Meet Filipina's for love and romance! Read this first.

Cousin Claudine...
Celine told me a story about how a cousin and the cousin’s mother went to see her many years ago. The cousin, Claudine, 28 at the time, wanted Celine to be her companion on a trip to Manila because Claudine was going to the Manila airport to meet a man flying in from the States to meet her for the first time. Companion-ing is a very big thing in Philippine culture. Claudine told her that she’d pay the entire cost for the trip. Celine had no job at the time so, why not? A free trip and an outing in Manila? You bet! Celine was only 16 years-old – it would be a fun adventure for her.
Days later at the airport, when Claudine saw the man going through customs she quickly asked Celine to pretend that she was the one he'd come to meet. She'd explain later, she said. Celine didn't know what to do and had no time to consider what was going on.
Celine spoke almost no English at the time.
When the man approached them he was not looking at Claudine, but at Celine, and with a large smile on his face! He addressed Celine when he spoke, and told her how happy he was to see her in person at last.
I can’t blame the guy for looking and smiling at Celine. You can see for yourself, below, that she’s very slender, has a lovely face and, with a model’s fine bones, narrow hips, long thin legs with delicate ankles, long hair hanging to her mid-thigh, she could attract most any man’s glance. He told the women, while looking directly at Celine, that he wanted to go to the Duty-Free area to do some shopping before going to the hotel.
When there he went from store to store buying a 24-inch television, a watch, a gold necklace, high-top leather boots, numerous pairs of shoes, a blender, perfumes, lotions, cases of grapes, apples, washing detergent, arm-loads of chocolates, among other things. And always he was pressing Celine to either buy more things or accept what he had bought as gifts. “Buy whatever you want!”
But, Celine kept saying she didn’t want anything. She didn’t know this man. Why was he so eager to buy so many expensive things for a complete stranger?
The man was adamant and persisted in trying to get Celine to buy things.
Meanwhile, Claudine and her mother kept insisting to her in their language of Tagalog to take everything he offered and buy more, pointing out things she should choose. If she didn’t want it, Claudine told her, Celine could just give to her.
The three women then accompanied the American man to his hotel where he paid for two rooms – one for him, the other for the women.
Once in their room, Celine demanded to know what was going on, and why that American man was acting so familiar with her. This is the explanation she got...
Claudine, more than a year before, had stolen a picture of Celine from a photo-album while at Celine’s parents house, and sent it to that American man. The idea to lie to the American was Claudine’s mother’s, with a plan to steal, by fraud, as much as they could get from him.
In prior letters the man had told Claudine that he was only interested in meeting a thin girl with long hair. Claudine told the man that the girl in the picture was her, and that her name was Celine. Throughout the year Claudine had written many letters to him telling of all the things she dreamed of having – a fancy watch, a gold necklace, high-top leather boots and shoes, perfumes, and so forth.
Now, as to Claudine's appearance: She’s both short at 4’11” and she’s fat, weighing between 135 – 143lbs. This fellow would never have been interested in her. So, in order for Claudine and her mother to fleece the man, they concocted the story of Claudine as Celine, using Celine’s photo.
Believing that he was writing to Celine, and pleased with what he saw in the picture, he’d began sending money to Claudine/Celine regularly after reading how poor she was and how little she and her family had. Such a hard life!
Celine was very angry and she told them, “You lied to me, and now that man thinks it was me that has been writing to him. You made me be silent and allow you to continue to fool him. Now I don’t know how to explain to him that I’m not you... you’re not me. He came here all the way from America because he wants to marry me... not you. I don’t want to marry him, and how can he marry you when he thinks you’re me?"
"I need you to tell help me tell him the truth. We can tell him together.” But, neither Caudine or her mother were willing to admit to the truth that they were liars and thieves, and they said,”Just keep pretending. If he finds out the truth one day, we’ll already have all of the things he bought us. And we’ll share the loot with you.”
The following morning, he checked out of the hotel after purchasing four ship tickets. They boarded the ship that afternoon bound for Palawan. While on the ship, Celine was tried to find a moment alone with the man so she could tell him the truth, but the two others wouldn’t let Celine get him off alone. Celine, only sixteen years old and naïve, was intimdated by the two older women and had not as yet learned to have the courage of a more mature woman. So, though her heart told her that she should have spoken-up in front of them, Celine remained silent.
