THE PI JOE NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 2002 # 01
01 – 05 October

“The Public Has A Right To Know”


CLUB AND BAR INFORMATION

The Kitten and Flamingo Clubs continue to have parties, strip shows and contests. Flamingo had a going-away party for a local who is moving to Olongapo. I wonder how long he will stay there before moving back to AC. Once a country boy has been to the big city, how you gonna keep him down on the farm?

I hit the Y bar last night. It will be renamed “Gecko” soon. The inside of the club has been scrubbed up, with all the mirrors cleaned. The place feels a lot larger now. One of the momma sans from the Stinger Club has moved to the new Gecko Club and brought a large number of girls with her. The place was jumping last night (October 3). The place reminds me of the old Y bar five or six years ago, a hopping place for sure. This place definitely has a new “ambience”. Check it out.

I went to Kitten Club last night also. It remains in my opinion one of the best “smaller” clubs in town. There are some good looking chicks in the place. Despite some negative comments on one of the local message boards about the Kitten Club recently, it’s a good bar. I have no personal axe to grind about this club. I have no monetary or any other interests in the Kitten Club, or any of the other clubs for that matter. It’s my honest opinion.

If you go into any club and sit in the corner in a bad mood, you’re not going to have a good time, no matter which bar you select to visit. If you want to enjoy yourself, sit at the dance bar (if you can) and talk to some of the girls. In most cases they will warm up very quickly. Remember, the girls dancing in an empty club, no customers, are just as bored as you are. So get out there, rub elbows, or what else you might think of to pull out, and give it a shot.

I wandered into Welcome Inn again, a month or so after my last visit. They had only eight or nine chicks dancing, but these girls were the friendliest in town last night. It was about 11 PM, so the day-shift dancers were already gone.

Bananitas is now open again after being closed for a month or so. They had a re-opening last night with finger food. I didn’t see any changes except that the music has been turned down some. That’s good, now your eardrums don’t vibrate with the speakers in this club anymore.

I hadn’t been to Champagne for a while. I was told they had a lot of new chicks (So much to do, so little time). That’s what this town always needs, more new chicks. Give us more chicks! Anyway, Champagne wasn’t busy when I walked in, but a ton of guys followed me in after I had been there for five minutes. The club was loaded with girls, some of them very fine. There were many I hadn’t seen before an at least six or eight I could have spent some time with.

I stopped by the Flamingo Bar on the way home. It wasn’t busy during my visit. If you had been there, you would have had your pick of the chicks. One nice thing about the Flamingo, if you’re so inclined, is that you can toss your chick in the pool right as you’re leaving the club. In fact, in an inebriated state, you have to be extra careful not to fall in the Orchid’s swimming hole.

Dropped by and had a couple of cokes at Shadows on Santos one afternoon. There is no waffling or hem-hawing at this bar. Tell’em what you want and you will get it, cash on the barrelhead, and the service is delivered pronto. Don’t be shy when asking for your heart’s desire here, folks.

I stopped in the Dirty Duck about 4 PM one day. As I reported previously, this club is under new management. The girls remain friendly. Drop in early and enjoy yourself in this bar. It opens at 2 PM.


THE MARINES HAVE LANDED?

According to the latest issue of The Voice, 600 Marines were due into Clark October 3 for an exercise this month. The article stated they would be released around 4 PM every day and could visit Fields Avenue. They are restricted to Field’s Avenue between Margarita Station and the Blue Nile Club. According to the article, they will be blocked from going down any of the side streets running off Field’s. The article said the police will have blockades to prevent the GI~s from wandering off Field’s Avenue. I wonder how they’re gonna do that, ask for ID cards?

A mama san in one of the clubs told me she heard the Marines will not be here until the 11th. Then earlier today, the 5th, I was talking to a couple of street vendors. They told me the Marines might go down south instead of coming to Clark. As of early the night of the 5th, they were nowhere to be found on Fields. Who knows when they might show up?


LIVING IN ANGELES CITY

Last month, I recorded all my expenses in a spreadsheet just to see where my hard-earned cash was going. September was an unusual month. I had a lot of one-time expenses. Here are the categories and totals. Note the total was 101,021 pesos.

