General Information

[quote=sammon; 1224605]. .

cebu probably is safer than manila. but general rule is if somebody looks **** just avoid her to begin with. once she is in the room you are already screwed if it is a scam.[/quote]interesting news item yesterday (although i agree with your comment samm)

[url]http://ph.news.yahoo.com/cebu-city-province-highest-crime-volume-central-visayas-014005398.html[/url]

i don't know what the comparison with manila and other parts will be, but as is pointed out, and it's not rocket science, the bigger the population then the more crimes there will be

[QUOTE=TravelSessions;1224399]For you cebu regulars, is it best to avoid coming during the festival in Jan, I think it's 12th. 16th or something?[/QUOTE]Sinulog 2012 is Jan 6 to 15.

[url]http://www.sinulog.ph/index.php/schedule-of-activities-2012/[/url]

I've been in town for One of these, and it seems I will be there again next Jan. I enjoyed it overall.

- Got tickets to "Miss Cebu", deluxe seats close up, purchased the afternoon of the show. Also took my girl to a rock concert that week. Again easy to get tickets. Philippinos do know how to do a beauty pageant!

- Spent an evening at the big square downtown. There was a music festival there. Lots of fun and street barbecue. No worries with the crowd.

- Was going to watch the main parade, but when I told my girl to expect to walk a mile, she lost a lot of interest! Haha we watched it on tv. I was in a hotel near the mall (Parklane) , and it would have been possible to walk up to the parade route, but then you would be standing the entire time. OTOH, being 5'10", no problem having a view!

- It seems the organizers come up with a particular theme music for the festival, and all the competing performers have to do their own version of it. The theme can get tiresome (you hear it Everywhere) , but you can think of it as a kind of week-long rave / trance.

- All over town, in the hotels, airport, and malls, they have the festival decorations out. Its a lot more party oriented that Easter that's for sure. Plenty of good photo and video ops.

- Other than the parade day, I had no problems getting a taxi, except when I was staying on Mactan island. Its been talked about that taxi's don't like to go over there, esp late, as they don't get a fare back. From now on I am staying in town. Thanks for reminding me to get my hotel reservation in.

[QUOTE=TravelSessions; 1224399]For you cebu regulars, is it best to avoid coming during the festival in Jan, I think it's 12th. 16th or something?

Is it too busy or is it not something that needs to be avoided?

Cheers[/QUOTE]Last year I was in Cebu the week prior to Sinulog. I am a regular, well known guest at my particular hotel, having stayed there at least twenty times. I was informed, very apologetically, that they were fully booked during Sinulog, other than certain 'deluxe' rooms that were priced at a 500 % increase! That's right, A 3000 peso room was 15000 pesos during the festival! Therefore, book immediately and ascertain that you're getting the regular rate.

[QUOTE=Questor55;1225101]Last year I was in Cebu the week prior to Sinulog. I am a regular, well known guest at my particular hotel, having stayed there at least twenty times. I was informed, very apologetically, that they were fully booked during Sinulog, other than certain 'deluxe' rooms that were priced at a 500 % increase! That's right, A 3000 peso room was 15000 pesos during the festival! Therefore, book immediately and ascertain that you're getting the regular rate.[/QUOTE]Thanks for all the info. I'm going to avoid it this time and get there after the 16th.

Cheers

That the first time I have heard that. I will ask some other hotels as it a great time to be here more girls plenty of eye candy. I enjoy it apart from traffic but Cebu is so small you can walk.

[quote=furryfriend; 1224456]it's not just a "white man" walking into the area. anyone who looks remotely foreign will get mauled. i'm asian-american and every time i'm there, they'd stalk me. it's weird seeing a girl follow me from across the street.

by the way, if you suspected she's a minor, weren't you afraid of getting busted? there's a philippine law stating that any adult in a room alone with an unrelated minor can be charged with statutory [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url]. you could have been set up for a sting. in your experiences in cebu, how worried should i be about being a victim of a sting?[/quote]generally speaking when you barfine a girl out a well known bar that is your safest option. you still have to guard against the girl stealing your phone or wallet but you are more likely to have problems with a runner or bad performance from a bar girl.

if you pickup on the street that is alot more dangerous. the scam that has been going on in cebu for awhile now is one where the girl will approach you on the street. she will be good looking and will seem very interested in you and promise to be your lbfm in the hotel room and she will agree to almost any price so be wary of girls who say the common phrase "up to you". in most cases the girl will not be **** and look 19+ and when asked for i d she will carry a fake school i'd with her age being 19+ and this will set the monger at ease. when you take the girl to your room she will hold her phone in her hands and text the hotel name and the room number to someone.

