Expats' Mutual Assistance Fund

[Mike S]

I have a question ...... how long has Thomas Hunt been living here in the Phils ..................

[Old55]

I

[Markham]

I would dare say that in most cases the traveler is not alone in the Philippines so someone can withdraw the cash for him or access his bank account if he was not able to.

Okay Tom, let's imagine that you and your wife come to the Philippines for a visit. Prior to leaving Oz, you've taken-out travel insurance with 1Cover for you and your wife and you've also transferred more than sufficient funds to a bank account here. In short, you've taken every reasonable step that a tourist should take.You and your wife are alone in your residence one night when it is invaded by an armed gang who pistol-whip you, steal your wallet and your wife's handbag together with your cellphones and jewellery. You are left unconscious on the floor bleeding from a head wound. Your wife manages to raise the alarm and you are taken to the hospital's A & E department ("Emergency Room" for Americans reading this). Doctors work on you to stabilise you and your wife is told that she must pay 10,000 Pesos for your treatment. She telephones the Australian Embassy seeking their assistance only to be told that, sorry, they can't assist financially.Now, wouldn't you consider that a local emergency fund for Expats and Visitors might be a good idea?Apologies for personalising this, but I needed to in order to make my point rather forceably.

The permanent resident should have some sort of insurance or a back up amount of cash and also should do the same as he would of in his own country and that is protect himself for the unknown.

Yes, maybe they should. Perhaps we are all too used to the safety-net provided by our respective Governments.Mark

I guess we can come up with hundreds of scenarios so I will try to answer this one,first off,almost everyone knows that an embassy wont help you so since this is my case I would be prepared otherwise.When I do travel to the Philippines I have a spare card through Travelex,like a debit card which I have separate from anything else,hidden in a suit case or hotel safe or where ever. So if everything else is stolen then I should still have the card to use at a ATM.I also keep several sets of phone numbers,copy of passport front page,license etc, again in different hidden places. If the above scenario was true my wife could access this and find a phone to call say my sister in Australia to send money.Now you say the cell was stolen but in your scenario the wife phones the embassy so I say she can find a way to phone others for help. If she borrowed a phone then it would be just the cost of a SMS to my sister to get her to call back.Anyway my main point is anyone either traveling overseas or living as an expat should take all the necessary steps to be protected in an emergency situation.It is all about being prepared for anything. :thumbsup: Other than the Thomas Hunt case,how many other cases has there been that an expat fund would have helped at the time?

So your advice would be to abandon the idea and simply tell people that they're on their own when they come to the Philippines and to prepare accordingly. That would certainly save me and others a lot of work.

[Jollygoodfellow]

I would dare say that in most cases the traveler is not alone in the Philippines so someone can withdraw the cash for him or access his bank account if he was not able to.

Okay Tom, let's imagine that you and your wife come to the Philippines for a visit. Prior to leaving Oz, you've taken-out travel insurance with 1Cover for you and your wife and you've also transferred more than sufficient funds to a bank account here. In short, you've taken every reasonable step that a tourist should take.You and your wife are alone in your residence one night when it is invaded by an armed gang who pistol-whip you, steal your wallet and your wife's handbag together with your cellphones and jewellery. You are left unconscious on the floor bleeding from a head wound. Your wife manages to raise the alarm and you are taken to the hospital's A & E department ("Emergency Room" for Americans reading this). Doctors work on you to stabilise you and your wife is told that she must pay 10,000 Pesos for your treatment. She telephones the Australian Embassy seeking their assistance only to be told that, sorry, they can't assist financially.Now, wouldn't you consider that a local emergency fund for Expats and Visitors might be a good idea?Apologies for personalising this, but I needed to in order to make my point rather forceably.

The permanent resident should have some sort of insurance or a back up amount of cash and also should do the same as he would of in his own country and that is protect himself for the unknown.

Yes, maybe they should. Perhaps we are all too used to the safety-net provided by our respective Governments.Mark

I guess we can come up with hundreds of scenarios so I will try to answer this one,first off,almost everyone knows that an embassy wont help you so since this is my case I would be prepared otherwise.When I do travel to the Philippines I have a spare card through Travelex,like a debit card which I have separate from anything else,hidden in a suit case or hotel safe or where ever. So if everything else is stolen then I should still have the card to use at a ATM.I also keep several sets of phone numbers,copy of passport front page,license etc, again in different hidden places. If the above scenario was true my wife could access this and find a phone to call say my sister in Australia to send money.Now you say the cell was stolen but in your scenario the wife phones the embassy so I say she can find a way to phone others for help. If she borrowed a phone then it would be just the cost of a SMS to my sister to get her to call back.Anyway my main point is anyone either traveling overseas or living as an expat should take all the necessary steps to be protected in an emergency situation.It is all about being prepared for anything. :thumbsup: Other than the Thomas Hunt case,how many other cases has there been that an expat fund would have helped at the time?

