the Philippines seems the likeliest place for foreigners to get murdered

[ThomsonJr 275]

well this doesn't surprise me at all, just take a look at both countries and you'll see the differences, you think they put armed guards at the entrances of bakeries, restaurants, bars, and shops because it looks cool? 

Edited July 30, 2013 by ThomsonJr

[udonthani 2,027]

sticking complete bozos with guns around the convenicence stores, also lowers, the rate of unemployment. Probably ups, the murder rate though.

Edited July 30, 2013 by udonthani

[hyaku 2,886]

Most of the local killing and attacks are drink related. My local workers ask, what will happen if someone breaks in here. Reply, "They get shot".

[smokey 22,071]

it really does appear, from that State Department website, that Americans in the Phlippines might be getting murdered, four or five times more often than they are in Thailand. I thought it might be only double, at the max because of course I have no illusions at all about the underlying violence of Thailand. It just seems, that the underlying violence in the Philippines, is much more even than Thailand, and which results in common aggression and the consequent higher murder rate.

well when you become more valuable dead then alive things happen

[quit_yume 1,003]

udonthani's figures are correct.  there was another thread here some months back where we figured out how long american visitors stay here..  how many there are..   how many live here and for how long .. etc etc..      it all came out about the same as what udonthani said..

[easy44 5,573]

As far as auto accident deaths for Americans go, I would think a much higher percentage of Americans drive in the US compared to the Philippines.  That would skew the figures.

[JackJohnson 187]

Interesting topic.

You know, this subject made me flash back to a disagreement I had when we rode horses at the volcano (Tal is it?)

I paid $100 USD for a boat ride, lunch, and horse ride. The horse handlers were young Filipino guys.

When we got to the top, the halfway point, they demanded a tip, and though it shocked me I went ahead and tipped the creeps.

Then at the bottom at the end of the horse ride, they AGAIN held out their grubby paws and demanded money from me,

and it pissed me off and I said no. Big argument ensued. And I recall very clearly that one of the Filipino guys pulled out a really BIG long knife,

a hunting knife, thinking that would get me to open my wallet. I stood my ground and refused to give them any more money. They finally backed down.

Looking back on it, I might have been close to getting shanked.

 

I bet most of the murders are money related, guys won't cough up cash for the girl or the family so bye bye. Probably some robbery homicides too.

I wasn't afraid while I was there, but I was definitely hyper aware at all times.

[udonthani 2,027]

As far as auto accident deaths for Americans go, I would think a much higher percentage of Americans drive in the US compared to the Philippines.  That would skew the figures.

what also skews the figures is countless thousands of people riding around on motorcycles without helmets and in jeepneys and buses packed like sardines, and being driven by, in some cases, total maniacs.

 

it is totally counter productive and just downright stupid, to compare what happens to Americans in the Philippines, with what happens to Americans, in the United States. Americans in the Philippines, and Americans in the United States, are totally different. Many millions of Americans in the US have never left the country and never will leave the country either  - not that there is anything wrong with that. Comparing them to Americans in the Philippines, is silly.

 

far better to compare what happens to Americans in the Philippines, to what happens to Americans in Thailand - which is what the excellent State Department site enables us to do. Americans are in Thailand for broadly the same kind of reasons, they are in the Philippines - the two countries attract the same kind of individual. The road accident rate of death is about the same in both countries - you surely cannot try to make out that Americans are dying in road traffic accidents much faster in Thailand, than the Philippines. You must surely think that other things being equal, people are about as suspectible to being involved in a fatal auto crash about the same, in both countries. And if you do, it really does seem that Americans are getting murdered in the Philippines, about four times faster than they are in Thailand. Because out of every 25 non natural deaths, about 40% of them are murders, in the Philippines. In Thailand, it is less than 10%.

[Brucewayne 3,803]

Does this even surprise anyone? it can cost only a few hundred dollars to get someone killed in the Philippines

 

P2,000 and you can have any body part as proof you want....just saying.

[Brucewayne 3,803]

well this doesn't surprise me at all, just take a look at both countries and you'll see the differences, you think they put armed guards at the entrances of bakeries, restaurants, bars, and shops because it looks cool? 

Probably because it does look cool.

At the new SM, I saw a guard with a 9mm and a pistol grip style shot gun.

I asked him if he had shells and he said no, he couldn't afford shells on what they pay him.

[udonthani 2,027]

here's an excuse if the Thais didn't drive on the left, less Americans would die in auto accidents there and the stats wouldn't make it look as if Americans are being shot down like flies in the Philippines compared to Thailand.

[ThomsonJr 275]

I remember my first day in Thailand I used to drive on the wrong side of the road sometimes, nearly killed myself, because it didn't register yet in my brain. Same thing happened when I crossed the border in Laos and rented a bike and started driving on the wrong side of the road, nearly killing myself, without realizing.