Safety in the Philippines

The Philippines is such an interesting place and as a forienger I've got a lot of tales to tell!

I'm sure that a lot of people have great questions to ask, if you have any please feel free to comment, i'll do my best to answer all the comments that I can and I'll include these in the website and blog too!!

My first question is what would all of the people who are coming to the Philippines for the first time like to know??

One question I get often is about the safety of the Philippines, more so recently after the news of the HK hostage bus situation.

So, Is the Philippines safe for tourists?

In a word I'd say it is, since being a tourist myself in the past I never experienced any major problems. Relating to the Hijacking incident and the police response to it. In some ways I agree that this incident does show that the police can make mistakes, although this has happened before in other countries where the police were unable to protect hostages in a similar situation.

Anyway, bearing in mind, this is not a regular occurance and this one incident does not threaten all the foreigners visiting the Philippines.

To sum up, kidnapping/hostage situations are unlikely and rare, more so if you avoid the more dangerous areas (such as the southern parts of the Philippines), the Manila incident was isolated.

Street crime is also not as common as you might think, if you take care of your belongings as you would do in any country. If possible, don't high priced belongings or cash around when walking down the street or in unfamiliar areas. Usually a theif or criminal will not strike unless they know what you have.

Anyway, in conclusion, act streetwise and avoid obviously dangerous places and 99% of the time you won't have a problem on your trip!

For me safe places for foreigners include:
- Makati (especially around the tourist belt/ hotel areas)
- Ortigas
- Alabang
- Las Pinas
- Paranaque (BF Homes area)

Riskier places:
- Tondo
- Binondo
- Malate (at night)

I can't really comment on so many of the beaches, as usually they are relatively safe places, but attracting so many tourists means watch out for pickpockets/snatchers too.

Do you have any concerns about Philippine safety??