Best Posts in Thread: U.S official refuses to help u.s citizen

I don't know what year those numbers "$500,000" came from or what the original source was. Assuming that's correct and somewhat recent, they obviously don't give many of these things out relative to the numbers of US citizens traveling abroad. It mentions the "3 million dollars" (also a low number) is private funds.

There appears to be some serious resistance in getting direct financial assistance. And what if the guy doesn't want a flight back home? What if the guy has adjusted to being homeless and begging and doesn't want to seek assistance?

There isn't much the embassy can do.

 

That which an embassy will and won't do is a road well traveled. The US embassies across the world have probably received a large number of these cases every day since the US has had embassies.

In short. The embassy will not provide financial assistance. The embassy can't provide treatment for mental health issues. The embassy will not take guardianship over an impaired adult. The embassy can give you information and help you contact friends, family and other resources from the US.

If this person has mental health needs, then he needs to seek a mental health resources in the Philippines.

If this person can't access money, then he's in a b*tch of a place to deal with that problem.

It's possible this guy is just being difficult. He has to be able to help himself. I'm sure the embassy (and the other resources available to him here) were enough to settle on a solution if there were one available.

Lack of money is a hard issue to go up against. There are a maze of rules, requirements, timelines and other things which don't care that you need money for a cheeseburger right this minute. I'm dealing with this myself as my only ATM card was recently stolen. The embassy has no special powers to deal with these processes at home. Even worse, the embassy doesn't have the authority to act on the behalf of others in most situations where such a power would be helpful. Banks and government agencies aren't going to make magic happen just because the embassy is on the phone. You can pressure the embassy, but the embassy is limited in its ability to pass that pressure downstream.

If this guy doesn't have money and can't take care of himself, then he isn't paying his visa. Report him to immigration and maybe they will put him in immigration jail with other foreigners. He'll receive food, a place to stay and an address where he can be reached. Whatever support he has will have adequate time to resolve his situation.

 

Or as the leader of this forum why don't you contact him?

 

There is a lot more to the story than is being told, I know a few bits and pieces I can share and a few rumors I will not share. In my opinion rumors have less creditably than a newspaper article. I would have conversations with Robert Oest in the past. He told me over 6 months ago he got evicted from where he was living in Dauin, and had found a boarding house situation in Dumaguete. He became very keen on moving to Vietnam and told me all about it, the food and environment especially. His physical appearance and attire seemed to acceptable previously to going to Vietnam. He disappear for a while, 2 to 6 weeks, and then I saw him again. Asking about Vietnam, he replied he "went there but ran out of money in a couple of weeks". Upon his return his physical appearance state seem to deteriorate. He would also hit me up to 50 P at Robinson Mall to go back to Dumaguete. I had been told he was also hitting up a lot of the expats for money, some successfully and other not so successfully (rumor). The last I saw him was less than two weeks ago at the new McDonalds, and it appeared he was trying to beg some money from a Filipina and her children.

So this economic lifestyle situation has been going on for many months, and he never mentioned to me about not being able to get funds from the US. I had not spoken to him in over a month.

There obviously is a lot more to the story than is being told currently in the press, but I certainly do not have anywhere near a full story. It is disappointing that the US Government did not offer some simple solution such as a free call home or to his bank, but I can not make a judgement based on the information I know, or have read at this time. Frankly there is too much conflicting information for a good assessment of the situation in my opinion. I wish him the best and would offer my help but he seems sort of confused on finding a good solution for himself.

 

Seems to me that someone may want to help him look into that. It would be strange to have zero pension coming in at his age.