How secure!

I don't think I have ever been subject to so much security, I thought one advantage of going the other direction from the UK would be that I would avoid all the security checks of the US airports, but actually it seems to combat local threats security in the Philippines is even higher. To even get into the airport terminals you must have a valid ticket for travel which you present before you are allowed into the main doors, at those same doors you also have to go through a metal detector and send all your luggage through an X-ray machine and this is all long before check-in, immigration and the pre-flight security checks. If you are not flying, you are not entering, no family farewells inside the terminal.

In addition every time I walk into my hotel I pass through a metal detector, it seems to go off every time but now they are getting used to my face they seem to check less and less. The same applies every time anyone goes into one of the many shopping malls, the entrance will have two lines separated into male and female, you are scanned with a metal detector, and the guard with a stick moves the items around in your bag to check you are not bringing in anything you shouldn't. Exiting the mall is easy and unchecked so they don't seem too worried about theft. However the most surprising of all was this morning when I went to church for the first time and there were guards at the entry to check our bags as we went in. Except at the airport it is all very efficient and the guards are pleasant but it is non-negotiable and even at the airport it's not unbearable.

When we arrive at work in the morning the security guards use a mirror on a stick to inspect the underside of the vehicles before we are allowed to enter.

Last week a colleague reminded me of the incident with the bus that was hijacked a year or two ago by rebels where many people ended up being killed in the stand-off. I knew some of the islands further to the south of the Philippines are not recommended to travel to due to kidnappings, just this week an American-Filipino woman was released but her son and nephew remained held by kidnappers. I don't feel insecure but perhaps it is as a result of ignorance or the frequent presence of police and security.

If I take a taxi from the hotel the doormen write down my details and insist on seeing the ID of the driver. When I got a taxi outside a mall today to return to my hotel I realised the person directing me to the taxi was from the police and gave me a slip of paper, when I asked what the paper was for he informed me that it was the details of the taxi in case I had any complaints – including the taxi number, time and contacts numbers of the tourist police etc. I didn't have any problems but it felt good someone had it noted down.

Last night as I sat with a colleague getting a coffee at Starbucks hoping for the rain to ease so we could walk back to the hotel I noticed three policemen with shotguns at the corner protecting the popular dining/shopping area. We had both commented that for a city with a lot of poor we were surprised how few people hassled us in the fairly affluent area where the hotel was and we feel comfortable walking around after dark on our own in the immediate vicinities of the hotel. I was left with a nagging feeling that perhaps the security also deterred begging and street vendors.

So the fact there is more security than I personally have ever experienced, does that make me safer?