Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

The Internet is a wonderful tool that brings peoples together and allows instant communication between them if necessary.
When I think that now we chat with pictures when a month was needed for an exchange of letters when I met my future wife.
Unfortunately it is also used by the bastards, perverts and crooks of all kinds. As the subject of my blog is the Philippines, I shall therefore mention this country alone.
The islands Philippines despite an increase in GDP of 7.50% in 2007, remains a poor country for the majority and most especially for the rural people. The birth rate is high with a fertility rate of 3.11 children per woman. The annual growth rate of population is 1.8% with a median age of 22.5 years. There are now nearly 90 million people with 298 people per square kilometer. For information, they were only 50 million in 1981 when I got married while the population of France was 54 million. Today they outnumber the French by 25 million...
With 93% of literate, and many of them English speaking, the Filipinos have since long chosen immigration to find a job, better income and thus support their families. Moreover, the country's budget is heavily dependent on the money injected by them into the local economy.
Regarding the female population remaining in their country, some decide to use a computer to escape poverty. Often they are from middle class or humble families and are high school or College graduated. The less educated not even know how to use the Internet have find something else to escape their fate.
Not rich enough to own their own PC, all these ladies are crowding the countless Internet cafe of the country at all times of day, depending on the time zones. They are all members of several dating sites in search of a soul mate living in a Western country, preferably English speaking one. They are often regardless of the age or physical appearance provided that the guy is a good man and can give them if not a rich life, but at least a decent one while helping the family in this Philippines.

Once married, they are often good mothers and loving and faithful wives.
Of course they are some girls using the Internet to deceive their foreigner cyber pals and I will quote here under some of the most common scams identified by a French owner of an Internet cafe in Cebu.

Most tricks aim at stealing money from the gullible guys or from the lovers of erotic sensations on the web. The authors are necessarily pretty girls speaking English but they may also be single mothers, married women or living in with a Filipino boy friend as well. But be aware that the gentlemen are not left behind the ladies for the deceptions but for the moment,

Ladies first.

So here are the most common tricks:

- I am a second year College student and I will have to stop my studies as I don't have money anymore to pay my semester tuition fees. Please help me!

- I just lost my job and I will be thrown into the street because the rent of my boarding house is due soon and I don't have income anymore! Please help me!

-Tomorrow is my birthday and I dont have money to celebrate it with my family!

- My father is sick and I have no money for drugs and without your assistance he is at risk of dying.

- I have a serious illness and I can't afford the doctor and the medicines therefore I am obliged to go back to my parents in the province and you won't hear of me anymore.

- I won't be able to chat with you for a while as am short of money to pay the Internet café. Too bad! I like you so much. If you like me too, please help me.

- I wont be able to communicate with you once you are here because my cell phone is broken. May I borrow you some money to have it fixed?

- I am so happy that you are arriving soon but I am ashamed  because I have no dresses worthy of you. If only I had a few thousand pesos to renew my wardrobe….
And so on.

Their imagination has no other bounds than the naivety of their interlocutors.

Now in another style more under the belt are some the other tricks that work:

- I want to fetch you at the Manila airport and our first night will be unforgettable, but I have a problem as I live in the province. Can you send me the money for a round trip plane ticket?

Of course the lady will never show at the Manila airport.

Now the lure of the so-called virginity:

- I am still a virgin, I am afraid, but I love you and you will be the first man to whom I'll give myself when you come.
Following that promise, the girl and her family will have many problems and will ask for the financial assistance of the future 'first lover'. Then the money will benefit all the family and her Filipino boy friend.

As an anecdote, An American was fooled for several months by a so called virgin who had promised him her cherry. It was only when he saw her picture on another website that he learned that she was actually a transvestite.

Even more subtle:

  - My boobs are too small and I am ashamed to show you when the time comes. Can you send me money for an enlargement treatment or an operation so that you discover a breast worthy of you when you are here?
Of course, he'll never see nor the breast or the girl.

And all of that works, some girls do not do anything else than spending their days in front of a computer and thus making good money.

Now something more spicy:
- I find you very handsome and I like you very much. Do you find me beautiful? I am so happy chatting with you. Want to see some pictures of mine?

Then follow pictures taken in lascivious poses or in their underwear. Another option is the deep cleavage on the webcam and / or exhibition of the breast.
Then if hooked, the male of the Western tribes has to pay if it wants more.

