Forgot in my reply to Jim to mention thieves are all over the Philippines. Thus high fences around homes all over the country ­— not exclusive to Angeles City/Clark. That’s one of the reasons living in a gated subdivision is more pleasant as gated communities attempt to model high trust societies we’re accustomed to (presuming those inside the gates are more trustworthy). But it’s not nothing like Mexico, c.f. also! (←click those links) Latin Americans are emboldened to mug you. Filipinos would much prefer to steal when you’re not looking. Asians are much, much less confrontational. But if you are too far off the beaten path down in Mindanao or some mountainous area in Luzon, it’s possible to be kidnapped where no one else is around to witness the incident. Also it’s possible to get the shit beaten out of you (as happened to me) right in front of everyone, if it’s not clear if you were being abusive and arrogant to Filipinos. Never insult the pride of Asian, especially not in front of others (and not without very polite, reassuring, careful considered wording even if you rebuke in private as), otherwise you’ll vacate their “saving face” cultural restraint.

Filipinos are family-first, local tribe/clan second, and otherwise don’t trust other Filipinos. Filipinos trust and respect foreigners very much, sometimes too much which enables despicable foreigners to take advantage of gullible Filipinas. But there’s many street-smart Filipinas who are manipulating traumatized, black-pilled, nihilistic, defeatist, fatalistic expats and foreigners in virtual Internet “relationships”. The Lord has given us an excellent opportunity to do his work here in the Philippines since we are highly trusted here. So far I observe/presume Jim is too focused on earthly ambitions and not spiritually enough focused, which appears to motivate his authoritarian tendencies. Also he presumes others are idiots when he doesn’t understand their points. Then he proceeds to censor. No wonder he can’t build a larger audience when he censors smart, reasonable discussion.

Jim is “mildly surprised” that I survived for so long with my risky, carefree (brave? stupid?) activities in Mindanao for the past ~25 years. I was probably in much less danger than he might be, because:

1. I’m only 5’7” tall with a few percent of Cherokee native genes. Thus I resemble a mestizo Filipino more than other taller Europeans do. I have always appeared to be about 10 years younger than my actual age, e.g. appeared to be 16 when I was age 26. So up until very recently I looked too boyish to be considered a wealthy businessman target. Circa ~2011 at age 46 I stopped roaming and stayed always inside the house due to chronic illness.

2. I understand and relate to the heart and feelings of the Filipino. Filipinos can feel/ sense my sincerity. A simple, sincere smile can cultivate a lot of friends in the Philippines who are then implicitly protecting you just because they happen to paying attention to you, which demotivates the criminals from acting out where they might be seen by the local community.

3. I don’t flaunt wealth, especially not in Mindanao. I don’t even wear a watch. My ex told me that all her friends and relatives thought I was poor because I dressed in the same short pants, tank top, and slippers everyday.

4. Although I no longer run ~4.5 seconds for a 40 yard dash as I did in my 20s, I probably could still run 5 secs if adrenaline is on full throttle.

I replied:

Jim replied:

Bob replied:

Would you say expats might be a group more likely to recognize the Cathedral? […]

My perhaps partial and unrepresentative perception of expats is that in substantial part they either think of themselves as refugees from the Cathedral, or are likely to easily come to that conclusion.

Currently my anecdotal experience/observations are that expats are the antithesis of a restoration force stored abroad. We’re traumatized, disillusioned and just trying to GTFO of the system/sickness. Most of us are in no way capable of organizing anything other than telling a[asking our] pinay to fetch our breakfast San Miguel.

Whether that will change and new breed of expats will embrace the opportunity I identified in my blog, remains to be seen. I note some few Youtube vloggers who seem to be in China doing businesses other than just promoting travel to China.

There were some American expats involved in outsourcing business in the Philippines. The S&R Warehouse is a Costco-like chain in the Philippines (originally at least) 40% owned by Americans. Perhaps I should consult with the American Business Chamber in the Philippines to get some better statistics on American businessmen in the Philippines. Mostly I see Korean investment. with my naked eye.

One problem has been that Americans could only own up to 40% of the business. Duterte is attempting to change the Constitution to allow foreigners to own their investments in certain sectors of the economy [←read the draft law at the previously linked article], because he understands the dynasties are retarding the development of the Philippines. I wrote to them in 2018 about related topics and received an official response from Secretary Pineda the head of NEDA.

I wrote on this blog:

Duterte is hinting that if the Constitution isn’t changed to a Federal system similar to the U.S.A. republic to eliminate political dynasties (yet with authoritarian tenets such as the suspension of habeas corpus and no enshrined gun rights), then a military coup d’etat may be imminent because of the rampant corruption in the country. Duterte admires former strong-man dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Any such coup d’etat will only be one that Duterte agrees to. Hmm. The most recent press release indicates a focus on formalizes revenue sharing with LGUs and opening up investment to foreigners (presumably to compete with dynasties). So it appears that Duterte et al are scheming to open up the Philippines to Chinese investment. If they don’t get it via the democratic process, they’ll resort to a military coup d’etat. Apparently Duterte will have built up so much political capital with the Filipinos, that they’ll support whatever he has to do.

