Somebody Has Boosted Our RUSI!!

Well, up to now, I’ve been having pretty good luck with the whole crime aspect of the Philippines.  Haven’t gotten pick-pocketed, robbed, jumped, kidnapped, burglarized or any of the other unpleasant aspects of living upon God’s Green Earth.  Coming from a rough inner city where one could hear the sounds of gunshots just about every day, living here has been a balm of sorts – the only shootings I have seen have been on the television (locally motorcycle drive-by’s and internationally be-headings by some militants in the Middle East who are trying to create their own little caliphate or something). Also – I must note – I have heard stories from other retirees and expats in the Philippines of their own experiences with crime – the vast majority of them burglaries but with some more violent robberies notes as well.

Sigh......
Sigh……

 

That all came to an end this morning when I received a call from Michell.  She was (audibly) distressed and first said only that “something bad had happened.”  Now personally, it drives me crazy when people did this, especially people that I love, because all I can imagine is the worst – and with Michell, it’s that she has been in a horrific scooter accident and is in a body cast as some local hospital!  Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.  On the other side of the hand, however, she did relay to me that our wonderful little RUSI 125 scooter was nowhere to be seen.  Uh oh……   I told her to look around some more and if she couldn’t find it, to go to the police station and file a “blotter report” (incident report) on it.  We hung up, and I found myself in that whole denial aspect of bad news – I puttered around making coffee (I had been playing Bioshock-Infinite on the PS3 prior to the call) and thought to myself that she was just tired and had forgotten where she parked it. 

Be on the lookout for this RUSI 125!!!
Be on the lookout for this RUSI 125!!!

 

About a half hour later I heard the yard gate creak open, but I didn’t hear the RUSI.  Uh oh again…..  Michell came in looking all kinds of upset and we hugged and she lamented the loss of her first scooter.  I had dug through all my paperwork in the meantime and had finally found the registration (with plate number) for our missing family member.  Leaving her to sleep after her night-long work shift (I don’t think she actually slept), I zipped down to the PNP (Philippines National Police) office only to be told that you don’t report motor thefts there but at another location.  Sounds legit, and it’s something I am pretty much used to at this point.  I dutifully sped off to the second location near the capital building which turned out to be the Highway Patrol.  I didn’t see Ponch or John anywhere abouts, but a guy in shorts and t-shirt gathered my information and typed up a report.  This took about an hour which was cool, as I didn’t have a whole lot to do today anyways.  At the end of the report makining, I asked him what the recovery rate for stolen motorbikes was in Dumaguete and was pleasantly suprised to find out that around 60% of the bikes eventually get recovered.  Seeing as our RUSI has a whole lot of sentimental value (it’s Michell’s first scooter and I really enjoy using it for short hops around town), I am hoping we are going to be in that 60%.

Where are Ponch and John when you need them??
Where are Ponch and John when you need them??

 

Keep your fingers crossed!

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24 comments

  1. Bummers! In the PI there has always been plus and minus about using a bike lock. The plus, it is more secure and harder to steal. The minus, now your bike looks “non-local” and thus more tempting to steal. Rare is anyone going to call out a suspected bike thief anyway. Decisions, decisions.

  2. Hi Ned, very sorry to read about your scooter loss. I’m sure Michelle is very upset too. My wife Sonya is a Filipina, we’ve been married for 22 years. We are considering retiring in the Philippines. We really enjoy your You Tube channel. Your visit to Alaska Al was one of my favorites. I wonder if he has a channel or Facebook page. How much land does he have and what kind of investment did it take to build that place.

    Have you been to Baguio or Tagaytay.? What caused you and a lot of others to go to the Dumagete area?

    I wish you and Michelle all the best. Please don’t make her cry, my wife will cry too!

    Thank You,
    Michael Bowen

    1. Thanks, Mike. I have not been to Baguio or Tagatay, but I have heard it is much cooler in both areas. I am not sure how much Al invested to build his place. It’s a pretty simple construction, so I am sure it wasn’t too much. And no, he doesn’t have a channel. I tell him about his video all the time and he is very happy about it, but I don’t think he has even seen it yet! 🙂

  3. Hi Ned and Michell. Sorry to hear the Scooter. Hopefully you get it back. I am married to a pinay also, and we are sending bbb’s with all of our things to The province in Northern Luzon.. it is getting close for us. Alittle jittery about moving overseas, but sure it will be fine when we settle in. I will be doing videos of the North once we get over there. Take care and hope you get the scooter back.

