(A look back on the year that was in Mindanao, and Mindanawons in the national and international scene.)
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 January) — Just as the year was ending, Mindanao was thrust back into the international limelight as “terror hotbed” in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach attack in Sydney, Australia during the Jewish festival Hanukkah on December 14 but Philippine officials were quick to dismiss the terrorist tag as “outdated, misleading, unfair.”
Sajid Akram, an Indian national, was killed while his son Naveed, an Indian-Australian, was arrested in the attack that left 15 persons dead. Initial reports from Australia said the gunmen trained in “terror hotspot” Mindanao.
The Bureau of Immigration in the Philippines confirmed that the Akrams traveled from Sydney to Davao City in the Philippines on November 1 and stayed for four weeks.
But National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Año said there is no valid report or confirmation that the father and son received any form of military training during their stay in the country.
“Media reports describing Mindanao as a hotspot for violent extremism or Islamic State ideology are outdated and misleading,” he said.
Año said security forces have degraded ISIS-inspired militants since the 2017 Marawi Siege and that remnants of these groups “have been fragmented, deprived of leadership, and operationally degraded.”
Año was the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Marawi Siege, the last major armed confrontation between state forces and violent extremists in Mindanao. The five month war – from May 23 to October 23, 2017 – led to the death of the Maute/Abu Sayyaf leaders and the displacement of thousands of Marawi residents, most of whom have yet to return to their villages.
Año stressed that “a mere visit does not support allegations of terrorist training, and the duration of their stay would not have allowed for any meaningful or structured training.”
MindaNews photojournalist Manman Dejeto chanced upon a group of policemen and their vehicles outside the GV Hotel along Magallanes St. on December 17, interviewed hotel personnel, and broke the news that father and son stayed at GV Hotel along Magallanes St. in Davao City from November 1 to 28 but stayed mostly in their rooms.
GV Hotel’s Jenelyn Sayson told MindaNews that father and son arrived noon of November 1. “The longest that they would be outside would be around an hour and they would be just back here in the hotel,” she added.
National and international news organizations immediately descended on Davao City, hometown of former President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte. The city has been declared “insurgency-free” and “terrorist-free” since 2023 but bulk of its annual budget is still on peace and order and public safety.
Security forces, however, had no prior information on the presence of the Akrams in Davao City.
“Misleading and unfair”
“Mindanao is not a terror hotspot,” Secretary Leo Tereso Magno, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), said.
Reports tagging Mindanao as a terror hotspot based on the travel history of the Bondi Beach shooters are “misleading and unfair,” he stressed.
MinDa’s public perception survey as of the third quarter of 2025 reveals high public confidence across five indicators: Safety (88.51%), Security (90.15%), Trust (91.08%), Respect (90.54%), and Satisfaction (89.12%).
“These results indicate a stable socio-economic environment and strengthen Mindanao’s positioning as an investment-ready, business-friendly, and fit-for-travel region,” it said.
“We have been enjoying that kind of safety for three years now,” Adrian Tamayo of MinDA’s Policy Formulation Division and Policy Planning and Project Development Office, told MindaNews.
The MinDA survey, conducted in partnership with the Philippine National Police, involved a total of 7,200 respondents “systematically chosen using a multi-stage cluster sampling to ensure randomness.”
Businessman Tony Peralta, Honorary Consul of Finland in Mindanao and chair of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines-Southern Mindanao, said the terrorist-tagging did “minimal impact on Mindanao’s image, investment and trade destination” because of the immediate responses of national and Mindanao officials as well as various sectors in Mindanao.
“It is important to respond immediately to negative statements made by foreign governments,” he told MindaNews.
“We made a strong stand by a strong counter-statement on their claims,” Peralta added.
“Acted alone”
In a media statement on December 30, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett noted the “initial assessment from the Philippine National Police is that the individuals rarely left their hotel, and there is no evidence to suggest they received training or underwent logistical preparation for their alleged attack.”
She thanked the PNP for providing AFP the CCTV footage on the Akrams in Davao City and said they were reviewing the material.
“What this points to – and I will again advise this is a point in time assessment – is that these individuals are alleged to have acted alone. There is no evidence to suggest these alleged offenders were part of a broader terrorist cell, or were directed by others to carry out an attack,” she said.
But she added: “I want to be clear – I am not suggesting they were there for tourism.”
She said an AFP analyst has been deployed to the Philippines after the attack “to support our members who are based in Manila and work very closely with the Philippine National Police.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas, Manman Dejeto and Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
