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A few years ago the fourth most corrupt government department in the Philippines was the Bureau of Immigration. Under the ‘Crocodile’, Commissioner Domingo, the department was used to arrest, detain, deport and extort foreigners in order to make Domingo a very rich woman. But the worm has turned and new leadership, coupled with a brave German expat called Alfred Lehnert, is seeing justice being done for expats wrongly accused of immigration offences.

Watch these three You Tube clips and then visit the FAC website. Please make a donation and help them keep working for the good of us all. You never know when you might need the help. Perhaps there is hope for the Philippines yet! These government leaders are indeed sweeping clean as new brooms should.

Angeles City is a large urban area in Pampanga, north of Manila and featuring the former USAF Base, Clark Freeport. The entertainment area is the barangay of Balibago and the main strip is Fields Avenue. Since early July there have been 13 murders involving foreigners. An American, a Canadian, a South African, A South Korean, two Britons and seven Filipinas, spouses, girlfriends and live in domestic helpers. All shot with 9mm bullets and several by the same gun.

You can read more here.

My good mate, the late John Martin lived there for many years and fell afoul of the corrupt cops and judges when he was framed for dealing Shabu. he had sold his business (a country club with bowls lawn) and retired, hence he had money and was thus a target. He suffered two weeks in prison and then 6 months handcuffed to a bed until he was able to pay for his release. He is certain the local top cop of the time was behind it and I am pretty sure his wife of the time was in on it too. A little payback for John’s peccadilloes on Fields. Of course he could just as easily been bumped off.

This web site has reported several murders of expats over the past few years but quite frankly this latest crime spree is scary. While I doubt the casual tourist has much to worry about, those expats who live there are more of a permanent fixture and therefore a target for any local wanting to make some quick cash. If it isn’t a bullet in the head, it can just as easily be a set up with an under age girl alleging molestation or soliciting. They would try it on with a wheelchair bound castrated cripple with no hands if they thought he had money stashed somewhere. Logic and justice are irrelevant, all that is important is that you are a foreigner and have money to spare and the poor Pinoy deserves your hard earned.

While you can become a victim anywhere in the country and of course, anywhere in the world, even at home, Angeles City is a more dangerous place because of the vice that lures so many there. Once you cross the line into the less than morally pure territory that is Fields Avenue you leave yourself open to all sorts of risks, even if you are squeaky clean!

Well, although the case is still being heard the facts are looking pretty much stacked against the owner of a Western Australia McDonalds franchise. It is alleged he forced a Filipina working for him as an assistant manager on a 457 Visa to have an abortion or else he would have her sacked and returned to the Philippines. Her visa is job dependent so he held a lot of power over her. The woman says she aborted that child to keep her job but when she fell pregnant again some months later (same Australian fiancee) she refused to do it a second time.

The Filipina claims to have recorded the meeting where she was told either the foetus goes or she goes. She was fired and has filed a case against the franchisee. Of course as the meeting was recorded without the franchisee’s knowledge it may not be admissable. I think this is a dumb law personally because the truth is the truth and just because you are unaware it is being recorded doesn’t alter what was said.

The franchisee has some history of hiring kids and working them past the legal time of an evening. I get the feeling if he has to get a Filipina on a 457 then he is either not paying full wages or pulling some rort. I am certain we have enough people in this country to fill her job.

Let us pause and look at this from the other side for a moment. One might argue the 457 Visa holder is there to work for the employer that went to the trouble and expense to sponsor them, not to get pregnant or start a new life on the employer’s dime. Basically the visa conditions must be met or else the sponsor/employer gets in trouble as well as the employee getting possibly deported. Taking more than 30 days off is, I have been advised, against the conditions of the visa. That might be over the year or the life of the visa or in one hit but it would be easy to lost 30 days due to pregnancy. Time will tell so I hope we can keep tabs on this story and report the ending.

