Learning my fiancee 's culture

[tallcoolone 102]

Still picking on little 'ol me? No response at all to rlogan?

Anyway, I promise you, I can get my entire barangay inside an airport up to the last gate, and I'm talking NAIA here, not some airport in Mindanao, although I can manage to do that too. I can even arrange to have a private jet land on a private landing strip...... landing strip.... landing strip.... hmmm.... does that sound like the surname of someone you know, TCO?

I don't read most of his post, they are way too long. But if he said that then that's a stupid comment about "White" People

So what if you know my last name? Big Deal.

[Pinay Wife 47]

So what if you know my last name? Big Deal.

[tallcoolone 102]

I admit I was a bit nervous when I went to Butuan the first time because of what everyone says about Mindanao but other than getting some stares everyone was really nice. A lot of the stares came from former students of my wife. Teaching 300+ students a year for 18 years meant there were quite a few. I never had anyone say to me "Hey Joe"

I don't know why Mindanao get such a bad wrap, but I find it funny and amusing that it does. I have spent probably the majority of my time in that region, I dig it.

I have been to Manila 2 times, it is sad some Americans only go Manilla and then they go away saying Philippines Suxs, and I can kinda understand their comment.

As I have always suggested, if you go to Philippines don't leave the airport at Manila, wait for a plane and hop it down to Davao. Once in Davao, you can spend your whole life exploring down there

[David and Jean 0]

Some things I miss about Phil (Davao area) is; the hospitality, the geography, and fresh mangos... Grabeeee.

[Ban Hammer 12,878]

I don't read most of his post, they are way too long. But if he said that then that's a stupid comment about "White" People

So what if you know my last name? Big Deal.

your last name is "landing strip" - all this time i thought that was something gals too chicken for brazil wax did.

[Pinay Wife 47]

your last name is "landing strip" - all this time i thought that was something gals too chicken for brazil wax did.

Brazil wax is not for the sissy hence the last name "landing strip"

edited to add: With apologies to TCO for making fun of his surname.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Pinay Wife

[rlogan 2,036]

Davao is nothing like huge swaths of Mindanao.

The fact is both attacks on the WTC, the second on September 11, can be tied directly to Abu Sayyef, operating out of Mindanao.

The ARMM, Zamboanga, and many other parts of Mindanao are extremely dangerous for foreigners. We go through five active military checkpoints just to go to the market where our house is. The guerillas blew up the Maria Christina bridge, which we cross, Jerry's market where we buy a lot of our canned goods, Unicity, and other places. Sometimes they blow themselves up instead of the target.

In November of last year there was a massacre of 46 people, known as the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao - that included journalists specifically targeted because of support for a politician running against the incumbent. There are at least three criminal kidnap-for-ransom gangs in operation on Mindanao: Abu-Sayyaf, MILF, and MNLF remnants - and this isn't all of them, nor are they operated with enough cohesion to put into effect permanent defeat of any of them. The old MNLF is what eventually successfully established the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but it has not ended the violence by any means, and just like the IRA you have independent operators just calling themselves splinter-groups for convenience.

Abu-Sayyaf blew up a superferry in 2004 killing 116 passengers because the owners refused to pay extortion. Abu-Sayyaf's most famous member was Ramsey Youseff - he bombed the WTC in 1990. By that I mean he drove the truck and detonated the bomb personally. There have been two bombings if the WTC. The first was this one by Ramsey Youseff in 1990. The second was masterminded by his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed on September 11, 2001.

Both nephew and uncle were responsible for planning what became the September 11 attacks on the WTC. At the time it was called the Bojinka Plot. They successfully blew up an explosive on a Japanese airliner as a trial run, but their apartment caught fire when some explosives got out of hand. Youseff was captured and imprisoned for the bombing of the WTC at that time.

Uncle Khalid Mohammed fled to Afghanistan where he met with Osama Bin Laden of Al Qaeda to request funding for completion of the Bojinka Plot that had been interrupted. The Philippines National Police forwarded all of the computer files seized to the U.S., and anyone who has studied this knows the assertion there was no forewarning is complete poppycock. Bin Laden merely financed the completion of what Abu-Sayyaf had been doing for over a decade.

