Philippines

ugh, i think i saw that guy

Yeah, he's kinda hard to miss.

i thought it was gonna be outta control w/the old white guy, young thai girls (boys?), but it was way more disgusting in the philippines.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/quake-philippines-idINDEE87U0AR20120831

Seems like everybody's OK?

A few years ago I was in an anarchist bookstore and leafed through a photocopied book of strange news items in Asia. One of the items described an incident where a group of militant Jehovah's Witnesses, masquerading as Avon ladies, had successfully kidnapped-and-released a half-dozen rich kids. Eventually they were cornered by police and gunned down without a trial. The story sounded so preposterous, I told it to my Filipino bf but he just shrugged and said, "sounds about right."

its a crazy country

Depressing lack of updates from the areas hit by Haiyan.

Keep scrolling down here to see a comparison of Haiyan to Katrina

Super typhoon Haiyan: One of world’s most powerful storms in history from space

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/philippines-fears-massive-death-toll-after-typhoon/2013/11/10/2bd314f4-49dd-11e3-b87a-e66bd9ff3537_story.html?hpid=z1

Some Fil-Am friends are urging those making donations to consider NAFCON: http://nafconusa.org/

I fear that in those countless coastal towns many of the bodies will never be found.

And from this NY Times excerpt, it seems it will be hard to get to either the living or dead

As Monday dawned, it became increasingly clear that Typhoon Haiyan had ravaged cities, towns and fishing villages when it played a deadly form of hopscotch across the islands of the central Philippines on Friday. By some estimates, at least 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone, and with phone service out across stretches of the far-flung archipelago, it was difficult to know if the storm was as deadly in more remote areas.

Barreling across palm-fringed beaches and plowing into frail homes with a force that by some estimates approached that of a tornado, Haiyan delivered a crippling blow to this country’s midsection. The culprit increasingly appeared to be a storm surge that was driven by those winds, which were believed to be among the strongest ever recorded in the Philippines, lifting a wall of water onto the land as they struck. By some accounts, the winds reached 190 miles an hour.

As aid crews struggled to reach ravaged areas, the storm appeared to lay bare some of the perennial woes of the Philippines. The country’s roads and airports, long starved of money by corrupt and incompetent governments, are some of the worst in Southeast Asia and often make traveling long distances a trial. On Monday, clogged with debris from splintered buildings and shattered trees, the roads in the storm’s path were worse, slowing rescue teams

Wonder which group to send $ to

Upthread suggestion was this:

http://nafconusa.org/category/typhoon-relief-efforts-haiyan-yolanda/

or maybe to this one also

Ninety-one Doctors without Borders field staff are already on the ground in the Philippines with fifty more arriving in the coming days, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, logisticians and sanitation experts.

gen can't go wrong with Drs w/out Bs afaik

yeah MSF/DWB is always a good bet for donations, they put a very high percentage into the field compared to other orgs.

The Philippines are extremely interesting, beautiful, sad and fucked up.

― dsb, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 17:18 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Having been here for three days now, I'd say this was pretty much OTM.

This is bizarre and astonishing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37172002

Ahead of his election, he promised to kill 100,000 criminals in his first six months in office.

o_O

I saw a Filipino movie last year about convicts getting day release to execute gangsters and drug dealers. I can't recall the name of it but it seems it wasn't quite as far fetched as it seemed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Job_(2013_film)

this one

I watched Duterte's inauguration speech live on TV while I was out there, and apparently there was no crime reported for the duration of that speech. Everyone was watching it. He is proving to be very popular.

is the philippines as intense as it looks?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37515642

At what point are people going to start talking about economic sanctions / kicking them out of ASEAN. I appreciate that Duterte's currently the chairman of ASEAN but...

From two weeks ago:

Obama's deputy National Security director Ben Rhodes told reporters the U.S-Phillippine relationship remained "rock solid." Rhodes said "people should certainly expect that our very close working relationship with the Philippines is going to be enduring."

Alex Tizon passed away a couple weeks ago but this cover story is one hell of a parting gift... very highly recommended:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/

Wow.

Cooking was Lola’s only eloquence.

This thing is horrifying, this dude is horrifying, and I am horrified by the reactions saying this piece is touching rather than monstrously manipulative.

I've been trying to parse the story ever since I read it yesterday. It is 'well written' but as Dan notes -- and as my girlfriend was even more vehement about -- the question of deep complicity here seems glossed over at best.

In lieu of the fact that all the principals (parents, Lola and the author) are dead, the best I've been able to do is try and get in the guy's head -- the most I can think of is that he didn't want to see either Lola or his mother potentially arrested/deported due to immigration status and potential fraud, thus his notes about the 1986 amnesty (and the fact Lola wasn't legalized until, what, 1998?). But that's hardly an excuse.

read as far as the point where the guy's mother had lola take her punishment and peaced out

filing this story then dying seems like a wise move on tizon's part tbh

Yesterday's earthquake in the Philippines emptying a skyscraper's rooftop swimming pool in Manila. Incredible.https://t.co/RbVLvUEAzK pic.twitter.com/ljvKFNwiIH

— Irène DB (@UrbanFoxxxx) April 23, 2019

is the philippines as intense as it looks?

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Friday, August 26, 2016 7:04 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It can be, yes! You kinda get weirdly used to it, though.

In Tarlac now for work. Going to Manila next week.

It's nice! Everyone is super friendly , lots of hospitality.

I am still working Eastern hours so I am working overnight.

Everything is inexpensive. I got a McDonald's combo meal (only place open near the office) for $2.50 USD.

I miss home but mostly cos i am fighting depression. Starting to get used to things though.

There three more weeks.

Just drove past a Kenny Rogers Roasters