Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and you run the risk of being detained and fined
when you try to leave the country.
If you
overstay
your initial thirty days (but have
not stayed beyond 59 days) you'll be fined at least
P500; overstay longer and you'll be sent to the
nearest o
ce of the Bureau of Immigration for a
whole lot of trouble.
Australia
Canberra
T
612 6273 2535,
W
philembassy.org.au;
Sydney
T
02 9262 7377; Melbourne
T
03 9863 7885; Perth
T
08
9481 5666. Consulates also in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and Hobart.
Canada
Ottawa
T
613 233 1121,
W
philippineembassy.ca;
To ro n t o
T
416 922 7181,
W
philcongen-toronto.com.
Ireland
Dublin
T
01 437 6206,
W
philippineconsulate.ie.
New Zealand
Wellington
T
644 472 9848,
W
philembassy.org.nz.
South Africa
Pretoria
T
012 346 0451,
W
pretoriape.org.
UK
London
T
020 7451 1800,
W
philembassy-uk.org.
US
Washington DC
T
202 467 9300,
W
philippineembassy-usa
.org; San Francisco
T
415 433 6666,
W
philippinessanfrancisco
.org; Los Angeles
T
213 639 0980,
W
philippineslosangeles.org;
New York
T
212 764 1330,
W
philippinesnewyork.org; Chicago
T
312 583 0621,
W
philippineschicago.org. Consulates also in
Atlanta, Honolulu, Miami and Portland, OR.
Temporary Visitor's Visa
If you know you want to spend longer than
thirty days in the Philippines, apply for a 59-day
Temporary Visitor's Visa
at a Philippine embassy
or consulate before you travel. A single-entry visa
(with which you must enter the Philippines within
three months of the issue date) costs £22/€27/
US$30/Can$34.50/Aus$54/NZ$42/ZAR270, while a
multiple-entry visa, valid for one year from the
date of issue (but with stays of a maximum 59 days
within that year), is £65/€81/US$90/Can$103.50/
Aus$162/NZ$126/ZAR810. A six-month multiple-
entry visa is £43/€54/US$60/Can$69/Aus$108/
NZ$84/ZAR540. Apart from a valid passport and a
completed application form (downloadable from
some Philippine embassy websites), you will have
to present proof that you have enough money for
the duration of your stay in the Philippines.
Gay and lesbian travellers
Few Filipinos, even the most pious, pay much heed
to the Catholic Church regarding homosexuality,
and the prevailing attitude is that people can carry
on doing what's right for them.
Gay culture
in the
Philippines is strong and largely unimpeded by
narrow-mindedness, with the possible exceptions
within politics and the military, where hetero-
sexuality is still considered correct. Gays are
respected as arbiters of fashion and art, and beauty
parlours are often staffed by transsexuals.
The word
bakla
is used generically by many
Filipinos and visitors to the Philippines to refer
to gays, but that would be inaccurate. A
bakla
considers himself a male with a female heart -
a
pusong babae
. Most are not interested in a
sex-change operation and consider themselves
a “third sex”, cross-dressing and becoming more
“female” than many women. Another category of
male homosexual is known as
tunay ne lalake
,
men who identify themselves publicly as hetero-
sexual but have sex with other men. Homosexuals
who aren't out permeate every stratum of
Philippine society; rumours circulate almost daily
of this-or-that tycoon or politician who is
tunay
ne lalake
.
Lesbians
are much more reticent about outing
themselves than gay men, no doubt because there
is still societal pressure for young women to
become the quintessential Filipina lady - gracious,
alluring and fulfilled by motherhood and the home
(see p.45). Indeed, some Filipina lesbians complain
that the more outspoken
tomboys
- lesbians are
often referred to as tomboys - make the fight for
women's rights even harder.
The
gay scene
is centred on the bars and clubs of
Malate in Manila (see box, p.94), though there are
Longer stays
Regardless of how you entered the Philippines, to
stay longer than 59 days you must apply for
visa
extensions
at immigration bureaus every two
months (fees range from P2830 to P4830). At the
time of writing the government was considering
the introduction of a
Long Stay Visitor Visa
Extension
(LSVVE) programme, which would allow
visitors to extend stays for six months after their
first thirty days in one go; check government
websites for the latest.
Note that if you have been in the Philippines
continuously for six months, you must have an
Emigration Clearance Certificate
(P710) to pass
through immigration at the airport. After six
months you must also apply for an
ACR-I card
or
“Alien Certificate of Registration” for P2800, and
after sixteen months you need approval from the
Chief of the Immigration Regulation Division. When
you have been in the Philippines for
two years
you
really will have to leave.
PHILIPPINE EMBASSIES AND
CONSULATES ABROAD
For a full list of the Philippines' embassies and consulates, check
the government's Department of Foreign Affairs website at
W
www.dfa.gov.ph.