The upshot is that the kind of people running the terrorist groups on Mindanao physically bombed the U.S. World Trade Center twice. They sink ships. They massacre political opposition. They blow up bridges, stores, easter parades, and sometimes themselves. They kidnap for ransom. They murder, extort, seize property, intimidate, etc.

A common response to facts and sober analysis by blustering fools is that they don't have time for it. That isn't much of an answer.

Some have pushed a link between the Oklahoma City bombing and Abu-Sayyaf too. Personally, there isn't enough in there for me to say. It is true that Terry Nichols went many times to Mindanao and was there when Ramsey Youseff was. This research came to light on account of the intense initial search for "John Doe Number Two" who was supposedly of Middle Eastern complexion, that was seen in the Ryder Truck with Tim McVeigh by multiple witnesses.

Nichols helped McVeigh build the truck bomb. He got life in prison. Nichols had visited Philippines where Ramsey Youseff of Abu Sayyaf was operating - and he was a bomb construction expert. The witnesses seeing the "Middle Eastern" looking man with McVeigh then tied together a speculation that McVeigh, who had no bomb training or expertise, received help from Abu-Sayyef and Ramsey Youseff in particular in the Oklahoma City bombing.

I'm just a nobody. But I strongly advise researching carefully anything you plan to do on Mindanao, or for that matter anywhere in the Philippines. Mindanao is the most heavily populated by terrorist groups. Traveling in some areas is suicidal. Sure, there are others that are far safer and Davao is one of them.

But do not be talked into thinking Davao is "Mindanao" or base any of your expectations on other areas by what you find there. It is very foolish.

[tallcoolone 102]

Some have pushed a link between the Oklahoma City bombing and Abu-Sayyaf too. Personally, there isn't enough in there for me to say. It is true that Terry Nichols went many times to Mindanao and was there when Ramsey Youseff was. This research came to light on account of the intense initial search for "John Doe Number Two" who was supposedly of Middle Eastern complexion, that was seen in the Ryder Truck with Tim McVeigh by multiple witnesses.

Nichols helped McVeigh build the truck bomb. He got life in prison. Nichols had visited Philippines where Ramsey Youseff of Abu Sayyaf was operating - and he was a bomb construction expert. The witnesses seeing the "Middle Eastern" looking man with McVeigh then tied together a speculation that McVeigh, who had no bomb training or expertise, received help from Abu-Sayyef and Ramsey Youseff in particular in the Oklahoma City bombing.

You are reaching there, I think you might be a Conspiracy Theroy lover. They had trail for both me, and I'am sure if there was ties back to Philippines it would of been brought to light. Please don't believe everything you read on the internet, Some idiots believe the US Govt. was behind the 9/11 bombings, I have read that on the internet, Does it make it true?

McVeigh/Nichols was trying to avenge for the Waco Incident, that is what the trail discovered

Edited September 16, 2010 by tallcoolone

[tallcoolone 102]

Here is something interesting about Nichols, Sounds like a Waste of Space to me

"In 1990, Nichols married a 17 year old woman, Marife Torres, from the Philippines whom he met through a mail-order bride agency. When she arrived in Michigan several months later, she was pregnant with another man's child. The child died at age two when he suffocated in a plastic bag[14] while Nichols was babysitting him. Marife suspected foul play had occurred, but there were no bruises or signs of trauma to the child, and the death was ruled accidental. Nichols and Marife had two more children during their marriage.

The couple divorced after his arrest. Marife returned to the Philippines with the children."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Nichols

[rlogan 2,036]

You are reaching there, I think you might be a Conspiracy Theroy lover.

You are not as skilled a manipulator as you believe yourself to be.

You went through a lot of material and finally thought you might have a put-down to work with here if you could convince people I said something that I did not.

In fact, you are pretending that the doubt I expressed is something you need to teach me.

You are hoping to divert people's attention from the fact it is you that has very little knowledge of Abu-Sayeff, MILF, and other terrorist groups operating out of Mindanao and that Mindanao in particular is a place the State Department has very dire warnings about.