So your advice would be to abandon the idea and simply tell people that they're on their own when they come to the Philippines and to prepare accordingly. That would certainly save me and others a lot of work.

Well they survived on their own for years now,anyway when something is up it is usually posted on a forum or yahoo group so members can choose to help or not.And yes the advice is to be prepared :th_goodidea:

[upatnitemike]

:thumbsup: :welcome: it is a very good idea many different things can happen and even if you are semper fi, " always ready" things still happen. having a fund that can be borrowed from and paid back, perhaps at a low interest? is agreat idea, not everyone who comes to the philipines has a flush retirement fund or comes from strong monetary background. some are looking to see if their meager pension can be adapted to another country , one where english is a second language. you might have to put the fund in another country and be available quickly. still an awesome idea!!

[Jollygoodfellow]

:thats-funny: :) it is a very good idea many different things can happen and even if you are semper fi, " always ready" things still happen. having a fund that can be borrowed from and paid back, perhaps at a low interest? is agreat idea, not everyone who comes to the philipines has a flush retirement fund or comes from strong monetary background. some are looking to see if their meager pension can be adapted to another country , one where english is a second language. you might have to put the fund in another country and be available quickly. still an awesome idea!!

Just out of curiosity,I know the "Expats Mutual Assistance Fund" found a few problems to set up but did they give up on it completely or found that nobody would put their money where their mouth is??

[Mr Lee]

:thats-funny: :) it is a very good idea many different things can happen and even if you are semper fi, " always ready" things still happen. having a fund that can be borrowed from and paid back, perhaps at a low interest? is agreat idea, not everyone who comes to the philipines has a flush retirement fund or comes from strong monetary background. some are looking to see if their meager pension can be adapted to another country , one where english is a second language. you might have to put the fund in another country and be available quickly. still an awesome idea!!

Just out of curiosity,I know the "Expats Mutual Assistance Fund" found a few problems to set up but did they give up on it completely or found that nobody would put their money where their mouth is??

I think Markham gave up on the idea because I have not heard any more about it. My guess is that the Philippines red tape would make it impossible to set up within the Philippines and also because of the 60/40 rule, the expats would not have control of the money and the 60% Filipinos would.

[daisy]

I think the money thing is not such a big deal...what is important is the feeling that we belong to one community and that in a worst case scenario, there is a feeling of emotional security knowing that one is not alone!As for my little ELCI, we contribute 200 pesos a month and this is what we will be doing for this:1. Subsidize any project that we have if we are short of funds for reason that we lack sponsor.2. To give financial assistance in case we are in an emergency situation, example hospitalization:If our husband, 3 thousand pesosIf we ourselves, 5 thousand pesosif our kids, 2 thousand pesosThen during our monthly meeting we will replenish the amount we have withdrawn by contributing equally among us on top of our monthly due. "Great things started in small things" CHEERS!daisy

[tropicalwaste]

Personally due to the restrictions I would personally use a group of "Good friends" as a pool and rely on each other. Could be a fund or an agreement that if one is in trouble you help them as a group. I agree with your idea Markham but what puts me off is :-1. The amount of expats/travellers that mess things up themselves without the use of even the basic common sense.2. Trust is a major issue as so many people have been burned by fellow expats.3. Legal obligations to setup everything including costs involved.4. Age of most expats - may sound a bit odd but the amount of people living on limited budgets and likely to fall foul due to the fact of risk of illness aswell is pretty huge. Which is why good insurance is way over priced.Now on the positive side im not saying it cant work, the issue is getting everyone to agree with it and step forward. This may work better by approaching business operators or companies with foreign employees who may already have a solution to the problem. There is a show in the UK to do with Thailand and the Tourist Police there which is made up with expats I could see something similar being done in the Philippines in regions if we can stop expats arguing and just getting on with the matter at hand with things like :-1. 24hrs Lawyers (reliable and trustworthy)2. Emergency funding ( This one i think is going to be a major one to sort out).3. Police + Embassy assistance for anyone jailed/under prosecution (mainly to arrange family contact).4. death assistance (family contact).Im for developing anything but the real issue here is getting the expat community to work together.One thing I am organising at the moment due to the "blood trading" (or having to buy blood at a hospital) is my airsoft team will be doing a donation together so we can build up credits as a group for emergencies. I cant see why groups of expats cant do the same as its one of the major problems that occurs.

Edited November 7, 2009 by tropicalpenpals

[Guardian]

This sounds like a good idea in practice but after all I have read about expats screwing other expats, it would never fly IMO.