Cell Phones in The Philippines
The Philippines is the text messaging capital of The World. My wife likes to get on my phone and read my messages. I have told her this is morally wrong to do, but she thinks it is not. Is it okay for her to read my email without my consent? Is my email different from the text messages on my phone?
The truth is in the pudding. I get text messages from girls all the time. I do not ask for them. Sometimes the text messages are sexually suggestive. I had this one girl, a dancer, that got ahold of my cell phone number nearly a year ago and must have spent 100 pesos texting me (100 messages), before giving up.
I admit I am sometimes a bit loose with my business card, giving them out to virtually every foreigner or affluent Filipino I meet, and perhaps I hang out too much in the places that foreigners tend to congregate, but then, I AM a foreigner here. I am not going to tear up my cell phone SIM card because that number is on my business card.
On the other hand, how much business have I gotten in The Philippines by handing out my business card? None.
I remember someone called my after PubCon and told me they had picked up my business card on the urinal during the Yahoo party. That client is still with me today. I admit I pass out business cards in some unsavory places. Of course, this happened to be a quite eloquent unsavory type of place.
In America, just because you have the key to someone’s house does not mean you have the right to go into their house and take their television or their stereo. However, in The Philippines, the culture is different. “Why would I have a key to their house if I did not have the right to take the television?” is more the cultural-moral motif here.
My wife once found a cell phone in a taxi. A nice, expensive cell phone. We returned it, by calling numbers stored on the cell phone until we could determine the proper owner. “Of course, I should have known it was a foreigner, no Filipino would have returned this phone except for ransom!” I was told when I placed it in the palm of the owner and wished him a good day. Cell phone messages, email, all just as sacrosant.
They would never think of taking your phone out of your hands and reading messages, but if you leave your phone with a Filipino you should assume they have read your messages when you get back. Why would you leave your phone with them if they were not entitled to read your messages.
I do not mean to sound racist here. I am not a racist, but neither am I culturally oblivious. There are pronounced cultural traits that are present in many races, including Jews, Arabs, and Gypsies. Just as there are in Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, and others.