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!

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.

Before anyone accuses me of being a hypocrite, I freely admit I have been to Angeles in the past and I enjoyed the place for what it was then and is now.  I believe we must always have places like Angeles, they serve a purpose that human nature creates and I won’t be so naïve as to deny it.

But times and people change and I find myself quite disillusioned with the whole sordid sewer of a place that is really just a very small section of an otherwise vibrant and wonderful Filipino city.  So with that understanding between us (writer and reader), let us progress.  Angeles City sprung up to serve the needs of the US military.  Back in 1902 when the US Cavalry set up a remount station and cavalry camp there the local barangay was some distance from the camp gates.  Gradually the place grew as those bars and brothels that sprung up outside the camp gates met with the spreading tentacles of Angeles City proper.   

The hey day of Angeles would have had to have been in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s during the Vietnam War.  The expats who have retired here who spent time in the USAF stationed at Clark still hold the attitude that they own the town and the people.  Or at least many I have met do.  I can understand that sentiment as the USAF poured up to a million dollars a week into the town, more sometimes.

The airmen had the money and lust, the local girls had the looks and the need.  Perfect symbiotic relationship in anyone’s book.  Clark had the highest divorce rate of any military base according to one source.  He explained it was no wonder when Mrs Obese Ohio ’74 spent her days hiding in the house because the locals stared at her and hubby was off in the bars chasing sweet young Filipina’s all night long.

I spoke to one man who was one of the team that investigated the backgrounds of women engaged to servicemen.  He said it was more of a surprise when they found out she wasn’t out of a bar or had been selling her services one way or another for some time.  Most of the Filipinas were working girls, how else would they meet their future husbands?  He said he would love to follow up on some of the cases he had back then and see how many were still together, how many were divorced and so on.  He felt that there would be a higher percentage of couples still married than the national average.  He also felt if the marriage broke down after more than five years you really couldn’t pin it on the girls’ previous employment. 

June 15 1991 was the day Mount Pinatubo speeded up the inevitable.  With the nationalistic bent of many in the country; many who gained nothing from the US bases as they were but might if they were open to local development, it was a fairly foregone conclusion the Yanks would have to go home.  I have asked dozens of Filipino’s and I have yet to find one who has benefited from the USAF not being at Clark.  I have yet to find a single Filipino who doesn’t want them back!  Obviously I am asking the wrong people.  I need to get out and ask the rich minority who own businesses in the Clark Special Economic Zone that replaced the base. 

Unlike Subic Bay, where far sighted Richard Gordon organised the local middle class to protect the greatest asset their town (Olongapo) possessed, when the USAF left Clark it was in a bit of a hurry.  People were assured their homes would be protected and their belongings safely packed and sent on to them but many I have spoken to claim locals simply walked on base and looted every home they could enter.  They never saw their personal effects again. 

It is close to 20 years since all of that happened yet I can remember it as if it were just last week. One thing is certain, Angeles City is more than just Fields Avenue in Balibago. It is a thriving city with hospitals, universities and a heck of a lot going for it beyond the red light strip bordering Clark Special Economic Zone. Get away from the entertainment area and explore the city and surrounding province and you will find a lot more to do than just hang out in bars and drink beer.

Another Australian man in his mid-fifties has been murdered in the Philippines. This time the victim was shot in the chest when armed intruders broke into his home in Negros. His Filipina girlfriend fled via a window. I have to say that this spate of three in less than three months is a new phenomena in my experience.

While I don’t think there is any kind of organised cleansing of Aussie expats in train, I do warn all readers once again to give their personal security a bit of serious thought. There are plenty of guns in the waistbands of Flipinos and it often doesn’t take much to make an enemy. Even laughing about something else while a Filipino sings Karaoke has been enough to get you killed.

Take care and take precautions. Check out my ‘Philippines Survival Handbook‘ and ‘SWITCH ON!” to personal safety!

