Tom Fagan, in The Philippines
Tom is, like, well, my best friend in The Philippines. Tom is from St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and he came to The Philippines to find his asawa (wife). Tom was previously married in American for 23 faithful years, but when his kids had grown up and left the house, and it was just he and his wife left in the house, and they worked different shifts, like ships passing in the night, it seems they no longer had common goals (the kids) and they divorced.
Tom is one sweet guy. I like going to the KTV Bars (strip clubs), and Tom does not like them. Tom met two Filipinos over the Internet before coming to The Philippines, but they didn’t work out. Tom stayed with one in Iligan for about 4 or 5 months, but he told me this girls father would go through all his stuff right in front of him, going through his closet and stuff. Pretty weird. It didn’t work out with her and he ended up getting death threats from her brothers and other relatives.
Tom escaped that to end up with the 2nd girl he’d met online, only to find out she was bi-polar, and while he spent almost all his time with her, if he just went to the store or something she would start texting him that he was out looking for other girls, and Tom’s just not like that. Her jealousy finally drove him away from her. Plus she liked to break things, like slamming cell phones into the concrete floor.
Since then, Tom has been looking and fearing he would have to leave The Philippines, but just recently the immigration law for foreigners was changed so that they can renew their visas for 16 months instead of just 12 months, which means Tom can stay here until January instead of having to leave this month of September.
Tom worked as a security guard at the Missouri State Mental Hospital for 20 some years, where they keep forensic patients (crazy people that kill other people). Tom is retired from that position and has both a State and Federal medical dispensation based on the fact that he has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This is a rare disease to start with, but Tom apparently has a very slow form of it. Most people diagnosed with it die within a couple of years. Tom shows some nerve degradation, but it is much slower than most people with ALS. There is little research being done on ALS because it effects so few people. Researchers would rather work on cancer cures because it will save so many more lives. There is no treatment or cure for ALS and it is terminal. There is no escape, not even on the horizon.
Because I am so fond of Tom, I thought I should try to find him a Filipina, a Filipina Princess, much like my own wife. My wife is dedicated to me and it shows. Tom needs someone like that. So, I asked Marissa, my wonderful wife, to think about the people she knew and see if she could find some Filipina that would be suitable for Tom. A couple of months passed and Tom is being stalked by these predator Filipinas that just will not give up, sending loving text messages sometimes, followed by threatening text messages later.
Eventually, Marissa was able to get in touch with her best friend from college, her classmate who also holds a degree in social work. Marissa never took the board exam in order to be able to work as a social worker, but her friend did. Her name is Teresa, and she is a social worker in the tribal village of Conception, in the Province of Misamis Occidental. Last weekend Teresa was able to return to Cagayan de Oro. She came here to meet Tom. When I texted Tom that there was a girl here that had traveled many hours just to come here and meet him, I got a response that said “Sorry Michael, I’ve already met a special lady and I am not interested in meeting anyone new”. It turns out that text message was not from Tom but from one of the predators, a girl he had only known for three days who had gotten hold of his cell phone.
Of course, I replied, “what the hell are you talking about, I saw you just 24 hours ago and you were still looking, what could have changed so dramatically in the past 24 hours?” Tom never received that message, because the predator received it and deleted it.
Eventually, I was able to get through to Tom and make the actual introduction to Teresa. She, like my wife, is 24 years old. Unlike my wife though, Teresa has never been kissed before, she has never had a boyfriend. No man has ever touched her breasts or grabbed her ass. She is pure, and comes from a conservative Filipino family.
In fact, the night I introduced Tom to her, we did not bring her home until about 11 PM and when we got to her brother’s house, a PNP officer, he had gone into town to retrieve her. We waited his return and while he did not know any of the lower ranking PNP that I knew, he did know who Colonel Trampe and Colonel Montalba were, and he settled down quickly when he saw my very pregnant wife, and realized that she was a classmate of Teresa’s from college. I should take this guy shooting with me. I am going to Iligan this Sunday for Level 1 ISPA shoot-fest, maybe I can get him to go with me and I will sponsor him, and introduce him to my cousin, gow Ansell Ladra, the local competitive pistol shooting champion.
Next week I am planning to take Tom, Marissa, and either Marissa’s mother or father to the village of Conception, which is inside the Mount Malindang National Park, and about six hours drive fromo here. This used to be NPA territory, but Colonel Jet Villacorte, the PNP Provencial Director for the province of Misamis Occidental tells me that there is little NPA activity in that area now and that I probably do not need an armed escort to visit that village. Alternatively, I know some military people in the area that can provide an escort. Generally, in The Philippines, the military guys look down on the PNP, because the PNP are mainly assigned to municipalities and have cushy jobs, while the military is out in the bush in engaged in deadly armed conflict.
I would much prefer to go without an escort, but being unfamiliar with the area I am dependent upon the opinions of others as to whether I should have an armed escort or not. The problem with having a sanctioned escort is that they are unlikely to hold-off an armed NPA patrol, and that the situation will likely escalate to deadly force and we’ll end up being the victims of it. But for bandits and robbers the escort would do the trick. That is, I’d likely be better off by myself if we encounter NPA, but in a bad fix if we encountered plain old bandits, as I’m limited to the one licensed handgun of Marissa. If we encounter an NPA patrol it would be overwhelming force and we would just give up, and probably survive a kidnapping, but if I have a PNP or military escort they would likely engage and we’ll all be killed. Whereas if we are approached by simple bandits, the PNP or Military escort would also likely engage and we would survive. While I am a champion with the pistol, I would prefer to survive and not engage with either.
I sent a text message to Colonel Jet Villacorte, who is the Provencial Director of the PNP for Misamis Occidental, and he said he could provide me an escort, but not next week as they have an inspection from HQ and he cannot spare the men then. I know another guy from the military who could also provide me an escort, but there’s a problem with having an armed escort and that is that if there is trouble it is pretty much guaranteed that there will be a firefight, a shoot out.
Also, the problem is not really NPA, but bandits. I am told that likely I could go to this village once, if no one there knew I was coming, and maybe I could go a second time, but the third or fourth time I would be set up and kidnapped for ransom. My attorney, Joe Pallugna, told me not to go, but I argued with him that I could get an escort and be safe. He told “go ahead and go, but do not be upset with me when I make money from negotiating your release from the kidnappers and become famous for obtaining the release of the foreigner, and my name is on the TV and in the newspapers along with you. Please make sure to leave me your account numbers before you go, and I will get you released. Go!”
Teresa is a pure girl. She’s never had a boy friend and she has never been kissed before. Her boobs and butt never molested. In fact, the photos you see in this photo gallery are the photos of the first time she ever held hands with a man.
Tom tried to kiss her in this video, but I later told Tom that before he kisses her he must ask permission, and if permission is granted he must take a moment and look around and make sure he remembers everything around him; what she is wearing , what he is wearing, the place that they are at, because one day she will ask him if he remembers their first kiss, and by God, he had better remember all the details or she will not talk to him for a week.
Photogallery of Tom and Teresa’s first date.
Short video of Tom and Teresa’s first date.
Tom has probably not kissed a lot of girls. Having been married, faithfully, to his first wife for 23 years, but still, to kiss a new girl, to him, is not a big thing, but for Teresa, the first time she kisses Tom, it will be her first kiss ever. I hope they both remember, forever. I wish you both the best possible future.