The lady usually asked him money to pay for a private room where she will perform cyber nudity and sex in accordance with the generosity and taste of the Cowboy, Viking, German, Saxon or Gaul.

Before now shifting to the deception of these gentlemen, I wish to state that we should not conclude with what I wrote above. Most of the ladies on the Internet are good and decent Filipina girls and the sick tree should not hide the forest rather healthy.

Let us talk now about the gentlemen.
The archetype of the man in search of a Filipina wife could be, in my opinion, about 45 to 60 years old often divorced or separated. He is mostly in that order, an American, other English-speaking, Germanic, Scandinavian or other European.
They come from all social classes, looking for a second chance in life. They will ensure the comfort and safety to a wife of 20 to 35 years their junior, and then what often resembles an association of interests could lead to a sincere friendship, affection and why no love when both partners are honest and get along well. With a young Filipina woman as a spouse, they will have to accept even if they have already kids from a previous marriage and no matter how old they are, to become a dad again because the Filipino culture does not conceive a union without offspring.
Most often they bring their wives in their home countries while others are settling in the Philippines if they have a sufficient income to live there.

But now I must mention all the other bastards polluting the Web.

- The Perverts: Little chance they will ever go to the Philippines and they are not the most harmful. They are looking for sensations on the net contacting the ladies to finally trying to bring them in the field of sexuality and then asking to exhibit their nudity on cam even offering money to do so. They even love to expose their penis as it was not an attribute common to all men.
It is not a big deal because we have seen before that some of these ladies are even eager to do so as a trade. But they lack discernment or just prefer to shock because their targets are conservative, religious and educated girls consequently the Westerners' image is tarnished especially if they also live the following experiences.

- The Internet whoremongers: They will travel to the Philippines for ten days to three weeks. They have already been in Cambodia, in Pattaya, Thailand or even Angeles in the Philippines, 2 cities specialized in the flesh trade. There they have been drunks and have copulated to satiety with the ladies of the night whose it is the chosen or forced job.
Now following the advice of some fellow whoremongers roaming the Internet, they want more thrill and novelty than prostitutes. Thus they join some dating site, say they are single, divorced or separated in the search for a wife or a partner in life. They make some contacts and chat for several weeks or even months with a selection of few ladies promising to visit them and each girl believing to be the chosen one. Once in the country, the game will be for him to put as many as possible in his bed not hesitating to promise the marriage to achieve his ends.
While many women will be consenting preys, the majority will be left disappointed, broken-hearted, perhaps having lost their virginity, their reputation tarnished, or even pregnant.
Later some of these individuals will brag their scores on the Internet even giving grades to their victims based on their looks and sexual performance. Sad to say but it is real.

- The bastards: Those I loathe them particularly  because they are not only seeking to indulge a perversion or sexual needs but mostly to do evil for fun by raising hope among girls, it is true sometimes a little gullible.
They too pretend to be single or divorced and also contact several women with whom they regularly chat. Then they also call them up on the phone and the time is coming soon where they will declare their love and propose marriage without ever having met them, and the ladies believe it… They are also jealous and prohibit their fiancées to interact with other men. They set the date for their visit they said they would reserve a room worth for one night several months of the lady's salary. They also want to know about the legal papers they need to get married, eventually asked her to apply for a passport if she doesn't have any yet.
In other variants they ask her to inquire about the price of apartments or houses of which the poor girl has never dreamed of.
Then the date of his arrival is approaching and the phones calls and the Internet connections become less frequent. In other cases they pretend that they can no longer obtain a divorce and are forced to delay their trip. Finally the lady will never hear of them again and she will collapse in tears, grieving for her lost love and her expectations.
As for the unsavory individual why he did that? Without any doubt he has chosen another girl or simply had fun at their expense out of malice or stupidity or to take revenge for whatever happened to him in the past.

I have met these young ladies; they are waitresses, sales ladies, secretaries and so on. How often have I told them that someone serious and trustworthy will never promise eternal love or marriage on the Internet without having first met them, they just do not want to hear me such is great their desire for a life supposedly better abroad. They prefer to have dreams, and spend their meager money spending hours on a computer rather than to resign themselves to their bleak prospects. And then there are the others, those who have succeeded and live in America so why not her?