Philippine Blues

[Guest]

(Stewart @ Jun. 09 2007,12:21) From our western perspective, it feels like a bribe and everything is corrupt. From the Pi perspective, it is about eating or not eating that day in some cases.

Too much drama!

"Not about eating"! Look at most of their slack waistlines and you will see that "not eating that day" is a rare event indeed.

[kaos]

i have visited PI few times and always coz a LB... i have been in manila and cebu and never bribe anyone, but i've been rip off some time by the taxy drivers.
i can see that corruption is part of the system in PI (like in many other countries however) but what really i felt in PI was just unsafe, unsafe walking in the street, unsafe using pubblic transportation, unsafe going around the country, very unsafe going around Cebu.
nothing happen to me but i was with open eyes all the time (never relaxed) and very low profile.
if i compare to BKK where i can walk in the most seedy shit hole at 3am and i feel safe like home

[Guest]

thats a good description kaos. of all the places i have been in my life only a few felt as bad as manila. the others being greys ferry area in philly during the day. some of the areas of new orleans once again during the day. hell i was even in barranquilla colombia and never felt as unsafe as i did in manila. but i still had fun in manila just not as safe. also all the time as a walking atm. same feeling in colombia though everyone wanted a damm tip for duing nothing. damm MF's

[moe666]

After this thread you guys will stop complaining about Thailand being corrupt, heheheheh.

After three trips to India Thailand is such a dream I cannot complain about anything there.

[Guest]

I suspect we all know the key to widespread corruption is a good economy and good salaries.

The low level Thai police, like the traffic guys, make about 4000 baht per month. It is impossible to live on 4000 baht, and so, they pretty much have no choice but to take 'tips'. I suspect the PI cops are similar.

Macapagal seems to be getting fundamentals in the country improved, like reducing debt, and improving tax collection, but until the 'average' low level worker is making a salary from which they can live on reasonably, then the PI, Thailand, and all other countries will have people who use corrupt practices and 'tips' to make ends meet.

All that being said, Manila is a bit unusual, as are all large cities of most countries, and outside Manila, while 'tips' are still common (and needed), the atmosphere is quite ok. I also lived in Paris, which is the least safe city I've lived in; at night, in some areas, it is frightening. But outside Paris, it's like you were in a completely different country.

[moe666]

A friend just married a pinoy and has made several trips over the last few months, I told him about this thread and he was suprised as he has not paid any extra charges.
He did pay some small amt so that he would not have to show up with the wife to collect the marriage license.
Each persons experiences could vary from day to day and some people seem to have more bad luck than otheirs.

[Road Runner]

(ziggystardust @ Jun. 10 2007,05:06) But outside Paris, it's like you were in a completely different country.

It is!    

I can't remember what the word is the Parisians use to describe everyone from outside Paris but it translates as something like peasants! They literally don't like the rest of France  

RR.

[stogie bear]

I suspect we all know the key to widespread corruption is a good economy and good salaries... The low level Thai police, like the traffic guys, make about 4000 baht per month...

Priceless!

[Stewart]

(stogie bear @ Jun. 12 2007,03:06)

I suspect we all know the key to widespread corruption is a good economy and good salaries... The low level Thai police, like the traffic guys, make about 4000 baht per month...

 Priceless!  

Why?

[SamplerDoc]

Just an FYI....

 Every Country in the World has Bribes or Tips at some Level  

Two Big Examples are China and Russia

[jasperblubber2006]

would have to agree with those that the taxi drivers are the worst, last trip i read about someone saying to go upstairs to the departure area to get a taxi, i did just that and one guy comes over and he starts to take my carry-on, i said no way i want meter only, he said no problem i have meter, i said how much to casablanca hotel, he said about u s 4.00, i said ok, we get into the taxi and i see another guy in the taxi, turns out to be the driver, we get going and i get this feeling i'm about to get in the arse, as we go along i asked him where was his f**king meter he told me he had, he said no problem he was using his speedomiter, i told him bullshit let me out, i got out but he isnsisted that my hotel was less than 2 miles away, i said bullshit your lying, i asked how much and he said 30.00 american, i asked about the 4.00 he quoted at the airport and he said his speedometer doesn't lie, then he had the nerve to ask me if i wanted him to find me a girl, i told him and his friend to drop dead and i start down the street and guess what i found fourty feet from where i got out of the cab, my hotel.
told myself i would never step foot in that country but in the last two months i have met and talked to four fantastic lb's, so its time to squeeze my cheeks and get on a plane and see what i hope to be some of asia's best
jasper

[Groundhog]

You know, I've had this happen before myself in the PI, especially Manila. Usually you can spot the guy early (this maybe is what you mean by 'bending over and taking it up the poopshoot') when the guy starts complimenting me profusely, and otherwise tries to be a good guy.

Anyway...

I've gotten out of these things by just giving the driver what I think the trip is worth (usually under 250 pesos anywhere). They never come after you or give you any trouble ... at least not in Manila so far

Now New York is a different animal ... I onced failed to tip a Nigerian taxi driver who took me to the airport (I didn't have change, but I'm glad I didn't either). This guy just blows his top and says "... what is this shit ... man ...etc." and then he starts walking towards me ... I thought I might be knifed, so I hustled with my bag over towards one of NY's finest.

[Groundhog]

(r_white @ Jun. 09 2007,19:30) Before Marcos the PI had the second strongest economy behind Japan.

Marcos really is responsible for the mess of PI now ... read Sterling Seagraves "The Marcos Dynasty" (if you can get your hands on a copy ... it's been republished 11 times, and every time, through threats and buyups of copies, Imelda Marcos has eliminated almost all of the copies. They are hard to find).

I believe that PI actually had a larger economy than Japan at the start of the 1950s ... it certainly was in US opinion THE Asian tiger.

As with Japan, it is hard to tell how much of the economic performance in the 1950s was actual, and how much was due to repatriation of Yamashita's stolen gold in WWII (which dwarfed any of the Asian economies at that time).

Whatever the case, the gold repatriation in the 1950s sure helped Macao (the only place you could legally trade at spot price in those days, due to Bretton Woods) ... it funded Stanley Ho's casinos and made him the tycoon he is today.

[divertwo]

(jasperblubber2006 @ Jun. 11 2007,20:01) but in the last two months i have met and talked to four fantastic lb's, so its time to squeeze my cheeks and get on a plane and see what i hope

...met on the internet ...or face to face

[jasperblubber2006]

met on the internet, joined one of those intro clubs and couldn't believe the amount of philippine ladyboys that were with this one site, started with about 15 lb's, and after about a month i was down to 6 but they are solid, most from cebu but some from manila.
will spend a day with each one in september, might even find a long term relationship out of all of this, a couple have told me that their motor is already running, if you want the site i found these darlings, e-mail me
jasper