Food & Drinks Jeanette Internet Bar Hopping Laundry Cigarettes
13234 17200 2082 16109 672 1942

Phone Cards Apt Items Piggy Computer R & U Total
2450 15912 260 14945 16215 101021


Food and Drinks: This is the total for food and drinks for both BB and me in AC. This item is for food and drinks consumed outside the clubs. Food and drinks in the bar are included in the bar hopping costs.

Jeanette: Her total includes her food in Manila while going to school, school and travel expenses going back and forth between Manila and AC, travel costs to the province several times and rent on her apartment in Manila. Expenses for this category will drop drastically from now on since she has finished school and will soon start looking for a job in AC. Hallelujah!

Internet: Includes the costs of doing email in the apartment and surfing the net at the internet centers.

Bar Hopping: This was an unusually busy month for me in the clubs. A more accurate monthly expense for me in this category is around 6000 pesos.

Laundry and Cigarettes: We don’t wash clothes in the laundry room available in DM apartments, but drop everything off at a commercial laundry. Cigarettes are self-explanatory. I need to cut down (famous last words I suppose).

Phone Cards: These are the cards we use for the ubiquitous cell phones in the PI. The total includes cards for both BB and me.

Apartment Items: These expenses include drinking water, snacks, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, trash bags, cleaning materials, etc. September’s total also includes a one-time cost of several pieces of furniture.

Piggy: A coin bank where I throw all my change, goes into BB’s savings account.

Computer: Includes a one-time charge of a computer desk, a seventeen-inch monitor, a printer, wireless keyboard and mouse, plus some miscellaneous items.

R&U: Rent and utilities. The rent at DM for our large room is 12,000 pesos a month. Electricity for last month was 2940 pesos. Charges for garbage, security guards, TV cable, and water were 1275 pesos. I think the rent and most of the other expenses here at DM are high, but there aren’t that many decent places near the center of the action, so what are you going to do?

101,021 pesos converted at 52.2 pesos per U.S. dollar equals $1935.27. My expenses for September were excessive but a lot of them were one-time costs for setting up the apartment. Most folks residing in AC that I’ve talked to agree you can live comfortably and have a good time in the clubs for about $1500 U.S. a month. If we subtract the one-time costs and change the bar hopping totals to a normal month for me, the spreadsheet will show:

Food & Drinks Jeanette Internet Bar Hopping Laundry Cigarettes
13234 17200 2082 6000 672 1942

Phone Cards Apt Items Piggy R & U Total
2450 3912 260 16215 63967

63,967 pesos converted at 52.2 equals $1225.42 for the month. Since BB has finished school and will not be going to Manila every day, plus she doesn’t have the apartment in Manila anymore, let’s estimate a monthly total of 8000 pesos for her. We’ll also increase the food to 15,000 pesos a month. The monthly total would then be 56,533 pesos or $1083.01.

What will it cost YOU to live in AC? Assume 52.2 pesos per U.S. dollar for all the calculations.

1st Case: You eat all your meals in a restaurant, you don’t have a live-in girl friend, you’ve got all the furniture you need, you visit an internet center four times a week to check email, you spend your change, you don’t smoke, you don’t have a computer in your apartment, and you live in a cheaper place than DM Apartments.

Let’s assume you eat well, 8000 pesos a month. Internet charges are 120 pesos a week for 480 a month.

Bar hopping will probably be your largest expense. Let’s say you go bar hopping five nights a week and have five drinks a night. At 60 pesos a drink, that’s 300 pesos a night for 1500 pesos a week.

You buy two lady’s drinks a night for 250 pesos for a weekly total of 1250 pesos.

You pay three bar fines a week for 3000 pesos. You feed the chicks breakfast at 150 pesos each, for 450 pesos and tip them each 200 pesos for 600 pesos. We’ll assume in this case you don’t take them bar hopping or feed them the night you pay the bar fine.

During each week, three neighborhood girls drop by to visit and you compensate them 250 pesos each for a total of 750 pesos.

