Ohhhh, Slang, Slang. You were there all that time and never really saw. They are only polite to people they need and people they fear. And their brand of Catholicism is so full of superstition and threats that you would not recognize it as the same religion. Mexico, in fact, sends their pedophile priests to the Philippines to get them out of sight.

In her daily google for immigration info, Luisa turned up this analysis of the Phils. by a Canadian. Please read it. It is so true. http://www.ashleybristowe.com/weblog...de9d31ace.aspx It'll take a while to get to the hard facts about the place, because the girl begins by talking about trying to find a nanny and how it brought back all her memories of living and working in the Philippines.

Oh, BTW, Luisa has told me that there is actually a minor political movement there which wants to persuade the US to annex the Philippines again. They see it as the perfect solution to all their problems; we should come in and rebuild all the roads, schools, military bases, and public facilities, fix the water and power systems, and put everbody on welfare. Happiness ever after.

FUN FACT:
About 90% of the maids in Hong Kong and Taipei (including ours) are from the Philippines.

Yes, the Philippines is supplying the world with illiterate and untrained slave labor. There is actually a department of the Philippines government which deals solely with finding ways to ship as many of them out of the country as possible. The Middle East accepts millions of them, the building boom in Dubai right now is supported by Filipino workers, in both construction and service in the hotels. At night, their Arab masters require them to be locked up so that they can't mix with the locals. Airlines give special rates for shipping their bodies home and the (bankrupt) Philippines government gives a pension to the survivors. If you immigrate on your own, you don't get those privileges.

That's a bit exaggerated. Many are well educated and speak excellent English. We have fully trained PI nurses in the hospital and they do a very good job, better and more friendly than most of the locals. In fact the Balikbayans are responsible for a major part of the GNP in the PI.

We have to get Mexico all set up first, then the Philippines. ;)

I'm completely rejecting your reality check too. Yes, I know it's not utopia. It's a great place to visit though.

(adjusts rose colored glasses)

When travelling, people just treat me well. They are on their best behavior. I know that's true. Do they like me or fear me? It doesnt matter to me.

Slang, you also have something between your legs which qualifies you for VIP status in these countries you visited. And higher up, your wallet will never be completely empty or require you to look for work while in those areas. You will never know what it is like to visit or live in any of these places as female or poor or both, and as a result you will never need or want to see any farther than what experiences YOU can get out of the trip. You can "eat cake", and leave before it runs out. Apparently, that is good enough for you.

@Hippikos:
I don't know what country you are in, but I am not talking about the same people you are. I am talking about the entire industry of supplying contract workers overseas. America and Canada, and I assume Australia will not bring people in under those conditions, but Arab countries and the Chinese have no such compunctions. They buy slave labor, pure and simple, with the approval of the Philippines government, who gets to tax the money they send home and loot the care packages from them to their destitute families.

Yes, anybody with half an education and a vocation got out of the Philippines as soon as they could, i.e., anybody who learned English and received a real education during the American occupation and up to the time that the post-Marcos Filipino politicians tried flexing their muscles by "ordering" the US out of the country. You know some of these people and so do I (a Doctor of Psychiatry who left the Phils. 30 years ago is one of my neighbors). If you could see how the nursing schools are being run now and how the diplomas are purchased and test keys are exchanged openly during exams, you would think twice about letting anybody fresh off the plane from the Phils. lay a hand on you. There is a reason why none of these people are accepted here until they have been retrained and pass certification exams which are tightly supervised. California is especially strict. It is not generally known that half of them are sent home. It is also not generally known that England has had to terminate and deport a large number of Filipino doctors, who got visas as nurses so that they could get out of the country. Once there, they tried to act outside their job description when assigned to a hospital staff, and incompetently at that. England is also trying to deport 3,000 Filipino girls who were given visas as nursing staff, because of financial problems in the health system they want to eliminate the least skilled positions. These girls are suing, claiming they have contracts for a certain number of years and England is saying you STILL can't stay as residents even then.

Ask in a US hospital what they mean by TWA. That's what they think of the medical system in the Philippines.

The health system in the state I live in is in an uproar because of poorly trained doctors from countries like the Phillipines. One of them has managed to kill over a dozen people and has fled to the US because he's been charged with murder here. It's probably fortunate he's not here anymore because I'd say his life would be in danger anyway if he weren't in custody.

This man could not have fled to the US unless he was already a US citizen. Homeland Insecurity will not allow anybody with charges outstanding in their country of origin to clear entry. That means he had to have entered illegally with forged documents. Australia could have him extradited. But if he flees back to the Philippines he will never be brought to justice. All the laws there are written to protect corruption and criminals and they do not cooperate with other countries if it means they have to suffer the "embarrassment" of turning over one of their citizens.