Pelosi, Schumer To Trump: "Let's Debate Border Funds in Private"

[Dill]

(12-26-2018, 07:56 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Yes, I have. I have spent quite a bit of time in the Philippines. I met my wife there. Typically when something is stolen, it was done by a neighbor.  For example, walk the neighborhood after your TV is stolen and you'll find it, cause someone will be bragging about their new TV. Confront them and they will give you the name of the person that sold it to them, follow that one and it's the same, name after name after name and the cops won't do anything cause you have no proof. .....

What would you like to know? The Spanish ruled over them for about 3-400 years (can't recall exactly the number of years), so many of the people have Spanish names, Some of their words are slight variations of Spanish, for example. Kamusta vs Como este, Kape vs Café, Guwapo vs Guapo. It is also considered a Christian Nation (Catholic), but the Southern Islands (Mindanao) is heavily populated by Muslims and usually heavily advised by the Embassy to not travel to.

I love the food. One of the homes I stayed in didn't have running water. you had to pump it your self if you wanted a bath.
I've lived in Mindoro Occidental (poor area), Manila (big city, but sucks, black dust everywhere), Cebu (nice city and wife and I own and are still buying more land there), Toledo (north of Cebu, poor but at least it had running water).

Wife grew up in the Cemetary Slums of Alaya in Cebu. Not a nice place to be. One of her Uncles just got gunned down last month. Guess he owed someone money. EDIT, all he had on him was 50 pesos, which is like $1 usd and they took it.

Oh and you are frisked before you are allowed to enter a Mall, there is also Guards with Shotguns on every block (banks, fast food restaurants, etc).

but anyways? you?

Thanks for the many-sided response. What I would like to know is, are the crime and poverty rates uniform throughout the islands or do you see variations from north to south,  urban to rural areas, and across ethnic/linguistic boundaries? Two contrasting examples of such variations would be interesting to hear about, if you have noticed any. May have more specific questions then. Almost forgot, any changes across time, e.g. pre-Duterte vs the present?

Second, so far as you can tell, is there any pronounced difference in behavior between U.S. and Filipino poor when it comes to burglary/crime? Or is the primary difference you point to regarding the police response? (Trying to assess what you mean by "mentality"--norms maybe, or what is accepted as such?)

Finally, in the post to which I originally responded, were you extending your experience in the Philippines to Central America?  Did you observe local politicians taking aid money, building themselves homes, etc., and then presume the same was happening in Guatemala or El Salvador?  Also, are you assuming security and poverty levels are similar to the Philippines?  The murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 55.52 in the Honduras, for example, as opposed to 11 in the Philippines.

I have spent about 6 years living or otherwise staying/traveling in developing countries, not all of them poor though. I just returned from Cambodia, which is VERY poor, but where, at least in Phnom Penh neighborhoods I am familiar with, a tv thief would be accorded justice by the local community.  There is theft but mostly of tourist property; very unlikely for people in a neighborhood to steal from each other.  Poor in Cambodian villages still maintain a kind of village ethic of caring for one another--like pooling money so some one can get a motorbike or even go to college. This carries into the city as well, where individual neighborhoods grow into organic communities.  Sounds like the situation is very different in the Philippines, if someone can steal a tv from a community member and brag about a new tv.   Some info from you about your Philippine experience could help me better understand how poverty may actually be lived very differently in different countries.