Thrilla in Manila
So it finally happened. I flew to Manila on Sunday night and will be here till June 8. They've put me up at this place called Oakwood Premier and I lucked out with a really sweet studio. This apartment is fully maxed out - dvd player, stereo, fully equipped kitchen, and even a washing machine and dryer in the room!! Plus most people are friendly and helpful.
But as usual good things don't last for long. The cheapo running the engagement asked the project administrator to get me some place less expensive, so this super efficient lady went and found me a cheaper apartment. You have to admire the single-mindedness of these people - cost cutting was the number one priority and that's what she did alright. Well, apparently the Philippines is pretty high risk and even the client was uncomfortable about the new location so they sent their security guy to check the place out - the report will be out soon and then we'll see if I have to move there.
Anyway, I had to see the place for myself so last night I walked over to check out the apartment in question. And as luck would have it, I ran into the bane of all tourists in developing countries: crooked cops.
I was "forced" to jaywalk across one of the roads (the underpass was under renovations so couldn't use it) only to find a fence between the road and sidewalk on the other side! I had no choice but to keep walking on the road itself. And what do you know (I should've seen it coming), a jeep with 5 cops in it pulled up. You can't walk on the road... blah blah blah... you've broken the law... blah blah blah... let me see your ID.
Wait... hold up. There was no way I was going to show my ID to these guys - the circumstances were just too dodgy. I mean, so I was walking on the road instead of the pavement. Big deal - didn't they have better things to do than hassle me on the street??? Remember there were 5 of them! I apologized and told them I would move onto the sidewalk (I was prepared to jump over the fence if I had to), but predictably they wouldn't leave it at that. So I told them my passport was in the apartment and i didn't have any ID on me, so could they please let me go? Of course they wouldn't.
Blah blah blah... You need to pay a fine of 1000 pesos! WTF??? No way Jose I saw that coming a mile away. I told them upfront I wasn't comfortable with the procedure, I wanted to go to the nearest hotel and make a call back to my apartment so that they knew what was happening. No no no, why do you need to call your hotel? Well then let me go back to Oakwood, get my passport and show it to you, and at the same time check with the reception. No no no, we'll have to take you back to the station, to the prison. Blah blah blah...
Finally after a good 15 minutes, I guess they could see that I wasn't going to cave in and one of the cops came over and told me they'd let it go this time. Phew. My first encounter and if I'm going to be here till August, probably not my last. Nice to know corruption is alive and kicking here in good ol' Manila.
[Edit: Looking back I guess I was pretty lucky to have gotten out of it without a scratch. Next time I'll try not to be such a pain in the ass and will probably just pay up - don't want to end up in the wrong part of town at the wrong time.]
But as usual good things don't last for long. The cheapo running the engagement asked the project administrator to get me some place less expensive, so this super efficient lady went and found me a cheaper apartment. You have to admire the single-mindedness of these people - cost cutting was the number one priority and that's what she did alright. Well, apparently the Philippines is pretty high risk and even the client was uncomfortable about the new location so they sent their security guy to check the place out - the report will be out soon and then we'll see if I have to move there.
Anyway, I had to see the place for myself so last night I walked over to check out the apartment in question. And as luck would have it, I ran into the bane of all tourists in developing countries: crooked cops.
I was "forced" to jaywalk across one of the roads (the underpass was under renovations so couldn't use it) only to find a fence between the road and sidewalk on the other side! I had no choice but to keep walking on the road itself. And what do you know (I should've seen it coming), a jeep with 5 cops in it pulled up. You can't walk on the road... blah blah blah... you've broken the law... blah blah blah... let me see your ID.
Wait... hold up. There was no way I was going to show my ID to these guys - the circumstances were just too dodgy. I mean, so I was walking on the road instead of the pavement. Big deal - didn't they have better things to do than hassle me on the street??? Remember there were 5 of them! I apologized and told them I would move onto the sidewalk (I was prepared to jump over the fence if I had to), but predictably they wouldn't leave it at that. So I told them my passport was in the apartment and i didn't have any ID on me, so could they please let me go? Of course they wouldn't.
Blah blah blah... You need to pay a fine of 1000 pesos! WTF??? No way Jose I saw that coming a mile away. I told them upfront I wasn't comfortable with the procedure, I wanted to go to the nearest hotel and make a call back to my apartment so that they knew what was happening. No no no, why do you need to call your hotel? Well then let me go back to Oakwood, get my passport and show it to you, and at the same time check with the reception. No no no, we'll have to take you back to the station, to the prison. Blah blah blah...
Finally after a good 15 minutes, I guess they could see that I wasn't going to cave in and one of the cops came over and told me they'd let it go this time. Phew. My first encounter and if I'm going to be here till August, probably not my last. Nice to know corruption is alive and kicking here in good ol' Manila.
[Edit: Looking back I guess I was pretty lucky to have gotten out of it without a scratch. Next time I'll try not to be such a pain in the ass and will probably just pay up - don't want to end up in the wrong part of town at the wrong time.]
posted by SgHama | 11:33 PM
1 Comments:
wow - that was quite some fun i guess...these gooons never cease to surprise, do they ?
it is really lucky of you to get out unscathed...why dont you carry a copy of your passport with you. i used to do that while i was in one of the middle east countries ( you know, some places there have monarchies - so whatever the king or his monarchy says is correct)
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