²ÝÁñÉçÇø

this is scary.  how concerned are people here for their safety?  do you feel safer in the north?  crawdad

never have felt uneasy in the philippines

isolated case this is in negros island. although rare, always should serve as a good reminder that anywhere can be dangerous. a sad story indeed. but the beaches in negros remain beautiful

I think that one was family related just seems really fishy.

I just came back to Florida from Bacolod city and never feel unsafe. I believe it is more safe than Fort Lauderdale Florida. You just need to be aware of your surrounding and always change your daily routine. I follow those rules here in the US. Negros is a very safe place. The People there are amazing and very respectful. I love it there.

Hi

I have spent a lot of time in the Philippines and not once ever felt uneasy. Like I say to my friends you have got more chance of getting hurt or worse walking round the elephant and castle in london on a fri night than ever getting any trouble in the flips. I had 3 young flip guys have a go at mugging me once out in a province. At 6ft 2 and 15 stone of english aggression they lost the bottle and run off like girls !! Its not normally in their culture to be an aggressor or confrontational.

lareyflyer wrote:

Hi

I have spent a lot of time in the Philippines and not once ever felt uneasy. Like I say to my friends you have got more chance of getting hurt or worse walking round the elephant and castle in london on a fri night than ever getting any trouble in the flips. I had 3 young flip guys have a go at mugging me once out in a province. At 6ft 2 and 15 stone of english aggression they lost the bottle and run off like girls !! Its not normally in their culture to be an aggressor or confrontational.

I would agree with you that I did feel safe in the Manila area and that no one would dare mess with me....but that was during the day. Being out at night was a totally different story, you have to be vigilant on who's around you specially if your brave enough to take a jeepney or a bus or a group car service. I'm sure you can hold your own but not everyone can, specially when dealing with drug addicts carrying a knife or a gun. These guys don't mess around.
The other group that you do not want to mess with are the Filipino muslims, no matter how big of a bad ass you are.  I'll tell it like it is, I was visiting a friend who was in the ER and one of the surgical residents said half the ER was filled with patients  because of a confrontation with Filipino muslims. I'm not trying to give the Filipino muslims a bad name because I've met some in Cavite,  which is just outside Manila, that became friends, I'm just saying that if you do them wrong, it will be settled with swiftly and decisively  sometimes with guns blazing or with knives or machetes. The bottom line is, these guys don't mess around. I'm not trying to attack you, I just disagree on the statements that you made that might give expats the impression that Filipinos are push overs which could be a deadly mistake. I saw one guy in the ER that had his neck hacked with a machete but fortunately it was dull so it didn't cut all the way down to the bone and didn't sever any major artery.

Like I said I'll tell it like it is. There's a short cut from Makati to Tagaytay cutting through Alabang via Daan Hari to avoid traffic. It's normally safe during the day but at night it's a diffrent story specially if you are riding a van service with a group of people.It is specially more dangerous during the Christmas holidays because these criminals believe people carry more cash during this time.  Well, there's been some kidnappings on this road. It's been reported that the kidnappings are done not for ransom but for selling organs. The organs are taken from the victims while they are left to die.
It's a stereotyope that all the foreigners are loaded with cash, specially white foreigners. Even in the Philippines, I've been told by the locals that even the lighter shade of skin Filipinos are stereoptype as being well off and that they are also a target.
So, you can't assume anything when you're in a foreign country. You have to be careful because you will will definitely stick out specially if you are white. I posted this not to scare expats but to let people know what can happen here. Despite what I stated, this is still one of my favorite places to vacation. There is violence everywhere in the world. Some places are safer than others. Stay Safe!

lareyflyer wrote:

Hi

I have spent a lot of time in the Philippines and not once ever felt uneasy. Like I say to my friends you have got more chance of getting hurt or worse walking round the elephant and castle in london on a fri night than ever getting any trouble in the flips. I had 3 young flip guys have a go at mugging me once out in a province. At 6ft 2 and 15 stone of english aggression they lost the bottle and run off like girls !! Its not normally in their culture to be an aggressor or confrontational.

I think you were very lucky. A hungry man with a gun will make mincemeat of you...........

OneForTheRoad wrote:

lareyflyer wrote:

Hi

I have spent a lot of time in the Philippines and not once ever felt uneasy. Like I say to my friends you have got more chance of getting hurt or worse walking round the elephant and castle in london on a fri night than ever getting any trouble in the flips. I had 3 young flip guys have a go at mugging me once out in a province. At 6ft 2 and 15 stone of english aggression they lost the bottle and run off like girls !! Its not normally in their culture to be an aggressor or confrontational.

I think you were very lucky. A hungry man with a gun will make mincemeat of you...........

Amen to that!

I know that I might be going off topic here but be very aware of your surroundings when you're using an ATM.
I witnessed bodyguards shooting/killing robbers just a street ahead of me because these guys were planning to rob a couple after having withdrawn from an atm machine.
It was very scary.
I heard that the couple were merchants and they'd gotten a lot of money at that time.
They were even in a van travelling away from the atm when it happened and they were suddenly stopped by a couple of armed men on a motorcycle.
Oh, and this happened just outside my subdivision.

I don't want to frighten anyone but its better to be safe than sorry.