Coalition government in talks to resettle refugees in the PhilippinesFilipino deja vu as Ferdinand Marcos jnr announces candidacy
Bangkok: When I hired a Filipino journalist to help me report a story in Manila he turned up at my hotel with a loaded pistol tucked into his belt.
"I need to protect you," he said. 
Across the Philippines, signs outside restaurants, shops and office buildings ask patrons to deposit firearms before entering, a sign of a deep-rooted gun culture in the former American colony.
It was revealed on Friday that Australia has been secretly negotiating with the Filipino government to send refugees from Nauru and Manus islands to the Philippines, the country in Asia most vulnerable to typhoons, floods, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
But if an agreement is reached, Australia would also be sending its unwanted refugees to resettle in one of Asia's poorest nations with one of the world's highest rates of crime.
Australia's own smartraveller.gov.au paints a grim picture, warning of a high level of serious crime, describing violent crime in particular as "a significant problem."
The advisory says gun ownership is widespread and poorly regulated.
"Gunfights between police and criminals are common, including parts of Manila frequented by foreign nationals," it says.
Smartraveller warns Australians to "exercise a high decree of caution" because of a high threat of terrorism attacks, including bombings, anywhere in the Philippines.
It also warns of a high threat of kidnapping, particularly where kidnap-for-ransom gangs are operating across the wide area of the southern Philippines.
While the 7000-island nation has emerged recently as Asia's fastest-growing economy, that is coming off a low base, with a gross domestic product per capita income of $3900 at the end of 2014, far less than most other regional countries.
More than 27 per cent of the country's 98 million people live in poverty on incomes of less than $504 a year.
You don't have to go far into Manila's suburbs to see grinding poverty with people living hand to mouth each day.
Many of the slums in Manila, which has a population of 1.6 million, are worse than those in Jakarta, with a population of more than 10 million.
The Philippines is not a surprising choice for Australia to try to resettle refugees. The country is one of only three south-east Asian states that have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Australia's previous attempt to reach agreement with Malaysia collapsed partly because Kuala Lumpur had not signed the refugee convention and lacked a legislative and administrative framework to formally address refugee issues.
Australia's deal with Cambodia has all but collapsed, as refugees detained in Nauru refuse to go to the impoverish nation despite Australia's offer of money, housing and job assistance.
However, Australia's negotiations with the Philippines to resettle refugees will have to be negotiated in a politically-charged environment ahead of national elections in   May.
President Benigno??? Aquino, who would have to approve any deal, is serving his last months in power.
Rival contenders for office are likely to seize on news of the negotiations for political gain.
Like in Cambodia, opposition parties and non-government-organisations are likely to strongly oppose the Philippines taking refugees from a wealthy western nation, while little is being done to help millions of poor Filipinos.
The Philippines has a long history of coming to the aid of refugees and migrants.
Mr Aquino said in early   September - at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe - that his country would like to do more to help them.
But he said with limited resources and millions of Filipinos living in poverty "the Philippines can only do so much".
Offering at the time to help some conflict-stricken refugees from Syria, Mr Aquino pointed out that his country took in 1200 Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s and 1200 European Jewish refugees who were saved from Hitler's Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
In   June, the Philippines said it was willing to take in some Bangladeshi and Rohingya boat people from Myanmar who have been turned away by Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
"The history is there, the culture is there," Mr Aquino told journalists.
"We just want to make sure that we manage it properly, that we don't take in more than we can handle."
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