The Philippines said Wednesday there was no evidence that the country was being used for terrorist training, a day after it was revealed the men behind Australia's Bondi Beach mass shooting had spent November on a southern island known for Islamist insurgencies.
"(President Ferdinand Marcos) strongly rejects the sweeping statement and the misleading characterisation of the Philippines as the ISIS training hotspot," presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro said at a press briefing,
"No evidence has been presented to support claims that the country was used for terrorist training," she added, reading from a National Security Council statement.
"There is no validated report or confirmation that individuals involved in the Bondi Beach incident received any form of training in the Philippines."
On Tuesday, the country's immigration office confirmed that Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 headed for the southern province of Davao.
