Does a bear shit in the woods / does it rain in Luzon during monsoon?
In the last ten years I've gone to Philippines about twenty+ times. I'm slow, but not completely stupid. (some will disagree.) As of now, I go direct to visayans in what most Westerners call summer (July, August) and in other months I often mix it up, MM, AC, Cebu, or other destination. You don't want to hear about the time I went to MM during monsoon and the garbage contingent were on strike. Not pleasant at all.
I once inquired about a Pinatubo hike in summer, was refused, and a few French people were swept to their deaths the next day.
I just want to say how much I sympathize with you poor guys. It must be rough. I also hope you extend my sympathy with the local taxi drivers. They've always tried to get as much as they can, and I hope their engines are filled with Manila sewage.
Stay safe and stay dry! X
What you did was very stupid!
Not sure how many times some of us veterans have written this advice. Do not get into a taxi that you did not call for! Very very stupid, and very dangerous. He could have tkaen you somewhere and robbed you or worse. Idiot!
What were you thinking. Be happy it is only 6400 pesos. For what you did, you got away cheap!
DO NOT GET INTO TAXI'S THAT COME AFTER YOU! If a taxi comes after you, walk away. Cross the street, and get another taxi. Tell him the hotel you are going to. Start a conversation and ask whats a good place to go to. The key is be in control of your surroundings and situation. Be aware at all times. Do not go to places you don't know or have never been before. It is a stupid thing to do!
Guys, everything is here. Just do your research. Everything is on the internet too. Plan before you go. Ask people here. There are a lot of guys here who give very good advices!
This is a classic example. I am glad you left safely Streethawk!
CT
[QUOTE=StreetHawk; 1311890]Yeah same thing with me on my 1st trip to Manila. It was my last night, I was half cut again and also had a thirst for danger / adventure. In greenbelt 3 I'd just came out of Hard Rock Cafe, wasn't much happening. A taxi driver followed me up the street trying to get me to go a bar I said no twice but he persisted and I thought fuck it don't know where else to go to find some action so I stupidly agreed to go.
Outside the club there was a gorilla standing in front of the door but he was friendly enough. Entered and the place was virtually empty-surprise surprise. Some girls were dancing on stage but it was quiet. Ordered a vod and coke at the bar and asked how much it was= 400 peso! My alarm bells were ringing but I thought I'm here now I'll stay for a drink. The slimeball manager approached and asked me about a girl. I asked how much he said it depends on the girl.
I see a cutie and have him beckon her over. As soon as I do this slimeball brings over a ladydrink without me even asking! I ask how much he says 700! I remember looking at the drink and it was just cola! I think right, this is getting expensive now. Nice girl actually she was 19 nice legs certainly better than average. Start talking prices and the takeout fee was 7000! Said no way too expensive and slimball said ok you can go upstairs with her for 5000! Best I could get was 4500. Being green and horny I went with it. Slimeball followed me up and tried to push more drinks and I said no firmly.
To be fair it was quite a good GFE considering the seedy environment. But one pop only so still a rip off for that price. Finished and back down stairs I found I didn't have enough cash on me (did I mention I was half cut. So had to go to the nearest ATM with the friendly gorilla escorting me. I'm actually glad he did because I stuck out like a sore thumb and there was pestilence everywhere. It was freaking me out. After walking for what seemed like an hour, We finally found one that worked. Suddenly the taxi driver came out of nowhere and drove us back. Again I was glad to see him even though he was scamming me.
Back at the club the bill presented to me was over 6000 something like 6400 peso! There was a mystery 800 peso added in somewhere, maybe the taxi driver's comission. I argued but he said no its for the girl blah blah. Just thought right got to suck it up and get out of here. Paid up and slimeball was putting on his act like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Sir this, sir that where are you from? Yes is a famous country!
Left the place and the taxi driver was waiting for me. As I approached the taxi an unseen before, and this time unfriendly gorilla approached me and held his hand out saying parking! WTF? Trying to charge me for parking! Ignored him and banged on the door for the taxi driver to let me in. Got in and the gorilla was banging on the door. Told him lets get out of here! That was crazy but expensive lesson learnt![/QUOTE]
Agreed; it's about mitigation and preparation
[QUOTE=Red Kilt; 1313337]The flooding that occurs every year in various levels of calamity comes about primarily because local governments have granted building permits for developers to build homes or industries in waterways and squatters put up shanties in the slum areas nobody wants.
Just about all of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (Camanava) and the edges of Marikina are built on a FLOOD PLAIN.
A flood plain is an area where excess water in times of extreme rainfall (floods) ends up.
Add in an ineffective garbage disposal system, the slum dwellers without any sanitary facilities, and you have a series of major issues that contribute a very messy outcome, with sewage waste being flushed into waterways and in and out of homes being flooded. People wading in these waters with open cuts or abrasions on legs are at risk of all manner of diseases as SC mentioned.
Unfortunately there is no master planning. It has always been a "plugging the hole" approach but never a long term solution. Somebody has to step up sooner or later. Maybe this President might get something going?[/QUOTE]Add to this the denuding of tree cover in high elevations to the East in Rizal and Bulacan Provinces, which contributes to the rapid runoff that then deluges the Marikina River watershed and Laguna de Bay. In addition to low lying areas within flood plains, squatters often perch their shanties on steeply sloped land, which then gives way when the soil becomes saturated. Hence the deaths from a small mudslide in Quezon City.
My understanding of the Camanava area is that, in addition to taking runoff from Bulacan Province to the North, much of it is also a tidal plain. I've seen areas in Malabon and Navotas that are under water during high tide, even without the rain. This area, like much of Metro Manila along Manila Bay is built on fill dropped onto terrain that was at one time mostly under water. And these areas are settling.
Centuries of defying nature have contributed to the failure to plan and prepare for disaster and mitigate known vulnerable areas. But the Philippines is like many other developing countries in which the military plays a prominent role. The military is good with rubber rafts, helicopters, and hospital ships, and those are the things that get most public attention once the media zoom in on calamity. The work of preparation and mitigation is a slow, arduous trudge, it doesn't play well on TV or in the papers (even if Filipinos did read) , and politicians see few opportunities in it for self-promotion. Preparation and mitigation also involve enforcing laws, many already in place, which could prevent developers and squatters from creating so much vulnerability. But local officials see the violators first as people whose money and votes they want and rarely as violators or vulnerable populations.
Since the Marcos era local governments automatically get calamity funds so long as 5% of their budgets are directed to disaster management. But mayors consider this discretionary money and don't like that the new 2010 Disaster Management law requires larger percentages to be directed to preparation and mitigation. Besides, the politicians know that photo ops in which they hand out money and relief supplies when everybody is sensitized to a current calamity, carry greater salience than ribbon cuttings for new evacuation centers or instances in which regulators merely do their jobs.
The new law offers some hope, as it focuses on disaster risk reduction, at least in theory, but from what I see the proof is yet to reveal itself in a pudding that still hasn't thickened.
Senator Loren Legarda gave a nice rant a couple days ago that was picked up in the Inquirer. Most of her points are on target, but like everybody else who screams and hollers when calamity strikes, she has hardly been a champion for acting on current laws or enacting new ones that might help. When it's raining, you can't repair the leak in the roof, and when it isn't raining you don't need to.
[url]http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/246183/lesson-to-be-learned-we-must-adapt-to-new-norm[/url]
BTW, this is also about climate change, and the Philippines has been smack in the path of its effects.
