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Scary Problem!

3K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  simonsays 
#1 ·
I have lived here in Manila fo 5 years and am loving it. Until recently...
As an American I am working as a VP for a local retail conglomerate for an individual, this person, so I thought, was on the level but slowly by surely I discovered that the individual was dealing with a much darker side than I care to be involved with.
In the beginning I was involved with growing the company and education the staff. All seem to be going very well and the company was thriving. I played Santa Claus for many charities and donated time for many local causes. I was having a great time. But…there were some aspects of this job that were kept from me and I was told to not be involved.
As the company grew I discovered that more and more I had less to do with the growth of the company and more on being the face of what was represented. I have no problem with this except that the fact I was not really involved and just being a spokes' person. My involvement was less professional and strictly meeting and greeting. Basically, the people I met thought that the company was my own and that I, as a foreigner was in charge. This was a tad unsettling.
Many company agreements and contracts were signed without me knowing it, all to grow the company. Not a bad idea except that they were all built on fraudulent information.
Last year I became ill and was hospitalized, during my absence a great deal had changed. I was now pretty much alone and even was removed from any and all benefits. My business associate stated that it was just too expensive for the company. Although I do not make a great deal of money, I made it through the hospital bills.
I began questioning and trying to find out what was going on. Many complaints, many lawyers getting involved and even more lies. From here it became worse to the point where my business associate told me I was no longer needed. Abruptly, I left. At this point a very angry business partner threatened me that I needed to vacate the company apartment in three days and ‘didn’t care if I died doing so.” I was in shock but grateful to be away from these unscrupulous people.
The problem, I want to stay here and work. I am 58 years old with no family other than the people I have met here. I have built a home here with furniture, books, art and 3 loving cats. I have nowhere to go.
I would like to find a job here. I don’t need a lot of money and have an amazing amount of business experience and energy not to mention a delightful sense of humor and stellar work ethic.
If anyone knows of anything or can offer advice, I am open!
Thank you most graciously,
Darby
 
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#2 ·
I have lived here in Manila fo 5 years and am loving it. Until recently...
As an American I am working as a VP for a local retail conglomerate for an individual, this person, so I thought, was on the level but slowly by surely I discovered that the individual was dealing with a much darker side than I care to be involved with.
In the beginning I was involved with growing the company and education the staff. All seem to be going very well and the company was thriving. I played Santa Claus for many charities and donated time for many local causes. I was having a great time. But…there were some aspects of this job that were kept from me and I was told to not be involved.
As the company grew I discovered that more and more I had less to do with the growth of the company and more on being the face of what was represented. I have no problem with this except that the fact I was not really involved and just being a spokes' person. My involvement was less professional and strictly meeting and greeting. Basically, the people I met thought that the company was my own and that I, as a foreigner was in charge. This was a tad unsettling.
Many company agreements and contracts were signed without me knowing it, all to grow the company. Not a bad idea except that they were all built on fraudulent information.
Last year I became ill and was hospitalized, during my absence a great deal had changed. I was now pretty much alone and even was removed from any and all benefits. My business associate stated that it was just too expensive for the company. Although I do not make a great deal of money, I made it through the hospital bills.
I began questioning and trying to find out what was going on. Many complaints, many lawyers getting involved and even more lies. From here it became worse to the point where my business associate told me I was no longer needed. Abruptly, I left. At this point a very angry business partner threatened me that I needed to vacate the company apartment in three days and ‘didn’t care if I died doing so.” I was in shock but grateful to be away from these unscrupulous people.
The problem, I want to stay here and work. I am 58 years old with no family other than the people I have met here. I have built a home here with furniture, books, art and 3 loving cats. I have nowhere to go.
I would like to find a job here. I don’t need a lot of money and have an amazing amount of business experience and energy not to mention a delightful sense of humor and stellar work ethic.
If anyone knows of anything or can offer advice, I am open!
Thank you most graciously,
Darby
Darby......sad situation...i also adopted 3 abandoned abused kittens. There are many small buisenesses in barrio baretto outside olongapo. Not much but you could take a vacation there and inquire. As captain said not a good place to be starting from scratch. You might also pm jet lag
 
#3 ·
Darby,
Just be happy you got out in one piece. Good luck with your future. Here is my advise.
1. Are you really sure you want to stay? You say you are alone, why not go home to USA? You clearly are still a threat to them as you know too much. Some day you may still wake up on the wrong side of the grass!
2. As you worked here, my guess is your visa is 9g and you must now down grade this to visitor status, asap.
3. As you must know from your past job here, you can not just find a job and start working here. You must be sponsored by a company, get a new 9g visa and DOLE card.
Unless you have enough money to stay and enjoy it here I suggest you go back and start over again. This is not a good place to start from scratch.
Darby......sad situation...i also adopted 3 abandoned abused kittens. There are many small buisenesses in barrio baretto outside olongapo. Not much but you could take a vacation there and inquire. As captain said not a good place to be starting from scratch. You might also pm jet lag
Thanks Capt and Lefties. Good posts both.
Darby, you will need to make at least four (4) more good posts before being able to use the PM service here in the site.

