StreetWise Philippines

The US has jailed Donald Mathias, 64, a pedophile, for 20 years after he entered into a contract with the mother of two Filipino girls, aged 11 and 12 and then had her film him having sex with the two children. The mother is being prosecuted by Philippines authorities whereas the American was nabbed after his return to the USA.

International agreements between many nations  make it an offense for  citizens of one country to have committed such a crime in another. They can be prosecuted and punished in either the country where the offense took place or upon their return home. While this legislation has been in force for several years it hasn’t been enforced a great deal, possibly due to evidentiary reasons.

This time though, they got one! These evil, selfish, arrogant monsters need to be caught and punished. They will hopefully suffer severely in prison and perhaps begin to understand how horrific their own assaults were upon those poor defenceless children.

The mother who sold her kids to this beast, and signed a contract acknowledging they were his ’sex slaves’, deserves everything she has coming to her. Poverty is no excuse. My inlaws were poor farmers all the time my wife and her five siblings were growing up and such action would never have entered their heads. They would have preferred to die together of hunger than to contemplate such a thing. In fact, I have mentioned this to them and they simply refuse to believe anyone would do it for money, surely they do it because they are possessed by evil spirits?

Perhaps they are because I can’t think of any temporal reason. Poverty is no excuse, do not accept it. Protecting children, even those of parent’s that willingly sell them to fiends such as this one, is everyone’s duty. Use common sense and discretion but never turn a blind eye to this despicable behaviour.

Read the online report here.

It’s fun and games time in the Land Where The Bong Tree Grows, otherwise known as the Philippines. In some areas they are predicting brownouts, which is Filipino spin for a blackout. It started back in Manila in the early 90s as they shut down power in some areas on a semi regular schedule to conserve power. Of course it never happened in the rich suburbs. Since it was done on purpose it wasn’t a blackout as such, which is something that just happens. It was a brown out and everyone knows brown isn’t as dark as black! Pinoy spin at work!

Now they are predicting power shortages in some areas. No coincidence they may be areas where GMA isn’t as popular. After all, if the electronic balloting system doesn’t have electricity it can’t be used. That means ballot boxes and those have a habit of walking away and losing a lot of opposition ballots in the journey. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so obvious and so harmful to the elections.

Not only that there are droughts and water shortages in some places, including wide areas of Mindanao. You can’t mention this on some expat forums because it gives a bad image but the fact is, there are water shortages, power outages and so on.

The main concern is keeping the beer cold enough. Luckily you can buy generators to keep the fridge going. If you have a freezer it will usually keep things frozen for hours without the power going in. So make your own ice. You can always put the ice in the beer glass Pinoy style… or use it to chill the bottles western style. Up to you!

If you run a business over here one of your biggest headache creators will be staff. I used to think it very cruel and neo-colonial, the way many Pinoy and Chinoy (Filipino and Chinese-Filipino) employers treated their staff. Like a cross between recalcitrant children and indentured slaves. Now I can appreciate why.

I have learnt if you give them a fair go as you would back home, too many will take unfair advantage of you. Our last IT staffer started out like a nipa hut on fire. As she realised we were decent blokes she took advantage, turning up later and later, missing whole days and eventually not even bothering to apologize. She’s gone now.

Looking for a replacement has been a challenge to my Angeles City based partner. Our office there is in residential premises so we usually meet clients at their offices or somewhere neutral like Starbucks at the Mall. Seems too many Filipinos must feel the job isn’t legit if we have to meet off site. Of course back home we do that if we want to interview in a neutral locale or if there is still someone in the role who will soon be fired.

Eventually my partner used his network of business contacts to hunt down some hopefuls and, with an introduction from someone they trust, we had several actually turn up to be interviewed. One will start monday and hopefully be able to hit the ground running, as they say. It’s all fun and frolic in the Philippines!

The anti-discrimination regulations in force in most western countries often seem like a politically correct joke in many ways. Especially as we know that even if they don’t specify X in the ad, if you don’t have X then you won’t get the job. Yes, they have just discriminated against you but then we all ‘discriminate’ every time we choose one thing over another, when we buy this brand over that and so on.

Personally I think the rules for advertising jobs are a good indicator of where political correctness can get it wrong, but then I read the job ads in Philippines newspapers. Here are a few taken at random:

Admin Assistant Female, 5′4″ in height, excellent in oral and written english, keen to details and able to work independently, knowledgeable in microsoft word, excel and powerpoint.

I thought English, the language, deserved an upper case E? Maybe why they need someone ‘excellent in oral and written english’. But why 5’4”?

Japanese Speaking Guest Service Associate for Front Office Female, 27-35 years of age, 5′4″ in height, fluent in japanese and english with strong customer service skills, willing to work in shifts, With at least 2 years experience working for a 5-star hotel is an advantage, college graduate.

At least they are consistent and leave out the J along with the E. What if the best candidate is 26 and 5’3”? No point sending in the resume as they will ask for a birth certificate and do a height check. OK, same employer (a five star hotel in Cebu);

Media Communications Manager Female, college graduate at least 5′4″ in height, preferably single, related working experience in marketing, advertising, or journalism is an advantage, has established contact and linkages with counterparts in the city, excellent in oral and written english, customer service oriented.