The total bar hopping cost is 7550 pesos per week for a monthly total of 30,200 pesos.

For laundry, phone cards and apartment items we’ll take half my totals above. Subtract the furniture items from my apartment totals.

For rent and utilities, we’ll assume you have a place where rent, electricity, cable, etc is 11000 pesos a month.

Here’s what your spreadsheet would look like:

Food & Drinks Internet Bar Hopping Laundry
8000 480 30,200 336

Phone Cards Apt Items R & U Total
1225 1956 11000 53197

53,197 pesos converts to $1019.10 for the month. Not bad and you’ve had a lot of fun!

If you live at DM in one of the large rooms, your rent and utilities would be approximately the same as mine, 16,215 pesos. The monthly total would then be 58,412 pesos for $1119.00.

2nd Case: We’ll just change your bar hopping costs.
Let’s assume you go bar hopping seven nights a week and drink six drinks a night at 60 pesos a drink for 360 pesos a night for 2520 pesos a week.

You buy two lady’s drinks for 250 pesos a night for 1750 pesos a week.

You pay five bar fines a week for 5000 pesos. You feed the five chicks breakfast at 150 pesos each for 750 pesos. You tip them each 200 pesos for 1000 pesos.

You take two of the five chicks you bar fine each week bar hopping and buy dinner for them. You have three drinks with each chick. She also has three for a total of six drinks at 60 pesos each for 360 pesos. Dinner for you and each chick is 400 pesos. Bar hopping and dinner with each chick is 760 pesos. The total barhopping and dinner costs with the two girls are 1520 pesos for the week.

Three young things come by your apartment to see you each week. You tip them 250 pesos each for 750 pesos a week.

You sometimes find yourself on Santos and decide to treat yourself to a couple of short times a week at 500 pesos each or 1000 pesos.

Your weekly bar-hopping expenses total 14,290 pesos or 57,160 pesos for the month.

Your total expenses are:

Food & Drinks Internet Bar Hopping Laundry
8000 480 57160 336

Phone Cards Apt Items R & U Total
1225 1956 11000 80157

80,157 pesos converts to $1535.57 for the month.

For Case #2 above, let’s say you buy five lady’s drinks a night instead of two. That’s an additional three drinks a night at 125 pesos each for an added 2625 pesos a week. The extra monthly total for lady’s drinks is 10,500 pesos. Add the 10,500 pesos to the total monthly cost of 80,157 pesos above. Your new total monthly expenses are 90,657 pesos or $1736.72. Do you realize now how much fun you can have in AC for 1700 bucks a month?

3rd Case:

Ok, so you don’t like to have that much fun in AC. You got a live-in girl friend. You don’t go bar hopping that much, you don’t buy many lady’s drinks, you don’t pay bar fines, you don’t go to Santos and young things don’t drop by your apartment because your girl friend is usually there.

Let’s estimate 8000 pesos a month for your bar hopping expenses. Since you’re paying all the girl friend’s expenses, let’s estimate your food cost at 15,000 pesos a month and your laundry at 672 pesos. You’re generous and give your girl friend a weekly allowance of 2000 pesos for 8000 pesos a month. Actually, most girl friends will connive, whine and suck a little more than that out of you. Let’s put the total at 10,000 pesos a month going into her pocket.

Your expenses are:

Food & Drinks Girl Friend Internet Bar Hopping Laundry
15000 10000 480 8000 672

Phone Cards Apt Items R & U Total
1225 1956 11000 48333


48,333 pesos is $925.92 for the month, pretty cheap living I think.

These figures give you high and low ranges. You can use them to help estimate your own particular living style and costs in AC. I didn’t include charges such as occasional medical bills and trips to other places in the PI and out of the country. If you use Viagra regularly, include that cost also.

Whatever your expenses, to exceed much more than $2000 a month, you have to be really throwing the money around, living in a hotel or one heck of a really fancy place.

I think one fact that stands out is you can enjoy life immensely in AC for minimal costs, and that’s why we’re here! Have fun with the numbers.


