Not So Good This Year For Expats

[Mr Lee]

Excellent post, and I could not agree more. I keep a low profile and my wife is a sensible woman. She is well aware of the dangers here. When we were married, my father gave her a very nice necklace and bracelet set. She has never worn it outside the house and has not shown it to any of her friends or family. She said if she did that, we'd be targets. We're careful with money when out in public, use cheap cell phones, dress modestly, and avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We don't invite anyone other than family into our house, and even then we limit the relatives we invite in. I generally feel safe because we are careful and take these precautions. My only problem is that I don't particularly like having to pretend to be a pauper to avoid getting my throat slit. The longer I'm here, the more and more the precautions weigh on me. The government does not restrict your freedom in the Philippines, but the society and crime situation certainly does. I want to live in a place where my wife and I can wear diamond wedding rings, dress nicely, and spend the modest wealth we have without looking over our shoulders all the time. Unfortunately, I don't think the Philippines is that place.

I guess that is one of the sacrifices that many of us make in order to keep our wives or gf's happy. That is one of the reasons that for now at least, that we go back and forth and live in a condo in Cebu where visitors have to be approved by us before security will allow them to come up. I would also like to point out that many expats that we have met in the Phils seem to live there because they live on a month to month bases and have their retirement checks from pensions or social security or whatever and those expats should be 99% safe, it seems the many of the ones that get themselves killed are the ones who either have wealth to start with or go into business in the Philippines in a lucrative business competing against the locals. It is a shame that we have to watch our actions to avoid problems but that seems to go along with the territory. Of course the other answer would be to move to a place and travel in circles where the rich hang out and then we would not stand out anywhere near as much as we do in average places.

[Jollygoodfellow]

The bottom line says it allPhilippine police hunt maid, robbers in killings of Slovenian, Canadian film criticsMANILA, Philippines

[TheMason]

The bottom line says it allPhilippine police hunt maid, robbers in killings of Slovenian, Canadian film critics

This is exactly what I meant in my earlier post. These guys didn't have cash on hand, but they did have the standard electronics that most westerners are accustomed to. So they got robbed. I tried to get my wife to let me hire a maid so she didn't have to do all the housework herself. She flat out refused. She said if we didn't get robbed or killed, I'd be a ripe target for a rape frame up. So, we do our own housework. We'll live longer, healthier lives that way.

[Travis]

I feel that there must be more to the story & that there must have been money or drugs in the home. these guys were big shots & big shots have more then things to steal. could also have been a sex thing sex with the maid or a jealous boyfriend. they are hunting the maid but she may have been kidnapped just because she may have let them in does not make her guilty & the story said apparently she let them in

[Mr Lee]

And yet another Filipino killed by a Filipino, so there are many just in the last few days and expats do not get killed at this rate, so I think it would be safe to say that it probably is happening proportionate to the amount of people and not just to expats. I guess it should be noted that this idiot was shooting rounds to scare children away. A second thing to note is that the woman was only hit in the leg but because of the probable distance from a hospital or help and because she was hit with a shotgun round, she died from an injury of the leg which under normal circumstances should be survivable in a first world country. Guard accidentally shoots dead live-in partner in Negros OccA security guard accidentally shot dead his 28-year old live-in partner in Manapla town in Negros Occidental province on Wednesday.Joel Lamoyo, 38, was in the middle of a drinking spree celebrating his birthday around 6:30 pm inside a marine farm in Sitio Paho in Barangay Sta. Teresa in Manapla when his companions tried to stop him from pointing his firearm at a group of children nearby."We grappled with the gun when I fired a single shot. Since they never retreated after the first shot I decided to fire another one but unluckily my live-in partner ran towards me hoping to pacify me but when I fired my gun for the second time I accidentally hit her," said Lamoyo.Jessica Olvido, 28, was hit on her upper left leg. She died in the hospital.Lamoyo voluntarily surrendered to the police station after the incident and turned over his shotgun to authorities.Police Officer 2 Rey Ibanez, case investigator of Manapla Police Station, said that Laboyo was drunk at the time of the incident and many witnesses can testify that he was indeed attempting to fire his gun without provocation.The family of the victim is however mulling the filing of a homicide case against the suspecthttp://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/...tner-negros-occ

[Mr Lee]

update on that post, seems the other maid said the first maid let the burglars in. Of course that does not really mean anything because the maid that was tied up could have let them in and they could have kidnapped and killed the first maid to take the heat of the maid that was still in the house.Also, now it seems there was an undetermined amount of jewelries, which now makes more sense to me.http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-ma...ot-dead-qc-homeThe plot thickens and maybe more will come out in days to come, but getting robbed and killed just for a laptop does not make sense to me, burglarized yes, killed even if they came home in the middle of it all does not make sense unless they knew the burglars, then dead witnesses tell no tales.

[TheMason]

My wife returned from Manila yesterday and she was chatting with the bus driver on the way home. It seems they found the headless body of a Filipino dumped along the road to Baguio near where all the woodcarving workshops are. There was never a mention of it on the news or in the papers here. I only mention it as an example of the lack of crime statistics and to show that the Philippines can be dangerous for all, not just expats. There is a lack of hard data, but my gut tells me that the Philippines' crime rate is higher amongst the locals than the expats, and higher overall than in the US or other Western countries.