HansS

Is it dangerous to live in Philippines?

They have vulcanos, earthquakes, landslides, typhoons, floods, three kind of terrorist organizations, snakes, lizards, dangerous fishes, mosqitos and other biting insects but the only real danger (beside my wife!) is the traffic.

The traffic rules seem to be individual and pedestrians are not regarded as humans. You are not allowed to drive drunk if it is affecting the driving.  If there is no accident, you are a good driver. Forget about promille and shit. If you are speeding, and you are, you are just told to slow down. There is a lot of signs with speed limits (30km/h) but never a sign when you are allowed to speed up. That means you are allowed to run at 30 and no more... The sugar cane trucks breaks down now and then and are sometimes blocking one lane without any warning light or sign.  30% of the roads are "under construction" and the warnings is normally put exactly where the road works starts. To drive from Escalante to Bacolod is 100km national highway but it takes 2,5 hours. That means an average speed of 40km/h.

The slow speed is good for one thing, you have all the time you need to stop.

If you by accident hit a pedestrian and he dies, you maybe have a problem. If it is nighttime and he is standing on the road and try to stop you, the recommendation is to take him down because he is probably trying to rob you. No one is asking for help nighttime. If it is daytime and the victim is a bread winner in the family you can be forced to pay as much as 10 000Peso.

LTO, the supervising authority, is corrupt, ineffective and unfair. When we bought a new car it took 18 months to get a plate. The tax sticker comes when the tax period is over. LTO office in Cadiz cannot agree with LTO in Bacolod if our tax is paid or not. When they inspect your car they have no equipment to lift the car, they have to go to a carwash nearby. Outside their office is six big signs telling the visitors to avoid "fixers". As soon as you arrive at least four fixers offer their service. Without a fixer a simple issue can take six hours to process. Of course it is illegal to be a fixer but who cares, they share the profit with LTO friends.