News reports on various events come regular ,but sounds like you're talking about kidnappings for ramsom of expats are happening every now and then ,which comes with regular reporting pattern for with this type of crime.As far as i can rmember there it was only that event that gone out of hand when tourist/expats were siezed from a Palawan resort ,but that was like 4 or 5 yrs ago.That was quite a big set back for the PI and its general interests in attracting more tourist to come in.


If there is regularity of these expat kidnappings for ransom...then how regular these reports are ?How often does it happen ? Does it happen every month,every other month,every year ?Or I may have missed out those news. I might have misinterpreted what you mean,but just a glance of this line in your post , can't agree with you.When you use this word 'regular' it sounds like this dreadful event of kidnapping of expats have followed somekind of pattern and frequency .Which is not true .Those people who were kidnapped over a week ago were stupid,considering the continuous negative travel advisories for the southern Philippines .They never take notice of it .Instead they ventured a trip into those areas .Indeed like plunging themselves in waterhole infested with few starving crocodiles ,lovely ,they can fatten up the kidnappers with some ransom over their heads. Somehow the back of my mind says that'll give them some lessons ,bit drastic ,very unkind thoughts of me ( I could be shot for saying this). But people who knew the dangers but still carry on their adventures are headstrong exposing themselves for some risks , simply having the appetite courting for trouble .I would not even venture in those areas myself. I have extended families living in Davao ,Agusan del Norte ,Gen Santos ,Basilan.These areas like Basilan ,Marawi as i am aware of or the southernmost Mindanao including Julu are dodgy places to go because of many internal conflicts with the muslim groups in the area ,long before Abu sayaf emerged out of its islamic extremist cocoon.


PS.

Anybody here fansy a lovely adventure of a lifetime trip galore in Julu ,Sulu ?:p

 

i hate being asked why i live in phil

Well, the few of kidnappings recently (last 6months) that i just "happened" to read about in newspapers were located in Cavite (a korean woman living there), Manila (a japanese expat) and in isabella (very, very north luzon, far far away from southern,,,) of an indian expat. This is what i mean by "regular". I am an avid viewer of CNN and FOX (just because i hate O'reilly and hannity), and i just can't recall the last time a foreigner was kidnapped in the U.S (random acts of violence and murders, yes, but not targeted violence and kidnappings of foreigners...)... Believe me, i really, really hate it when people, especially by my brother who lives in the U.S., ask me about kidnappings, etc. in phil, as if they are incredulous that i would choose to live in such a scary country. It's just like it's ok if i call my brother a jerk, but if some 3rd party calls him a jerk, i would be very angry indeed... I just hope that things improve so some of us (including me) don't have to be asked why we are living in a dangerous place like phil...

 

Intro

Hi JSS,

I must have missed you introducing yourself to the forum. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and find it as useful also. Out of curiosity, would you like to introduce yourself, where your from, your interest in the Philippines, etc., etc. You kinda remind me of another person who used to be a member of this forum that provided me with my moniker (Kettle). Anyway, I look forward to your introduction and hope you continue to enjoy the forum, and please keep it factual and informative.

Sincerely,

 

Chrissar. you're only visiting for 2 weeks. I use to live there. Born and raised.I'm well informed what's going on. . They have a newspaper The Daily Star that I read everyday and a negros chronicle every week. Yeah, I have not been there for awhile but I monitor this city very often. My sister, my brother and my mon are there. I have an ocean front property that barricaded by high fence. Better safe than sorry.

