That’s a fun game. I call it “bait the identity prude.”
[quote]
Most of the Filipinas (and Filipinos) I’ve met have been honest, hardworking people who marry for love, not ravenous gold diggers on the prowl for a meal ticket. I hope none of them are reading this thread…[/quote]
False dichotomy. Many women fall genuinely in love because of money, instead of being so shallow as to be swayed by looks or personality. Money is sexy.
While providing the services, you get 3 square meals a day. If you are relatively young, you can always find another John.[/quote]
I guess it beats being a domestic worker in Taiwan. Unless you marry a violent foreigner who beats you.[/quote]
Nice job guys. Let’s see how many condescending stereotypes we can trot out in a single thread. Most of the Filipinas (and Filipinos) I’ve met have been honest, hardworking people who marry for love, not ravenous gold diggers on the prowl for a meal ticket. I hope none of them are reading this thread…[/quote]
If they are really in love, why do they need to get married?
Marriage due to “love” often ends in grief. Marriage due to sexual attraction, money, power, etc also can end in grief.
Fact: many marriages end in grief, be they entered into for love, for money , for sex or whatever other reasons.
There isn’t much difference. Therefore who cares for what reason they are entered into?
[quote=“tommy525”]Marriage due to “love” often ends in grief. Marriage due to sexual attraction, money, power, etc also can end in grief.
Fact: many marriages end in grief, be they entered into for love, for money , for sex or whatever other reasons.
There isn’t much difference. Therefore who cares for what reason they are entered into?[/quote]
Excellent post Tommy!
It’s a challenge. I’m starting a little project there that I think may have social benefits, and it’s a lot of fun (unless I have to interact with Filipinos). If I can make it work there - where most people spend most of their day aiming a big gun at their foot, and repeatedly pulling the trigger - I can make it work anywhere. I’m especially curious to see what happens if people start to copy it and make money from it, and whether any workarounds will present themselves when the government arrives to put them back in their rightful place.
Also, it’s fascinating to observe the depths to which humanity can sink, given the right motivations. It’s instructive and sobering, and I suspect it’ll be useful when the zombie apocalypse arrives.
There are some very decent Filipinos. There are also enough stupid assholes to completely ruin everything for the decent ones. It’s about weight of numbers, not stereotyping an entire society.
I’ve never actually been to the tourist areas. No doubt they do attract the worst elements of society.
Exactly.
Because marriage is basically the only way a foreigner can live in the Philippines. There are other types of residency visa, but very few people get them (mostly because they involve giving the government vast sums of money). Employment visas are virtually unheard-of because it’s effectively illegal to employ foreigners, or for a foreigner to own a business, except under some extremely restricted circumstances.
It’s a challenge. I’m starting a little project there that I think may have social benefits, and it’s a lot of fun…
[/quote]
I’d love to hear more about this.
I mentioned something about it here:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … 8#p1617118
It’s a long, slow process. Everything in the Philippines has a very large spanner in the works. I won’t go into the details because it’s boring, and I don’t know who might be reading this. That place makes you paranoid.
The reason I think it has social value is that farming in the Philippines is mostly revenue-negative. That is, most farmers spend more on operating expenses than they get back in profits. They’re perennially in debt, and usually fund their operations by selling off their land, bit by bit, until there’s nothing left. The government makes things worse by encouraging them to use outdated and uneconomic methods. Since the average farmer has little or no education, they just do what they’re told and hope for the best, completely unaware that the entire system is deliberately set up to deprive them of their livelihood and their assets. Most of them spray pesticides with no safety equipment, and with no knowledge of what the chemicals are. Eventually it kills them.
I’ve been farming in Taiwan for some years now and I think I can translate my experience to the Philippines and a large piece of land. The main difference is that it’s a wet-dry tropical zone (as opposed to Northern Taiwan’s hybrid monsoon climate), and there is no functioning market economy. As I mentioned in the other post, it’s a lot like North Korea. The economy is deliberately hamstrung, so part of the challenge is to actually create a parallel economy (so that I get my farm output to consumers) that works and that can’t be shut down. That’s going to be a massive challenge. I don’t have high hopes of success, but like I said, it’s fun and educational. At worst, I’m hoping a few of the neighbours can see that what I do basically works (assuming it does!), and copy it.
Interesting. I thought foreigners weren’t allowed to own land in the Philippines.
They’re not, but they’re allowed to lease. The effective package of rights is the same.
The government, sadly, fails to understand that there is one big difference: leased land is far more likely to be abused by the lessee because he doesn’t need to care about what condition he leaves it in. Or maybe (as I suspect is true of most of the rules) this is another deliberate form of self-harm.
Hmm, sounds like a case of the elites rigging the system so the land and power stays in their hands in the long term. Here’s hoping your project doesn’t end in a Kurtz scenario!
You wouldn’t believe the half of it.
Well, like I said, the place does make you paranoid 
You wouldn’t believe the half of it.
Well, like I said, the place does make you paranoid [/quote]
I thought you were going to say you were opening a chain of discount gun shops.
Now, THAT’S a gold mine. 
[quote=“Rocket”]I thought you were going to say you were opening a chain of discount gun shops.
Now, THAT’S a gold mine. 
[/quote]
Nah. The market is already saturated. Walk down any street, and you’ll see retail establishments in this order of popularity:
which tells you something about social priorities, IMO.
[quote=“finley”][quote=“Rocket”]I thought you were going to say you were opening a chain of discount gun shops.
Now, THAT’S a gold mine. [/quote]
Nah. The market is already saturated. Walk down any street, and you’ll see retail establishments in this order of popularity:
which tells you something about social priorities, IMO.[/quote]
Oh yeah, I remember the other one, miniature replica NBA/Premiere League jerseys for the roosters to wear when they fight.
Huh?
Genius, yeah??
Amirite??
Oh yeah. 
Please tell me you’re making that one up.
I tend to avoid people who fight roosters, so I honestly wouldn’t know.
[quote=“finley”]Please tell me you’re making that one up.
I tend to avoid people who fight roosters, so I honestly wouldn’t know.[/quote]
No, for a business opportunity, man.
We could get stinkin Marcos rich!!!
I dunno, Rocket. It seems to me most businesses in the Philippines do quite well selling nothing at all. Marcos got rich by setting up smoke-and-mirrors businesses with no product and no purpose.
I’ve heard people do get rich with pig farms; Filipinos don’t eat much else except pork and rice. I’m not sure if they make the pigs wear jerseys or not.
[quote=“finley”]I dunno, Rocket. It seems to me most businesses in the Philippines do quite well selling nothing at all. Marcos got rich by setting up smoke-and-mirrors businesses with no product and no purpose.
I’ve heard people do get rich with pig farms; Filipinos don’t eat much else except pork and rice. I’m not sure if they make the pigs wear jerseys or not.[/quote]
I grew up on a farm.
Pretty hard to get pigs to fight, man, I dunno.
Wow!!! Being half filipina/japanese! This is shocking for me! I was born and raised in the philppines! And i am currently studying here! this is very upseting
Well singaporean here with good English!