In less than 12 hours 3 stories about foreigners in the Philippines have passed through the news cycle. Could be more. But here are the three I saw.
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| http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/996829/british-national-arrested-in-makati-for-refusing-to-pay-bar-bill |
A British national was arrested on Saturday for allegedly refusing to pay for his bill at a bar in Barangay Poblacion, Makati City, and threatening the bar’s representative.
According to the Makati City Police Station, Pedro Guevarra Jr. of Horizon Bar said the suspect, Sukhjinder Singth Atwal, refused to pay for his bill amounting to P3,000.
A British national named Sukhjinder Singth Atwal?? Britain sure is changing! In fact Sukhjinder is also a good German, French, or Swedish name these days.
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| http://globalnation.inquirer.net/167436/british-national-drowns-in-taal-lake |
The victim, Robert Macrae, according to initial information gathered by the police, was an engineer living with his Filipino girlfriend in the town of Indang in Cavite province.
Balete police chief Sr. Inspector Nepthali Solomon in a phone interview said Macrae and his girlfriend were in Balete to attend a birthday party.
He said Macrae was “drunk” when he took a dip in the lake somewhere in Barangay (village) Sala around 8 a.m.
Don't drink and dive!
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| http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/177935/american-national-found-dead-inside-car-lapu-lapu-city |
A 70-year old American national was found dead inside his car at past 4:00 a.m. in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.
The victim was identified as Salvatore Peter La Barbera, a businessman, who sustained a gunshot wound in his head.
Initial police investigation showed that the foreigner ended his life by inserting the muzzle of a .45 caliber pistol to his mouth.
Authorities also found cash worth almost P500,000, documents and assorted ATM cards under the victim’s name.
What a poorly written article. That bolded part should read "the foreigner ended his life by inserting the muzzle of a .45 caliber pistol to his mouth and pulling the trigger which splattered his brains all over the windshield of his car and caused blood to run like a river form his nostrils just like noted suicide Bud Dwyer who shot himself on live TV and who's suicide video you can watch here." Why leave out all of the gory details?
P500,000? Documents and assorted ATM cards? Sounds very suspicious. Maybe he withdrew all the money so his wife or girlfriend would have some after he killed himself. But to withdraw P500,000 he would have to have 25 ATM cards. Perhaps he had money already with him. Perhaps he had been saving up for a few months and this suicide was planned long ago. Maybe he was sick. He is dead now.
So that's a body count of one British national and one American and another British national in jail and all these men are at fault for their predicaments. Is there a lesson? Not really. Just be safe and courteous.
The American. The article says P500,000 cash was found on him.How much was there before PNP helped themselves? Remember few years back the Filipino going to Singapore on business? He had a laptop and about $3,000 USD when he left his house. While driving he suffered a heart attack but got car stopped and parked before he died. MMDA officers found him and took him to the hospital. All his family got back was about P2,500 as the rest disappeared while MMDA was "helping" him. He put the gun in his mouth and shot himself splattering blood and brains on the windshield. If he was sitting in the front seat the brains and blood would have been splattered to the rear of the car, not toward the front. No, sounds like this guy had a set routine for making withdraws for business and was whacked.
ReplyDeleteI inserted the bit about brains being splattered on the windshield because the article had that line "the foreigner ended his life by inserting the muzzle of a .45 caliber pistol to his mouth" which I found to be an unnecessary and ridiculous detail so I fleshed it out to be even more ridiculous. He might have been making big business withdraws and got whacked in the process but why would they leave 500K? The story is just too suspicious and weird and I doubt there will be any closure on the matter.
DeleteDavid,
DeleteI agree. The whole thing smells to high heaven. Why withdraw large amount of cash or have large amount on you, drive off and then whack yourself? I would think someone would leave the cash in the bank, wire it out or if withdrawn then have it at the house before whacking themselves. As for why the 500k was left, good chance they could not find it or get to it because someone came along.