STATE OF THE FILIPINO ECONOMY

The headlines on page 1 of the September 15-21, 2002 issue of What’s On & Expat, shouted “RP Economy Back On Track, Says Economist”. Dr. Bernando Villegas, one of the country’s most influential and widely known economic experts expressed optimism about the future of the Filipino economy. In a press conference held at the University of Asia and the Pacific, he gave a short talk to both press agents and members of the diplomatic corps. He said, “The Philippines is actually doing better than expected, even our politics won’t drastically affect this growth rate.”

He referred to various reports both from government and independent sources showing that the country had already achieved a growth of about four percent in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and almost a five percent growth in its Gross National Product (GNP) in the first six months of this year.

His statements directly contradict quotes allegedly made by business tycoon Lucio Tan the owner of Philippine Airlines, that the country will achieve no economic growth for at least a hundred years and the peso-dollar rate will climb to 120-1.

In a related article in the Thursday, 19 September 2002 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquire newspaper, Senator Edgardo Angara stated that President Arroyo and her finance ministers should be made to answer for the gross mismanagement of the country’s finances. He asked the President to explain why the government is deep in red ink and borrowing money recklessly. He asserted the government has no significant investments to show for its huge debts even as it continued to borrow money while revenue collections continued to decline. He stated the country’s deficit stood at 133.1 billion pesos in July of this year, 3.1 billion pesos over the targeted 130 billion-peso deficit for the entire year.

He refuted claims by government spokesmen that said the government has been getting favorable rates on its foreign loans, explaining the interest rate being charged to the Philippines was 13% a year, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region. He pointed out the President’s economic team was dominated by former investment bankers, whose tendency was to borrow money rather than develop creative financial policies.

Some members of the economic team are currently on a global investment “roadshow”, designed to attract investors to the Philippines. A second congressman, Senator Aquino-Oreta has urged the folks on the “roadshow” to return home, claiming it is an “undeniable flop.” She said the “roadshow” was playing to near empty meeting rooms in Hong Kong and Singapore. She went further to say that even the Deutsche Bank, the sponsor of the “roadshow” had expressed concern over the Philippines’ “huge deficit and borrowing binge strategy.” She finalized her statements by saying that the investors who bothered to show up in Hong Kong and Singapore, only seven financial institutions in Hong Kong, were more interested in how the Philippine government planned to rectify the deficit and cut corruption in the government.

Is the country really growing at a 5% GNP this year? What is the government doing with the money it’s been borrowing? Is it paying off current debts, or what? Perhaps the government will explain but don’t hold your breath folks.

What’s causing the recent devaluation of the peso relative to the dollar and some other currencies? Is it the deficit financing the government is hell-bent on pursuing or something else? Will the peso really go to 120 to the dollar, and if so, will the hotels, restaurants and bars in AC raise prices? Does that indicate inflation is on the way? Does anyone see the shadow of the IMF on the horizon?


TRAVEL FROM THE MANILA AIRPORT TO ANGELES CITY

Last newsletter, I featured the Swagman’s Hotel Fly the Bus service. I’ve generally found it more convenient to use when I’m leaving AC going to the airport.

An alternative, especially if you arrive late in the evening at the airport, is one of the rental car agencies immediately outside the customs area. They are currently asking about 1800 pesos for a direct ride to AC. You can negotiate with them. They might reduce the fare by a couple of hundred pesos or so. I’ve been using the rental agencies at the airport for the past six years without any problems.

They normally use fairly new air-conditioned cars and vans. While the cost is more than “Fly the Bus”, after a twenty-four hour or longer trip from the States, I am always eager to get to AC. I personally prefer the straight shot “home” from the airport, to avoid the extra time, hassle of changing vehicles and additional struggles with my bags.

Another option is to call or email some of the hotels and other establishments around town to arrange for a pickup. These are too numerous to mention here. You can find a lot of them on the web sites provided in the last newsletter.

If you are on a budget, you can take a taxi from the airport to any of the bus stations in Manila that service Angeles City. I’ve never traveled this way so I can’t provide you with any information about this method.

