I suppose it depends on where you are and what you mean by “safe.” I’ve been living here since January. The area I am in is well situated so I don’t have to worry about flooding here in the typhoon season. On my trip up to Buscalan to get a traditional (thorn tapped) Kalinga tattoo we took a top-load jeepney up Halsema highway (one of the most dangerous highways in all of Asia) until the road ended and then it was a fairly precarious hike from that spot into the village, but for me, that was all part of the experience and the adventure.
Traffic in Manila is pretty horrible and I’ve heard that some motorcyclists get killed trying to weave in and out of moving traffic. EDSA is a beast and I had a friend mention a video where a lady gets run over trying to cross it, but most people would know better than to try crossing EDSA as it’s like LA’s 405 on a bad day.
Speaking of LA, as far as crime and violence, I’ve lived in LA county, multiple tiny to medium Tennessee towns and tramped up the Northwest Coast into Portland. I’ve been mugged, beat up or seriously threatenedin at LEAST 5 US states that I can recall (South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon, California just off the top of my head). Portland and Humboldt County are known to a lot of people as “laid back hippie country” but I only spent a few weeks on my Northwest trip and had a laptop stolen, a guitar broken, robbed, mugged, beat with a broom and threatened by a crackhead with a concrete block.
Manila, by comparison, is as safe as can be in comparison. Case in point, I left my smartphone in a restaurant I frequent. Didn’t realize till I got home. They had closed so I couldn’t call but went by the next day, as soon as I was in the door someone asked “Are you looking for this!”
As far as crime, I’ve seen nothing to compare to my tiny, Tennessee hometown. I have heard it wasn’t always this safe and that drug eradication has gone a ways to cleaning up the streets. The Philippines, for me, ranks as one of the safest places I’ve ever lived or visited and I haven’t experienced a bit of worry walking the streets any time of the day or night.
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