Filipinos trying to blackmail my friend for 2 million pesos!

[Winston]

Guys,
Check this out. My expat friend in the Philippines, a meticulously accurate person with a very high IQ (probably the smartest expat in the Philippines I'd guess, besides me of course lol) told me that his Filipino neighbors on the beach are conspiring to blackmail him for 2 million pesos! WTF? I thought the Filipinos there would be more peaceful and nature-loving. Sheesh. I guess in some cultures, most people really are shameless, greedy, evil scums. Now you guys understand why the Philippines is such an annoying country to me, to have to put up with this kind of shit all the time.

Here is what he wrote me about it. He said I could tell you all about it as long as I don't name any names.

"The poor Filipino neighbors here have hatched up what they think (with their 85 IQs) is a clever blackmail/extortion scheme:

1) Fabricate bad things about me and spread this around as gossip;

2) Use these fabrications as an excuse to build a wall between my property and the beach in front;

3) Offer, as an alternative, that I pay P2 million to buy their lot (the beach.)

I am working on having their beach property deleted from the register of deeds since it is no longer valid property... it is purely sand and sea.

Honestly, I'd rather pay my lawyer $10,000 than pay these scum sucking Filipinos a dime. Typical Filipino assholes, huh?"


Then when I asked about who owns, the land, he wrote:

"While we were in Angeles last time, I let ******* use my car and my house, so he took his family up here. That's when the neighbors told him what I had supposedly been doing, and what they were going to do.

Just idiot Filipinos looking for another opportunity to be greedy. I look forward to creaming these assholes, through official channels of course. It will mean that I won't have good neighbors around me, but it will also mean that they can't easily reach the beach and none of their extended family will ever work for me again (I employed lots of them for 18 months solid). It also means I will never help them with medical bills or funeral costs etc. again. And believe me, I have helped them A LOT.

The beach was originally (a long long time ago) part of the main lot here, set up by the founder of this Barangay. Over the years it was eroded to nothing (sand and sea) because they never built a sea wall. In 1996 the main lot was subdivided, and the surveyor (my surveyor, the best in town) separated out that beach lot because it could not be sold (it was already under sand/water). But it became a sub-lot. All the other lots were sold, but that lot remained because no one ever bothered to delete it.

This beach lot SHOULD be deleted from the records because its ownership reverts back to the State when it becomes beach. I am now working to make sure that this happens "

[Repatriate]

Interesting story but this sort of scheme hatched by locals isn't just the Philippines but you hear the same things happening in Thailand and all other parts of SE Asia. That's the problem with having legal claims to any kind of property or business in this part of the world, you are beholden to the whims of corrupt officials and laws that aren't always applied efficiently.

Even if your friend "wins" he may end up getting hosed in a myriad of other ways. I also wouldn't rule out some angry Filipino outright murdering him. That happens more often than not when locals lose enough face to go apeshit on a foreigner. Then the shoddy law enforcement officials will turn a blind eye or get paid a fee to reduce their prison sentence.

This could be a lose/lose situation for him. Being surrounded by envious and angry locals is a really bad situation.

By the way, if your friend was _really_ smart he would not have hired locals too close to his property. A lot of proprietors of beach businesses in Thailand prefer to hire Burmese or workers that live a distance way to prevent this sort of clannish mentality.

[Winston]

Well fortunately, he knows the former governor of the district, one of the few politicians in the PH who has never taken a bribe before. So he has some friends in high places. Those greedy neighbors probably don't have such connections.

What would you do if you were in his shoes?

He has self-defense measures in his home to deal with intruders and attackers. He is extremely smart and has taken measures to deal with that kind of thing.

I would have thought that hiring your neighbors to work for you, would mean they would be more loyal and appreciative to you, since you gave them work. Why would that backfire?

Should he hire security guards or build a gate around his property?

[Repatriate]

What would you do if you were in his shoes?

I don't know the complete details so it's difficult to say. I don't think I would cozy up to the neighbors so much though. At least he has an official who might be sympathetic but who knows. Just remember that the nationalist tendencies can come out in disputes such as this.

I would have thought that hiring your neighbors to work for you, would mean they would be more loyal and appreciative to you, since you gave them work. Why would that backfire?

I don't know how it is in the Philippines but in Thailand the beach locals are families who have lived in the area for not just decades but for centuries in some cases. They have a small town mentality where they are envious and resentful of foreigners making money on their turf. Many times the locals own competing businesses and they use mafia like tactics to drive competitors off. The fact that he's a foreigner and owns a business in their area is already two strikes. If he wasn't very close with them to begin with they probably would not know enough about him to try anything out.

I will say that being too generous and kind is not looked on in a positive way in SE Asia. More often than not they think you are weak for it. He'll never be a village elder type of figure so there's no point in even being a charity case.

[Winston]

He used to have an ex-girlfriend who would confront such scammers and scare them off with her bold confidence. It's too bad she's not around anymore.