Lastly there are a number of individuals in AC that provide pickups and drop-offs at the airport. Most of them have email and cell phones. I’ve learned about most of these gentlemen’s services by word of mouth. Some of these guys are very good. Some are flaky. Two of my friends came in on back-to-back days a couple of months ago, using the same driver. He never showed up for either one of them. They waited a couple of hours and then grabbed a car from one of the rental agencies at the airport to AC.


MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

THE PESO-DOLLAR RATE

The peso opened Tuesday, October 01 at Norma’s at 52.40. Thursday, October 03 it hit another new hit of 52.55 and again on Friday, October 04 at 52.60.


ANGELES CITY OXYMORON OF THE MONTH

“True love on Field’s Avenue”


AN AC LOVE STORY

See the attachment (An AC Love Story). This guy bares his soul. He came to Angles in a vain attempt to find (buy) true love. He should have been content just buying pussy. Even though he’s fully aware of what happened to him, he unfortunately doesn’t appear to have learned his lesson, stating he will continue to try to find “true love” in the bars in AC.


ONE MORE AC URL

I missed one URL for Angeles City last newsletter. Here it is: www.asiafields.com


HARRY THE HORSE

His October issue is out on the www.go2phil.com board. He has a lot of good information about what’s happening around town. Check it out.


That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!


PI Joe

THE PI JOE NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 2002 # 02
06 – 31 October

“The Public Has A Right To Know”


CLUB AND BAR INFORMATION

I heard Garfield’s on Perimeter Road has a new owner. I haven’t confirmed that yet however.

The Marines are indeed at Clark. They made it down town Monday night, October 7th. I was out and about Wednesday, October 9th, but there was nary a Marine to be seen. Then I heard Friday, October 11th, that the Marines were “locked-down” on base because of the recent incident in the Middle East.

I also heard that Saturday night, October 12th, the Volcano Club sent two-three vans full of girls to the base. The ladies supposedly returned in about three hours. There must have been some fast and furious action on the base that night.

The DMZ Bar has allegedly made base deliveries before also. Hey, if the guys can’t come to the girls, take the girls to the guys! I see nothing wrong with that – wish I could get girls hand-carried to my place, but wouldn’t the American news services have a field day if they got wind of “chick deliveries” to the Marines on the base at Clark?

The Tom Cat Club, (previously KOD) opened Friday, 18 October.

There is a sign in the window of the 2nd floor above the Wheatfields Bakery indicating the name of that bar will be called “Refrain”.

Construction of the new bar next door to Exotica is progressing rapidly.

The Cottontails Club has changed its name to “Wet Seals”. What, Wet Seals? What is that?


HARRY THE HORSE AND THE BLUE BOAR INN

I finally met Harry the Horse. Stopped in his Blue Boar Inn and talked with him a while. He owns and runs the bar and the Hotel La Casa. He showed me one of the hotel rooms. They’re nice and the price is right, starting at a daily rate of 540 pesos for accommodations with air con. He has discounts for weekly and monthly rates. He has six rooms available. Email the hotel at: lacasa@ag.triasia.net for reservations. Telephone numbers at the Hotel La Casa are:

Cell: 0919-245-6386
Land: 322-7984
Fax: 892-6256

The Blue Boar Inn is a nice laid-back bar where you can hang around, shoot the shit with the guys, shoot pool and play darts. If you’re a dude who likes a little “Hair of the Dog” sometimes, you’re in luck. The Blue Boar Inn opens at 8 AM, which makes it I’m sure, the first bar to open every day in AC.

If you don’t know where the Blue Boar Inn is, take a trike or jeepney and get off at the same place where you get off when you’re going to the VFW. From Perimeter Road, you can see the Blue Boar Inn sign. It’s a minute walk from there.


A TRIP TO THE BIG CITY

The Brown Bunny and I went to Manila the weekend of the 11th this month to see a friend in town for just a few days, and another friend living in Manila I hadn’t seen for a long time.

I took the noon Swagman bus at noon from AC to the Swagman Hotel. From there I walked around the corner and checked into the Best Western La Corona Hotel. We stayed there two nights.