We read about OFWs getting harshly treated in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuwait and so on but we never think it would happen in our own countries. Not that we are racist or supremacist but simply because we believe we have the checks and balances in place to give people a fair go. Time to think again it seems!

UPDATE: 8 July 2010. McDonalds have agreed to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum

This post was submitted by Jim Baumbach from Cavite. It makes several points about how people treat one another here in the Philippines. It really is a strata like society and if you are on the bottom strata then you are doing it tough. Jim makes a very telling observation of the mindset of particularly middle class Filipinos when he mentions how the dogs are tolerated more than the poor kids. I think it is because, as George Orwell wrote, the middle class are so afraid of slipping down to the poorer classes that they will cling to the skirts of the upper classes, instead of leading the lower classes to a better life. Meanwhile the upper classes use the middle classes as a buffer and a means to control the masses. Life can be tough in the Philippines in many was, here is one way.

Squatter Children

I live in a gated subdivision in Bacoor Cavite, Philippines. At the south end of our subdivision is a small squatter village. There are 25 children between the ages of 0 and 15 living there with 6 adults.  Only 5 of the children attend school.

I want to share an incident that happened beside my house early today. Three of the children, the oldest, age 9, is the big sister of the younger boys. As you would suspect their cloths are not the best and their general health is not up to par.

These children come to my house, looking for plastic, which means any recyclable plastic, and metal cans. As I was talking with them they became very quite. I looked behind me and there was a security guard, on his bicycle, glaring at them. I asked him what the problem was and he told me that many of the residents in the area complain about the children rutting through the trash and making a mess.

This upset me greatly and I pointed to the middle of the street where trash was strewn everywhere by the 5 dogs that roam our street. He replied that the complaints are against the children not the dogs.

These children can get 20 pesos, 40 cents USD for a 50Kilo rice bag filled with crushed plastic. These children are not the problem but they are to blame. Dogs can be dangerous while small children are easy targets.

I am not a Filipino and I have only lived here 2 years. It seems there is a fear of the poor when they mingle within the subdivision. Outside our walls they can easily be ignored, inside the walls and they become visible and thus upsetting. Thin, squatter children among the chubby, wealthy kids, that will never do.

Jim Baumbach

Editor’s Note: We now have a another contributor, Dennis Horner, who would like to respond to some of the points raised in Konrad’s post on the recent elections and democracy, Pinoy style. Dennis now lives in the UK but was a resident of the Philippines for many years until 2009. He has a new (second) Filipina wife, three grown kids scattered across the Philippines and Europe and restores old British Seagull outboard motors for fun and profit!

Once again, the views expressed by the writer are his own.

What About King Noynoy?

Why do we all seem to think that democracy is the only valid and viable form of government for everyone on this planet? Some races/cultures/ethnic groups actually prefer a more autocratic style of rule and respect a strong leader rather than enjoy being ruled by committee.

While we often lampoon the Philippines election circus they do try hard to emulate their previous American masters in style if not the actual spirit of things. But is a democratically elected (just bear with me for now, ok?) government the best answer for Pinoys?

Given they are only Filipino once they leave their country and until then they are Cebuanos, Bicolanos, Pampangans and so forth… is it right to expect them to all agree on one leader, one party and one ideology? What about a federated republic like Malasia or even the USA? Or a Constitutional Monarchy like the UK and Australia and I think, Canada and New Zealand? We could lend you our monarch but her successors are probably more attractive to Filipinos given the way they carry on in the media like telly novella artistas some times.

How about a benevolent dictatorship? Many old timers still feel they had that with Marcos but those snatched off the streets and hurled into Bilibid Prison might not share their view. Martial law and military junta’s have worked in some countries for limited times such as South Korea, Thailand and various South American locales with varying degrees of success.

Or what about a socialist state? Democratic socialism allows free enterprise and private capital but ensures everyone in the state gets a share of the wealth. This would upset the catholic church as the poor would finally be properly looked after and the rich would have little to whine about other than having to actually pay taxes for once.

