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12 person apprehended by joint forces of PNP, PIB, CIDG in canday Ong, Dumaguete City with drug value at 1.5 million peso,s

 

I posted my recent experience on another forum but thought it was good enough info to post here also.

Visa On-Arrival:
OK, returned on PAL into NAIA Terminal 2. The setup there is a counter behind immigration. This means you have to go through the immigration line and tell them what you want when you get to the immigration officer. They will then send you though to the counter to do the paperwork and come back for the stamp. Unless, as in my case, the guy at the counter was off screwing around somewhere and the immigration officer didn't want to keep track of me waiting for him to return and told me to try again next time.

How does that go again??? Oh yeah, It's more fun in the Philippines!

Onward Ticket:
My flight back to the Phils was on the evening of the 10th. Mid day I went on expedia and purchased a one way ticket to Singapore. Checked in and showed my flight with confirmation number. Arrived in Manila and after clearing customs, while waiting for my connecting flight to Duma, exercised Expedia's 24 hour cancellation policy. My credit card was charged for the Singapore flight on the 11th, and 100% credited back on the 12th.

So, had a real onward ticket with a real reservation and a real confirmation number (for 12 hours). Total cost $0

 

This is an exert from People’s lawyering Speech (I am sure you can find the whole thing on the internet.) It is interesting to get a perspective on the culture, society and political system from basic facts, not propaganda, so I did not copy much of the propaganda, as I thought it was very self-serving. We can each draw on own conclusions from the facts.
These fact do not particularly interface well with the polical rehteric we will hear for the next few months.

PEOPLES’ LAWYERING:
A TIME FOR NEW CHALLENGES,
A PROPER TIME FOR RENEWAL
Keynote Speech on the Occasion of the 10th Founding Anniversary of the
Union of Peoples’ Lawyers of Mindanao (UPLM)

12 September 2015
Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

by:
Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)

. Most of the report is propaganda type information (they particularly like to point out the US as being a strong influence… (For most things that are wrong). Here are the actual facts they presented regarding the Philippines cultural life:

According to IBON International, these are the facts and figures:
• 66 million Filipinos are poor. They live on just Php125 (US$2.80) or less per day. They are the Filipino farmers, fisherfolk, workers, small-scale traders, vendors, domestic workers and other informal sector workers;
• 4.3 Filipinos are million unemployed and 7.9 million underemployed;
• 4 out of 10 or 44% of the workers are non-regular or agency-hired workers, over six out of ten or 63% do not even have written contracts; four out of ten or 40% employed Filipinos are in just part-time work with very low pay and no benefits;
• the average daily basic pay of millions of Filipino workers nationwide increased by less than Php5 (Php4.50) or just 1.7% between 2005 and 2014;
• there are 10.2 million overseas Filipinos in 2013;
• 4,508 overseas Filipino workers were deployed every day because only 2,800 jobs were generated at home.
• 7 of 10 peasants are still landless;
• a third of landowners own or control more than 80% of agricultural land;
• the wealth of the 10 richest Filipinos has more than tripled under the Aquino administration from Php630 billion in 2010 to Php2.2 trillion in 2015 (250% increase);
• the net income of the country’s some 260 listed firms on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) rose from Php438 billion in 2010 to Php583 billion in 2014 (33% increase);
• the net income of the country’s Top 1000 corporations grew from Php804 billion in 2010 to Php1.0 trillion in 2013 (26% increase);
• two-fifths (40%) of approved investment in the Philippines in the last decade-and-a-half is foreign rather than Filipino, not yet counting the use of dummy corporations;
• the Philippines paid out over US$36 billion in profit remittances since 1980 which is on top of over US$178 billion in debt servicing;
• the Philippines has exported over US$43 billion worth of mineral exports since the 1970s;
• there was 115% increase in profit of mining companies between 2010 and 2014;
• some 98% of Philippine domestic production is exported;
• around 80,000 babies still die of preventable diseases every year;
• 6 out of 10 Filipinos die without seeing a doctor;
• power privatization has made electricity in the Philippines the most expensive in Asia, even more expensive than in Japan or South Korea;
• water privatization has made water in the Philippines the third most expensive after Japan and Singapore;
• rail transport privatization has caused fares to increase from 50-100%;
• 61,000 houses of urban poor families with some 305,000 individuals were demolished and displaced under the Aquino administration;
• over 1.2 million homes were damaged or destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) but the government only built 364 homes; and
• one million families with 5.6 million people was severely affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) but less than 220,000 families were given livelihood support.

 

Merely a stand with a cook and a stove serving delicious Mexican style food. Recommendation - spicy chili verde burrito add as much jalapeño sauce to fit your taste. Simple bean and cheese burrito and tacos are popular as well. For my San Diego taste, nothing here comes close to Tommy's place. Btw, no bouncers or obnoxious dudes.

 

Steve Blankenship was brutally murdered in his house in Magabo, Zamboanquta in November.. There was no press release, and no arrests,although there was a witness and 2 suspects identified.
Seems that the witness was approached and 'asked' not to identify the known murderers.. No justice for Foreigners .. I hope a member has a 'friend' in the Zamboanguita Police dept.

 

This has sadly been a year in which too many foreigners passed away. Many of us have reached the "over 55" age where our health is at risk, maybe the easy life style here accounts for some of that. I am a survivor, so far, and I urge those who want to lower your risk to join me walking the boulevard or something else to get some daily exercise and also go for medical check ups (my mistake).
I commend Dustin for putting this section on the forum because it is a good way for us to pay our respects to the deceased and also a sobering heads up.

 

Hi all

Just joined the forum. I'm from the UK but currently living in the Philippines and planning to move to Dumaguete January/February.

Andrew

 

Sharing some things I have learned about the local system of government. I have been experiencing a Biased attitude with my local Brgy Capitan and most of the Brgy Hall employees. So I decided to learn about how this all works. Most of this I got from experience and then verified with the head of local DILG
1. The Brgy Capitan is the first in line of people you have to go to for any local disputes. 15 days to schedule
2. Brgy Capitan schedules first a conference with both parties in the dispute with the intent of settling the dispute out of court. The Capitan, and all other employees are not allowed to take sides. If the Capitan is in any way Biased due to relationships or any other reasons he must recuse himself and have one of the Lupon's sit in his place. 15 days to schedule
3. If there is no settlement the Capitan will schedule a Lupon court hearing with 3 or more of the Lupon's in attendance. Again to try to settle the dispute. 15 days to schedule
You have the right to a private hearing , meaning no others present except the people stated on the summons. This allows for you to be heard and to maintain a proper decorum. Pinoys like to stack the Brgy Hall with supporters and cause disturbances when you are trying to speak. This is not allowed by law.
4. Your option is to keep records of the meetings even recording them if you think you need to. Then if you are not being properly treated by the Brgy Hall employees you can have all the information you need to file in writing a letter of complaint to the D.I.L.G. located in the City Hall bldg. Make specific statements stating dates, events, names and your complaints pertaining to each. Try to get a one on one with the DILG.
Example would be Violation of the Anti Red Tape law, not maintaining proper decorum during meetings. Making false statements pertaining to your civil rights. acting in a overtly Biased way.
Submit this with 2 copies to the DILG. One copy will be stamped received and given back to you. the DILG will review your complaint if warranted will endorse it to the Ombudsman in Cebu. The Ombudsman will review it and if they deem it warranted it will be sent back to the DILG for investigation and possible removal from office of all offenders. I hope this can help another expat with the learning curve of their new country.

 

Rusty Humphries: Sneakin’ In To The USA - SafeShare.TV