Friday afternoon the three of us, guys only, went out for a while. We met in Makati and went to Burgos Street to the Hollywood Club. We entered about 5 PM. It was happy hour there until 8 PM. Lady’s drinks normally 300 pesos after 8 PM, were 150 pesos. Our drinks were 120 pesos, at least my mineral water was. Coffee was only 40 pesos, or so the chicks I was talking to said.

The bar fine was 3000 pesos and the girls expected an extra donation of at least a 1000 pesos. What, 4000 pesos for a bar fine? While there were a few cuties in the bar, I didn’t see any that would justify a 4000-peso bar fine. These girls we were talking to were the day shift chicks. The second crew came on at 8 PM.

This bar also had what they called “VIP Rooms”, which actually were nothing but booths with curtains. It cost 1500 pesos to go to one of the VIP rooms. You could stay there until 8 PM.

One chick said you could use the VIP rooms if you bought the lady of your choice six drinks. Six drinks at 150 pesos each is 900 pesos, so you could save 600 pesos by doing it that way. The 1500 pesos was for the booth only. There was an extra charge of 1000 pesos for the chick accompanying you. (I suppose you could save a 1000 pesos by using the booth yourself.)

I asked one of the girls if I could moan and groan and scream and holler in the booth. She said “Sure, until the police come arrest you”. Well, what fun is that?

We left the Hollywood and went across the street to the Flamingo Club. This establishment had some fine honeys in it. The bar fine was 1900 pesos. You say, “Oh, a much better deal than the Hollywood Bar”. Well, maybe. The girl I talked to said she expected 2000 pesos for her efforts. That adds up to 3900 pesos, almost the same as the Hollywood. I imagine though the chick’s tip is negotiable. Dickering with a girl on her tip for screwing your lights out sort of takes any pretension of romance out of the equation, doesn’t it?

There were many fine and pretty women in this club but I still wouldn’t have paid any of them 3900 pesos to go home with me, not even if the Brown Bunny had donated the money.

It was getting later and the girls had arrived at the hotel. We grabbed a taxi and returned to Ermita, meeting the girls at the La Café. We arrived about twenty minutes before the girls around 9:30 PM.

We sat upstairs because downstairs was already full. They have a band there and plenty of seats on the 2nd floor. The place was full of chicks, very forward ones. I’ve never seen such aggressive chicks in my life, no kidding. They weren’t shy, approaching us at every opportunity. There were tons of girls in the bar, some of them very nice. I was told that most of the chicks were interested in short times only. I didn’t even bother to discuss prices or anything else with them since I knew the Brown Bunny would be arriving soon.

We stayed for a little while longer after the girls came trooping in, and then returned to the hotel. My impression, based on just the two bars we went to in Makati is that it’s expensive to party there. I did like La Café though and would investigate it further if I were to spend any time in Manila. I like it when the chicks make me feel young, rich and handsome (again). I wouldn’t make a special trip to Manila however just to go to that bar.

We spent all day Saturday in several shopping malls. Saturday night we took the ladies out, drinking and dining at The Outback in Makati. We didn’t hit any bars that night. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and crashed. We returned to AC Sunday morning.

Here are my expenses for the trip to Manila.

Hotel 3000 pesos (1500 pesos a night)
Bar Hopping 1090 pesos
Bus Tickets 1050 pesos (RT AC-Manila for me, one-way Manila-
AC for the Brown Bunny)
Taxis 240 pesos
Food 2373 pesos
-------
Total 7753 pesos

It’s true I could have reduced my expenses by staying in a cheaper hotel, eating at less expensive restaurants and not buying lady’s drinks. If you live in Manila, then of course your rent and food expenses will be greatly reduced. These figures are only intended to give you an estimate of partying in the big M city, as compared to Angeles.


THE NPA

I recently sent out an “all points” message answering a plethora of inquiries about the Abu Sayyaf and the recent rash of terrorist attacks in the Philippines.

As we know, so far the Abu Sayyaf hasn’t ventured much out of the southern Philippines. Although the recent bus bombing in Manila has been attributed to Muslim terrorists, I have my doubts and I wonder if they really intend to move north.