But whatever system of governance is applied, the system is only as valid as the people applying it and the people it is applied to accepting and obeying it. An unpopular system will result in civil disturbance worse than we have seen in nearby Thailand recently. It would be wrong to impose a Burmese style of military rule and full blown socialism has proven to be lacking in the argy-bargy world of free market capitalism.

There are lots of factors to consider but the main one is would a different form of governance make any difference? Or would the same people who rule now, rule then albeit with a different title in front of their names?

Here are the official COMELEC election results for the recent Presidential elections in the Philippines.

PRESIDENT

1. Benigno Aquino III: 12,233,002 / 40.19%
2. Joseph Estrada: 7,749,597 / 25.46%
3. Manuel Villar, Jr.: 4,329,215 / 14.22%
4. Gilberto Teodoro: 3,243,688 / 10.65%
5. Eddie Villanueva: 916,543 / 3.01%
6. Richard Gordon: 431,954 / 1.41%
7. Nicanor Perlas: 42,205 / 0.13%
8. Jamby Madrigal: 37,119 / 0.12%
9. John Carlos de los Reyes: 34,833 / 0.11%

VICE PRESIDENT

1. Jejomar Binay: 12,025,429 / 39.51%
2. Mar Roxas: 11,213,563 / 36.84%
3. Loren Legarda: 3,259,963 / 10.71%
4. Bayani Fernando: 847,100 / 2.78%
5. Edu Manzano: 593,653 / 1.95%
6. Perfecto Yasay: 295,558 / 0.97%
7. Jay Sonza: 50,722 / 0.16%
8. Dominador Chipeco, Jr.: 40,335 / 0.13%

The total registered voters is 50,723,733 with a turnout of around 55% – 57%

Our new contributor and commentator, Konrad Hille, has submitted this opinion piece on the election results. Konrad has lived in the Philippines since he left his native East Germany shortly after it ceased to exist in 1989. He speaks Tagalog, Pampangan and English fluently as well as German and Russian. A former Intelligence Officer in the DDR army, Konrad is married to a Filipina, has several children and a very definite point of view. We hope his comments will provide food for thought. His opinions are purely his own and do not represent the views of the management of this site.

Democracy At Work?

Only getting half the registered voters off their lubots and into a polling place is a bit sad until you remember people get killed during elections in this country. What is really tragic is that Erap Estrada managed to come second with nearly 8 million votes! This is the same ex-President who was impeached for stealing millions from the public coffers. He spent a few years in comfortable house arrest before GMA pardoned him.

This highlights a tendency of the Filipino to forgive and forget rather than perhaps embarrass anyone by remembering the nasty, dirty, impolite truths. It also shows how they like to vote for someone they feel sorry for, NoyNoy Aquino III is the son of the dead Cory Acquino who was voted in because people felt sorry for her being the widow of the assassinated Benigno Acquino Jr.

The whole family is filthy rich and that is because they own vast amounts of land and other businesses and ignore their own land reforms. They have exploited the poor people, the masa, just as have all the other rich oligarchs in politics. Nothing has changed and nothing will change in this country. The rich, ruling ‘elite’ of fair skinned mestizo and Chinese-Filipino families will continue to plunder the country and live well with their real estate holdings in the US and hidden overseas bank accounts. Meanwhile the people they are elected to serve suffer, pay more for basic necessities and too many starve or die from lack of enough money to get proper medical attention.

It would make me very angry except for one thing, the Philippines is a democracy and I know about democracies. After all I spent the first forty years of my life in the German Democratic Republic. Of course it was easier for us as we only had the one political party to vote for. As they say, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve and if 45% of them can’t be bothered to vote and of those who do 25% vote for a criminal who has plundered and raped his country once already… then they deserve everything they get.

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

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.

A 67 year old Australian was shot twice in the head on Monday as he sat drinking in a bar in Aklan, south of Manila.  The murderer has been arrested by police however no motive or the cold blooded killing has as yet been offered. Read More…