Safety in Philippines

@bizwizard
That is an interesting story. If you want advice I would suggest looking for a retired nurse or school teacher. Someone with plenty of patience.
-@Moon Dog

Agreed. Plenty on the online dating site Cherry Blossoms.
As I understand it the founder of this site was so impressed with his due diligence and the innocence & trustworthiness of its Filipina members that he gave it the name Cherry for a very good reason.
-@Lotus Eater

You can thank guys like bizwizard for keeping this forum alive with the drama of dating the big city girls. If everyone had a Cherry Blossoms girl like me they would be living happily ever after and the site would be too boring to exist. We owe a lot to the guys who come to Manila for a face to face meet up. I can't wait until the next one!

What I want to know is, how can anybody go out to the Philippines to meet 7 women in different cities without constantly getting messages or video calls from these women when you are with one of them? I mean how can you manage 7 at once without the one you are with at the time becoming suspicious?

Bizwizard - Most of what you have described has also happened to me, fake suicide and the married woman.
I have to admit that I did not know that it was not possible to get a divorce for filipinos over there until I read on this forum and investigated further and was duped a couple of times myself.

My ex also got her sister to message me to say she had committed suicide but I had my doubts right from the start and I even emailed my ex the same day I was told. The sister was not a very good liar and when the message popped up from her saying (THERE IS A PROBLEM), then the alarm bells got louder. I could imagine the problem, no money to bury her, people wanting to attend the funeral, costs for a big goodbye do, food, drink, etc.

I have learnt that you need to walk away from the woman if needed no matter how deep your feelings are for her. That is another thing, we go over to the Philippines for a few weeks to meet a woman and the relationship is accelerated by about 50 times. If we meet a woman in our own country we maybe see them 2 or 3 times a week for the first 3 to 6 months, take our time, spend other days with family and friends or play golf or indulge in whatever hobbies we have. Over there it is 24/7 for 2 or 3 weeks and we feel the need to rush things. Of course this is not helped when your filipina clings onto you and does not let you out of her sight.
-@Cherryann01

Salient points Cherryanne.

On my earlier business visits to Manila I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. On one occasion I was there for 3 weeks. Heck the hotel even printed me ‘In House’ business cards which came in useful but not for business purposes.
Meetings during the day and every night I would hit Café Havana in Greenbelt. Mondays were like Saturday nights here. 💃 My eye was taken by an attractive Salsa dancer there. It turned out she worked for an international advertising agency in Makati as a P.A. We’d only been dating for two days and she moved into my hotel room. Turned up with a hold-all one evening unexpectedly. She said she wanted to look after me while in the city. Never again.
-@Lotus Eater

You should audition for Strictly Come Dancing with your  new found Salsa Dancing Skills

What's the purpose of the fake suicide?

@sekmet No doubt to scam money. Like I said above my ex tried the same trick and I am sure the next move would have been to ask or beg for money for a coffin, burial fees, paying for family and friends to attend, food drink, etc.

What's the purpose of the fake suicide?
-@sekmet

Make the guy feel guilty,  have a reason to never communicate again.

Okay. It just seems like a win for the guy.

Okay. It just seems like a win for the guy.
-@sekmet

Not if the guy gets scammed into paying funeral costs

Bizwizard - Most of what you have described has also happened to me, fake suicide and the married woman.
I have to admit that I did not know that it was not possible to get a divorce for filipinos over there until I read on this forum and investigated further and was duped a couple of times myself.

My ex also got her sister to message me to say she had committed suicide but I had my doubts right from the start and I even emailed my ex the same day I was told. The sister was not a very good liar and when the message popped up from her saying (THERE IS A PROBLEM), then the alarm bells got louder. I could imagine the problem, no money to bury her, people wanting to attend the funeral, costs for a big goodbye do, food, drink, etc.

I have learnt that you need to walk away from the woman if needed no matter how deep your feelings are for her. That is another thing, we go over to the Philippines for a few weeks to meet a woman and the relationship is accelerated by about 50 times. If we meet a woman in our own country we maybe see them 2 or 3 times a week for the first 3 to 6 months, take our time, spend other days with family and friends or play golf or indulge in whatever hobbies we have. Over there it is 24/7 for 2 or 3 weeks and we feel the need to rush things. Of course this is not helped when your filipina clings onto you and does not let you out of her sight.
-@Cherryann01

Salient points Cherryanne.

On my earlier business visits to Manila I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. On one occasion I was there for 3 weeks. Heck the hotel even printed me ‘In House’ business cards which came in useful but not for business purposes.
Meetings during the day and every night I would hit Café Havana in Greenbelt. Mondays were like Saturday nights here. 💃 My eye was taken by an attractive Salsa dancer there. It turned out she worked for an international advertising agency in Makati as a P.A. We’d only been dating for two days and she moved into my hotel room. Turned up with a hold-all one evening unexpectedly. She said she wanted to look after me while in the city. Never again.
-@Lotus Eater
You should audition for Strictly Come Dancing with your new found Salsa Dancing Skills
-@Cherryann01

Yeah right. Null points for moi😂

@sekmet No doubt to scam money. Like I said above my ex tried the same trick and I am sure the next move would have been to ask or beg for money for a coffin, burial fees, paying for family and friends to attend, food drink, etc.
-@Cherryann01

You mean they would come back for a 2nd bite of the ‘Cherry’?😂

@sekmet No doubt to scam money. Like I said above my ex tried the same trick and I am sure the next move would have been to ask or beg for money for a coffin, burial fees, paying for family and friends to attend, food drink, etc.
-@Cherryann01

You mean they would come back for a 2nd bite of the ‘Cherry’?😂
-@Lotus Eater

Maybe I should have consulted the Ivo Stoneberg Detective Agency

It's safe here, in some areas are really good like in BGC.

