@hippy a good site about the philippines that offers and alternative view is Get Real Philippines! It is somewhat biased in the negative, but does offer a view into the problems most developing nations face.
PH is a good place, and if u know what u are doing is very safe. But it is not very user friendly. Situations in USA which are perfectly safe can be down-right dangerous here, and vice versa. It is advisable that you travel with a trusted filipino who can guide you. Simple things like crossing the street can be very dangerous
Probably if USA stopped all foreign aid to 3rd world countries and just did outsourcing it probably would help the average person a lot more. The thing is when the OFW (overseas foreign worker) sends money back, it goes to where it is needed. While most foreign aid is lost due to corruption, gov't bureracacy and just plain stupidity.
Prime example is construction of a nuclear power plant in PH (funded by the US when marcos was in power). The power plant was completed but fortunately was never powered up. Meanwhile billions of dollars wasted. Like gee, lets go build a nuclear power plant in a place which has a zillion insurgent groups, an unstable gov't and probably the inability to operate the plant properly. I honestly wonder which american politician's bright idea it was to construct a nuclear power plant in PH, like what the fuk was he thinking Meanwhile USA gets upset when iran tries to build a nuclear power plant .
Even simple things. Like digging a large hole for a foundation of a building. If you rent a backhoe it will cost you like $50/hour, meanwhile for $50 you can hire like 8 guys who will dig the hole for you in one day.
So an american foreign aide project might involve modernizing a farm, with tractors etc. It makes absolutely silly, when the most farmers niether have the money nor knowhow to fix the tractor when it breaks down, and because of cheap labour it is much more economical to have 1 man with a buffalo to plow the field.
Anyway i have deviated a bit. Back to the iraq issue. Most problems are caused by failure to communicate. This is not so much an issue of failure to understand english per say, but a cultural difference.
In america if you leave ur door open on your house, unless a burglar comes in, most people will "respect your property". In PH especially in the rural areas an open door means people are free to enter and leave. So an american leaves his door open, and then is shocked to see 10 people sitting in his living room watching TV.
When america occupies other countries, they build huge bases, on the bases it is like being in a little USA. They never really interact with the locals, and they always think that the american way is the correct way and all other ways are stupid (i am generalizing). For british/Oz/Canadian troops this is not as much a problem since they inter-act with the locals much more.
The consequence is that what americans may consider polite/proper behaviour in other countries is rude/insulting. And vice versa. This leads to all sorts of problems. A prime example is an american who lives 500m away from me (to be honest he is a very nice guy, just mis-understood). He has all sorts of problems with the locals. To the extent that someone even shot at his house. Ofcourse there is always a few hot-heads in the crowd, they will state stuff like typical americano, always thinking he can boss people arround. This adds gasoline to the fire. As a result the locals get more rowdy, the american attempts to retaliate (somehow they always seem to have the mindset that everything should be like in USA). Unfortunately sometimes the situation gets out of hand, and the american ends up another statistic
.
PH is a good place, and if u know what u are doing is very safe. But it is not very user friendly. Situations in USA which are perfectly safe can be down-right dangerous here, and vice versa. It is advisable that you travel with a trusted filipino who can guide you. Simple things like crossing the street can be very dangerous
Probably if USA stopped all foreign aid to 3rd world countries and just did outsourcing it probably would help the average person a lot more. The thing is when the OFW (overseas foreign worker) sends money back, it goes to where it is needed. While most foreign aid is lost due to corruption, gov't bureracacy and just plain stupidity.
Prime example is construction of a nuclear power plant in PH (funded by the US when marcos was in power). The power plant was completed but fortunately was never powered up. Meanwhile billions of dollars wasted. Like gee, lets go build a nuclear power plant in a place which has a zillion insurgent groups, an unstable gov't and probably the inability to operate the plant properly. I honestly wonder which american politician's bright idea it was to construct a nuclear power plant in PH
, like what the fuk was he thinking Meanwhile USA gets upset when iran tries to build a nuclear power plant .Even simple things. Like digging a large hole for a foundation of a building. If you rent a backhoe it will cost you like $50/hour, meanwhile for $50 you can hire like 8 guys who will dig the hole for you in one day.
So an american foreign aide project might involve modernizing a farm, with tractors etc. It makes absolutely silly, when the most farmers niether have the money nor knowhow to fix the tractor when it breaks down, and because of cheap labour it is much more economical to have 1 man with a buffalo to plow the field.
Anyway i have deviated a bit
. Back to the iraq issue. Most problems are caused by failure to communicate. This is not so much an issue of failure to understand english per say, but a cultural difference. In america if you leave ur door open on your house, unless a burglar comes in, most people will "respect your property". In PH especially in the rural areas an open door means people are free to enter and leave. So an american leaves his door open, and then is shocked to see 10 people sitting in his living room watching TV
.When america occupies other countries, they build huge bases, on the bases it is like being in a little USA. They never really interact with the locals, and they always think that the american way is the correct way and all other ways are stupid (i am generalizing
). For british/Oz/Canadian troops this is not as much a problem since they inter-act with the locals much more.The consequence is that what americans may consider polite/proper behaviour in other countries is rude/insulting. And vice versa. This leads to all sorts of problems. A prime example is an american who lives 500m away from me (to be honest he is a very nice guy, just mis-understood). He has all sorts of problems with the locals. To the extent that someone even shot at his house. Ofcourse there is always a few hot-heads in the crowd, they will state stuff like typical americano, always thinking he can boss people arround. This adds gasoline to the fire. As a result the locals get more rowdy, the american attempts to retaliate (somehow they always seem to have the mindset that everything should be like in USA). Unfortunately sometimes the situation gets out of hand, and the american ends up another statistic
.
