Of course there are couples who stay happy with big age differences, and anyway, not every marriage is guaranteed to work everywhere.
They weren't living together towards the end,a follow up on Girlie would be interesting Life after Dale
Hm. Well we saw the documentary. I think our views could accurately be summed up as 'dodgy old giffer belongs in jail'. Disgusting. One remark above I have to comment on: 'at least he had some fun towards the end of his life'. For real? With a 16 year old child? There's a term for that. It's not 'fun'.
I met a Dale the last time I was in Manila, American gentleman in the starbucks at the bay view park Hotel just down from the American embassy on rojas blvd, he was in his early 70's, told me his fiance was 18,he was sorting out paperwork in the embassy, he is probably long dead now.
Don't think Mike had watched all of it John. I haven't either I skipped through the main points as I find these kind of films hard to watch. Personally I think it was pretty wrong but I would point out that such a marriage would have been perfectly legal in Scotland.
As his daughter said, is the trade-off worth it, her parents were also complicit in the pay-for-play trade.
The film itself is pretty old now, but it did get some award nominations by the looks of things. Now it is doing the rounds on streaming services, there is presumably ad revenue being generated as well. I truly hope that the film makers kept in touch with Girlie and made sure she receives her fair share. Now the spoiler has been revealed, she was still a child. Girlie did not deceive Dale. She was a victim in the whole thing. Without doubt, millions of Filipinos are victims every day to a much stronger degree, but their lives are not used as entertainment by aspiring Canadian film makers. The relationship between Dale and his daughter was flimsy at best regardless of his love life. Her stumbling into this ethical hot potato was the best thing that could have happened to her career.
Seems like the age of consent changed over there to 16 y.o. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/03/philippines-takes-step-protect-children#:~:text=Conde&text=The Philippines House of Representatives,in the world, to 16.
Although the age of consent was 12 there were rules related to that in terms of the age of the other partner, it would have been illegal in the vast majority of cases for a westerner to be involved with a girl under age 18 for all of the time I have been travelling there.
I don't remember the exact law, but there is an anti trafficking law (very poorly worded) which criminalised foreigners if they were in the company of Filipino minors. It talked about age differences of more than 10 years. Poorly drafted, but I could see the intent. It made exceptions for family members post marriage, so you wouldn't be arrested for taking care of young cousins, for example.
No apology needed. I was more outraged by the programme than by your remark truly. I didn't mean to sound like I was being critical. I wrote it when I was irritated by the old codger. Having a 17 year old daughter I just find the idea of a 73 year old guy nailing someone that age a bit hard to take - even if - as someone else pointed out - her own parents did not..
See your point. When I was in Thailand, I used to see very unsettling sights in the morning when I was heading out at the crack of dawn to go scuba diving and "couples" were heading home on foot from the bars. It was always disturbing even though I first went to Asia in 1978 and saw a lot of things.
There is a law which makes it illegal for anyone to be in the company of a minor without a chaperone unless you are a very close blood relative of that minor, I can't remember the exact law but I would not be safe if I let some of my kids friends be in the house when other Filipino adults are not present, I could not volunteer to babysit in the Philippines and have always been aware of that law.
Found it : Republic Act No. 7610 ARTICLE VI Section 10 paragraph b) Microsoft Word - 19- RA 7610 - Child Abuse Law.docx (umn.edu)
Yes I've travelled in Thailand and seen similar things. Indeed in the Philippines too - but it always makes me feel rather sad. It feels exploitative. Whilst you are right @oss - I do feel sure @oss that the 16 year old age of consent in Scotland is intended not to criminalise two teenage star struck lovers of similar age and is not really intended (in spirit) for a man almost sixty years older to legally take advantage of an almost-child. I feel sure that this wide an age difference would raise eyebrows or indeed fists north of the border? In the situation in the movie, I do feel the man should have shown more discipline and dare I say it, more self respect, as the more mature adult in the situation.