You would be safe in Manila as long as you don't venture into one of the infamous "no-go zones", which could be only a block away. I went across the street from the US Embassy to order a pizza. There was an armed guard at the pizza joint! When I went into the bank there were 3 guards carrying 12 gauge riot guns! Everywhere I went there were armed guards! Many say it is not so bad, while living in a gated fortress or a condo with an armed guard at the door. If all the armed guards took the day off it would be like a piranha feeding frenzy!

I prefer to live in a province where there are zero "no-go zones". Our local municipal police have little to do besides busting motorcyclists for invalid registration and assisting the elderly. The photo is where we pick up our remittance and pay our electric bill. I copied it from Google Earth but it is still the same. Very serene, everyone knows each other, what I'm used to. There are no armed guards and no bullet proof glass. That would be unimaginable in the major cities but common place here. The largest city on the island is Naval. I've recently been to the PNB bank in Naval where the only armed guard is the doorman who carries a holstered revolver. The tellers are not in bulletproof cages and are only separated from customers by Covid era plexiglass screens.

Moon Dog said . . . .

There was an armed guard at the pizza joint! When I went into the bank there were 3 guards carrying 12 gauge riot guns! Everywhere I went there were armed guards!

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I've recently been to the PNB bank in Naval where the only armed guard is the doorman who carries a holstered revolver.

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Just think if you were back in the states the unarmed bank guard could have been an ex greeter from Walmart. He would probably smile and hold the door for any bank robber.

As the bank robber would be making his getaway the guard could be heard saying have a nice day, come back soon.

@Enzyte Bob More like Barney Fife, only allowed one bullet in his shirt pocket after almost shooting his foot off.

we are in cauayan and yes there are security guards in some stores, most banks and the SM mall, but no guns - empty holsters. They just want to make sure people do not steal stuff.

I am ok with that. The one time i visited Baguio there were armed guards everywhere. Bank guards had M16s and our McDonald's guard had a Beretta 9m and a BIG smile, haha, he opened the door for everyone. But i must say i felt pretty safe wherever I went. Just hoped they knew how to use the weapons if needed.

There are a lot of citizens that have guns, unlicensed guns.

@stuleer That's interesting, the lady guard at the Prince store in Naval wears an empty holster. I wonder what is the purpose?  I always thought she was saving up to buy a gun but only had enough pesos for the holster.

I recently passed a gun store in Tacloban City, The sign was advertising guns, ammo and pellet rifles. Who can legally buy or own guns in the Philippines?

Only Filipino citizens, foreigners forget the thought.

Cheers, Steve.

@stuleer

Just hoped they knew how to use the weapons if needed.

Pray you are never caught up in an armed robbery in the Philippines. The guards and even the military will shoot first and ask questions later. I think our American friends call it 'collateral damage' Remember the hijacking in 2010 of a bus with Chinese tourists in Manila?

@Cherryann01 Well its all so simple, you go to the PSA, Philippine Statistics Autorythy, take the woman you desire with you with a valid ID.Than apply for a certificate of no marriage record (cenomar) pay the fine, something like 100 oe 200 pesos and you have on paper that the woman who you are with is married or not.

https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistration/re … nt/cenomar

You can also go without her, but than you need her exact name, her adress and that of her parents and their full names to.

If you ask her to come and go there, and she refuges, you know what time it is. Dump her time.

On my first visit to Cagayan De Oro I used to visit Starbucks by the SM Mall for my morning coffee since my girlfriend at the time was working in a pharmacy most days. There was an armed guard at the entrance to the Mall but anybody could avoid security by entering Starbucks from the street entrance and exiting through the entrance in the Mall.

On my first visit to Cagayan De Oro I used to visit Starbucks by the SM Mall for my morning coffee since my girlfriend at the time was working in a pharmacy most days. There was an armed guard at the entrance to the Mall but anybody could avoid security by entering Starbucks from the street entrance and exiting through the entrance in the Mall.
-@Cherryann01

And how often Cherryanne are you in a queue to enter the mall. The security guard checks all the Filipinos bags but just wave the expat through 🤣

@Enzyte Bob More like Barney Fife, only allowed one bullet in his shirt pocket after almost shooting his foot off.

-@Moon Dog

There once was a deputy named Fife

Who had a gun and a knife

His gun was dusty

His knife was rusty

And he never caught a crook in his life

Author

(Opie)

Welcome to the forum AnRos.

We all make mistakes.

Cheers, Steve.