Is Bislig City in Philippines safe for Americans to travel to or should I avoid that area?
So I'm traveling to Philippines soon and I gotta say, I'm a little nervous. I've hear a lot of bad stories about the southern part of Philippines. But some friends want me to visit so I agreed. They live in Bislig City, and the parent to whom I really want to meet, aren't really willing to travel to Davao which I know is a safer area sorta… But I would really like to know what you think. Thanks in advance.
Bislig is one of the municipality in Surigao de Sur. It's not known of being unsafe district in part of Mindanao but lack of immediate facilities. It is close to Butuan City where I think is the safest area for you ( I even saw foreigners at bus terminal last week when I travel there). I won't say it's not good for you but if you're alone, do not know the language, not familiar with the place, I think you have to be cautious. Besides if you are going there where you would stay? They don't have good hotels there…but if the family of the person you're meeting invited you and you can feel they are trustworthy, I think you're ok. Follow your instinct. Good luck!
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I dont know anything about bislig so i can’t say if its safe or not.
But what i do know and can attest to is that Davao is safe and a great place to go to.
Bislig City is a 4rth class municipality in Surigao del Sur and is a little far from Davao City. May I suggest that you just meet halfway. In Davao City that is safer for you to stay.
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i don't know were bislig city is. i think its a newly created city (from a municipality to a city). if its in the visayan region just like what the previous user said then its relatively safe there. the visayas region is quite safe because the insurgencies are mostly limited in mindanao island specifically sulu and basilan islands. so its practically safe there…
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Bislig is one of the municipality in Surigao de Sur. It's not known of being unsafe district in part of Mindanao but lack of immediate facilities. It is close to Butuan City where I think is the safest area for you ( I even saw foreigners at bus terminal last week when I travel there). I won't say it's not good for you but if you're alone, do not know the language, not familiar with the place, I think you have to be cautious. Besides if you are going there where you would stay? They don't have good hotels there…but if the family of the person you're meeting invited you and you can feel they are trustworthy, I think you're ok. Follow your instinct. Good luck!
References :
My wife is from Bislig and I have been there 3 times. I found it safe but you should know that if your traveling alone you must be 100% sure of the people you are going to visit. Like anywhere else in the Philippines it is full of smiling faces that just see dollars from tourist. You will be expected to pay for everything when your there even if its not for you only. Its not like here where we treat our guest, you will be expected to treat them like there your guest. There is one hotel and its ok not 5 star but its clean enough and safe. Dont go out at night alone and you should be ok. Its a horriable long ride to Bislig as the road is nothing much more then a logging trail taking about 6 hours to get from Daveo. My wifes faimly lives there if you would like i can find out about the people your going to meet and see if they are good people. mepp333@msn.com
I had 4 weeks in Bislig 2 years ago, staying with my wife’s family. No problems if you are open to a different style of living. And very friendly fun people too. I was welltreated and made safer by constant presence of male relatives who became great mates. Can you have similar companionship arranged? It seemed the most risky part was the bus trip from Davao where a foreigner is very obvious and the combination of cellphones and bandits in the forested areas COULD mean a hijack/kidnapping possibility. Write me at my website if you wish. Good luck!
im from bislig city. its a safe place to travel to for americans like you as long as you have an accompany so it would be easy for you to adjust in our community.. though we speak with our dialect which is bisaya, we can still speak and understand english. i have seen a number of americans in our place and they all look happy.
i suggest u contact first your friend from bislig and convince them that u will both meet in davao city. then u can ride on a bus or a van going to bislig. expect the bumpy roads but beautiful scenery of trees, mountains, waterfalls (tinuy-an falls), island (hagonoy island), breathtaking caves, and mouth watering fresh seafoods as u arrive in our place!:-) ask their complete address in bislig as well as their contact number.
if they really cant come, better ride a bus in ecoland terminal in davao city. ride in a bus going to mangagoy. tell the person in charge for ticket that u will go down in bislig terminal. inform your friend in bislig what time u will arrive there and the bus number too..
just like most of the filipinos, we are hospitable and friendly.. i hope you’ll have a great time in our place. Thank u!
hi there, Bislig City is a safe place. It is even the safest place in mindanao compared to the far side of it where bandits are waiting, places such as marawi, sulu etc.
Im from bislig city too and i can attest to you that we people in Bislig are very hospitable, last week i saw 2 groups of foreigners chilling at the beach i think their Americans and the other group are Europeans (as what i have heard from their accents). We people in Bislig City always wear smiling faces when we see foreigners like you visiting our place for your presence is a good indication that our place is one of the tourist destination in the Philippines which makes us proud. here are some good advise, always smile to people you meet and be very respectful. here some good greetings in our own language.
Good morning = ma-ayong bun-tag
Good afternoon = ma-ayong hapon
good evening = ma-ayong gabi-i
good day! = ma-ayong ad-law
thank you = sa-lamat ka-ayu
when you see good scenery, better say
” KU-YAWAY ” which is meant for awesome.