 

Any kidnappings of foreign visitors/expats in the Philippines must be treated as a high profile case and major news papers in the Philippines should not missed out those. Unless the kind of them are classed as tabloid items it would not be covered by major news report .I will cite few examples of news items treated with more significance that reached nationwide coverage and headlines.That missing lady US peace corp volunteer found dead in Sagada couple of months ago who was assigned in Sorsogon ; another was Tim Swanson a USPV of Silay Negros Occidental 1989 snatched by NPA’s whilst hiking but was ok and treated well ,just wanting their cause heard of by making publicity through him , reached the national headlines ;the ones seized from Palawan resort , and that recent kidnapped german and Filipinos ,now free. If they don’t reached major scrutiny by their embassies, then they must be less significant to investigate and wont make headlines. Perhaps wrongly labeled episode of people who just gone wandering/mocking about but classed as missing or kidnapped ,or bugos kidnapping who knows.

I watch CNN and BBC , sky news,ITV news here and surely always keeping myself updated with what's going on worldwide and nonetheless the philippine news from reliable major news sources .Those japs and Koreans kidnapped seem failed to grab the headlines or I just missed out .Were those news gathered from the tabloids?

 

I am 3rd year expat

I read about it in a daily..not tabloid (what tabloid are you referring to? unless i am blind, i really dont see tabloids in phil stores...). I never heard of the outcome of korean/japanese kidnapping but for the indian, his family reportedly paid 2mil peso ransom. I wonder what would have happened if they could not come up with the cash... Good thing this kind of crap has not occured in dumaguete!

And introducing myself, I am an American from new york. I have been living in Phil for the last 3 years. My filipina wife and I lived in a few places looking for that "perfect" spot. Most recently, we moved to puerto princesa and lived there for almost half a year until we realized that it is really not a beach/scuba heaven that i was expecting it to be (we explored virtually all parts of palawan north of puerto)... we were really very, very disappointed and saddened... We are now temporarily back to manila (going on 6 months), and have been researching what other locale options we have. Hate manila and cebu--didnt come here in phil to die of pollution and stress from traffic. Cross out bora for obvious reasons (well , ok, here it is... it is THE koreatown in phil. And some of you have been complaining about the loud korean tourists? U just wait till the chinese start coming. Even the koreans plug their ears when the chinese are around! haha) Puerto Galera is not too close and not too far enough from manila (and kinda messy). El nido is way too province (got bored in 2 days) and all the corals are D.E.A.D. Coron has the sweet aroma of well-fermented "droppings" (sorry, but i didnt see any septic tanks on any of the houses built right on TOP of the beach!) and any beach worth docking during island hopping robs you of 100pesos per head--and its no Apo island i assure you. Bohol/panglao just didnt "grab" us.
So we were very depressed and sulking in manila for a while until our scuba instructor told us that he has a lot in siquijor. That led us to research into dumaguete, and so far it looks very promising. Actually, i am really glad robinson is going to be built there--i need a big screen movie fix now and then.
The only concerns that i have about dumaguete so far is that it appears to lack a decent beach, either on the mainland side or on apo island. Sumilan appears to have it, but it appears somewhat inconvient. Mind you, i have NEVER been to dumaguete, so i am crossing my fingers that i would be pleasently surprised. But 1 thing i am very confident about--the scuba should be the best!
Thanks for your warm welcome, J.S.

 

Hi JS, funny that you mention that. That is so true! I used to work in China during the time when the cell phone came into vogue. Their ringers would be set on the highest levels (we joked that there was loud, and Chinese loud), then their conversations could be heard clear across a restaurant. I enjoyed my stay in China, and met many good people, but that was one trait (actually, there were 2, public spitting was the other ) that my wife and I found a little irritating.

Hey, good luck on your adventure to Dumaguete. I think you will be pleasantly surprised, especially when you compare it to Metro Manila, or Cebu. If diving is high on your list, then you may have found your spot (judging from other peoples comments, I'm not a diver). Plus there are enough things to keep you busy on land. And you do get the benefits what a big city offers, especially with a new mall coming in.

Anyway, Cheers!! :D

 

LOL, ditto on that.
I was taken aback to see a small child yelling at his mother. Turned out to be a conversation.

 

Chrissar

Sorry thats nonsense if they want your money they want it.

Like they will care if u are a true stand up citizen

For the rest dont get paranoid just use common sense