I love Puerto Galera! PG is on the island of Mindoro which even today is a pretty rugged and inhospitable place despite being relatively close to Manila. PG is a great dive area with some top drift dives. One drift dive I did years ago had me hurtling towards ‘Hole in the Wall’ at 2-3 knots. You have to decide if you are going to abort the drift or shoot for the hole in the wall! Exciting stuff. On the other side there is an abyss that can suck a diver down 50m or more in seconds. The trick is to not venture out too far over the abyss and avoid the down draft. I was holding onto the rocks for grim death when I dived the bowl.

There is another great drift dive where you drift along in one direction for a while then ascend a few metres and you catch a counter current going the other way! Awesome stuff! The currents are strong at times and it pays to eitehr be in good shape or just go with the flow and have the dive boat follow your bubbles!

There are a couple of purpose sunk wrecks in Sabang Bay on the sand where you can feed the fish. Tame by most wreck dive standards but still good fun and a great dive if you have been dry for a while and need a gentle refresher and re-introduction to scuba diving.

The place has plenty of PADI approved schools to choose from right along the waterfront. Most are tied up with affordable accommodation and cold beer and unless it is Chinese New Year you should be able to get a bed without too much trouble.

Getting there from Manila is easy enough with the new South Luzon Expressway cutting quite a bit off the drive time. You can rent a car, hire a taxi or FX or grab the bus from the City State Hotel in Ermita. There are public buses to Batangas, the jumping off point but for first time travellers that might be a tad confusing. At the port there is a major ferry that goes over, tied in with the bus service and you can also take local bancas, or pump boats.

I hired one late one night with two mates and a Filipina and we nearly had a pirate fight in the middle of the channel with the crew when the captain wanted more money. Stick with the main bus and ferry providers and do it in daylight and you won;t have any trouble.

If you don’t scuba dive, then you can learn or, just enjoy the resort atmosphere and the two or three girlie bars and the plethora of restaurants. Venturing further afield and exploring Mindoro is doable, but be prepared for real adventure travelling! Whatever you do, Puerto Galera is a must-visit destination.

The poorer countries of the world are attractive to many looking for an affordable place to call home. Somewhere that their retirement dollar will stretch to provide them with a decent standard of living, close to what they were used to back home when they were making a regular living. Sadly the burgeoning baby boomer retiree population is finding life in the First World a tad too expensive on what is left of their 401Ks, superannuation, pensions and what not.

So their attention turns to the third world where they can get more bang for their buck. The cost of living has risen in the Philippines just as it has everywhere else in the world. Risen sharply in many ways. I wonder how the average Filipino family manages, but then they have managed for generation after generation, so why should the current fiscal situation be any different?

If you want to live like a white rajah, then expect to pay for it! If you are happy living on a basic diet of dried fish and rice then you can get by on very little indeed. For most of us, though, we need to tread he middle path. You can live on US$500 a month in the provinces but it will be like camping in many respects. Forget airconditioning, driving your own car and going out to dinner all the time. This is you and the Filipina of your choice living in a small, rented house or apartment, shopping mostly at the local market and rarely buying supermarket items. You don’t travel around, you might have cable TV or internet access but not both and you don’t call home very often.

For US$1000 a month you get to enjoy some imported foods, turn on the airconditioning, drive a small, used car and go out a few times every month. For US$1500 you can live pretty much wherever you want to and live well and for US$2000 a month I’d say you can live in Manila and live well. Nice apartment, domestic helper, good food, lots of entertainment, everything you want.

How much do you live on now? How well do you live on that? How would you like to live in the Philippines?

Once you find your Filipina and travel all the way to the Philippines to meet her, you may find you can barely be alone together for five minutes without having half the Barangay hanging on yoru every word! You need an affordable, luxury hideaway hotel that will give you the time you need to get to know her, her family and her culture. But on your own terms!

You need a ‘base’, a place to call your own where you have the back up of trained and friendly staff, a knowledgeable American owner who has been successfully running businesses in the Philippines for over twelve years and you know you are safe. Alta Cebu Garden Resort is owned by friends of mine, Larry and Cherry Quinn. I used to work there as the Director of Studies when it was a ‘Homestay’ English language academy and I have known Larry and Cherry since 2004 and I consider them my friends.

