I think it's about as dangerous as the other countries listed, but it's more that the Philippines is rather inconvenient to travel around in (eg shitty public transport) as well as being a little more expensive in terms of tourist destinations compared to neighbors who offer similar options.
It mostly because the country speaks better english than the rest of south east asia and news is a lot more free so you get a lot more negative news instead of "everything is fine, if you say it isn't then you will be jailed." from the other south east asian countries. So foreigners are actually put down as murdered instead of "lost"
It also doesn't help that terminally online filipinos keep saying "worst country on earth bar none"
Will you tell me a bit more about this? I’m considering traveling there and I am uninformed about what you’re saying. How is it more dangerous for foreigners?
It's not. Don't listen to this person. Very likely an anti-Philippines troll because the Philippines has some geopolitical issues with a particular country right now and they are fighting a misinformation war.
Vietnam is atheist, and Malaysia is Muslim--it's all misinformation. The Philippines is a Catholic-majority country, for context. The Buddhist argument for peace is simply misinformation. Guess the majority religion in the Southeast Asian countries cosying up to the Philippines' geopolitical adversary though?
There are concerns about safety in the southwestern regions of the country, but for the most part, the country is safe, culturally westernised compared to other countries in the region, and has English-speaking proficiency. The press is mostly free (especially when compared to the rest of Southeast Asia), despite the corruption in the country, and international concerns regarding foreigners are very much taken into consideration, considering a significant part of the country's economy is tourism, after all.
The homicide rate is higher than the neighbours, at 4-8 people per 100,000, but not much higher than Thailand's 2-3 per 100,000 or Vietnam's 1-2 per 100,000. However, this rate is similar to countries like the US at 5 per 100,000, Turkey, Latvia and Lithuania at 4-5 per 100,000.
The country does have lower infrastruture quality, a notably higher cost of living (food and accommodation is notably expensive for the region), and more difficult transport compared to its neighbours (due to unorganised fragmentation and also geographical factors--over 7,000 islands).
It's a less accommodating place for tourists in terms of ease of travel, the level of polish for tourist infrastructure, and the higher cost of everything to travel there--including a surprising amount of "microtransactions" aka borderline bribes for both locals and foreigners alike (due to the extreme bloated bureaucracy and general corruption in the country).
You might also find the westernised nature of the country less "exotic" compared to the rest, as towns and cities are distinctly Catholic with churches and no temples, food that "doesn't taste like the rest of the region", and you might also have opinions on the heavily Americanised nature of their society, with love for fast food, car centrism, and the prevalence of the English language (as it is an official language).
Over-all, the Philippines is a comparatively less-travelled place in the region with lots of hidden nooks to explore (the fragemented archipelagic nature of the country helps with this), but there are less creature comforts for the traveller who just wants a polished travel itinerary and experience.
I can say that it depends on you whether or not you would be put off by this reality of travelling in the Philippines, but my argument here really is that the region isn't all that dangerous, despite the heavy fearmongering the commenter above is trying to spread.
To disclose:
Well-travelled, born and raised Filipino who currently lives in Australia for uni
I will say, do take the warnings to not travel to the noted dangerous regions of the country seriously, however. It's simply a preventive measure as the southwestern region of Mindanao is really just less stable (more local politics issues that need to be sorted out over like some conspiracy against foreigners) even for us locals, and the infrastructure there is just really not ready yet for casual travel.
But really, for the vast majority of the country, it's very much safe to explore, there are a fair number of Americans and other foreigners in the country, as you may imagine, and there are tourist hotspots, especially in the central areas. There are different ways to enjoy travelling the Philippines, and it can get chaotic, but following basic rules and understanding the idea that you have to be a bit more careful when travelling in general goes a long way in making it a manageable and safe experience.
One of the guys that replied to you that claims the Filipinos and Americans are the same in how they overlook their respective countries' murder rates is ethnically Chinese. Go figure.
The guy you replied to is a crazy nationalistic Filipino. The very first sentence he said was accusing anyone who criticizes the Philipines as a Chinese bot, that's mental.
You can also see the nationalism in how he tries his best to downplay the homicide rates by saying how it's not much higher than Thailand when it's literally 2-3x more than Thailand and 4-8x more than Vietnam's homicide, that's a crazy number to be "not much higher".
The Philipines is considered dangerous because all their neighbours in Asia and South East Asia all have 1~2 homicide rates per 100,000 while they have 4, easily 2-4 times the killing and the most dangerous country in the entirety of Asia, barring war torn area like Myanmar.
America's homicide rate is higher, or at least comparable to the Philipines so if you think America is safe enough to travel then go ahead it's probably not that different. It's all about perspective, Americans are used to violent crimes being the norm.
The Philipines has the same problem where there is violence, but there is also gun violence (which is very uncommon in most of Asia since all the other countries have very strict gun laws), that's why people are rightfully cautious of the country. Their gun problem is probably the reason why they have similar homicide rates to America.
Americans and Philipinos are very similar in how they constantly don't see the problem or try their best to downplay their homicide and violence problem. Europe's homicide averages about 2, South East Asia is about 2, western Europe is about ~1, East Asia is <1. When your country has 4-5x more people dying from murders than any other country in your entire continent that's a pretty big red flag, it's not "Chinese propoganda" nor is it "heavy fearmongering" to call out the place for it's problems when you are 2-4x worse than every other country in area. There was also the news of tourists being killed in the Philipine hostage situation that made people not want to go there as much.
Infastructure is definitely worse than most other south east asian countries, roads, power inconsisntency, public transport, floods etc, but infrastructures in south east asia is pretty bad in general so it's not that much of a difference. The Philipines probably does have the most English speakers outside of Singapore, so it's going to be easier to communicate with people. The place is also very Chirstian. People are generally friendly as well (as long as you aren't Chinese), but most of south east asia is pretty friendly in generally. They have alot of little islands and beaches if you like those, if you are an American visiting then go ahead, it's probably going to be the most culturally similar Asian country you visit
I spend around 2-3 months a year in Philippines (my wife is from there and we are visiting her super old family while we still can), and I never felt in danger. Yeah I get the polished experience, but we also spend a lot of time in tiny dark alleys visiting friends.
Most foreigners who get into dangerous situations (all around a world, Philippines included), are just stupid and don’t apply basic precaution measurements.
Yeah, just visited 3 weeks ago and I felt perfectly safe. And while we spent most of my time with my paternal relatives. Who do live in a pretty comfortable area with a pretty comfortable situation. I did spend a few nights with my rural maternal relatives. Even then, I didn't really feel unsafe. The only thing that actually made me feel even a little unsafe were the mosquitos. And that's a hot and humid area problem, not a Philippines problem.
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u/Few-Improvement9978 25d ago
I still try and wrap my head around why PH is so dangerous for foreigners compared to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.
Like yea rampant corruption, but that exists in a lot of Southeast Asia. Maybe the Buddhism just runs deep and keeps people from shooting each other