Is the Philippines a safe place?

I cannot speak to the safety concerns in any area of the Philippines aside from our area near Tagaytay, though I can say that my wife and I feel safe and comfortable in our little corner of the Philippines, with the recent bombings having made little difference in our area aside from an increase in police check points for a few days, though while out yesterday around the area taking care of business and those checkpoints are now gone.

With regard to the recent bombings and civil unrest in areas of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago Most media outlets  focus on what will bring them viewers and readers with a little embellishment at times to make it seem worse than it is.
That is not to say the the extremists issues are not serious or dangerous, they are, but we avoid that part of the country, we prefer not to tempt fate.

We live in southern Luzon about 10 minutes or so from Tagaytay and the area for us is peaceful and quiet with our neighborhood having had only issues with a couple of belligerent drunks in the last 3 years or so that were handled by the barangay officials.

I believe a little common sense  helps in keeping you safe and the majority of the problems, aside from the rebels, seems to be in high crime areas around nightclubs, strip bars, etc. When the sun goes down the vermin come out of their holes looking for victims and that seems to be the way of the world in most places. Your choice of lifestyles and care in choosing your friends can help or hurt you when it comes to safety.

Some folks have spoke about having bars on your windows and armed security guards at nearly every business. With regard to the security guards I believe that because of a lack of police patrols in any given area and slow response times that that is compensated for by the business hiring their own guards, a good idea and no doubt a deterrent to the average thief.  With regard to window grills. They seem common in many parts of the world and especially in a country like the PI where poverty is widespread and some folks may be tempted by that nice home with the new car in the driveway. The thief isn't going to rob the simple home because he know they have nothing of any real value to steal and sell for money or drugs, While the nice home with the new car will no doubt yield a bounty that is worth the risk.  So grates on the windows and a fence around the home seems to be common sense and offers a little more safety and a deterrent to the average thief.

We find our area to be safe and friendly and the neighbors and barangay officials definitely look out for each other.  When and if we no longer feel safe, we will leave, though a this point in time considering the state of the world it may be hard to find any place that you can call "safe".