Since those early days they have expanded the resort to its current beautiful state, focused on the hospitality end of the business and developed a first class facility for weddings, conferences and relaxed vacation living. If you are wondering where to get married, how to organize the wedding or arrange the celebrant and the many other details any marriage entails; leave it to Larry and his team.

I was married in northern Cebu in 2002 and let me tell you it was a challenge to arrange the event to a standard I wanted for my bride in the ‘boonies’. What made it even more difficult was the fact my bride to be wasn’t all that worldly wise when it came to western style weddings and how could she be, coming from an honest farming family in the provinces? If any of this is ringing bells, just relax. Buy my eBook ‘Filipina 202 – How To Marry And Migrate Your Dream Filipina’ and then book into the Alta Cebu Garden Resort. Larry will give you your first night FREE when you tell him you bought one of my eBooks, if you book and pay for three nights minimum. All the usual warranties and guaranties apply but we are sure you are going to have a great time.

And if you haven’t met ‘Her’ yet, don’t sweat it! Buy ‘Filipina 101 – How To Meet The Filipina Of Your Dreams’ and follow the advice on just going to the Philippines ‘on spec’. Then talk to Larry and he will help you find someone, just try and leave the staff alone as he has had to replace too many of his pretty receptionists already! Let me know how much you enjoyed your stay.

There are many infections one can catch when living or visiting the Philippines. I remember leaving after one trip of just a week in Manila when as the plane reached altitude and pressurised, virtually everybody in the cabin started to cough! Perhaps it was the cleaner air being filtered and pumped through that kicked us all off but I recall very distinctly quite a few minutes of coughing and nose blowing. I was cleaning dark matter from my nostrils for days and had an annoying nose twitch for a week or two until I made conscious effort to get it under control.

Working in Cebu in an office tower we had foreigners coming and going all the time on various three and six month projects. The first week would have them coughing and suffering from a chest infection that I believe was caused by the air-conditioning system. A good dose of anti-biotics bought over the counter from the nearest Mercury Drugstore and they were quickly back in action but just about every new expat employee copped this. If you spend time going into and out of air-conditioned buildings and cabs you are very susceptible to such illnesses. When we lived in Bogo in a fan only house and rarely enjoyed the cool of an air-conditioned environment I rarely had any problems. As soon as we were able to afford air-conditioning and we enjoyed it, this changed and colds and chest infections became more commonplace.

Another minor affliction that causes major distress is ‘pink eye’, ’sore eye’ or conjunctivitis. It passes quickly from person to person via touching what they have touched and then touching your face. I stayed at a resort on Malapascua where first one of the staff had the tissue to the eye, then the owner, then half the guests! You can get drops for this from the drugstore but it is very annoying and can last several days.

I was also able to experience the skin rash so many of us get when we first start to live in the Philippines for longer than a month or two. It is a collection of red spots on the chest and groin that look like freckles or measles. I have no idea what it was but the Quack Doctor healed it by spitting something on the affected area and the next day I was fine! Don’t write off the local Hilot or Quack Doctor. They have been providing health care for the Filipino for centuries and have it pretty well wrapped up as far as local ailments go. They are terrific for muscular and bone setting situations but if you have something that requires micro-surgery or similar, see a western physician.

You might get an ear infection from the pools or sea. If so, get a local to boil some Hilpas weed and then stick it in your ear as hot as you can handle it. It might seem funny to have green goop sticking out of your ear but it works. As soon as it went in I felt it send finger of healing down the tubes and sinuses from ear to nose and mouth. It was amazing as I could feel it clearing out the passages and easing the pain I had felt in the side of my face. My mother-in-law administered it and said she used to give it to her brothers and father when they copped ear aches from cyanide fishing.

As for other forms of infection such as STDs, these are usually treated with a one shot oral prophylactic nowadays and are available without prescription if you know what you want. I do not advise self prescription as I have done it before for myself and it is a bit of a gamble. It costs about ten bucks to see a well qualified (probably US trained) doctor and get the right treatment first time.

The Philippines are a tropical locale. This means there is the risk of catching things that do not exist back home. You might also forego adequate rest and hydration for party time and lots of alcohol. Take care of yourself and the best cure is prevention, as always.

