Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The undesirables



 The undesirables
Philippines Sexpats wall of shame: The undesirables
The undesirables
Pasted from a forum:
"I was just talking to a couple of Filipinos about this case. Their attitude is a bit scary.. from their perspective it doesn't matter if this guy is guilty or not.. he should be punished for all the crimes other white people do and have not been punished for". 
We have all learned something from the arrest of Sven  Erik Berger and his Filipina Fiancee  that  no matter which side of the fence you put yourself it all comes to the same conclusion: An act of total disregard to the conventional "Innocent until proven guilty" rule, depriving the right of the accused to prove their innocence was reversed once again by no less than a chief of police that almost drugged a Governor to his ploy motivated by obscure reasons and/or incompetence. Thanks to the common sense
of Cebu  Governor Gwendolyn Garcia the worst has been avoided. Let's not repeat or comment on the facts, it's all said, all agreed on their innocence , but for readers that their country media did not cover the story here is some links. 

What puzzles me more is the behavior and statements made by locals expressed in forums blogs and discussion boards where I read things, that  in a certain wording or another all leading to believe they think the same. I chose the one above  that closely matches  how Filipinos perceiving theirs "guests" in general. 

No tender at all!...What brought a peace loving people like Filipinos to be so rude and hostile to foreigners living within?

 In the year 2003 (or 4?) the Sunday papers in Tagbilaran-Bohol came out with almost the same head line. The case of an Austrian in his 60s living alone in a waterfront mansion in Doljo - Panglao island. A lawyer, a woman in her 40s, came personally from Vienna with a judgment from an Austrian court in her hands, contacted the prosecution office in Tagbilaran explaining the reasons she was there;
A couple of years before, she was defending 3 underage boys victims of  sexual molestation  by the guy  in an Austrian court, put him in jail, he was also sentenced to pay all legal expenses including her fees. He never did, once out of jail, he fled the country, found refuge in the Philippines living happily ever after...
Reading the judgment brought by the lawyer, the prosecutor ordered the  Tagbilaran police department to make a "surprise" visit to this guy, the police accompanied by reporters, the  lawyer was there too, all of them showed up to his mansion at 8 am. The papers published pictures of boys as young as 12 coming out of the shower, body covered with just a bath towel, they found a total of 5 living in the mansion.
During interrogation of parents and children, the police wasn't able  to establish a clear act of pedophilia was taken place in the mansion, the parents insisting that he was "a good heart philanthropist taking care of children in the community and helping parents as well"
Then?... Case closed. He settled the payment of the money owed to the lawyer and continue living in the island like nothing happened.

I was shocked, outraged, invited my Filipino friends to my house, all highly educated and ask the question:
"Whether or not the prosecutor found probable cause to open a formal investigation to the "activities" of this foreigner living alone due to lack of a complaint or incriminating statements or witness, the simple fact that is now known having a prior criminal conviction in his country, isn't enough to at least alert the immigration and be on the watch list or under further surveillance? Shouldn't the PH immigration cancel his - what ever - visa he had to stay in the country and order his deportation? Based on his criminal past? Like would happen in any other country in the world in a similar case?" Especially Austria's strict Immigration laws?

The unanimous answer I got was:
"That's why we don't like them (Foreigners) Evan. As long as  this kind of foreigners are centralized in Manila and Cebu areas where the authorities there are familiar with them, have more means and training available to know where to track them, we were more than happy to receive  the decent ones here,  happy to be and live with. But the virus has now spread all over the provinces taking us by surprise.  Our  police and means are totally inadequate, the last 5 years we have seen an increase in foreigners that their way of life scandalize us. Their arrogance and life style  crossed the line of the basic moral rules".
Besides, many said, the majority of the population do not profit from their dollars, most living on a meager pension receiving from their country, just enough to keep going the San Miguel corporation. Others with money they will buy their way out no matter what the crime they committed".

"Then, they always complain that we Filipinos don't see anything positive on them other than the Dollar sign. What else they worth? Do they in their countries see  on our FOW anything else that how best exploit them, squeeze them to the maxi paying the lowest wages possible? Do they see anything positive in our country other than exploitation of our people, be it on legitimate occupations or human trafficking?"  