Both posters here bring up good points for sure. Your personal safety needs to be the first concern. After living here for several years you have enough knowledge to know that often times, locals if they feel a need to strike out will do it behind your back when and where you would least expect it. That would include a violent or deadly attack as well.

But as Lefties suggested, try the Subic Bay area for living and employment. About the only employment you will find available there or anywhere else is going to be Hotel and or restaurant manager, bar manager, or possibly at a call center. At best you will be able to earn between P30,000 to about P50,000 per month. It is possible, if careful to live and enjoy life on those amounts.
Your biggest problem is not finding employment. Biggest problem will be in getting any new employer to ACTUALLY GET you a work permit. Most will promise but will not follow through.
Your work permit (if you had one) from your former employer is NOT usable or transferable.



Best Of Luck

Jet Lag..
 
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#4 ·
It is unfortunate that you could not see the forest for the trees (sort of speak) You seemed to be unsure of this person from the beginning but you stayed on. Makes me wonder a bit. You have 5 years as a VP in a company here. You have met many CEOs and company executives, and have a delightful personality. You have NO ONE not even a girlfriend or boyfriend.
I would think that with your connections you should not have a problem finding a job.
I am sorry for being frank but there is just too many odd occurrences here. I feel each person makes their own destiny.
 
#5 ·
Thank you!

You are quite right and I should have been wiser in my choices. I am a tad naïve sometimes and tend to believe in magic. An age old problem that I still believe I can fix anything.
And yes, I met quite a few people. The trouble is that they were all people my current company was screwing. Not a great way to start a working relationship. There are a few that escaped and I will try to do what I can to resurrect the relationships. Still tough.
Truth is I will end up staying here; I have a boyfriend that I dearly love and our three cats that are our children. Come hell or high water I will remain. I am a tough old bird and build like the Terminator meets Father Christmas…I WILL make my own destiny.
Thank you for your wisdom!
Darby
 
#6 ·
THANK YOU Captain!

I am happy I alive but they are far more afraid of me now, I have the Embassy behind me and they know who these people and their lair. I am safe with my friends around me.
I will remain here as I have my belongings, cats and boyfriend. Oddly enough this is NOT the 1st time I have come across this sort of predicament in my work. I seem to have a knack for finding companies in odd peril. In Indonesia the company I worked for was stealing from the government, literally millions of dollars on creating fake plantations to rebuild the rubber trees. Perhaps I need to go into law enforcement instead of Marketing?
Thank you for your wisdom but I am going to do what I can to stay!
Darby





Darby,
Just be happy you got out in one piece. Good luck with your future. Here is my advise.
1. Are you really sure you want to stay? You say you are alone, why not go home to USA? You clearly are still a threat to them as you know too much. Some day you may still wake up on the wrong side of the grass!
2. As you worked here, my guess is your visa is 9g and you must now down grade this to visitor status, asap.
3. As you must know from your past job here, you can not just find a job and start working here. You must be sponsored by a company, get a new 9g visa and DOLE card.
Unless you have enough money to stay and enjoy it here I suggest you go back and start over again. This is not a good place to start from scratch.
 
#7 ·
Good Advice!

I seem to have a good eye for those in trouble. Oddly enough this is NOT the 1st time I have come across this sort of predicament in my work, it takes a great deal to scare me. (Brooklyn, New York businessman.) It’s hard to find people that can spill the truth in most companies when it comes to expats. They want the ideal of an imported individual but not the responsibility.
Even the ‘legitimate’ businesses I have dealt with have a shady edge. As in all business, there are SOME elements that will appear less scrupulous than most and you can either change or overcome those elements. This poor soul has absolutely no idea how things are supposed to progress in any possible world, he can’t even fake the basic rules of creating a business. Wow!
At any rate, I am a tough Brooklyn boy with the determination of a rabid wolf and can do what needs to be done. Not big on running after I have built a life here, I will do what I can to stay. I wrote this exercise to see what others have come in contact with and how it was dealt. The remarkable dichotomy of strength versus valor, versus lack of moral integrity is amazing.
Thank you for your input!
Darby

nOTE=Jet Lag;5061914]Thanks Capt and Lefties. Good posts both.
Darby, you will need to make at least four (4) more good posts before being able to use the PM service here in the site.

