[SeaGypsy]

Probably most of you have heard about the trajic slaughter of 57 journalists and political supporters in a convoy travelling to lodge intention to run in a mayoral election in the Philippines.

Next year is a national election year. There will be much more bloodshed.

President Gloria Arroyo has garnered favour with petty oligarks throughout the country by tolerating absolute and utter corruption. The country is so corrupt it is almost unfathomable. There are many convicted and sentenced criminals holding office; especially Mayorships.

My wife called me today at work and told me that the power has been cut off for a week. The reason: the mayor's son runs the provincial electricity company. The mayor has been fighting a conviction for corruption with a 30 to 90 year sentence attached to it since 2003. Recently he lost a last ditch appeal to the Sandigbayan or full bench of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He was ordered to begin serving his 90 year sentence immediately. Problem is; he is a friend of the President. Friends of the President don't go to jail. Even for murder. So now the Sandigbayan want to override the PNP and go to arrest him themselves. This could mean another massacre.

I have spent the whole evening here trying to find a shred of a story about this and there has been nothing in the media since his appeal was rejected. There is nobody left to appeal to. But he was allowed to walk out of court on the 16th of October and is now holding about 1 million people to ransom. None of this is getting into the media anywhere. All the attention is on this one case of the recent hideous massacre.

I have decided I must expedite extraction of my wife and child from the Philippines. I think the country could turn into a civil war during the process of elections next year.

How is this relevant to peak oil? Perhaps a glimpse of the future when a days work buys less than a gallon of fuel. That's the reality there. But there are still mansions being built by 2 classes of people. The overseas worker and the corrupt official. What happens when peak oil kills off remittances to the Philippines? There will 100% certain be massive civil unrest and revolution.

Anyone with connections in the Philippines should be worried right now.

[mos6507]

The country has already been in a low-level civil war, or haven't you heard of Abu Sayyaf?

[SeaGypsy]

Abu Sayef control a very small proportion of the whole country, along with MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) they are contained in the far south of Mindanao. A far bigger problem in the long run is th NPA (New People's Army) who have widespread support accross the whole country at the grass roots level and are basicly Marxist.
The Philippines is propped up by remittances and money laundering. Without these the country is finished; it will be taken over by either China or again by the USA.
Itis not widely known but there are millions of Muslims spread throughout the Philippines who manage to live peaceably without kidnapping anyone or blowing people up.

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I') have spent the whole evening here trying to find a shred of a story about this and there has been nothing in the media since his appeal was rejected. --snip-- None of this is getting into the media anywhere. All the attention is on this one case of the recent hideous massacre.

[SeaGypsy]

Good points FL.
It's that paradox thing again. Situations you could write a book about but never explain fully.
Possibly the scariest thing is how the media is being manipulated so expertly around the globe these days.
Maybe more scary than outright chaos and revolution.
Personally I hate murederers rapists and child tamperers; to me these are lower than the lowest vermin in the universe. The scum who did the deed in the news recently were all 3. To see the leader of the scum walking around without a bruise or handcuffs riles me in the extreme. He already killed another guy years ago when he went to run against him; everyone knew who did it/ nothing happened. Since then he has been at the presidents house for dinner many times.
The whole thing makes me want to puke.
There are a lot of very good people in the Philippines.
They deserve better.

[Sixstrings]

This is what happens to a country when income disparity gets out of hand. Massive corruption sets in, the rule of law breaks down, and ultimately the rich are worse off than if they hadn't been so darn greedy in the first place.

This is the trajectory of the United States. First the globalists will make us into another Mexico, then another Philippines. After all, is there really all that much difference between Goldman Sachs and old Imelda and her shoe collection?

Best of luck Sea Gypsy..

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'T')his is what happens to a country when income disparity gets out of hand. Massive corruption sets in, the rule of law breaks down, and ultimately the rich are worse off than if they hadn't been so darn greedy in the first place.

This is the trajectory of the United States. First the globalists will make us into another Mexico, then another Philippines. After all, is there really all that much difference between Goldman Sachs and old Imelda and her shoe collection?

Best of luck Sea Gypsy..

[janeword]

It's terrible when you feel you must emigrate. But it's better to do it when you have the choice.

[JJ]

SeaGypsy, good luck emigrating. Hopefully Oz isn't as f&cked as the US is; I spent a year trying to get Bing in the country (lived in Mindanao at that time) after we were married, and finally had to get a congressman (Bill Young) to issue her a visa, since our efforts at immigration were hopeless. THEN INS here in Texas said she was here illegally, I messed with them for five years, while fighting to get her son here (denied five times). I have nothing but contempt for the US INS. Never had any trouble with muslims there though. (Almost all muslim where I lived). Jay

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', 'S')eaGypsy, good luck emigrating. Hopefully Oz isn't as f&cked as the US is; I spent a year trying to get Bing in the country (lived in Mindanao at that time) after we were married, and finally had to get a congressman (Bill Young) to issue her a visa, since our efforts at immigration were hopeless. THEN INS here in Texas said she was here illegally, I messed with them for five years, while fighting to get her son here (denied five times). I have nothing but contempt for the US INS. Never had any trouble with muslims there though. (Almost all muslim where I lived). Jay

[SeaGypsy]

Updating:
currently over 1 million people are being starved of power and communications in the province of Zambales.
A total media blackout on the subject exists. I have spent hours trolling the net looking for any reference in news sites etc but nothing outside of a handfull of anecdotes from people nearby I found on social networking sites.
Just slightly freaking out here.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')he Philippines is propped up by remittances and money laundering. Without these the country is finished; it will be taken over by either China or again by the USA.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')My wife called me today at work and told me that the power has been cut off for a week.
I have decided I must expedite extraction of my wife and child from the Philippines. I think the country could turn into a civil war during the process of elections next year.

How is this relevant to peak oil? Perhaps a glimpse of the future when a days work buys less than a gallon of fuel. That's the reality there.

[SeaGypsy]

The place is chocka with people Pretorian; it is also spitting distance to China and full of minerals which have barely begun to be exploited. There is open access to contraception despite the Catholic push; only over the last couple of years.

Short; 1st I am dual national Australian American. However I have zero interest in America and will never live there again. I haven't set foot there since gulf war 1 ended April 22 1991. In the long run I think the USA will be just as dangerous as anywhere. Despite her massive wealth she is still extremely violent compared to any other wealthy country.

2nd: The Philippines does have a very functional judicial system when it comes to dealing with wealthy people and foreigners. The central problem is local nepotism overrides the will of the highest courts in the land.

3rd; I love the place. That's why my wife and baby are still there. The family I married into is very nice and supportive. My wife has far more support from her family with having a young baby than any mother I have ever seen in any western country. The lifestyle we can afford there is very good compared to what we could afford here. I and my family are very safe personally there. We have connections at the highest levels in the province. I would far rather live there than in the USA for instance.

What gets me down is that the country is precariously close to litterally falling apart into a conglomerate of regions with no national authority at all. When my wife and child come here we will still be spending 1/3rd of our time over there; unless TSHTF in which case we are all on the next plane out of there.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')Short; 1st I am dual national Australian American. However I have zero interest in America and will never live there again.

[JJ]

oh what a sticky wicket. Both countries (US, Philippines) have their advantages and disadvantages. I've have far worse physical violence bestowed upon me in the good ol USA than in the Philippines, but it could have been the other way around. Likewise, I doubt I would have had life saving brain surgery in the Philippines; it was done rather quickly here. There certainly is a more close nit social system there, but I always wondered if this wasn't out of necessity is light of the rampant poverty. Lack of family there is almost certain starvation, no food stamps or UE or free medical care, etc. Or to put it more succinctly, my wife says simply. If you don't have any money you die. Lots of gold there; my kid brought home a huge chunk he got from his uncle a few years ago. Likewise, the US stored our China bound nuclear warheads there until they got sick of it and threw us out. I don't think the US cared as much about the 92,000,000 people as they did a place to park our bottle rockets. They also are the worlds second largest exporter of Marijuana, i believe (even though when the plane lands they give you a mimeographed piece of paper that says Philippine statute blahblah prescribes death penalty to drug traffickers (I suppose thats only the poor ones).

edited for spelling

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', ' ')my wife says simply. If you don't have any money you die.

[SeaGypsy]

Finally I found some detail on what is going on where my wife is:

Zambales towns still without power

SEVEN of the 13 towns in Zambales have been experiencing total or partial blackout since Friday morning after workers of the local power supplier walked out.


Authorities said some 500,000 residents from 60,000 households are affected by the power outages in Subic, Castillejos, San Marcelino, San Antonio, San Narciso, San Felipe and Cabangan.


Workers walked from their respective posts in support of officials of the Zambales Electric Cooperative (ZAMECO II) who vacated their offices in response to the court order affirming the petition filed by the previous ZAMECO officials.


Zameco II interim board chairman Dominador Gallardo received the writ of injunction order issued by Olongapo City RTC Branch 75 Judge Raymond Viray which orders Gallardo and his other officials to vacate their offices giving way to the former officials to assume their duties.


“Nakakalungkot dahil malinaw na isang panig lamang ang pinakinggan ng hukom,” said Gallardo.


In support to Gallardo and his group, workers from all Zameco II offices in the seven municipalities, including those from the Sub-Station in Castillejos, walked out from their posts.


Rumors spread that some Zameco II employees in Castillejos took equipment from the power sub-station which caused the brownout. Ruben A. Veloria - Peoples Journal


Anyway the power is being restored as i write this.
Funny thing is it was an expat friend of mine with a multimeter who discovered the original fraud. They were supposed to be supplying 220 volts but were actually supplying 190 to 200. They pocketed the difference.
The mayor is still not in jail; his son is involved but it's a long and complicated story.
It looks like we will be able to talk tonight on skype.

I found that there are far less beggars in the Philippines than in the USA. Also that the beggars are happy with a far smaller donation. They need to quit doubling the population every 30 years for sure.

Pretorian; I think the jails in the Philippines are nowhere near as bad as many other countries in Asia or Latin America or Africa. It is nearly impossible to end up in jail if you have a bit of money and some basic common sense along with good manners. It's easy to get dead if you upset the wrong people.

[JJ]

SG, went up to the consolate in Cebu once to get a visa extension, saw a bunch of white boys behind bars. It really didn't look like a place I wanted to be.

here ya go, Pretorian...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', 'S')G, went up to the consolate in Cebu once to get a visa extension, saw a bunch of white boys behind bars. It really didn't look like a place I wanted to be.. here ya go, Pretorian... [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o]link