 "300 years of Spaniardism brought us habits and mental alterations  that doesn't fit in  our Asian or Pacific islander tradition, making us an apart country in the region, God knows how we have been able to save our ancestral language compare to the Latin America that made Spanish the most speaking language in the world. 50 years of Hollywood occupation we inherited a constitution that if according to the Yank doctrine "what is good for us (Americans)  is good for the world," it wasn't good for us Filipinos. Again, no one of our neighboring countries - all prospering - has such a government system - a carbon copy of the US complex and misunderstood by the whole world-  that doesn't fit to our reality and way of living"

The undesirables"Today, because of  few bad apples we have lost respect to all of them. Our government failed to filter the entry of foreigner tourists - mostly sex tourists- failed to clean up the reputation of our country that will open the way to family tourism, far more lucrative than sex tourism. 

A few bad apples is more than enough to cause irreparable harm to every one, to our people and to good foreigners that we enjoy their presence here in Bohol. The few bad apples, shouldn't be seen as an exception  and be disregarded to the glory and praise of the good  ones. The bad apples should be removed immediately and irrevocably. Is this done once a case is revealed? No!" Some, are even rewarded!... Like Michael Turner you see in the photo receiving an award from the president of the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro despite credible accusations against him had surfaced in the national and local press months before.

*******

 Recently, the PH government came under pressure of Human rights organizations and bloggers from around the world to implement a so badly needed control on those loose foreigners residents that not even a fingerprint of them exist in file, (as opposed to those holders of an alien resident card ) came out with the idea for the barangays (Villages) to keep a detailed registry  of their presence in the community.

Again, as expected, foreigners raised their voices in outrage against this proposition. But did any one in the US complained when  during war world 2 when the American government moved 120 thousands Americans of Japanese origin, mostly farmers, to deportation camps, on an unjustified suspicion that may be collaborating  with the Japanese  government?
They were American Citizens, not Sex tourists or Sexpats!  

Fellow prospective Expat to the Philippines, there is only one way of life for you to enjoy the country. The crap you are reading on the forums owned by foreigners will never apply to you if you don't get involved with la creme de la creme of the indecent sexpats leading by Mike Farrell and his squad in CDO and Paul Petrea in Cebu, to name a couple.
You shouldn't feel offended by such government actions-fully justified- even if often the mistrust  goes beyond reasonable leading to tragedy like the Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon
Just ask yourself: How many innocent went to death row in the US? Some freed 20 years later, others executed to learn later they were innocent.

The undesirables
Here in France, not long ago, year 2005, the most sordid judicial fiasco ever  (Link in French language) that chattered the lives of 13 people in a fabricated case of pedophilia, including a priest and a lawyer that attempted suicide  while in detention, all screaming their innocence from jail where they stayed for 2 years, painted as monsters by the European press, their children were taken away, their carriers ruined, their houses foreclosure. 
The case was masterfully fabricated by a mother  also incarcerated that in order to be off the hook coached her two children what to say, and for her good luck, a rookie prosecutor- investigator saw the opportunity for promotion and "congratulations", handled the case in the way hopping to collect both. The mother, cracked the first day of trail, confessed the fabrication of the charges in open court in front of the jurors. A few days later, the accused received a public apology of the then French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, as for the  prosecutor, he is still in office.       
NOT ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES!
********

Next in few days. The case of Expat Kevin Taylor and his Filipina partner imprisoned in a jail near Manila for almost 2 years now without a trail. If this case did not generate any discussion in the CDO sexpats Yahoo group, some of them, known for their arrogance and Filipino trashing traveled to a forum managed by the scammer perry Gamsby 

Then, The "allies" one by one entered the parade, Mike Farrell holding the flag. Speaking of Mike and before I tell you what his "contribution" to the Kevin Taylor cause was, I'm informing you that he's now passed 73, his dementia slowly reaching the paroxysm, that despite the express - unexpected - appearance to this other forum of his long time friend Gordon Elletson  to his defense, the war erupted again in the Yahoo sexpats group. The same old story. 

The sexpats are so bored that need to stimulate once in a while their nervous system and prove to each other they exist. I'll tell you how they do it...Come back in few days. Mean while, You can read the story in another blog here: