I wouldn't carry anything that could be considered as a weapon. Vendors trying to sell you knives, pepper spray and even a hand held tazer and if caught who wants to deal with that outcome or get stuck explaining that from inside a Philippine jail.

The wheels of justice are slow, bogged down with a huge backlog of and waiting for your court appearance could take up to 3 year's.

But around the home I do have several bolo knives because I use them in the large yard plus some stick clubs near every door entrance and other places around the home.

 

Foreigners are not allowed to carry anything that could be described as a weapon so anything bladed is not allowed. Even locals are not allowed to carry bolos unless they are necessary as part of the work. Ok I see many walking around our village with a bolo on the hip, the usual disregard for and lack of enforcement of the law.

 

For years in the USA I carry a pocket knife when I walk/jog in the park - because sometimes I see unleashed unattended dogs.

Sounds like I should leave the pocket knife in the USA.

 

I sold my Glock and shipped by Balikbayan boxes all my specialty tools (In-laws/workers have stolen most of them) and hard-to-find items but things sure have improved here and so you can find many products here but it's those hard-to-live without items that I shipped.

Here's a link that will have much more information on shipping items Useful links for expats shipping items

 

I used to carry a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket while I was living in Cebu, and nobody ever gave me any trouble about it. Sometimes they'd make me check it in with security when I went into a casino, but in my case, that was about the only hassle I ever had with it. However, one time I had a conversation with one of my wive's relatives, who was a retired policeman in the Philippines, and he told me that it was technically illegal to carry my Swiss Army Knife around, but as long as I didn't get into a bar fight, then it probably wouldn't be an issue, unless I ran into an extremely corrupt cop. So, if you decide to carry a pocket knife of some sort, be prepared to ditch it in the bushes before you have to deal with corrupt officials. Otherwise.....

 

Your experience serves as a valuable reminder to exercise caution and stay informed when traveling or living abroad.

 

The Philippines is the same over all laws. It can be freedom of speech, community disputes, car accidents, self defense, basically a foreigner is held to standards citizens can ignore. That is just part of living here. It is a shame bloggers don't educate people on that, but if they did they might get in troubled for it. Maybe a blog or course in etiquette about living here would be as important as the visa and bank account.
I find survival is best with a good spouse that can do what you can't. Men have to deal with letting go of the trait of alpha male and let the spouse be the loud, insulting spouse.
You can get the idea of life from the 13A interview. Mine had a lot of questions about if any of my neighbors didn't like me or I was mean to them.

Put the pocket knife in the wife's purse

 

This is a 2 year old thread.

Resurrected from the dead by a bot ?

 

It's an important and relevant topic, if we get caught with weapons we'll find ourselves in trouble. When we as Expats are out and about the vendors stalk us and try to sell us items we shouldn't be carrying around, example, and they've approached me several times waiting outside grocery stores and malls:

-Knives, bolos, pepper spray, extendable steel batons, tasers.

You might even be approached or contacted through inlaw's friends of inlaw's, people on the street selling weapons such as hand guns, ect...

What I do is keep bolos inside the home, or I do need to use them I live out in the Provincial area and at nearly every entry point in our home I have thick clubs and bolo knives. I once had to break out the bolo knife when two fake cops tried to come into our home, one had a backpack no uniforms and a really cheap looking ID. My wife handled it fine, though she told them to meet us at the Police station they took off also after I brought out the bolo knives, I'm not into messing around.

Since this has happened I've made our home more safe by the addition of two large dogs, not local either, they've bitten several people and yes I've had to cough up money for rabbis shots. The silly CC cameras will identify the hoodlums, but you won't be able to do anything about it unless you pay for court costs and lawyer, get ready to spend big, so what's the point, the dog is a very effective tool against troublemakers.

 

So who is it that buys the firearms from the stores that I saw when I was visiting awhile back? I'm sure that my wife can. Am I allowed under any circumstances? If my wife has one in the house, am I allowed to use it?

 

Th

The locals. Your wife would be allowed to own a firearm (legally) if she passes the application process.
You cannot own a gun.
A foreign friend of ours was in a shootout with armed robbers a few years in the house and he was not charged with using the gun, as it was registered. He ended up being shot a couple of times, but i would have reacted the same if i had teenage daughters in the house at the time.

TV Patrol: Bahay ng batang aktres sa Laguna, nilooban - YouTube

 

No weapons for m !!our driver carries whaht i know as a Stanley knife he calls it a combat weapon