2. Jolo province:
Jolo, officially the Municipality of Jolo, is a 1st class municipality and capital of the province of Sulu, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 125,564 people.
Part of its population is of Chinese descent, mainly from Singapore. Of the population, 90% are Muslim, the remaining 10% are Christian. Jolo was the center of the government of the Sulu Sultanate.
This island in the Sulu Sea berths Abu Sayyaf, a group of Muslim rebels known for kidnapping tourists for ransom. The 400-strong group uses Jolo as a base because local officials and the public cooperate with the kidnappings in exchange for cuts of the ransom, scholars say.
Access to the sea allows speedboats to get away fast with victims, says Eduardo Araral, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school. Like a lot of tourists, these two travel writers went with 14 escorts from the Marines when visiting the safest of Jolo’s 19 municipalities.