The Death of Life in the Philippines and How I Survived It

This is dedicated to all those who helped, prayed and stayed with my family during my traumatic ordeal.  Those who celebrated when I returned gets the privelege as well.

The Warning

Since summer of 2009, news of crime in the Philippines rising in number have been brought to my attention by plenty of Filipinos in exodus to Alberta. “It's terrible out there!”, they said. Life has no more value, according to some. Well, what's new in the news?, I thought to myself. The media is doing its job exaggerating the events as usual. I was not going to allow myself to be affected by negative impressions about my home country. I was planning to stay there and enjoy life with my family when the right time comes. And the right time may not come!

My Guardian Angels

It's not going to happen to me. God and my angels won't allow it. Somehow, I always have the feeling that God, my dad and sometimes my second oldest brother (They both passed away. See "To My Mom, The Greatest of Them All".) are watching over me and keeping me safe wherever I go. I've been to places – nice places and places nobody wants to go to - like in a very remote Siberian river bank. Winter of 2002 brought me to an oilfield camp in Northwestern Siberia called Right Bank. The whole trip and my Russian experience can be done in another blog but I just want to mention the abundance of dangers and uncertainties that convinced me somebody out there was protecting me so that I came out unscathed.

Moving Plans

I am going no matter what. And so I did. My winter struggles have affected the way I want to raise my kids and so I needed change.

To facilitate the move, preparations must be completed. First in the list, sell or rent-out the property in San Pablo City, Laguna. Make something out of nothing is the key. This property has been idle since 1995 so I have to do something about it.

The Nasty Deal

Upon my arrival at the airport, I immediately rented a car at Avis. I bought a cheap local call-and-text cell phone the next day and posted the number on Facebook. Curiously, I got a phone call from somebody offering a hell of a deal in building me a house. I was tempted to find out and arranged a meeting with the guy and his house builder. According to him, this builder would bring me cheap materials and labor. In exchange, he only wanted young dates for a night or two.

On the day of the meeting, the guy gave me 2 numbers of women to call and advised me to pick them up on my way to our meeting. A few minutes before picking them up, the guy called me again and told me to proceed to our meeting place outside the Max's Restaurant in San Pablo City saying “Don't bring them anymore. They will just interfere with our business. We can get them later.”

Robbery at Gunpoint and The Abduction

I came a bit early, parked my car facing the road and waited. At this time, two men: one on each side, guns drawn and pointed at me, told me to unlock the doors. My world suddenly imploded as the men sat themselves inside the car and told me to drive without looking at their faces. I am going to be in the news now! This was made known to me before. Why did I not listen? Robbers are just waiting for their opportunity and the best and most pleasant opportunty is when the driver is in the car or going in the car. They can just point their guns or kill the driver right away and speed away in the car with the key.

They took my wallet and found my Canadian identification and a Metrobank debit card among other things. They then instructed me to withdraw money from a Metrobank ATM machine along the hi-way and asked me to show them the balance after. I obliged. When they got the money, they asked me to drive further south going to Quezon Province. Then, into a remote and what appears to be seldom travelled terrain, they asked me to turn and stop a few meters. I said to myself, “This is it. They are going to kill me!” Indeed, the guy in the back stretched his hand over my head and across my chest with an orange rope and tried to pull it towards my neck. Acting quickly, I grabbed the rope with both hands and pleaded mercifully. The guy loosened his pull on the rope when I said, “You can get more money out of me if you keep me alive.”

They then led me to another side street further south, blindfolded me and then walked me to a 'nipa' hut where they tied me down. A woman removed my blindfold after they left.

The Escape

The next ten days can be part of a novel by themselves and I would not go into details here. On that fateful last day, the three-year old boy who was with the woman approached me playfully saying words I could not understand. I immediately thought of my son, Kristian, who started communicating five word sentences in English clearly when he was barely 2 years old. And I wept for the first time. The woman saw me and asked, “Since you've been here, this is the first time I saw you cry. Why?” We started a long conversation that ended with her helping me escape with a promise from me that I will help her come to Canada through the employment agencies that I know.

She left and brought a person with her when she came back.  The guy helped her untie me but before they did that I felt something poked my shoulder before I eventually passed out. Then I woke up in a waiting shed like a bus stop most likely in Lucena or Pagbilao in Quezon province.

The Homecoming

Seeing my sister, cousin, mother, and aunt in that order upon coming home was the best feeling of all. I held them in a tight embrace as if I haven't seen them in decades. 

Special thanks go to all the people who have helped and prayed for me.  As the value of life approaches the freezing point as far as criminals are concerned, I found many worth living for. There are some people who I did not know cared for me so much.  God and my guardian angels did not leave me after all.  They just looked for and found other people to join them.  You know who you are.  I wrote this story for you all.  God Bless All of You!