Is the Philippines a Dangerous Place?

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, Larry45 said:

I can give an honest assessment of expat life here

The problem is that many of us change our assessment of expat life here with the years, travels, and experiences we encounter.  My honest assessment would have been somewhat different after 18 days, 18 weeks, 18 months or 18 years of living here, and I use the term 'living here' as we see our friend RBM really living the life.  Travel, experiment, communicate, try different things.  I hope you see my point as it is not criticism of you or anyone else.  Its just that we will each see things so much different depending on our time and experiences here.

That said, there are some things that are obvious and we can all agree on.  When we share that common ground then new people can at least find some firm footing to start their journey on.

[MikeSwede]

We should never let go of our idea of what a "safe place" should be, all while keeping in mind that things happens. I sat waiting for connecting flights at Atatürk monday, spent 12 hours on the airport. To a fellow traveller I boldly said that is one of the safest places to be in the current turmoil.

Tuesday it was attacked. The inside remained safe. But was I in a "safe" place?

Yes, our perception becomes perverted by our experience, and I should not really reply to a thread like this.

Still, I like things safe, just not boringly so. By the way, I am 45ish and full time working, to get that out of the way.

[Larry45]

Duterte is coming through on his promises, and I don't think we have anything to worry about now.  False alarm everyone.

 https://sg.news.yahoo.com/philippines-duterte-urges-communists-kill-criminals-112610716.html

 

 

[MikeSwede]

2 minutes ago, Larry45 said:

Duterte is coming through on his promises, and I don't think we have anything to worry about now.  False alarm everyone.

 https://sg.news.yahoo.com/philippines-duterte-urges-communists-kill-criminals-112610716.html

 

 

I guess they already started, old news like robertk put it

But does that make Phils less or more safe?

[Larry45]

15 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

The problem is that many of us change our assessment of expat life here with the years, travels, and experiences we encounter.  My honest assessment would have been somewhat different after 18 days, 18 weeks, 18 months or 18 years of living here, and I use the term 'living here' as we see our friend RBM really living the life.  Travel, experiment, communicate, try different things.  I hope you see my point as it is not criticism of you or anyone else.  Its just that we will each see things so much different depending on our time and experiences here.

That said, there are some things that are obvious and we can all agree on.  When we share that common ground then new people can at least find some firm footing to start their journey on.

I dunno, Dave.  It took me a few months to lose faith in the culture (and stop learning Bisaya), but I gave it some more time as everyone was telling me I needed "to adjust".  I love assimilating into cultures and I learned that was impossible with these people, as I share no common values with them.  It can be a nice place to live, if you play it right, but I don't like playing people.  Even as a single guy, that's not my thing. 

[Larry45]

15 hours ago, MikeSwede said:

I guess they already started, old news like robertk put it

But does that make Phils less or more safe?

Well according to many posters here, we weren't allowed to have an opinion on Duterte until he took office.  Now it's "old news"?  That's pure comedy right there.  How can we spin this news now?  I'm extremely happy the NPA will be doing local law enforcement?   

[MikeSwede]

6 minutes ago, Larry45 said:

Well according to many posters here, we weren't allowed to have an opinion on Duterte until he took office.  Now it's "old news"?  That's pure comedy right there.  How can we spin this news now?  I'm extremely happy the NPA will be doing local law enforcement?   

I was making a spin on the rumours of NPA involvement in the Pampanga killing a few weeks back. Which clearly happened before Duterte, and that being the old news.

And I don't want to dissect that into finer details, as it would call for its own thread. Instead I was considering the angle of safety, occupying one trigger happy group with going after another, could that actually be a weird, wild west version of creating safer streets for us not into political fanatism nor funny additives?

[Larry45]

15 hours ago, MikeSwede said:

I was making a spin on the rumours of NPA involvement in the Pampanga killing a few weeks back. Which clearly happened before Duterte, and that being the old news.

And I don't want to dissect that into finer details, as it would call for its own thread. Instead I was considering the angle of safety, occupying one trigger happy group with going after another, could that actually be a weird, wild west version of creating safer streets for us not into political fanatism nor funny additives?

Yeah, Mike, that's the issue here.  Foreigners considering the safety of their families and we're all together on that.  NPA operate in the bukid / mountains nearby here and have made a nuisance of themselves, even hijacking convoys for Typhoon relief efforts.   They are not our friends, and if they met me on the street with some empowerment, they would likely kill me with pleasure, and laugh about it afterwards.  I've chatted with several locals on this news, and none of them are happy with it.  Yeah, just old news.

[JJReyes]

We were warned not to travel at night because of NPA activity in the area. It was already after dark, but the group was eager to get home. There was a checkpoint with heavily armed men. The problem was no one wore a military uniform. They asked a few questions and allowed us to proceed. Best we could figure is the NPA were just flexing their muscle in an area where even the military were reluctant to venture.

My sister's classmates had a similar encounter near Tarlac, Tarlac. One of the girls became hysterical. She started shouting, "They are going to rape us!" The other girls were encountering difficulty trying to calm her. Finally, the group leader approached and said, "Don't be stupid. If we did that, the people will hate us."

While the NPA collects taxes and contributions in the areas they control, some of the stories about them might be civilian government or military propaganda. Of course there is a blood feud between the military and NPA. Stories about atrocities committed by both sides maybe accurate. But to harm the civilian population means a loss of their support base.

[davewe]

Another angle on the safety issue:

When my wife 1st moved here she thought the US was the safest place imaginable - certainly much safer than the Philippines. After all that's what Filipinos believe: the US and Europe are safe places lined with gold.

Her first indication that things were not what she believed was witnessing all the homeless people in our city. Explaining the dynamics of homelessness took several lengthy conversations.

"Well at least there are no terrorists here, like in the Philippines," she said. I laughed. "What about 9-11?" I asked. Of course she didn't know about that or any other terrorist attacks here. I showed her videos. Her eyes grew wide.

I felt I had to show her about crime in our relatively safe city, just to let her know that there are dangers and to act safely. I think overall she feels safe here - but she carries her mace everywhere and knows how to use it!

I've said it before and believe it - ultimately "safety" is an emotion; you feel safe or you don't feel safe. It's a choice that has little to do with crime statistics.

Edited July 1, 2016 by davewe