Both posters here bring up good points for sure. Your personal safety needs to be the first concern. After living here for several years you have enough knowledge to know that often times, locals if they feel a need to strike out will do it behind your back when and where you would least expect it. That would include a violent or deadly attack as well.

But as Lefties suggested, try the Subic Bay area for living and employment. About the only employment you will find available there or anywhere else is going to be Hotel and or restaurant manager, bar manager, or possibly at a call center. At best you will be able to earn between P30,000 to about P50,000 per month. It is possible, if careful to live and enjoy life on those amounts.
Your biggest problem is not finding employment. Biggest problem will be in getting any new employer to ACTUALLY GET you a work permit. Most will promise but will not follow through.
Your work permit (if you had one) from your former employer is NOT usable or transferable.



Best Of Luck

Jet Lag..[/QUOTE]
 
#8 ·
Darby, If you have disreputable "businessmen" angry at you for some reason, then I recommend that you tread very carefully. Bottom line, if you've done anything that has caused them to lose money, then they may take it personally (this goes double if they are from HK or China). The concept of equality and fairness in the eyes of the law is nearly nonexistent here, so going to an attorney probably isn't going to help. In fact, I would refrain from discussing this matter with anyone here in the PI, whom you do not implicitly trust!

Based upon your above post, it isn't really possible to tell exactly how corrupt these businessmen may actually be, and how much immediate danger you may, or may not, be in. I know that you mentioned that they used fraudulent information in order to lure another party into signing an agreement with them, but to be honest with you, such practices are fairly common here in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China. Companies routinely overstate revenue, net worth, and sales forecasts in order to make themselves appear more attractive to investors and clients. In America we expect the seller of a used car to somewhat exaggerate the condition of the car they are selling, and as long as their "white-lies" stay within certain parameters, we are still willing to buy their used car, if we think it is a good enough deal. The same thing goes with business agreements here, lies and exaggerations are expected, but as long as everything passes the smell test, the agreement will still be signed. If you've done anything to cause your former employer to believe that you sabotaged a potential agreement with another party (causing them to lose money) then I'd be very cautious. On the other hand, if you simply had squabbles with your supervisor, but you didn't actually harm their revenue stream, then most likely they'd rather focus their attention on running their semi shady business, then carrying a grudge against you.

On the other hand, if you were working for someone who blatantly engaged in criminal activity such as; smuggling, counterfeiting, or money laundering, then maybe you've got something to worry about. If this is the case, at the very least I would recommend considering moving someplace else. If you are contacted by these people, simply inform them that you wish to put this matter in the past, and that in the future you will not discuss it with anyone! Perhaps that will be enough to placate them.

Just my two cents.
 
#11 ·
Comment

1st of all, the man was earning a great deal due to my involvement. He became greedy rapidly and opened his businesses up to another group of people touting that I could make them rich. Unbeknownst to me, there was a set of books offered to these people that were displaying a major refund on franchising/investing in this particular avenue. These were not ‘white lies’ of the business world…these were complete fiction that Harry Potter would be proud of. My hands are clean 100%.
My goal was to redirect/re-educate his small current businesses and I did. Too well I think. Once the business began to grow, his attitude changed and the focus was no longer on business but on grabbing what he could as fast as he was able. (Not to mention the unlimited girls he paid to give him attention.)
Although my title is ‘Scary Problem”, I WILL persevere and rise to the occasion and shine as the human race does in such matters, but your comments are rather dark and sinister. There ARE good people in Asia, some of the best I have met. You sound like a very frightened man and somewhat untrusting to many of those who roam the planet around you, being cautious is always smart of course, this boarders on the paranoia. This to me is much scarier.
 
#9 ·
Seriously !!!! Are you for real ????
Close this thread please......
I thought about it Capt but it's actually getting pretty good and thats okay as many have different views to share. Will move it to the Mabuhay Club Corner and leave it open as long as possible :D:D:D:painkiller:
 
#14 ·
That's a scary predicament because, as a lot of them have posted, it can be quite dangerous, but good for you for wanting to persevere. If you are looking for a part-time job, you can start with home-based online teaching until you can find a reputable and trust-worthy company.
 
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