Making It Hard On Yourself In The Philippines.

(updated 30 Jul 2018)

Why would people want to make it hard on themselves?

Especially when breaking the law and prison time is involved?

Frankly, when the consequences of breaking a law include possible prison time, I personally become very law abiding … you can be sure of that.

But what about a law that seems ancient and virtually obsolete to many Westerners?

Adultery.

Adultery I can hear you saying?  WTF?  What goes on between me and other consenting adult is our business and nobody else’s, right?

Well, Maybe It Is Someone Ese’s Business.

It may be that in the USA or Great Britain nobody cares if you “take up” with another man’s wife.  Or so you think.

But under the current laws of the UK, although not a felony, adultery is considered a misdemeanor and it can be used as the basis for a divorce lawsuit.

The adulterous partner in a marriage may suffer quite a bit in such areas of child custody, alimony, the division of marital assets, etc.

In the 50 US states the laws all differ quite a bit, but believe it or not, adultery is still a Felony in more than 20 of the States.

And here’s a thought for many of my readers who are on active duty in the US military … the so-called “general article” of the UCMJ, Article 134.

Now Article 134 doesn’t specifically mention adultery, but it simple simply prohibits conduct which is of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, or conduct which is prejudicial to good order and discipline.

Military members get the boot from the military much more frequently than you might imagine … it all depends on how hard the member’s commander wants to press.

OK, So What’s Different About the Philippines and Adultery?

Well, a number of things.

One of which ought to interest at least a few of you … under Philippine law, if a woman’s husband catches you in bed with her, he can kill you both, on the spot, and go free.  Kind of justifiable homicide.

Are you sure she’s really _that_ sexy that a roll in the hay is worth your life?

However, Such Killings Are Relatively Rare, So what else Could Go Wrong?

What happens often, more often than you usually hear about (because the victims don’t like to talk about what happened, they got royally fleeced and badly embarrassed) is blackmail.

You come to the Philippines, meet up with your online lover, find her lovely, and fascinating, and devoted and you move in with here (usually renting an apartment or house).

Life is good, days are happy and that bum of a husband of hers, who (maybe) hasn’t been heard from in years is nothing but a distant memory.

Until There’s A Knock On The Door.

“OMG, it’s my husband” your GF cries out.

Often he accompanied by a local police officer or some municipal politician.

The police demand your passport.  They announce that they have a warrant for your arrest.  The charge is “Adultery”.  Having relations with another man’s wife.

The all but forgotten husband now pipes up.  “Sir, you know, perhaps this could all go away, for, say, P250 thousand Pesos (say$5000 USD).”

What?  This guy is trying to shake you down, right in front of a police officer?

Yep, you bet, and this sort of situation happens more often than you would think.

It often doesn’t make the news.  Ad the guy who gets extorted from obviously doesn’t often brag about it happening.

Money Isn’t All That’s At Stake.

If you have access to the BBC archives or some other source of older TV shows, look up a program called “Banged Up Abroad”.  The same show has played on the US Nat Geo channel under the name “Locked Up Abroad.

You want season 6, episode number 3:

Episode 3: Philippines/Prisoner Of Love
Briton David Scott tells the story of finding his soulmate in the Philippines and risking a 14-year prison sentence for adultery.

Here’s a Daily Mail article about the incident:

Briton locked up for adultery pleads to bring baby home
By ANDREW DRUMMOND

A British man told of his dramatic escape from the Philippines with his girlfriend and baby daughter after the couple were threatened with seven years in prison for adultery.
David Scott, 36, is now in Thailand and is petitioning the British government to let the whole family come to the UK.

However, he has been told that because his Filipina girlfriend was still married when their daughter was born, the child is not legally his.

Scroll down for more …

Hopeful: David Scott and Cynthia Delfino are fighting to keep their new family together

When Mr Scott met Cynthia Villamor, 29, through an internet chatroom, she was living in Abu Dhabi and had been separated from her husband for three years.

She became pregnant with their daughter, Janina, when he visited her in April last year and she immediately tried to end her marriage.

However, the devoutly Catholic Philippines does not allow divorce and Miss Villamor’s husband, Noriel Delfino, withdrew permission for an annulment when he found out his wife was dating a foreigner.

He then demanded £7,000 for “loss of face”.

When the couple refused to pay up, armed police – and Mr Delfino – stormed their home in Caloocan, north of the capital Manila.

They spent the New Year in a filthy jail, and had to bribe officials to be granted bail.

Janina was born weeks later and, with Mr Scott facing re-arrest, he decided that the family’s only option was to flee the country.

Miss Villamor said: “It’s so good to be free at last, but our future is still uncertain.

“I have to throw myself on the mercy of the British government to be with our baby.”

Mr Scott added: “Now at last I can fight without my hands tied to bring my daughter home.”

The plasterer, from Swindon, said that when he flew out to see his girlfriend at the end of last year, he was overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a father.

But on December 30, the authorities came after the couple.

“Our house was surrounded and all the police had drawn weapons on us.

“They charged us and put us in a large cell with scores of others.

“It was filthy and rats would come and go as they pleased.

“Three days later we were eventually offered bail of about £150, but we had to pay over £1,000 under the table just to get it.

“I could see this case was not about right or wrong. It was about who could make money.”

He added: “As soon as we got out of sight we just ran. We were in contact with the embassy by phone.

“We lived rough in a derelict house and some nights in a banana plantation, cooking over a wood fire.

“We were terrified of being re-arrested.”

Mr Scott’s call to the embassy confirmed the seriousness of the case.

Officials told him that even though he was Janina’s father, the law said the child belonged to Mr Delfino.

But after Mr Scott took up the case with his MP, Anne Snelgrove, the embassy said that if he could provide DNA tests witnessed by embassy officials, then Janina could obtain British citizenship.

However, this could take eight months and there were only days left before he faced re-arrest.

It was then the couple managed to get on a plane to Bangkok.

Miss Villamor said: “We did not get out a day too soon. On the day we left we heard at the airport that police had issued another warrant for our arrest because my husband had taken a second case of adultery against us both.”

Today the couple will go to a hospital in Bangkok for DNA tests to prove that Mr Scott is the father of Janina.

Once that is confirmed, they can apply for a British passport for her and Mr Scott hopes that the whole family will one day be able to live together in Britain.

His mother, Anne Scott, 60, said yesterday: “I’m so glad they are safe now from bullying officials.”

Safe From Bullying Officials, eh?

I can certainly see why Mrs. Scott feels this way, after all, her son, daughter-in-law and her grandchild have been through a lot.

But when you break the law, especially where parental rights are involved, you really have to expect that trouble will come to you.

Mr. Scott and his GF are a bit like the guy who drib=ves his new sports car down a crowded highway at 110mph and then gets pulled over by a State Trooper.  Is the trooper really “bullying” anyone, or just doing his/her job enforcing the law?

If You Chose To Commit Adultery In The Philippines:

1. You can be shot, legally, by the husband if caught in flagrante delicto.  Meaning, “in the act”.
2. The husband, no matter how long he’s been gone, can show up at any time demanding compensation.
3. The husband can have the police arrest you, and you’ll be but in jail until the case is settled.
4. The husband owns half of everything you and his wife have bought together … community property.
5. The husband is legally the father of ALL children born during the marriage.

So when it comes to “shacking up” with a married woman in the Philippines, why do you insist on Making It Hard On Yourself In The Philippines?