    1. Yeah, the anticipation can be palpable. I had a first class recling bed/seat on the 20 hour flight from New York, and I still couldn’t sleep – a mix of anticipation and uneasiness for entering the unknown. Have fun and keep us updated! And doing vids is fun. I am looking forward to looking back to my own many years from now and remembering just how gwapo I used to be. 🙂

  4. Sorry to hear the reality of the world, visited a crime upon 2 very special people. Saying that I love the picture of Ned’s partner in life, Michell, standing by the scooter. Two exceptionally cute things side by side, note please, the mechanical one is easily replaced. Hold tight the living flesh and blood woman. Wishing you good luck in a possible recovery of the scooter. Last note: Michell is blameless, it was a criminal doing a criminal thing, all the blame belongs on that person. Bahala na keep those video’s rolling. Salamat Dream Team.

  5. Too bad about the scooter Ned, getting ripped off is always a bummer. It happened to us in the sprintime of 2013 at our apt. in Reno, Nevada, which is why we finally decided to purchase a new home. They entered our apt. with a pass key and stole cash and jewelry of $8,000. The cops did absolutely nothing to help and the detectives never replied to our repeated phone calls offering leads. I lost a great deal of respect for the Reno Police after the way they mishandled it all. I couldn’t help musing over the comedy satire show Reno 911, evincing the dysfunction of the dept. Who would have guessed it was all so true. We didn’t have insurance and I was wondering if you had any and if so does it cover theft?

  6. I actually just watched your video on the theft of your bike and see that you have no insurance for theft, probably not offered there anyway. My wife is from Bohol and she just told me the first thing the theives normally do is repaint the bike. We really hope you get it back first. john & mareis.

  7. Hey Ned and Michell , sorry to hear about Michell mishap with her scooter.
    It’s bummer!
    In the old west, they hang horse thieves. Surely I am not saying to go that far and string them up ,but what is the modern equivalent for the theft of a scooter.
    I feel once caught, I’ll ostracize the SOB by posting his photography all over town as a known thief. That’s as far as my blood lust goes…. I do hope things work out. All the best. Peace…out….

  8. Hi Ned, Very sorry to hear of the robbery and I hope the bike is recovered quickly. I have been reading your blog for some time and what I really appreciate is that it is so informative and balanced on both the good and bad of what you are experiencing. I am15 months from my move to the Philippines – most probably to Moalboal as that is where my partner of 7 years wishes to live. I do have one question for you which is about language. Over the years I have picked up about 2-300 words of Tagalog (my partner lives in Antipolo a couple of hours out of Manila) but I note you are learning Bisaya. I understand that Bisaya is the local language where you are and where I will be but I would have thought that with Tagalog you have the advantage of the whole country rather than just central Philippines. So I will start an online course and look to have some language proficiency before I arrive and am wondering which one. Also I am planning to do some more university study (in English) but still surely there will be some taglish or whatever the Bisaya equivalent is – will be used and useful. So in closing thanks for your sharing – I am sure many like me, find your posts really worthwhile – and I always look forward to the next – hopefully with news on the recovered bike.

    1. Cebuano/bisaya is the second biggest language spoken in the RP. I like the Visayas and intend to stay here. Everyone here speaks bisaya amongst themselves and Tagalog/Filipino is sometimes seen as a language being forced upon them by the elites in Manila. I just know basic phrases and can understand it a lot better than I can speak it (if they are talking slow). If I do move somewhere else, I will just pick up pieces of the local dialect – I just prefer to know what people are saying around me. 🙂

  9. Haha, I can relate Ned with liking to know what they are saying around me. I am in the occidental half of Negros and they speak mostly Hiligaynon over here. Been here about a month, and just know a “gamey” amount…

    Thanks for all the videos you have done, they helped immensely with my preparation before moving here!

  10. Hi Ned, just noticed your thread here about your rusi scooter… Am glad to read that it was recovered about a week after! That is great! My wife is a filipina, we’ve been married almost 23 yrs! Have two children, and have lived here in borongan eastern Samar for 14 yrs now.. Glad to stumble onto your thread here! Thanks. Have a nice day!

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