Well he doesn't own a business in that area. He just has a home there on the beach. He has an online business like me, but he makes a lot more. He is well off with lots of assets. So his neighbors and even other expats ask him for loans all the time and for help with emergencies.

Since he has a lot of cash to burn and wears his heart on his sleeve, he is too generous and usually helps people out. He is not frugal at all, like me. I've told him many times not to be overly generous to people who don't deserve it, and to stop letting people use him, but he just can't resist I guess.

I don't understand Filipinos. If someone was generous to me and helped me financially, I would really appreciate it and not turn against him or conspire against him.

Filipinos appreciate niceness and return it. They don't see niceness as weak. But I don't know about generosity. I guess they are greedy and shameless.

[philosophical_filipino]

I don't understand Filipinos. If someone was generous to me and helped me financially, I would really appreciate it and not turn against him or conspire against him.

I understand Filipinos completely. I am one. Filipinos suffer from inferiority-complex which causes huge bouts of insecurity within their own identity. At least, I have the MAN BALLS to admit that shit. That's why I can't get along with Sexter. Filipinos can't stop talking shit and when you confront them, they get all defensive and Mangina-like. Corruption and scams are huge in Southeast Asia. The people are poor as shit and they would die to live in America - the land of milk and honey. But of course, when they live long enough in America, they'll realize it's an overglorified shithole.

There's good/bad people everywhere. Every society is different and values different things. I judge case by case and make adjustments accordingly.

Winston Wu, you're the man. Keep informing the public about injustices as you see fit.

[Rock]

Damn, I know who that guy is. Some of the smartest and most successful business people in a western environment can turn-out to be the most gullible and naive sorts in SE Asia. Usually, a local girl is added to the mix to help cloud the "businessman's" judgment. But in this guy's case, I think he just fancies himself as some sort of do-gooder helping the poor with jobs, 'loans', and hand-outs.

Sometimes, its better to leave poor foreigners to their own devices. Your help will not be genuinely appreciated and in the hearts and minds of local folk, you remain an outsider and intruder. Of course they will exploit you as much as they can.

Its like that in many parts of the world too, not just SE Asia. Consider a somewhat different sort of case - some of the UN's efforts. For example, in the early days of the Somalia unrest, they went in to help save the people. They were constantly extorted there and in a short period after their arrival, they started getting shot at and received a lot of general hate from the locals because much of what they did was misinterpreted from all sides. Different culture + different education level = different perceptions. They soon had no choice but to exit with their tails between their legs, some $3bn poorer.

[Repatriate]

Most Filipinos already think of foreigners as rich. Then when he starts going around handing out cash like he's a Don in Siciliy that only encourages them to think that. Except instead of a Don they probably look at him as an easy mark to be scammed and cast aside. Flashing cash around and giving them reasons to estimate your wealth is stupid. A lot of foreigners have been murdered over less.

Plus doesn't the Philippines lead kidnapping and extortion in SE Asia?

[Fenix]

I agree with Rock's post. Nothing else I could say that he didn't already type.

[Adama]

I have a piece of advice that will work for your friend, if he wants to stay in that part of the world. Move to the other side of the island and keep a low profile. Duh.

[MrPeabody]

That's why I like to choose a place where there aren't any Americans. They ruin the environment in so many ways and on so many levels.

[C.J.]

That's why I like to choose a place where there aren't any Americans. They ruin the environment in so many ways and on so many levels.

Yeah. You got Europeans and Americans messing shit up, by exploiting the locals, especially the women. Their behavior reflects on everybody.

[E_Irizarry]

That's why I like to choose a place where there aren't any Americans. They ruin the environment in so many ways and on so many levels.

Yeah. You got Europeans and Americans messing shit up, by exploiting the locals, especially the women. Their behavior reflects on everybody.

That's why people like me and Contrarian Expat don't talk about off-the-beaten paths that we go to (he won't even tell me, which is respectable by me by the way)!!!!

[momopi]

So... how did your ex-pat friend obtain land ownership rights?

[odbo]

I don't understand Filipinos. If someone was generous to me and helped me financially, I would really appreciate it and not turn against him or conspire against him.

I understand Filipinos completely. I am one. Filipinos suffer from inferiority-complex which causes huge bouts of insecurity within their own identity. At least, I have the MAN BALLS to admit that shit. That's why I can't get along with Sexter. Filipinos can't stop talking shit and when you confront them, they get all defensive and Mangina-like. Corruption and scams are huge in Southeast Asia. The people are poor as shit and they would die to live in America - the land of milk and honey. But of course, when they live long enough in America, they'll realize it's an overglorified shithole.

There's good/bad people everywhere. Every society is different and values different things. I judge case by case and make adjustments accordingly.

Winston Wu, you're the man. Keep informing the public about injustices as you see fit.

I believe this is the only honest post you've made.