sense anymore to maintain a battalion in that area, and they were diverted somewhere else, part of the Visayas,” Montenegro said.
Public perception data is also being used by MinDA in its discussions with foreign missions, according to Montenegro.
“There are indications of definitely measurable improvement in terms of the peace and security situation in Mindanao,” he said.
“MinDA has been running for three years in a row already a regular monthly Peace and Security Survey with the PNP. And the last one was 88%, as noted in the presentation earlier by Secretary Magno. This forms part of our evidence-based conversation with many of these embassies,” he added.
MinDA previously reported through the Mindanao Trust, Respect, Safety and Satisfaction Survey that Mindanao residents gave an 88 percent rating for safety in the first quarter of 2023, alongside ratings of 91 percent for trust, 90 percent for satisfaction and 90 percent for respect. The survey was conducted with assistance from the Philippine National Police and the business sector.
Montenegro said security perceptions remain a concern even during discussions focused on investment opportunities.
“Unfortunately, it's really difficult,” he said.
He recalled presenting Mindanao investment opportunities to a group of French businessmen about two years ago.
“When I presented to a group of French businessmen about two years ago, after all the magnificent presentations on investment opportunities and the assets we have in Mindanao, the first question asked to me was, 'Will I not be kidnapped if I go to Mindanao?'” Montenegro said.
Rather than respond directly, Montenegro said he referred the question to a French company that was pursuing a hydrogen-energy project in Mindanao.
“I did not speak or respond to his question myself; I asked our French company partner that is doing the first-ever hydrogen plant in the Philippines—there in a Zamboanga City barangay, which about 10 years ago had a conflict situation, but is now emerging...” he said.
The company referred to by Montenegro is French renewable-energy developer HDF Energy, which has pursued hydrogen-based power projects in the Philippines. One of its projects is the proposed Renewstable power facility in Olutanga Island, Zamboanga Sibugay, which combines renewable energy, energy storage and green hydrogen technologies.
HDF Energy and its Philippine partners have also pursued other renewable-energy and green-hydrogen initiatives in the country. In 2024, the company announced a pipeline of Renewstable projects in the Philippines and signed an agreement involving the Department of Energy and MinDA to support renewable-energy and green-hydrogen development.
Despite the security improvements cited by MinDA, some foreign governments continue to maintain travel restrictions or heightened warnings for parts of Mindanao.
Australia’s Smartraveller advisory, for example, currently advises travelers to reconsider travel to eastern Mindanao, excluding Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao, and advises against travel to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula and Sulu Archipelago. The advisory cites terrorism, kidnapping, piracy and violent clashes among the risks.
The continued advisories highlight the difference between security conditions across Mindanao, where government agencies acknowledge that some areas continue to face security concerns while other areas have experienced improvements in peace, tourism and investment activity.
For MinDA, Montenegro said these developments form part of its continuing discussions with foreign embassies as the agency seeks to provide updated information on Mindanao’s security situation and investment environment. DEF
