Charming Destinations:
Places With A Heart PHILIPPINES - Dominique Grele and Lily Yousry-Jouve

The 100 resorts or holiday venues listed have been personally visited by the French authors; both residents of Manila. The illustrated descriptions of access, facilities and possible activities are interleaved with maps and general information about the history, geography and sites of interest in each area. more

Sex... Death... Life:
The Traveler and the Gate Checkers - Ted Lerner

For most people, life comes down to a daily chore of pile management. But for a traveler like Ted Lerner, life often revolves around dealing with gate checkers. Gate checkers? Yes, those people given a badge, a stamp and the authority to stop you from getting where you want to go.

In this his second book, the American author of the hilarious Philippine adventure, “Hey, Joe,” takes to the road in the gate checker capital of the world, Asia. No matter the obstacles, though, Lerner never fails to uncover the juicy stories and one-of-a-kind experiences which can only be found in the world’s largest and most populated continent. more

Timeless Classic:
Hey, Joe - Ted Lerner

It's the phrase that greets every foreign guy in the Philippines on a daily basis. And perhaps nobody personifies the meaning of this moniker better than Ted Lerner, an American whose popular, freewheeling column, "Hey, Joe," appears weekly in Manila's BusinessWorld newspaper.

Here he presents a collection of his Manila stories, a kaleidoscope of funny and bizarre incidents, offbeat characters and keen observations dished up by a wide-eyed foreigner living in a city exploding with life, unfathomable urban chaos and a story around every corner. more

True Story:
Sentenced to Death - Earl K. Wilkinson with Alan C. Atkins

Englishman Albert Wilson thought he was in a tropical paradise with a Philippine lady who was a live-in partner, but she had a 12 year-old daughter by a local Filipino.

The nightmare of three years in prison, one of which was spent in hellhole of death row was caused by the child, actively encouraged and guided by her natural father, to extort money by accusing the man of rape.

After sentencing, the case was brought to the attention of Earl Wilkinson, a retired Australian businessman, who spent a year of his life fighting to prove Wilson's innocence. more

Child Sex Abuse:
Priestly Pedophiles - Earl K. Wilkinson

In 1994, author Earl K. Wilkinson published a book, "People, Priests and Pedophiles," warning the Catholic Church that it had a problem because a number of priests within its ranks were pedophiles. The Church ignored this warning.
Nearly ten years later, the Church was rocked to its foundation by the revelations that in the USA, not only were quite a high percentage of priests pedophiles, but they were allowed to continue to abuse children by their bishops covering up their crimes. more

Miracle or Medical Mystery:
AIDS Failure Philippines - Earl K. Wilkinson

In July 2002, during his speech to 15,000 delegates to the UN conference on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Peter Piot warned the world that far from being at the plateau of the epidemic, we were only at the beginning. He stated that by 2020, AIDS would have killed more people than all the wars of the 20th century.
If we are to believe Department of Health figures however, this did not include the Philippines. Here, officially, we have one
of the lowest rates of condom use that has apparently resulted into also having one of the lowest rates of infection in the world. more