once in the room she will take a shower and come out and be playful and then take pics with her phone of herself in a towel or on your bed with you in the background. she will have sex with the monger and while the guy is deep inside her someone will begin to pound and scream at the hotel room door. it will be her family, most likely an uncle or aunt who along with a police relative will get the hotel staff to open the door to reveal you and the girl together. the girl will cry and the family will be upset. the police will take you to the station and tell you that you are in alot of trouble and there might be a way out of the mess. they will show you the evidence, her cell phone pics and her fake school i'd which will show her as 17yrs old. the 19+ i d she showed you will be no where to be found. amount demanded will vary but you are going to pay no matter what.

the newest scam involves motocycles. in the past 6 months there has been an explosion of foreigners renting or buying motocycles to get around cebu. one gang opperating in and around cebu have been targeting foreigners and the scam goes like this.

they see a white guy on a motorcycle and so they position a car in front of the motocycle and then slam on the brakes causing the motocycle to bump into or sometimes crash into the car. the driver of the car gets out and is upset even if there is no damage, at this point they demand payment for repairs just as a police officer arrives on the scene who is involved with the gang. they don't care if you are hurt or not but the police officer will demand you pay the car driver to fix his car. the amount is generally around the 20-30k pesos mark and from what i have been told they try this scam successfully once a week. so if you drive a motorcycle in or around cebu be careful.

[QUOTE=Stroker Ace88; 1225935]Once in the room she will take a shower and come out and be playful and then take pics with her phone of herself in a towel or on your bed with you in the background. She will have sex with the monger and while the guy is deep inside her someone will begin to pound and scream at the hotel room door. It will be her family, most likely an uncle or aunt who along with a police relative will get the hotel staff to open the door to reveal you and the girl together. The girl will cry and the family will be upset. The police will take you to the station and tell you that you are in alot of trouble and there might be a way out of the mess. They will show you the evidence, her cell phone pics and her fake school I'd which will show her as 17yrs old. The 19+ I D she showed you will be no where to be found. Amount demanded will vary but you are going to pay no matter what.

=====================================

They see a white guy on a motorcycle and so they position a car in front of the motocycle and then slam on the brakes causing the motocycle to bump into or sometimes crash into the car. The driver of the car gets out and is upset even if there is no damage, at this point they demand payment for repairs just as a police officer arrives on the scene who is involved with the gang. They don't care if you are hurt or not but the police officer will demand you pay the car driver to fix his car. The amount is generally around the 20-30k pesos mark and from what I have been told they try this scam successfully once a week. So if you drive a motorcycle in or around Cebu be careful.[/QUOTE]Someone recently posted that we shouldn't post negative stuff about filipinos: they might get mad at us. Yet, they do these kinds of things. As long as the culture is scam-oriented, there will be negative posts.

[QUOTE=Stroker Ace88; 1225935]The newest scam involves motocycles. In the past 6 months there has been an explosion of foreigners renting or buying motocycles to get around Cebu. One gang opperating in and around Cebu have been targeting foreigners and the scam goes like this.

They see a white guy on a motorcycle and so they position a car in front of the motocycle and then slam on the brakes causing the motocycle to bump into or sometimes crash into the car. The driver of the car gets out and is upset even if there is no damage, at this point they demand payment for repairs just as a police officer arrives on the scene who is involved with the gang. They don't care if you are hurt or not but the police officer will demand you pay the car driver to fix his car. The amount is generally around the 20-30k pesos mark and from what I have been told they try this scam successfully once a week. So if you drive a motorcycle in or around Cebu be careful.[/QUOTE]This one has been going on for a long time in Jakarta. Only its white guy driving and Indonesian on the bike. I the Indo version guy falls off bike in great pain, crowd assembles etcetc.

[QUOTE=Westcoast1;1225982]Someone recently posted that we shouldn't post negative stuff about filipinos: they might get mad at us. Yet, they do these kinds of things. As long as the culture is scam-oriented, there will be negative posts.[/QUOTE]I do not consider my post as being negative, but more of a realist perspective because these things are happening daily. The average guy who spends a few days a year in Cebu has no clue what's really going on as everything seems good on the surface and my post is meant to inform.

I generally agree that posting negative things about filipinos is a slippery slope and should be done selectively and without general bias towards the people as a whole as both good and bad intentioned people can be found in every part of the World with alot of grey areas in between.