Here is a travel ban news release for U.S. citizens on parts of Mindanao:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/04/06/10/us-gov%E2%80%99t-bars-travel-parts-mindanao

The US State Department on Tuesday barred US citizens from traveling to the central and western portions of Mindanao as well as in the islands of the Sulu archipelago...

The advisory said US government employees must seek special permission for travel to Mindanao or the Sulu Archipelago because of the heightened threat of kidnap-for-ransom gangs. It said some foreigners who reside in or visit Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago hire their own security.

The advisory noted that a state of emergency remains in effect in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, as well as Cotabato City, following the November 23 Maguindanao massacre. It said travelers should be aware of heightened police activity and significant military presence in these areas.

“They should carefully research restrictions imposed upon travel and follow the instructions of government officials with regard to limitations on movement,” it said.

I realize how much effort you are willing to expend in trying to stay in a one-up position on everyone. I would ignore it, but you've crossed a line where that has led to recommending suicidal actions to other people.

If we combine posts of yours it is the recommendation to punch people in the face for some trivial slight on the island of Mindanao as if Americanos were invincible supermen there.

There is a very long history here people need to be aware of including the inability of anyone - the Spanish, the Americans, the Philippine government - from subjugating the Moro people of Mindanao.

An ignorant Americano following your advice may be unaware of this centuries-old armed conflict, but they aren't. When they see an Americano, they see something their fathers, their grandfathers, and their great-grandfathers from time immemorial have fought against violently - and prevailed.

Experience gained from chasing bar girls in relatively safe enclaves is no substitute for serious study of history, or even a short read of state department travel advisories for that matter.

You need to stop pouring so much of your resources into attempting a put-down on me. What was important to me here was how the blustering impacts people who may travel to Mindanao in the future, where the U.S. State Department has travel bans and dire travel advisories out for kindap-for-ransom gangs, terrorist bombings, and ongoing military battles with the Philippine government.

There is also little doubt in my mind you know a lot less about the Oklahoma City bombing too, but your attempt to divert all of the attention there now is a product of the incessant need to try putting yourself in a one-up position with everyone.

I'm not allowing that diversion. Mindanao is a very dangerous place for Americanos, and the degree of danger depends on where and also on how you conduct yourself. The U.S. State Department says Americans should keep a low profile and exercise extreme caution.

[Krikit 1,163]

There is continued inappropriate behaviour in this thread. Please stop, or administrative action will be taken. Thank you.

[Atencio 43]

The truth is that all of Mindinao is not all safe or all dangerous. I would never travel to the west coast but have no problem going to Butuan or Davao. I definitely felt safer there than Manilia.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Atencio

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

There is continued inappropriate behaviour in this thread. Please stop, or administrative action will be taken. Thank you.

Krikit! Long time no see!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The truth is that all of Mindinao is not all safe or all dangerous. I would never travel to the west coast but have no problem going to Butuan or Davao. I definitely felt safer there than Manilia.

Must be a really nice place, because other than arguing with taxi drivers, and inattentive hotel staff, I had no problems at all in Manila. However, my wife is scared to go to Mindinao, and I do know some folks that left after living there for a few years when things started getting a little too interesting. I suppose, it's the neighborhood you grew up in, that seems the safest, at least for homies.

ETA: Fixed the read.

Edited September 16, 2010 by ##########

[Atencio 43]

Must be a really nice place, because other than arguing with taxi drivers, and inattentive hotel staff, I had no problems at all in Manila. However, my wife is scared to go to Mindinao, and I do know some folks that left after living there for a few years when things started getting a little too interesting. I suppose, it's the neighborhood you grew up in, that seems the safest, at least for homies.

ETA: Fixed the read.

Yes you are probably right. My wife is scared to go to Manila. She said she might get kidnapped. From my perspective it looked like people in Butuan looked at me out of the strangeness of me being white. In Manila I felt that some people looked at me like Blacks and Hispanics do in their neighborhoods of L.A. It may be nothing, just a feeling.