Filipino Fever – October 06, 2007

Like Thailand, we have the occasional horror story whereby a tourist (or local) get hosed by the authorities. The most common involve being caught with an underage girl or boy, or being caught in possession of a controlled substance — usually in conjunction with a liaison with a freelancer. Here are two recent horror stories…

 Last weekend, a good friend of ours held his birthday party in Voodoo. He  wanted a lock-in. These types of parties are fairly common in Angeles City. They are pretty much a stag party for a limited number of guests. They run between $200 and $400 an hour depending on the size of the bar, number of guests and amenities provided. The birthday party was going great. There were 25 guys there, we’d had a 3 shows and had just finished a shower show where the guest of honor was thoroughly cleaned up by 8 or so girls. One of the mamasans got a text message from a couple of her former girls (whom the birthday boy knew pretty well). They said they were outside and wanted to know if they could come in. He said ok and we opened the door and they joined the festivities.

About 15 minutes later there was some heavy banging on the door. Our doorman sent me a text that it was the police. All the fun was pretty much over, so there was nothing going on that would have been trouble for the bar. We took a good look around and unlocked the door. About 12 plain clothed police barged their way in. They looked for one of the recent arrivals, found her and she pointed to the birthday boy. They demanded he come with them. I asked to see their mission order (warrant) and was basically told that if I was not his lawyer to mind my own business. When he came outside of the bar, there were a couple of guys with video cameras and some girl pointing to him saying ‘He’s the one’. It turns out she accused him of raping her. It also turns out that she was 17. And, it also turns out that she was a willing participant in a 4 way orgy with him, the two girls who entered the bar and another lovely lady.

He didn’t have his cellular phone, but was given access to the phone at NBI (National  Bureau of Investigation) HQ in Manila. The girl’s uncle had some connections there and was coming down on him pretty hard. The other NBI guys were, in fact, behaving very well. He was never handcuffed, they kept him in a comfortable office, fed him and started negotiations. Of course, you treat a goose who is about to lay a golden egg very properly — for awhile. We were in contact with him the entire time. He said they demanded P1,500,000 ($33,000) for his release. He had about as much chance of getting his hands on that sort of money as Custer did at The Little Big Horn. By morning, he agreed to P500,000. This was equally as impossible for him to obtain. After a few phone calls, we convinced the NBI to release him so he could return to Angeles City to try to raise the money. Once here, he could start the real negotiations. They gave him 72 hours to find the cash.

Once in Angeles City, we got him a lawyer who started the negotiations. In the end, it cost him P200,000 to have everything dropped. I tried to convince him to the other girls at his house party to fill out affidavits attesting to the victim’s participation, but he felt it was not worth the effort and paid. 

On the same lines, about 3 months ago, another guy took 2 street girls to a rented room in the entertainment district. Within minutes, the police barged in and found a small package of Shabu (local word for Ice or Meth). They took him over to the station and charged him with possession. They also recommended a person who could be helpful and would take the necessary steps to have him released. Of course, it involved a payment of something like P100,000 ($2,200). It also involved getting 2 locals to sign a surety agreement promising that he would appear at his court hearing. The plan was that once out of custody he’d be on the next plane out of the Philippines. When his local friends got to the police station, they were informed that if they signed and he did not appear, the charges would be transferred to them. The results were predictable. I then obtained a lawyer for him who arranged bail of P100,000, however he had to surrender his passport and a departure hold order was issued. The guy spent the last 3 months hanging around the Philippines. He had 6 court appearances. At the first 2, the prosecuting  attorney did not show and the next 2 the arresting officers failed to appear. At the 5th, the judge took the day off. At the 6th, when the police failed to appear, the judge dismissed the case. In anyplace else in the world, the charges would have been dropped the 1st week when the accusers failed to appear. Instead, they kept this guy on the hook for 3 months. The tragedy of this last case is that the guy is a shabu user and whist awaiting resolution to the case spent all he could beg and borrow. He became destitute and started living on the streets in Manila. His mother and I have been in constant contact and we’re trying to get him deported back to the US.  What a tragedy all this is.

On a more upscale note, here are some upcoming events. Should your travel plans call for a visit to the Philippines we will be having a scorpio birthday weekend from November 8th till the 11th. Yours truly will pass another milestone. This has become an annual event and this year’s celebrations will include a special SOB on the 8th, a barhop to my favorite 10 or so bars starting at 3PM and ending sometime in the wee hours and a group birthday party lock-in at Voodoo on the 10th and ending with a pool party at Kokomo’s on the 11th with 60 something girls from 10 of AC’s best bars. What a way to grow old!!!

In the meantime, if there’s anything you’d like to hear about, please don’t hesitate to email me at kokomos@gmail.com.