Dumaguete Info Search


Robberies continue

Discussion in 'Dumaguete City' started by PIfan, Jun 20, 2016.

  1. PIfan

    PIfan DI Member

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    My wifes sister started at NORSU college last week and already one of her classmates was robbed at gunpoint near the college. Her father and brother were with her. Are we vigilant or complacent here? I had people jump my fence about a month ago around 4am, heard the thud thud thud of their feet hitting the ground so I got up and saw my ladder was used to leave. Nothing was taken, not sure what the motive was.
     
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  2. Dave_Hounddriver

    Dave_Hounddriver DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster

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    Its hard to react to something like this when it seems senseless. NORSU is where the poor students go to university. They are unlikely to have more than a couple hundred pesos in their pocket unless there is inside knowledge about the victim having more.
     
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  3. PatO

    PatO DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer Veteran Marines

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    A friend in Bacong had an 150 pound safe carried out of their empty house between 6pm-8pm Saturday, almost certainly an inside job.
     
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  4. DavyL200

    DavyL200 DI Forum Luminary ★ Global Mod ★ ★ Moderator ★ Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    My thoughts also pat.
     
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  5. KTM

    KTM DI Senior Member

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    Well, that's the way it is here, soft targets, carrying several thousand pesos worth of touch screen phones, probably worth at least a couple of 'scores of shabu' in exchange, to their local drug dealer. Think I'm kidding? It's way more fun in Phils.
     
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  6. OP
    OP
    PIfan

    PIfan DI Member

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    Actually they didnt take the phone, just pesos
     
  7. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

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    Where there's no enforcement, everything suffers from the tragedy of the commons. Everything is there for the taking.

    What's horrible about addictive drugs is that people will do anything to get them but they are among the very few things in this town which is expensive.

    Living in the Philippines is like receiving basic income because there is nothing to buy and what you do need is so cheap. I could never arrive to the point of pulling off a big heist in part because I don't know what I would do with the money.

    I would like to say that I don't give anyone a reason to rob me because I have nothing. But that doesn't stand when people are willing to rob others for a few hundred pesos.

    The answer is clear. Give away Shabu for free.

    Alternative plan, move out of Dumaguete. Let the dogs have it.
     
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  8. Dave & Imp

    Dave & Imp DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Very logical, particularly when you differentiate between needs and desires. Obviously there are some politician who have been worked up with high desires because the amounts of their plunder is huge compared to the average incomes here. I think their needs include controlling power over the masses. Not sure which groups are more scary the "criminal groups" or the "church organizations" in the Philippines when it comes to controlling the masses.

    The worst part is they will kill for a few thousand, because they can not see your life or their life as worth much.
     
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  9. jimf

    jimf DI Member Showcase Reviewer

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    I think the newly and duly elected Philippine government has another answer.
     
  10. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

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    Yes, we're complaining about petty theft while the elites are robbing the Philippines of billions.

    The Grim Reality Behind the Philippines' Economic Growth

    In 2012, Forbes Asia announced that the collective wealth of the 40 richest Filipino families grew $13 billion during the 2010-2011 year, to $47.4 billion--an increase of 37.9 percent. Filipino economist Cielito Habito calculated that the increased wealth of those families was equivalent in value to a staggering 76.5 percent of the country's overall increase in GDP at the time. This income disparity was far and away the highest in Asia: Habito found that the income of Thailand's 40 richest families increased by only 25 percent of the national income growth during that period, while that ratio was even lower in Malaysia and Japan, at 3.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.​

    I guess I was wrong. Drugs aren't the only thing that's expensive. Power is also expensive. And people chase power at all levels of this society.

    The oldest boy wants a motorcyle because all his friends are driving a motorcycle. That it's simply transportation is a secondary concern. He won't walk anywhere because that's more embarassing than taking a pedi-cab. Indeed, the locals think I'm crazy for walking.

    He also wants a cellphone because all his friends has a cell phone. He wants a laptop, but when he has one (borrowed from friends) all he uses it for is watching movies. He wants nice clothes so that he can look good.

    Dark skin is the worst because that signifies labor in the sun or origins from a poor ethnic group.

    In the US we call this "keeping up with the Jones'" but in the developing nations it's survival. Appearances are everything. Appearances of having money is also the appearance of being successful. Success demands respect.

    Even in the US there are regions which look like that of developing nations. In the US there was an incident where a black lady got arrested after leaving a store with a $2500 handbag. This lady didn't fit the profile of someone who spends $2500 on a handbag, so she must have stolen it. It turned out that she had received a tax refund. Aside from the outcry of racial profiling, many wondered why this lady would spend so much money on a handbag.

    The following article explains this well. The author told a story of her mother helping others in her community get things done by dressing and speaking well. Because she had the appearance of a successful woman, she would get treated differently in the "white system".

    The Logic of Stupid Poor People

    Late at night when I'm walking by a group of kids drinking, often one of them will shout something to me. I could get angry that these people have nothing to do but shout at people passing by, but I understand this to be a power play. They aren't shouting at me personally, I'm just a pawn in their game. The saying goes "it's the quiet ones that you have to worry about" because those who are quiet already have the power. It's those at the fringe who have to gain notice in order to strengthen their position in the group. For a boy from a poor family, this group may be more than a social club, it may provide him survival. I throw him a bone by glancing and waving rather than risk an escalation over lost face by totally ignoring him.

    I'm thankful that as a foreigner, I'm largely outside these power structures. I'll always be an outsider. As such I dress like a bum and I let my hair grow out. I have nobody to impress here. And I can still get chicks, which is partly what power is all about. I guess though I try to opt out of the game, I still can't shake my white privilege.
     
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