I blogged in Trump Assassinated in 2022? Civil War by 2026?:

For example as of today the Philippines is threatening to make it much more difficult for American tourists, if the U.S.A. proceeds with its holier-than-thou crusade. Armstrong has also as early as 2015 (or even as early as 2013 preceding the Ukrainian Revolution) predicted the end of the era of international travel (c.f. also, also, also, also, also, also), because of this global 1857.6 year collapse cycle (think 1000 year flood event) in health, religious, ideological, political, economic, and monetary crisis which is developing. Armstrong blogged How Empires Collapse – A Orderly Path to Conclusion? about how empires always collapse from within.

[…]

Tangentially, someone made me aware of Why Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Distrusts The U.S. and US soldiers pose with the bodies of Moro insurgents, Philippines, 1906:

The bodies of Moro insurgents and civilians killed by US troops during the Battle of Bud Dajo in the Philippines, March 7, 1906.

I don’t have time to dig for it, but many years ago I read about the history of Mindanao, and it was the violent mess of warlords that still persists to this day in the Muslim regions, c.f. also, also, also. In the 19th and even into the 20th century, every man in Mindanao carried multiple knives strapped on varies parts of his body to be prepared for attacks. Even today if you drive through Muslim Mindanao you will see male children carrying automatic rifles. Let me quote some comments from the above linked 1906 massacre article:

"the men used children as living shields." Yes Stephen the same is going on today, Hamas, ISIS, the palestinians any number of terrorist groups are using Human Shields to avoid being attacked so if they are, they can get empathy from ill informed and misguided individuals such as yourself […]

[…]

I do have to agree with Ed Stephens that I do Muslims do not assimilate well. all the countries where there are loads of Muslim refugees there are assaults on women, as can be seen in Denmark and Germany. Still, as Ian Stevenson states, killing children is very sad indeed, it is not their fault that the parents follow the Muslim religion, though the Muslim religion is not so nice to their girls (daughters) as can be seen with all the honor killings such as in Canada. No matter what. Islam is not a religion of peace […]

[…]

Little tidbit of Philippine History, seems DU30 forgot about it or just did't want to mention it.

On 24 September 1974, in the Malisbong massacre the Armed Forces of the Philippines slaughtered about 1,500 Moro Muslim civilians who were praying at a mosque, in addition to mass raping Moro girls who had been taken aboard a boat

[…]

It seems this picture stirs up a lot of emotions, especially against the US. So using it as a benchmark then the US would be well below Japan and the current Philippines President Dutarte in terms of numbers of deaths, and currency; this last year Dutarte has ordered the killings of 7000 people. They were all somebody's children. The picture is terrible, of course it is. But it's over a hundred years ago. Since then well over a hundred million people have been killed in conflicts all over the world, including nearly 1 million Filipinos in ww2, at the hands of the Japanese, who committed far more atrocities on The Philippines than all others that came before them. Since then both regular Filipinos and Moros have committed multiple atrocities on each other as late as last year.

Let’s not forget what happened in Leyte wherein the Americans offered a reward for every “head” of Japanese captured or killed and brought to the American base. The Waray Filipinos brought in only the heads. The American military had to change the wording of the bounty to “head and body”.

Let’s not forget that Filipino youth gang attacked me and bludgeoned out my eye with stones and G.I. pipes right in front the police station in non-Muslim Angeles City (on the main Tagalog island of Luzon) across from SkyTrax disco (the same police station that is still there now although it no longer extends all the way to the corner of Fields Ave).

All of the nicest infrastructure in the Philippines where economic activity now concentrates was built by the Americans or Japanese. Angeles City is booming because of the American investment of Clark Air Base. Ditto Subic Bay. Ditto Cagayan de Oro and the road the Americans cut through to jungle to Bukidnon wherein the Dole pineapple plantation was established in the cool highlands of Manolo Fortich. Ditto Davao which was a base for the Japanese during WW2. Zamboanga City has a fort that was built by the Spanish.

The native Filipinos if left alone would do mostly nothing but get drunk and fornicate. Tribal attacks on farmers would be routine. It’s the Chinese merchants who run the country and keep the lights turned on. Sorry to say, and I know Filipinos might get offended, but these are the facts from an American who has lived half his life in Philippines (mostly in Mindanao). Let’s not conflate the naturally lawless Filipino natives with my Cherokee ancestors who were ostensibly more civilized and willing for peaceful restitution with the corrupt USG.

Presumably the Muslims in 1906 were employing the mountains and the local civilian population as a refuge from which to launch raids against the economic development activities (e.g. mechanized farming, building roads) of the Americans on the islands. In 2009, a foreigner friend of mine and I even tried to invest, farm, and live up in the mountains around Davao where Duterte’s mother lived and our experience was one of continual theft by locals and being dispossessed by corrupt, drunken Datus. I know exactly where is the house of Duterte’s mother.

That’s not to argue that perhaps the CIA was not also meddling. I can understand Duterte is some respects and I have also met in 2003 in the Damosa area of Davao self-claimed Davao Death Squad members who were polite and even offered to protect me, but he shouldn’t throw out the baby with bath water and punish innocent American tourists for natural, end game politics we can’t control. But let’s not get overly dramatic and pretend that the Filipinos don’t contribute to their own mess. I could go into a lot more convincing detail, but it’s too far off topic for this blog.