Personally I am more concerned about the New People’s Army (NPA) rather than the Muslim groups, becoming active in and around Angeles City. The NPA is the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Paraphrasing Gloria the President of the Philippines, she stated several months ago she was going to “sic” the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) on the NPA. Oh Lordy, that’s just what we need. It’s the same as poking a hornets’ nest with a stick, only a lot more dangerous for us folks in AC.

I hadn’t heard much about NPA activity anywhere in the country until recently, when I picked up the 12 October issue of the Manila Bulletin newspaper. It reported several NPA incidents to include “AFP launches offensive vs NPA in Bicol” (One of the provinces above Samar southeast of Manila), “Police, AFP push drive vs NPA rebels in Isabella” and “52 West Visayas areas tagged as CPP-NPA attack targets”.

The closest incident occurred in Mexico in San Fernando, thirty minutes or so down the road from Angeles, where five alleged NPA suspects were killed in a military engagement. That’s getting too close to home.

I have been told by more than one knowledgeable person that Tarlac, a town about thirty minutes north of Angeles is a NPA “stronghold”. No, I haven’t ventured into Tarlac and asked around if this is so.

Just what you need, huh? When you thought you had only the Muslim terrorists to worry about, here comes another group that doesn’t like foreigners, especially Americans. The NPA isn’t known for taking prisoners either.


MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

THE PESO-DOLLAR RATE

The peso keeps climbing, hitting 52.70 at Norma’s October 7th. It hit 52.80 one time the week of October 8th here in AC but dropped suddenly to 52.60. It soon climbed back to 52.70-52.75.

Incidentally, Sunday morning, October 13th, the peso in Ermita in Manila was 53.20.

The peso hit a new hit of 53.10 again Friday, 18 October at Norma’s.


POLICE QUOTES

See the attachment (Police Quotes).

MARGARITA STATION RAISES PRICES

Wandered in and had breakfast one morning. The waitress handed us brand-new menus. I knew right away what that meant. Sure enough, prices have gone up here. I didn’t see any changes to the menu except the prices.

LATEST ON PHILIPPINE BAR GIRLS IN KOREA

My friends in Korea tell me Filipinas in Korea continue to make the news in the local press and the U.S. military Stars and Stripes newspaper. The attached file (Diary of Filipino Victim) was sent to me by a friend in Korea. Thanks to him for forwarding the information. The article is self-explanatory.

Now, Sunday, 27 October, I’ve learned rumors are abound about the Korean Government banning foreign girls from working in the clubs in Korea. There’s even talk about deporting the ones that are there now. If that happens, Korea will indeed become a grim place. The reason the Filipinas are there now is because most Korean chicks don’t want to work in the GI bars anymore. That means some of the bars will close and the guys in the country won’t even be able to pay $300 for a piece of ass. Now doesn’t that suck?

Additional rumors relate the U.S. Military has put a ban on travel to the Philippines and Thailand for all U.S. Military employees in the country, which includes civilian workers (Department of Defense [DOD] employees).

They can travel to China however. What is this world coming to? The entire globe has flipped upside-down. It’s ok to party in a communist country but you can’t set foot in the Philippines or Thailand, both allies of the United States? If I were in charge, I’d tell the terrorists that our boys will go anywhere they want and if they are screwed with, we will chase the perpetrators to hell if we have to. I ain’t very politically correct. That’s one reason why I’m not in charge. Bullshit is bullshit, no matter where you find it.

TERRORISTS ACTIVITY IN THE FAR EAST

Attached is an article about terrorist activity (Terrorists In FE) in the Far East. Look under your chair when you sit down in a bar, folks (-:


That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!


PI Joe

Good article about living expenses in AC. I don't understand exactly what the place is where he is living (DM ???) but he is obviously having a good time for under $2k a month. It's too bad he has to refer to his GF as brown bunny. Hopefully she calls him something equally offensive when she is with her friends.

The DM Residente Apartments are very nice. Archie stayed there the last time he was in Angeles. They are small apartments but you can have maid service added for a nominal price. Check out the following link: http://www.dmresidente.com/

...(prog)