Cubao, Lots Of Shops, So Shop Lots!

Cubao is a retail rabbit warren straddling EDSA, the main thoroughfare of this city. Between Makati/Ortigas and Quezon City, it offers more than just the home of the Araneta Coliseum, once upon a time the largest dome covered auditorium in South East Asia. There are several Malls and shopping complexes and a large and vibrant market as well as hundreds of small shops lining the streets.

The MRT stops there with both the north-south and the new east-west line having major stations suspended above the main streets EDSA and Aurora Boulevard. The streets always seem full of traffic and the sidewalks bursting with pedestrians going somewhere! The multi lane major roads are spanned by overhead walkways and getting around from one side to the other involves climbing up and down stairways. The MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) has its’ blue shirted and hard hatted employees patrolling the overpasses to keep the sidewalk vendors and beggars down as much as possible. 

All the same I saw four of them standing opposite a one armed man who sits and silently waits for alms just about every time I have been there. The MMDA don’t seem in a hurry to move him on, despite wearing t-shirts telling how they make the sidewalks clear for pedestrians to walk along unhindered. They have had virtual riots in the past when moving on side walk vendors and can often be seen carrying rattan Arnis sticks to aid in their work. Perhaps if someone had given a donation they would have swooped on the donor, no doubt there is a law against giving alms similar to that in force in Cebu.

Once on the “mall side” (north bound) of EDSA you come across the fairly new Farmers Mall. Behind this mall lies several others ranging in vintage from rather dated (Ari Mall and SM) to not even open yet but showing great promise (Gateway). In between there is the Shop Right, Rustan’s and the large public market. There is also a Fiesta Carnival with rides and amusements next to the Araneta Coliseum, a jeepney terminal and a large cinema complex.

I liked the Araneta Coliseum as around its’ base are several restaurants including a Singaporean place (that holds the promise of some decent curries and noodles) and a Starbucks. The Coliseum regularly holds basketball games and cockfights and I am hoping to see a boxing match there sometime. I haven’t been able to confirm it but I think that is where Mohammad Ali had his “Thrilla In Manila” back in the seventies. They also hold pop concerts and other musical events and this December will host the Hansen Tour to the region. I will make sure I won’t miss that one! Teeny-Bop heaven! I’m joking.

In the basement of SM there is a large Ace Hardware, a larger food court and an amusement area which includes a small bumper-car track amongst other things. I must say the food court is the usual SM Basement gig, lots of places selling the same basic half dozen Filipino dishes despite what nationality they may allude to in their business name. 

I did like the public market with some of the largest tuna on sale I have seen outside the Tokyo Fish Market. Most of the stalls, although still Filipino Market style, apppeared to try and offer their wares in a hygenic manner. There were numerous uniformed inspectors wandering around looking important and making a show of enforcing the rules, at least while the Kano was watching and taking photographs!

Cubao has two National Book Stores that I could find, one of which is quite large and very comprehensive. Farmers Mall has numerous stores selling clothes, computers and so on and the full range of fast food from McDo (local name for McDonalds) to Greenwich, Jollibee and Chow King. The mall connects to the north-south MRT and is always buzzing.

The major roads, EDSA and Aurora, do seem to sever the retail areas a little, cutting the place into quarters. There are numerous other streets and places to explore, not just the main retail area around the Araneta Coliseum, but most of the shops are just selling the same things the first thousand or so offer, so why trudge the overpasses? One thing you will notice is how you are the only foreigner around for miles! I have seen only one other foreigner, an elderly woman, there in five recent visits.

What I like about Cubao is that you have all the kinds of stores you ever would want to shop at in the one area, lots of variety to choose from and yet the prices are more realistic than the flash shopping malls of Ortigas and Makati. I wouldn’t be too sure of getting cheaper prices from the small stores along the back streets, I found several of them charging a few peso’s more for everyday items like batteries and hand towels compared to what you could get them for inside the malls or the department stores. Like anything, anywhere, it pays to shop around and the great thing about Cubao is, there are plenty of opportunities to do just that.