Philosophical 11

My Aussie friend has been back in hospital again still suffering from pain. He was given more medication and he is now slowly recovering. He has now been ordered to quarantine himself for 28 days by the health authority there. Total medical bill is in excess of 50k. The police have told him that because the judicial system has now shut down, it will be many more months before his case is heard. He has now told me who the culprit is and I know him. I am shocked that an easy going guy like him can turn into a raging bull and try to seriously injure or kill someone.

Regards

Philosophical 11

I disagree. The Philippines bureaucracy does not run like a fine Swiss watch in my view.In fact the opposite is true.

As far as this certificate is concerned you obviously misunderstand. This is given to all tourist visa holders as a matter of course assuming of course they don't have a stain on their record. I am not sure what will happen if say you were found guilty of misdemeanor. Would the extension be turned down? Guess it depends on the severity of the case. Maybe the certificate will be annotated accordingly.

jaygee68

Thanks for the reply P11...Stay safe if possible

Regards

RedApe

S'pose you missed the obvious sarcasm. I think you have answered your own question about why you might end up waiting in an Philippines regional immigration office for a couple of hours while they "call Manila" (and take a lunch break, call family, do a little impromptu shopping, then come back to get settled in to sort out yesterdays paperwork, etc.). They probably lost one of your passports temporarily as it was stacked up and then someone took the top half of the stack which "just happened" to split up your new and old one.

thaiing

Any updates P11? How is the lock down going? I hope you are steering clear of Covid19 and still enjoying life!

Philosophical 11

Thankyou for asking...

On the western front as you can imagine with the current climate, nothing has happened re the case she has filed against me. I understand that the judicial system has closed down for the duration and once things get back to normal, it will take some time before it rears its ugly head. I was hoping for a quick end to this..one way or another so I can proceed with my life. But delay looks inevitable. I am told it could be many months to a year or so. However, I am hoping that with a back log of cases now building up in the system, that the prosecutor will dismiss the obvious non starters. My counter affidavit has not arrived at the prosecutors office and seems stuck in transit according to the tracking number. I legged it to the post office here to query its whereabouts but they are closed until further notice. I have fired off an e,mail to see what gives. If I receive no reply I will send another copy via LBC.

As you may have read, I am living with a fillipina family in a small 2 bedroom house. Currently we have 9 living together. 5 adults and 4 early teenage kids. And a dog. Here the internet when its working is at best poor. They have a TV but about 9 channels. Very snowy. I need to get out of the house and take a 3km hike to the edge of town and a 2km hike to my restobar where I have a square meal plus a couple of illicit beers. Yes...I know its not protocol...stay at home. But I need exercise and fresh air. Fortunately now, I can normally get a lift into town and I have a very friendly guy who picks me up on my way home. However, the 4km walk round journey in town is all the exercise I really need.

So...it is not perfect. But it pales into insignificance compared to what the poor, destitute have to put up with.

Regards

..

thaiing

Thanks for the update mate. Glad to hear you are still kicking. The delays are not great, but we just have to accept life as it is for a good while until this plays out. Lucky you're not stuck at the old place. Always a silver lining to be had. Looks like you have a good routine. Enjoy.

Stokkevn

The post office is pretty well not functioning at all as the gov has commandeered their vehicles to use for delivering essential medical equipment. So anything sent via Philpost will not be arriving for quite a while.

Philosophical 11

Thanks matey... Appreciate your support


Regards

Philosophical 11

Thanks for that... Bit sad that the government has had to commandeer PO vehicles for delivering essential supplies... Wonder what the military vehicles are doing...

Regards

morpeth

I have to admit I am impressed. While my general views about your situation remain largely the same which I won't repeat, and quite amazing you consider such living conditions acceptable ( I still wonder why your family hasn't stepped in), it is admirable in a way that you accept stating others are worse off. I do wish you the best and hopefully at some point you can have a more normal life.

I must say it is people not following protocol who make the situation worse and have no sense of civic duty or empathy for others- I know people in UK and Italy who have suffered from all this and it is incomprehensible to me breaking such rules that are in place for everyone's benefit. Plus who on earth would want to risk ending up in a Philippine hospital let alone in this situation is beyond me.

Raffin

Hmm...Protocols? P11 will be subject to the Luzon lockdown rules, which are probably similar to those in Manila. Yes, stay at home as much as you can but outings for grocery and medical allowed. Implicitly also for money purposes as banks and pawnshops open. Exercise seems to be allowed too as there are some people running where we are. But household situations can vary and P11 needs to eat out. All the places in town are probably only take out if open...hence his long journey. It's unclear from the post whether or not the restobar is open for business. If there is a liquor sale ban in place, then that is being broken by the restobar. I assume P11 is practising social distancing when drinking!

Mu view of this is only worry about people congregating either for social purposes or by accident in eg crowded markets. Otherwise allow some flexibility for different circumstances. Just be mindful you are not encouraging others to break the main protocols. Which P11 is plainly not.

The rules are not fixed or consistent. There is a rule for the Paranaque lockdown that only one person from a household can get the shopping. Not sensible as all local transport is off. Now we learn that two people from a household in our subdivision can now exit on foot through a minor gate to buy groceries. We will be doing that as it saves a lot of driving. Even though those exiting in cars by the main gate seem, by observation, to still be following the one person rule. Even though there is no checking.

Philosophical 11

Thanks Raffin....

Yes we have the same protocols as Manila which is probably the same nationwide. Yes, I am aware that my daily outings will be frowned upon and indeed I do feel a bit guilty about it. If this was a bigger house with basic amenities such as internet and TV then maybe I would not feel the need to escape this claustrophobic environment every day. Ok...I cannot cook and this would be a good opportunity to learn I guess. But my main need is to get out of this enviroment for a few hours. The restobar was closed for a couple days due to holy week and the girls here went out of their way to cook my main evening evening meal. Roast chicken and then chicken adobo . They normally have a mountain of rice with fisheads or something similar. However, I still went out for my daily sojourn. If I have to walk into town, the roads are quiet and because the market closes at three, the town is very empty so I am not mingling with crowds of people. In the restobar I sit in the back normally alone enjoying the tranquility which I dont get here and ruminate over a couple of beers. Very few people eat there now, but business is brisk with take outs. Yes, I agree that protocols should be followed and I am happy to accept the flak that may come my way on this forum which I will not defend.

I cannot remember if I have mentioned this previously but the novelty of living here after 5 months has worn off.....especially now with 9 people living here. One toilet c/w shower. It can become trying. So when this is over, I need to move on into some sense of normality. But nothing will be absolute normal until the case against me has been dealt with. One way or another.

Regards

thaiing

You are in a high risk age group so I am sure you are being careful. I would just be worrying about the other 8 in the house and where they are venturing. Good luck. Testing times.

Raffin

All the more reason for him to be out a lot. Plus the food, feeling better mentally and physically .....and saving on any contribution to the electric bill,.Yes,delayed, but also probably increased due to everyone being stuck at home. Against that P11's guilty feeling that he's breaking the protocols... or at least the spirit of the lockdown.