I hope that he can come out of this situation ok . I know he has helped many people, and he said on one of the videos that I watched , that he can account for all of the money that he has received in donations. I hope that being well intended but naive isn’t going to cost him dearly . If doesn’t look great for him at the moment . It just shows how careful you need to tread when living in another country , even if you mean well .
Erm, not quite, Paul: DSWD sent him a sub-poena to attend an interview with the NBI. They (the NBI) have now referred the matter to BoI who have written to him requiring him to file an affidavit in answer to the "charges" laid by DSWD. He has trodden on someone in the DSWD's corns.
As the matter is with the BoI he will not be able to leave the country and he's likely to be arrested if he tries.
It seems he has first, a foreigner, put his head 'above the parapet' . Not wise in the Philippines. Second... put money in the wrong pockets. Third, caused the region where he is operating to 'lose face', IMHO. This is not the U.K. or the U.S.A. It is a 3rd World country, corrupt from top to bottom, with those in any sort of position of power, guarding it carefully.
Ah I didn’t realise the BoI were requesting the affidavit. It seems to be turning into something rather sad and something he’s unlikely to talk his way out of.
I’m not so sure I agree with point two. In my eyes he put the money in the right pockets. It just so happens that he didnt play by the correct rules. He should have and he may well pay the price by having to leave the country that he has embraced and seemingly loves.
Graham is actually being subtle here, he means that by helping the local people that Terrence put money in the wrong pockets, the right pockets would have been the undeserving ones the corrupt ones, by helping the poor to have homes he stood up against the establishment, he helped the poor not the rich. And while I have not followed this man's story like you have I think this is probably a fair assessment. One thing Paul I am starting to think we need SSL, while it would not prevent simple reading of posts, it would prevent 'man in the middle' filtering of outbound http traffic, traffic outbound from the Philippines. It's a lot easier to sniff local traffic than it is to search the whole world for an obscure forum and forum post. Forum members in the Phils are at risk of traffic sniffing, locally in the Philippines.
Now that the BI are directly involved,what worries me is they may stick him in the Immigration Detention Center in Bicutan pending his deportation. Sometimes these deportation cases can take months..Years even. DO NOT ever help Filipino`s in need..They have a Gov. dept. called the DSWD here for that kind of thing and your assistance is NOT appreciated!
My colleagues over the last 20 years did a lot to help the Aeta people in the Phils through the Rotary, one of the two lads I trained on our ERP system went on to work very closely with the local people and is still there working hard to help, he was a young German lad. The other one I have talked about often on here, he built software businesses in Makati and is still working in multiple countries in the larger region. I probably have a bit more respect for the German lad, he was quite young but chose to make his life there and mostly helping others. But I agree if you are a foreigner in the Philippines don't try to use your talents to help others, investigate the rules in minute detail first and even then if you do anything do it by proxy, trusted family member or whatever, but whatever you do don't raise your head above the parapet.
I did realise what Graham was saying in his post and I still think he put the money in the right pockets, the poor. If Terence had waited for the correct documentation (maybe it would never have materialised, who knows) he was doing the right thing. He was right, it’s the system that is wrong.
'Wrong' pockets as far as far as a few jealous/corrupt people are concerned is what I meant. Of course I am not going to criticise anybody for putting money in the pockets of the poor and deserving. I believe that is what the person most of the population of the Phils worship preached. Hmm.
It makes no difference who`s money was solicited or distributed in whatever manner. They pissed off someone that knows the law.. Watch this video and make your own decision about a number of things. I`ll say no more here as I have no intention to become involved..
I agree he was doing the right thing, it's just that having seen the Philippine justice system in action close up many years ago it scared me. I was once very curtly put in my place when I spoke up trying to help Ana explain something to an official, the anger on the woman's face that a foreigner had dared to speak was palpable and terrifying.
A woman,"curtly" putting you in your place??? If I knew her,I`d invite her to become a member here!! lol
Yea not good really. I had almost the same thing but in opposite if you will. The person who ran the consulate in Cebu all but ignored my then fiance when we visited her to start the visa process. I could elaborate on the word to describe said person but probably best not.
When I reflected on what happened I realised that she was quite right to treat me that way, I shouldn't have spoken up in that context, I was hurt because she could have done it nicely, and I got scared because I had just realised exactly how thin the ice was.
Well, well, well, Terence has been successful in his non stock non profit organisation. More power to him and I don't think there's no stopping him He has lived in Pinas on visit and balikbayan visa's for the last 5 years, he has now applied for permanent residence and is awaiting the result. I'm made up for the guy!
It looks like he has cleared his name , and received his approvals now, so good luck to them both . I see they are going to have a new addition to the family also . Happy times .