And this one:

Banguet Sales Executive Female, college graduate, at least 5′4″ in height, preferably single, preferably with 2 years relevant experience with a reputable hotel, excellent leadership, selling and communication skills.

Four out of eight job vacancies require females 5’4” in height. Why? Low doorways to the Ladies toilets? Only one uniform size? Of the other four job openings, one didn’t specify gender, two allowed the candidate to be either male or female and the last one wanted a female for the role, height unspecified but she had to be between 21 – 30 years old.

Trawl through any job listings for Filipino positions and you will be told how old they have to be, what gender, marital status, age and even that their personality must be ‘pleasing’. In some cases they even stipulate ‘attractive’. That means light skinned by the way.

That is the way it is here and just one more thing you will have to accept if you plan to live here. It is their Rome, they are doing it the ‘Roman’ way and you know what they say about ‘When in Rome…’

A recent court case between the mother of a premature baby and the hospital that refused to let the baby go until her bill was paid, found in favour of the mother. A Writ of Habeas Corpus (Produce the Body) was served on Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital to release the baby to the mother, even though the unpaid portion of the bill is P503,000 (US$10K)

Not letting the patient or the ‘watchers’ (patient’s family) leave is a common tactic in hospitals across the country. I waited in agony on a gurney for an hour while my wife looked for an ATM to pay the deposit before anyone would even triage me at Perpetual Succour Hospital, Cebu. That was just to get admitted! Both Cebu Doctor’s and Perpetual Succour are owned in whole or part by the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres, a Catholic order.

My wife’s father was held a virtual prisoner in Cebu Doctor’s Hospital in 2002 until I promised to pay his bill. The body of my sister-in-law was detained along with the Death Certificate until we had paid her bill in full at . She died in Cebu (Velez) General Hospital, a ‘public hospital’ but the mentality is the same. Doctors are mini-gods, nurses do nothing and the rats have the run of the place when the cats are sleeping. I kid you not.

The hospitals in Cebu are a paradox in many ways. They do have some first class hospitals yet the attention to detail is lacking, to the point where the cleaners only clean where you can see leaving dirt and dust behind hand rails and under sinks etc. They have some fine medical professionals also. My cardiologist was trained at Cebu Doctor’s but now practises in Australia.

Try also to see the hospital’s position. They are a business and have their own bills to pay. Until the societal changes necessary to make it fairer for all occur, only those with the ability to pay will be able to access the best treatment.

Read the article by clicking on this link to the SunStar Cebu.

This is my favourite Filipino song, Mr Suave, pronounced Mister Swabby. Click the link:-

OK, this is a classic KTV song. If you don’t understand it then you haven’t been here long enough. If you do understand it then you have been here way too long! Don’t try to analyze it, just enjoy the fun value, it’s very Pinoy! Just click on the link:-

Otso Otso

Recently the Chinese courts had the pleasure of the company of six Filipino ‘Bakla’ (basically ‘homosexual inTagalog, Bayut in Visayan but used to include transsexuals) ‘transgenders’. The six Filipino men, posing as Filipino women, drugged and robbed their victims in Shanghai… and were caught. In the old days, pre-Mayor Lim’s Crack Down in Ermita, they were a menace to drunken ‘Kano’s’ wandering down Mabini Street late at night. Called ‘Bini Boys’, they were often viscious and quick to use the knives they all carried if a punter didn’t want their ’services’. Even if he did there was no guarantee he would be left unharmed and unrobbed.

The six that traveled to Shanghai to ply their trade. Basically they pose as prostitutes, then drug and rob their customers. The Philippines Consul in Shanghai has expressed dismay at the growing number of Filipino and Filipinas who are working in the sex industry in China. Of the six arrested, one turned ’state’s evidence and is free while the other five are plying their trade in a Chinese prison.

For more info, click here:

John Zuke, a long time expat resident of Moal Boal, Cebu, was murdered last weekend. Driving home from a trip to Cebu City, John was shot in the head and killed by an assassination team on a motorcycle. While the murder is under investigation it is unwise to speculate on the reason why he was murdered. However, as is nearly always the case in these matters, John was involved in disputes over land and property he had invested in with his estranged wife.

The best advice we can offer is to stay out of business deals involving locals, especially well connected ones. Even if you win the court case the chances of recovering the monies awarded are slim to none. While I didn’t know the deceased personally, it has been my experience that most foreigners killed in the Philippines were heavily involved in local affairs, either financial or political. Those expats who keep out of local issues never seem to have any problems. The same goes for those who remain faithful to their Filipina wives, don’t lend out money, don’t ‘flash their cash’ and basically keep a lowish profile.

There is a new classified ad site for all things Philippines. Philippine Finder is the place to go for real estate, cars,  items anything that is up for sale for the expat or retiree. There is also a personals section where you can find friends, activity partners or seach for romance.  You can advertise there free of charge. Right now it is a little light on for ads, but so was the Yellow Pages the day the first telephone was installed! The more people who use it to advertise and respond to ads, the better a service it will become.