Firm apologizes for high-risk rating

Firm apologizes for high-risk rating

MANILA (DPA): A United States intelligence service company has apologized for a misleading travel risk report it published on the Philippines, which described the country as a "high-risk" place for visits and business, the presidential spokesman said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesman Jerry Barican said Pinkerton Global Intelligence Services has sent a letter clarifying that it was the company's policy to apply a high-risk warning against a country even if only certain areas fit the status.

"Owing largely to a series of insurgences of domestic Communist and radical religious groups, we have carried the Philippines as 'high risk' for 15 years," said Frank Johns, a top official of the Virginia-based Pinkerton, in the letter.

"To those Philippine citizens or government officials who may have been hurt or angered by the press accounts of our reporting - you have our deepest apologies," Johns said.