- jun2
hi! travelling to a place you’ve never been to, I must say, makes a person a little bit nervous. that is normal.
just to give you the assurance that you need – bislig city is in surigao del sur, the northern part of mindanao, is far from danger unlike the ones that you’ve probably heard on tv. those places are located at the southern area of mindanao. mindanao is big. we are not covered by those MILF and Abu-Sayaffs.
i’m from Bislig City. it is safe to travel there for foreigners like you especially for americans. it would be best that someone must accompany you in travelling starting from the Davao International Airport to our place. convince your friend that somebody must come along with you (unless of course if you love adventure). this is to prevent others from taking advantage of you – asking for a higher fare/charges than the usual, etc. – as it is our mentality that foreigners usually have lots of money with them or are rich. this is to help you too of an easy travel in going to Bislig.
do ride a taxi in going to Ecoland bus terminal, as you have luggages with you. (let those taxe drivers use the meter for fare.) beware however of over-charging taxi drivers and of the bus terminal cargo porters as they would carry your luggages right away upon arriving at the bus terminal. from there, you can ride the Bachelor bus or a van. (i personally would prefer the 2:00AM Bachelor bus because it is air-conditioned.) usually, the last trip for the bus would be until 2:30PM. there are available vans for hire too but would cost you much.
after the 3-hour ride on a concrete/asphalted road from davao, the next two hours of travel would be unpleasant due to a rough/bumpy road. you can feast your eyes though with those lush green forests along the way.
upon arriving, if your friends are sort of conservative, you can check in at the Paper Country Inn. it is clean there.
we have a cable tv and an internet. we have cell sites for Smart and Globe. we have tourist destinations – tinuy-an falls, hagonoy island, a cave (i forgot the name), lawigan beach, etc. the seafoods are great – tasty crab, oyster, tiger prawn, etc. for a night life – disco bars, pubs, barbecue houses ( a-la-carte style).
filipinos are hospitable. expect a warm welcome from us. we casually express it through our sunny smiles especially for americans like you. and we speak your language. just bear with our broken english though.
hope you could visit soon this summer.
Bislig is a safe place to stay or visit, If I were you call your friend before visiting ask them to meet you in Davao and take the bus together with them so you feel at ease. Just to remind you a trip from Davao, it will take 5 hours bus ride to bislig. Try to learn few familiar bisaya words. But you dont have to worry about on how to talk to them most people in Bislig they speak english and understand very well. Bislig is located FAR from the problems areas of MINDANAO. In Bislig there are things to do and try to go to a local attractions places like TINUY-AN FALLS, HAGONOY ISLAND, HINAYAGAN CAVE, and LAWIGAN BEACH. Bislig has Sports & Recreation Facilities sush as: ESTRELLA BOWLING LANES, TENNIS COURTS (surceco,picop,fdv,falcon compound), BADMINTON COURTS ( picop or lasalle fdv). Don’t bore yourself get out and explore things around. Your stay in Bislig is WORTH OF a Penny to Spend. Who says Were Out of Facilities. As we all know Bislig is improving little by little. Speaking about where to stay : Bislig also offer good Accomodation Facilities I would suggest to stay in Paper Country In (PCI Hotel) there are more to choose from SHIELAS PENSION HOUSE or ONE ELEVEN. OR if your friend offer a free accomodation to stay in there house that would be good so you have mora quality time and it saves more money. Bislig for the most part, is a safer place than manila. ( My husband also says Bislig is actually safer than many parts of LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA where he is from) My husband is an american we meet in manila then we flew to davao and we took the bus together to bislig. He had the same fears that you do but if you ask him now he will tell you Bislig is a safe place and we plan to go back there again next year. My husband has been there twice and he likes it. My husband feels like a celebrity there. Everyone smiles at him and always say “HEY JOE” Where your from” or they say Whats Up You hhehehehehe. Everybody wants to meet him they give them a big smile. He made friends with some of the locals… Dont fear too much… Good Luck!!!
I agree with all positive comments. have been to Bislig 3 times now and always felt safe and welcome, like it so much i started a pre-school in Mangagoy, lots of fun.
i have been bislig 3 times and find it very safe there , im from uk, and my wife is from bislig, and i have to say i find the people really friendly there, i would fully recommend bislig city to any person from abroad as a safe place to go and stay, but i do have to say how ever same comments at most here ; the road from davao to bislig is quite an adventure through the jungle roads half way there, and i would certainly have a friend or local from bislig travel with you ! i would simply say bislig is as safe as davao anyday, but as in any third world country, you need to be careful when travelling and choose the right way of travel, so overall, i say bislig is a lovely place to go and stay and a very safe place to visit; take care
My future wife is from there !!! i was there in march of 2009 for three weeks and it was the greatest !!!!!!!! I love it there and the people are soo friendly and you are going to have a great time !!! we stayed at the paper counrty inn and thay are soo nice!!!my girl friend lives in san fernando she is the love of my life!!!!everyone i met was soo friendly!!! i will be going back in march 2010 and i am bringing her home with me to be my wife in the USA!!!!YOU HAVE A GREAT TIME !!!! YOU BE FRIENDLY AND THAY WILL BE FRIENDLY!!I AM THINKING ABOUT BUYING A HOUSE IN BISLIG SOMEDAY!!!SO HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!!!!!!!