Foreigners murdered in the Philippines

I notice you said you live locally Jim. What’s your opinion based on what you know? Did you know the individual?

well, this is supposed to be a UK-Filipino site, and to make comparisons it is a great deal easier to compare the Filipino community in the UK with the British community in the Philippines than it is with the Philippines and the rest of the entire world. Although the size of the Filipino community in the UK is much higher than vice versa.

here is a list, which may not be complete, of British murder victims in the Philippines in the past 10 years :

2016 Aurora Moynihan age : 45 location : Manila. method : Shooting. status : Resident. outcome : alleged killer, her Filipino boyfriend, shot dead by police.

2014 Tony Gilchrist 35. Malapascua. Shooting. Resident. Employee convicted.

2011 Paul Atkins 62. Angeles. Shooting. Tourist. No arrest.

2011 David Balmer 54. Angeles. Shooting. Resident. No arrest.

2011 Graham Bayley. 58. Cabanatuan. Shooting. Resident. No arrest.

2010 Carole Day 56 Unknown, but probably Manila. Unknown. Tourist. No arrest.

2010 John Mcdonald 28. Manila. Stabbing. Tourist. Conviction of 'girlfriend's' actual Filipino boyfriend.

2010 Anthony Nicholas 64. Sipalay. Shooting. Resident. No arrest.

2008 Philip Aitken 43. Davao. Blunt Instrument. Resident. Girlfriend and two others convicted.

9 murders of Brits in 10 years, I would say that is quite a lot really.

2 women, 7 men
average age 49
75% shot
3 convictions, 2 of which 'the wife dunnit'
only 2 out of the 9 in Angeles. But one of them, in Nueva Ecija, suspiciously near.

this is undeniably true and I don't disagree with it at all. But there is an even more pertinent reason why Dumaguete and Valencia's foreigners may not want to get involved.

If somebody does give information that leads to a conviction, they have had it in the area. The chances of some retribution following are far too great. They'd have to move. So not a surprise that it appears the Dumaguete police seem to be coming up against a bit of a wall of silence.

but this Austrian guy's murder looks pretty straightforward on the surface compared to some of those listed above. There was a witness. They took the motorbike the victim was driving. Clues/leads that aren't there, with most other murders of foreigners.

wouldn't have been any help to the Austrian guy would it. Like about 90% of other murders of foreigners in the Philippines, it happened OUTSIDE the house.

I recall being a member of a family in the Philippines, where a nephew of my wife at the time, was murdered. He was a Filipino and a seaman and he had had a fight with another seaman locally and he had won - the other Filipino came back and killed him with a pistol.

The family had to go to the police station to get a subpoena before the police would investigate the crime. and when the police arrived at the crime scene it was disturbed. The family had to push the police every step of the way and when the culprit was eventually arrested they had to pay the court so many times.

Who makes money out of the legal system? The courts.

Finally after 50 odd hearings the murderer went to prison, but even so to keep him there - meant payments.

So if it's like that for a Filipino, a foreigner will not have better justice, will they?

another one

2010 Bruce Jones 50. Angeles. Shooting. Resident. No arrest.

yet more!

2015 Brian Bridge, 69 Palawan. Resident. Stabbing. No arrest.
2010 James Porter, 50, Angeles. Resident. Shooting. No arrest.

these two, out of the so far 12 in the last ten years, are the only ones, that were murdered INSIDE their residences.

The average age is younger than I expected for residential persons living in the Philippines.

difficult gauge what exactly is the average or median age of a foreign resident in the Philippines. You just don't know. But I would guess that it is somewhere between 50 and 55.

in Thailand, the average or median is likely to be quite a bit lower for a resident, I would guess 40-45.

That's amazing, but I'm still not really sure what point you are trying to make.


Nobody would deny the murder rate in the Philippines is far greater than the UK. The statistics are out there and consistently show the higher rate in the Philippines.

In the Philippines, the foreign population is overwhelmingly Korean, Chinese and American with significant European, Australian and Indian populations. You also have to take into account the nature of many foreign residents in the Philippines (criminality) and the fact they are generally much wealthier than the indigenous locals. However, in the UK we have a much more diverse and proportionately greater migrant population. The Filipino community are generally OFWs who keep their nose clean (except that dodgy nurse in Stockport), or partners of UK citizens who don't have embittered former/current partners in the background. It stands to rights that the few Filipinos who meet their untimely demise in the UK will barely register in the already low statistics.

I'm quite sure we could rattle off a list of dead Africans, Albanians and...Russians...which would make the UK appear like an invitation to certain death for certain nationalities.

My postie is a old boy in his 70’s. He still works full time. He is a pleasant old stotterer of a wee mannie * He has a Filipina girlfriend who he visits twice a year, for a month at a time. His employer the Royal Mail, allows him annual leave enough to be able to do that. He is talking about retiring to the Philippines though he would be a potentially soft target...

* an expression my ex wife used to use

they are, but the trouble is, you can't compare them. Or at least very difficult to compare them. You will struggle even to compare the 'murder' rates between the United States and Canada, and Canada and Denmark, never mind between Denmark and the Philippines.

what is a 'murder' in Denmark may only be a manslaughter, or another kind of unlawful killing and not a murder, in Thailand, Philippines, or the Dominican Republic. It won't show up, as a 'murder', on the table. Homicide type laws in different jurisdictions, are different. They vary. Murders and unlawful killings are the last thing you should be looking up, on any list. Those comparitive lists don't mean anything. I would be surprised if you did not know that.

Is that a unique business Jim, you know, foreigners being employed there and all.

I just perceived that the majority would be retirees opposed to younger workers. Hats off to those who make business work out there though.

Again, this is some truly breathtaking information. I thank you for this.

Unfortunately, again, I don't know what point you are trying to make.

Are you suggesting the "involuntary death rate" in the UK is artificially low?

However these deaths are categorised (murder, manslaughter, suicide, misadventure), I think it's indisputable that the rate in the Philippines outstrips the UK. And, given the profile of so many foreign residents in the Philippines, it is inevitable that many of them will come a cropper. The profile of the average Filipino in the UK leaves them at no more risk of serious crime than most normal British citizens.

of course it is. That should be obvious to anybody. But there is no stats that can throw any real light on just how many more murders or 'intentionally involuntary deaths' there is in the Philippines than the UK.

Whereas with something like road traffic fatalities, that is different. With the stats being much less equivocal, you can say with some confidence that the chances of somebody dying in a road traffic related incident in the Philippines is somewhere between 3 and 4 times greater, than it is in the UK.

just with the Philippines demographic being 60% younger than the UK's is, and access to firearms probably being about 200% higher, that alone is more than enough to make it a much more dangerous place. More young people, and more guns, means more violent and more premature deaths.

This has been the case in my industry, virtually the world over. For many years. And as far as I can tell also applies (in that industry) to the Philippines though to what extent I am not certain. Along with that would normally be a western style remuneration package and hardship bonuses where applicable. This is of course in order to find and attract the expertise and enough of that expertise. Local governments typically regulate the degree to which this would apply.

No it would not obviously. But I'm not thst guy and have no reason to upset some Filipinos if that's what he did. Also there have been breakings and Foreigners been killed and robbed. So I feel safer with the security.

No l never knew him, looks like he's upset someone.