Been to PI numerous times... suggest that you go elsewhere on this big planet of ours. The rural areas have some of the most highly armed people on the planet. Besides that little message of joy, it also has one of the most corrupt government. If you have a death-wish, this is the place to get your very own Darwin Award.
And yet more than 100 million people live, work, grow up, raise babies and grow old there. It's truly a wonder that they haven't all died.
The mortality rate is about the same as Colombia, Brazil, Palestine, Mexico or India. Pretty much everywhere people are brown it's the same. Probably more related to poverty, diet and work conditions than government corruption or guns. The death rate in the Philippines is actually about 30% lower than it is in the U.S.
Murder rate? Try Jamaica, Trindad, Bahamas, Honduras, Russia, Costa Rica, Barbados, Grenada, or Panama. They all have much higher murder rates than the Philippines. In fact the Philippines murder rate is about the same as the U.S. in 1995.
Highly armed? You would be hard pressed to find any civilian population as well armed as rural Arizona except possibly Israel. I'm guessing about 20 firearms per person in my immediate neighborhood if you ignore the two that have more than 200. The other neighborhoods I'm familiar with are about the same. It's an open and concealed carry state with no registration or permits required. The murder rate has been dropping in Arizona since concealed carry without a permit has been legal. It's about half the average murder rate in the U.S. as a whole.
In any case I've never seen any studies that show an armed populace to be any more inclined to violence against visitors than an unarmed populace. New York, San Francisco and Chicago being just a few examples of unarmed yet dangerous places to visit. I'm sure you can think of a few hundred more.
By the numbers those having a "death wish" would have a much greater chance of offing themselves by visiting Chicago or Stockton California than they would in the Philippines. Incidentally both those extremely dangerous cities have a virtual ban on gun ownership.
There are a lot of dangerous places for the casual traveler to visit. For those travelers with experience with different cultures the odds of getting into trouble are greatly diminished. I would visit the Philippines without hesitation. Then again I enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures. Even when those cultures are made up of brown skinned people.
About this Darwin Award - are you on the nominating committee or is your experience more as a consumer?
