Over the years I have witnessed some horrific situations where innocent people were punished by the Philippine system and in many cases all their wealth taken from them.
Innocent Foreigner, 3 cases against him, 2 dismissed the final one according to his Attorney would also be dismissed. Attorney told him he did not need to attend. (Convicted in Absentia). Months later his attorney arranged a meeting with him and the NBI turned up to arrest him to serve his one year sentence in Jail. There was no way to appeal this. WHAT A SET UP - the attorney knew and did this deliberately.
A foreigner having just ended a 10 year relationship with his Thai Girlfriend, went to the Philippines with his mate who invited him, Puerto Galera. met a girl, After a couple of weeks she asked him to take her to his country and he agreed. He left that month October, then she applied for a visa for herself and her mother, travelled to his country in December, they married in january, then in February returned to the Philippines to apply for her permanent visa.
On arrival after clearing immigration he asked his wife to wait for him in the luggage area near Immigration while he went to the ATM to get money to pay for the extension on his visa.
When he returned his wife was being interrogated and he was told to wait. After 10 minutes he was arrested for people trafficking, detained, spent 3 years in detention and cost him $900,000 USD in bribes and costs. His wife was detained by DSWD for this time and testified that he was kind to her and she was in love with him and travelled voluntarily. It still took the court 3 years to finally allow him out on bail, all because the prosecutor had not been paid and his wife had told them how much money he had in his bank.
When I first went to the Philippines in 1986 I was warned about this by my travel agent who was married to a Filipina.
He told me not to do business in the Philippines and to be very careful what you do, where you go and who you are with.
I was also warned about many different scams;
Over the years, I witnessed or observed or was told about or met people that had these experiences.
WARNINGS I WILL GIVE
Philippine law is virtually word for word taken from the American law. However they Philippines has put their own twist on it:
Philippine law states that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty BUT This is not the case. You are always guilty until you prove you are not. Then you still have to pay to be released.
Evidence is anything they like. It does not have to be real. Affidavits can be fake but ok. Delivery of a subpoena can be to any address so long as they state "last known address" so they can proceed with a case without you ever knowing it existed. There is no responsibility for the Prosecutor to deliver the subpoena to you.
If you do not attend the court you will be convicted in Absentia even if you are innocent;
Attorneys will make the case go on for as long as possible to make as much money from you to maximise their earnings.
Court staff will demand a payment from you to release your bond and usually expect to be paid 20% of you bond to them.
When you are finally found to be innocent and the case is either dismissed or you are acquitted this is temporary for 2 years. After that it becomes permanent. HOWEVER, at any time during the temporary period the case can be reopened.
SO IF SOMEONE has made a false case against you, if you make a case against them they can reactivate the case against you and you can be rearrested and detained again.
IF you do not pay the people who make the case against you, they will not withdraw the case regardless of whether it was false in the first place.
If a charge is made against you and you are innocent there is no way to punish the Filipino making the case. IF you challenge them they are protected by the law and you end up back in Jail.
THIS information is for those travelling to the Philippines to give an understanding of how the Philippine legal system works (or doesn't work)
1. Do not think the police will give you any protection or help you in times of need. If you are the victim of a crime there will be little you can do about it (don't call the police)
2. If you are charged with a crime of any sort, regardless if you are innocent or not, expect to spend a lot of time in Detention
3. Before you will be allowed out of Detention you will need to pay your attorney ridiculous amounts for doing little or nothing, then pay the prosecutor and judge to grant the bail (That is if the crime allows for bail)
4. Do not ever be caught alone anywhere with a child under 18. Doesn't matter if it is your girlfriend's child or not - this is a serious crime with a penalty of life imprisonment and no bail on the charges
5. Do not lend money to a Filipino. You will never get it back. Once you give it the thinking is " he/she lent me the money knowing I could not pay it back so it is their problem not mine and I don't have to pay it."
6. Never trust any document you are given in the Philippines.
7. The legals system knows all about everyone and they act when it suits them to gain financially from it.
8. There are no good Judges or Attorneys in the Philippines.
9. Most policemen cannot be trusted to do their job.
10. any incident has to be resolved in the courts and if it is you, the Filipino will not be detained but you will
11. If ever you are detained you will lose all communication rights. Your phone, laptop will be taken from you and you will have to rely on someone knowing you are in Jail to visit and to help you.
12. Hearings are always reset and it takes months to get to a hearing.
13. If they do not like you or just want to keep you there, your hearings will be reset all the time or no hearing will be set unless you get your embassy involved.
14. Never cause harm to any Filipino even in self defence. You will be the one charged.
15. If a Filipino steals from you it is ok for them. The system will not help you.
16. If a Filipino makes a charge against you, no matter what it is, you will be the one to suffer. The court
will see you as an ATM card to extract money from
The court will classify you as a "High Profile Case" meaning you are worth a lot of money to them.
Judges and prosecutors have weekly meetings to boast about how much money they have made
from the defendants. It is a pride situation and great status for the one who has the highest amount
17. All foreigners, no matter what your circumstances, will be thought to be rich by the Filipinos
18. The allowance for food in the Jails is 65 pesos a day to the warden who spends about 25-30 only.
So you have rice and one small fish and cheap vegetable (same every day)
19. Prosecutors (attorneys prosecuting the case) have more power than the judge and the Judge needs their permission to either withdraw the case or declare the defendant acquitted.
20. If you have a choice of holiday destination choose somewhere else other than the Philippines - the risks are way too high in the Philippines for foreigners.
21. A Filipino will never admit to being in the wrong.
22. Accommodation is always overpriced
23. Food is overpriced
24. Service is ordinary at best.
On the other side:
Filipinos are friendly people, there are many nice places to go and they speak English.
The Filipino women are mostly very good people and great partners.
Filipino males cannot be trusted in general although I do have a few I would trust with my life.
Moderated by Priscilla 4 years ago
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