One aussie who wont be back

[afathertobe]

I do think the recent news have shifted my opinion and long-term perspective in the Philippines somewhat to the negative. On the ground it's still the same, people are friendly, some people try to "educate me" on the war on on drugs, but that's alright, I keep my mouth shut. 

So nothing has really changed for me, but from my own legal troubles here I know that there is very little justice to be had even when you're completely in the right. In the Aussies case he was clearly and blatantly set up (police claim he was arrested in a side street with drugs - but they simply took him there from his hotel room) yet no follow-up by the media, no arrests of the policemen, nothing. Life is cheap in the Philippines, and nothing is quite what it seems, I try not to forget that. That Aussie guy could have been any one of us, let's not forget that. 

I suspect many people take the same stance as me, wait and see how it all develops.. no need for hyperbole, but if none of it worries you in the slightest I think it's only because it always happens to "other people". 

Edited October 13, 2016 by afathertobe

[robert k]

12 minutes ago, afathertobe said:

I do think the recent news have shifted my opinion and long-term perspective in the Philippines somewhat to the negative. On the ground it's still the same, people are friendly, some people try to "educate me" on the war on on drugs, but that's alright, I keep my mouth shut. 

So nothing has really changed for me, but from my own legal troubles here I know that there is very little justice to be had even when you're completely in the right. In the Aussies case he was clearly and blatantly set up (police claim he was arrested in a side street with drugs - but they simply took him there from his hotel room) yet no follow-up by the media, no arrests of the policemen, nothing. Life is cheap in the Philippines, and nothing is quite what it seems, I try not to forget that. That Aussie guy could have been any one of us, let's not forget that. 

I suspect many people take the same stance as me, wait and see how it all develops.. no need for hyperbole, but if none of it worries you in the slightest I think it's only because it always happens to "other people". 

So you think the Canadian guy who led the police to the Australian guy's room and testified at trial had nothing to do with it? The same thing has happened in the US. An innocent person arrested on the say so of an informant because the informant had to give the police someone...anyone, to save themselves.

Much safer to give the police an innocent person than an actual drug dealer who might have you killed.

[Nephi]

58 minutes ago, afathertobe said:

I do think the recent news have shifted my opinion and long-term perspective in the Philippines somewhat to the negative. On the ground it's still the same, people are friendly, some people try to "educate me" on the war on on drugs, but that's alright, I keep my mouth shut. 

So nothing has really changed for me, but from my own legal troubles here I know that there is very little justice to be had even when you're completely in the right. In the Aussies case he was clearly and blatantly set up (police claim he was arrested in a side street with drugs - but they simply took him there from his hotel room) yet no follow-up by the media, no arrests of the policemen, nothing. Life is cheap in the Philippines, and nothing is quite what it seems, I try not to forget that. That Aussie guy could have been any one of us, let's not forget that. 

I suspect many people take the same stance as me, wait and see how it all develops.. no need for hyperbole, but if none of it worries you in the slightest I think it's only because it always happens to "other people". 

Keeping our mouths shut is about all we can to (in public). Doing otherwise could possibly get us arrested and deported as an undesirable alien. Scary thought considering..

Edited October 13, 2016 by Nephi

[Nephi]

27 minutes ago, robert k said:

So you think the Canadian guy who led the police to the Australian guy's room and testified at trial had nothing to do with it? The same thing has happened in the US. An innocent person arrested on the say so of an informant because the informant had to give the police someone...anyone, to save themselves.

Much safer to give the police an innocent person than an actual drug dealer who might have you killed.

Back home in the US, law and justice is not perfect. But you stand a lot better chance there than here. Hard to say what is true and what is not as in any legal tiff, the cards are stacked against you right from the start.

[afathertobe]

1 hour ago, robert k said:

So you think the Canadian guy who led the police to the Australian guy's room and testified at trial had nothing to do with it? The same thing has happened in the US. An innocent person arrested on the say so of an informant because the informant had to give the police someone...anyone, to save themselves.

Much safer to give the police an innocent person than an actual drug dealer who might have you killed.

Of course that guy might have had something to do with it, but that's not the point. The police blatantly lied by saying (also in the initial media reports) that they arrested  him on the street in possession of those drugs - that was fabricated as the hotel security cameras clearly showed. So a bunch of police tried to set him up for life in jail on fabricated charges, that's pretty scary, other involved shady people or not. 

[robert k]

Another article. Berg thinks he may have been set up by his GF's former partner.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/cctv-frees-adelaide-man-framed-on-drugs-charges-in-philippines/7925200