This article a few weeks ago made me LOL, and it provides a typical example of the way things work in the Philippines.

[url]http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2011/11/25/cop-deals-stolen-vehicle-192450[/url]

[QUOTE=Westcoast1;1225982]Someone recently posted that we shouldn't post negative stuff about filipinos: they might get mad at us. Yet, they do these kinds of things. As long as the culture is scam-oriented, there will be negative posts.[/QUOTE]isn't the world we live in scam oriented?

C'mon guys, all Filipino scams added together are not even 10% in value compared to Madoff's scam and when it comes to the scam that our governments and banking systems are running on us, the Filipino scams are not even worth mentioning.

Chill out guys at least these people have the excuse of poverty. What's the excuse of the others that really take the skins off you?

[QUOTE=Frenchmen; 1226053]C'mon guys, all Filipino scams added together are not even 10% in value compared to Madoff's scam and when it comes to the scam that our governments and banking systems are running on us, the Filipino scams are not even worth mentioning.

Chill out guys at least these people have the excuse of poverty. What's the excuse of the others that really take the skins off you?[/QUOTE]

What are you trying to say? That we shouldn't talk about Philippine scams because there's scamming everywhere?

The objective of this discussion is to share information that can keep our butts out of a Philippine prison or prevent us from being extorted money we cannot afford.

- Pointing out that Maddof is a bigger scammer is utterly irrelevant and does nothing to achieve that objective.

- Whether the scammer has a good reason to scam is irrelevant either.

- Does bitching about banks and the financial system contribute to this discussion? Nope.

Come to think of it, I don't think there's one word in your post that is relevant or even remotely helpful.

[QUOTE=Westcoast1;1225982]Someone recently posted that we shouldn't post negative stuff about filipinos: they might get mad at us. Yet, they do these kinds of things. As long as the culture is scam-oriented, there will be negative posts.[/QUOTE]It was me who posted about the negative personal attacks. Writing about scams was not mentioned in my post.

You of all people should know insulting people due to race is not on, we are all humans.

[QUOTE=FurryFriend; 1226067]What are you trying to say? That we shouldn't talk about Philippine scams because there's scamming everywhere?

The objective of this discussion is to share information that can keep our butts out of a Philippine prison or prevent us from being extorted money we cannot afford.

- Pointing out that Maddof is a bigger scammer is utterly irrelevant and does nothing to achieve that objective.

- Whether the scammer has a good reason to scam is irrelevant either.

- Does bitching about banks and the financial system contribute to this discussion? Nope.

Come to think of it, I don't think there's one word in your post that is relevant or even remotely helpful.[/QUOTE]My post is as helpful as the post to which I replied that was saying that the Philippines is a scam-oriented society.

If saying that you think will help someone with anything, be my guest and * as much as you want and convince yourself that the filipina that cons you of 20 bucks is worse than your government that cons you of your life's savings and maybe forces you to retire in the PH because you can't afford to live in your country anymore.

I think the only helpful info would be specific info about what kind of tricks the con artists can work on you and how to avoid it, bashing a nation doesent help in any way.

[QUOTE=Frenchmen;1226695]If saying that you think will help someone with anything, be my guest and * as much as you want and convince yourself that the filipina that cons you of 20 bucks is worse than your government that cons you of your life's savings and maybe forces you to retire in the PH because you can't afford to live in your country anymore.[/QUOTE]Just because I'm scammed by my government doesn't mean I'm open to being scammed on vacation. Don't try to justify or downplay one wrong by pointing out something else is more wrong.

If this forum was designed to talk about rugby and we criticize the Philippines, you'd have a point another us bashing the country. But this is the Philippines subsection of a mongering forum. A discussion of Philippine culture is highly relevant in maximizing our enjoyment and avoiding pitfalls in this thoroughly miserable country where a vast majority want to escape.

[QUOTE=FurryFriend; 1226713]Just because I'm scammed by my government doesn't mean I'm open to being scammed on vacation. Don't try to justify or downplay one wrong by pointing out something else is more wrong.

If this forum was designed to talk about rugby and we criticize the Philippines, you'd have a point another us bashing the country. But this is the Philippines subsection of a mongering forum. A discussion of Philippine culture is highly relevant in maximizing our enjoyment and avoiding pitfalls in this thoroughly miserable country where a vast majority want to escape.[/QUOTE]How do you avoid pitfalls by saying that Philippines is a scam based culture?