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

Road safety:

In the region of Dumaguete, the mayor also head of the police, does not enforce the Highway Code. I think that he is more concerned to forbid Go-Go dancers in bars than to force the motorcyclists wearing helmets, drivers fastening seat belts or having lights on at night. Accordingly countless bikers kill themselves, on the road but the moral is saved and that's the main thing.
Some day I asked a young Filipino why he had no lights on his bike and he answered me:  "It is useless Sir because I see very well at night".
In the same vein, once I asked a city councilor why the municipality did not oblige bikers to wear a helmet and he replied very seriously that it would increase the crime rate. He added "you understand with that on the head we could no longer recognize the offenders. »
 
The training of salesmen:

While I was at the Kia dealer of Dumaguete, I asked the salesman a few questions:
Q: This vehicle is equipped with ABS? 
A: Yes sir.
Q: Also airbags?
A: No, but it would be pointless.
Q: Why so?
A: But Sir, since there is already ABS, airbags are unnecessary.

 A little further at the Hyundai-Nissan dealer:

Q: This model has ABS and airbags?
A: Yes sir, but I advise you rather another model.
Q: yes but it is more expensive and is it has a gasoline engine.
A: Yes, but no other vehicle has a cooler compartment in the dashboard for cold drinks and with such a hot weather it is more useful than anything else.
 
In the Hardware Department store, I once asked a young guy.

Q: I like this chandelier, how much is it?
A: It is out of stock Sir.
Q: If I order it now, how long will it take to have it?
A: Wait, I will ask.

A few moments later.

A: Sir, I cannot help you.
Q: Why so?
A: This is the day off of our switchboard operator.
Q: And then?
R: But Sir, there is nobody else to call the supplier.

 A few days later in the same store.

Q: I'm looking for a light for my house's porch.
A: I see.

He returned later with an interior chandelier.

Q: But it for a living room
A: Yes but it looks so much better.
 
Another day I brought a fluorescent tube to be changed.

Q: I would like the same
A: I will look for it.

He returned later with different models

Q: Why don't you bring only the one I asked you?
A: But Sir, like that you are responsible for your choices and not me

obviously these kids are not to blame because they receive no training and are underpaid.

We are in the Philippines will you say? But how about this great Department store in France? They hired for a summer job a friend of my son, a student in computer sciences. Where do you think he was appointed? Computers?  Not at all, he was assigned to the cell phones of which he knew little or nothing, and without any training.

Geography:

Q: What country are you from?
A: I am from France near Paris.
Q: I see, is that on the East Coast or West Coast of the United States?

Well, my interlocutor was supposed to be educated. I hope he was in his field of work.

Another!
Q: You do not speak English in France?
A: No, not between French.
Q: So what dialect do you use?
 

Yes, France is far and it is small but what can we expect when there is not even a French speaking channel on the satellite TV. The fault to the Filipinos? Not at all, but our TV is asking too much money to be broadcasted. Accordingly TV5 has been removed 2 years ago from their Satellite TV.
No worries, we still have CNN and BBC World.

In fact we are far from all our French politicians' speeches pretending to defend or preserve the French language. How many young people have I met interested in learning French, mostly to have a better chance to migrate to Canada. Unfortunately for them they can't afford to enroll in Silliman University in Dumaguete and still less to attend the 'Alliance Française' in Cebu or Manila reserved to an elite.

The economic crisis:

Yesterday a technician came to our house to repair a water heater. It was 1 pm and my wife offered him lunch. She spoke of the economic crisis and asked him his views.
He said "you know Madam, here we are always flat broke, and so crisis or not what does that change?"And he burst out laughing.

The brownouts:

Not only are we given an electrical current quite expensive, but at peak hours, the voltage drops to 160-170 volts instead of 220-240 volts.
Therefore to preserve our appliances, in addition it is better to install a transformer to get between 210 and 245 volts or still in addition, an AVR to get a current stabilized at 230 volts.
It should be enough investments but it is not because the power outages are so frequent that it is better to have a small generator to maintain the cold chain and to have light. I have one since early September and it must have run at least 60 hours since.
Early last week, there was a big storm and a brownout ensued and lasted ... ... twenty hours. After the sixteenth hour, I decided to call the power company. I had 3 people on the line and the last one said "There was a big gust of wind in your area yesterday and we are repairing. »
I told her that I well aware of the strong wind it was already 16 hours ago and I added "why do we have more outages than anywhere else in the region? »
She said "Sir, but there are so many trees and bamboo near your place, it is the reason why."
I am living in a country where the word user instead of client has its full meaning and where Filipinos are suffering without complaining.

House insurance: 

 Here insurances are not renewable by tacit agreement and until last year we didn't even received a notice of payment. Thus in 2006 by mistake, my house was not insured for a month.
Since this year, there has been some improvement in their organization for both car and house insurances, we are now sent a letter one month before the due date.  But we still have to go to the office to pay our premiums and then again to get the new contract.
So on November 11, I went to the Philippines National Bank (PNB) to pay my premium. I was given a receipt and told to come back a week later to fetch my policy.
Time goes fast and it was only yesterday, December 5, passing in front of the building that I thought about my insurance. I went to the office and the bank-insurer guy did some research to give me my papers. Not finding anything, he made a call to the regional office of Bacolod about 250 km far. Here they replied that everything was normal that I was insured but since mid-November, they blocked all mail to their branches waiting December to make only one shipment with the calendar Christmas cards.
When I think that for 33 years I worked for AXA Insurances as an executive in the Department of Logistics, hearing that was enough to faint.

The burglary:
On 11 December 2008 while I was spending two days in Sipalay, taking advantage of my absence and that of my house keeper who was having his dinner  at home, my house was burglarized.
I heard the news on December 12 when on my way home because I had no signal on my phone in the resort where I was. It is a trauma and an anxiety experienced by those who have lived that already. Finally, in addition to my stolen things, I've lost my confidence and my naïve optimism in a place where a few years ago we did not even close ours doors.

The progress is catching up there and now I'll have to secure my house to feel more confident in this metropolis which is booming and is still erroneously called "the city of the gentle people."
So after three hours of driving during which I was wondering what I would see and what had been stolen, I arrived home to find a large deployment of police. In addition to the local police of Zamboanguita that came already the day before when my house- keeper had found to break-in, the Dumaguete police was there as well with equipment to lift the fingerprints and send them to the Central office in Cebu. Sorry to say that but I didn't have any hope about the outcome of the investigation.
But it's mostly what my helper told me later that was finally really funny. The day when the police came to see my place and starts the investigation, they came with their camera to take pictures of the site. As it was night, they needed to use the flash, but it had been borrowed by a police officer and not returned. So they went back to Zamboanguita 5 km from here to retrieve it. Once back they found out that the batteries were flat. Therefore they had to go back to Zamboanguita to buy new ones before they were able to finally take the pics.
Then the next day the chief of police told me in private that the main suspects were the husband and wife whom I employed for 5 years. Of course everything is possible, but this couple had more to lose than gain by stealing items of value for me but worth almost nothing in resale value. In any case, less than the thirteenth month that I pay for their Christmas bonus.
Two months later I still haven't heard from the police and I do not expect any news in spite of the bottle of rhum I gave them for the festive days.

To be continued…