At the dock in Palawan, while loading all of the loot onto a jeepney, the mother and cousin kept insisting that all of the purchases should be stored at their house instead of Celine’s parent’s house. But the American showed some long needed good sense and said, no, that the goods belonged to Celine, and that they would go with her. The mother and daughter were only able to keep the large bags of chocolate with them.
When they arrived at Celine’s parent’s house it was late evening. The house was dark, and the man asked why there were no lights. Celine answered, “Because we have no electric power.”
“But, you said that you wanted a big TV because you only had a small TV. How could you have a TV at all with no power?”
“Small TV? How can we have a small TV if we have no electricity?” she answered honestly. Meanwhile, the two women were winking at Celine to get her to stop talking. The man noticed, but said nothing. And the two women just smiled brightly at him.
“Tomorrow morning,” the man went on, “we’ll go buy a washing machine and refrigerator, then go to the electric company to have power installed in your house.” He soon left to go check-in at his hotel.
Claudine and her mother, gleefully pointed to this and that box saying, “This is mine,” and, “That belongs to me.” But, although Celine kept saying, “This can’t go on. My mother’s going to kill me if she learns about this.” The women only replied, “Just keep pretending and don’t tell your mother, and we’ll take all of the things to our house tonight.” But Celine wouldn’t let them take it. “That American man is going to come here tomorrow and he’ll want to know where it went and why.” So they reluctantly left their bounty behind and went to their home for the night.
All night Celine was terrified, afraid that she would going to go to jail for what Claudine and her mother had involved her in. Or, worse... what might her parents do to her?
In the morning when the American came to her house, Celine spoke to him as best she was able in her fractured English. “I must to tell you something. You don’t need, really, to buy a washing machine or refrigerator and get us power from the electric company.”
“But, I already went to the store and bought you the washing machine and a big refrigerator. Now you'll need to go get power hooked-up.”
"But," Celine persisted, "I don’t want to marry you. I’m not the woman you’ve been writing to. I don't know you, and I don't love you”
“Oh, you’re joking,” he replied, “How can you not be the woman I’ve been writing to when I have your picture?”
“I’ve never sent my picture to anyone. Listen to me.” And Celine explained to the confused American man what her cousin and her couson's mother had done.
“Why didn’t you tell me this in Manila?” his face turning red and his voice rising.
“How could I tell you the truth? I was afraid, and I didn’t know what to do. I only learned the truth myself at the airport only moments before we met. The other two were begging and ordering me not to let on that I didn't know you!”
The American bristled, then immediately made Celine lead him to the house of Claudine’s mother. “Where’s my chocolate, all of my chocolate?” he raged.
The mother calmly asked, “Why, what's the matter, why are you so angry?”
“Because you and your daughter are thieves and liars! And you,” turning on the approaching Claudine, ”are a pig liar! And I want all of my things that you brought here!”
Returning with Celine to her parent's bamboo house, he berated himself. “I’m a stupid, foolish man! I kept sending money and packages of gifts before, came all this way... but it was all just a lie, a con-job!”
Looking to Celine, he softened. “Thank you for telling me the truth as early as you did. I appreciate that.” Telling Celine that he wanted to meet her mother and father, he added that he still wanted to give her all of the things he’d bought. Then he went again to his hotel.
He still had more than two weeks of vacation he'd planned to spend in the Philippines. He asked Celine to be his companion and to show him around as his tour guide. Celine said she was willing, but that she had no romantic interest in him.
A day or two later Celine’s mother arrived from where she and her family had been staying on Isla Decania. When Celine finished telling the story she was very angry with Celine and the other two. But the American man told her it was all right, everything had already been straightened out. To her mother, the American said, “And you can still have all of the things I bought.”
“No.” responded Celine’s mother, a proud woman, “We don’t need that. You can still refund those things like the refrigerator and washing machine you bought here in Puerto. And we can sell those things you bought in Manila to get back most of the money you spent, so you won’t have lost too much.”
The American tried to insist on giving them everything. In the end nothing was settled, but left hanging.
In a twist of fate, Celine invited another cousin, Jessica, to join them in sight-seeing so she would not be alone with the American man. Jessica is extremely tall for a Filipina; she’s five-foot eight inches tall, fine in bone and thin in build, and possesses a long mane of hair. Before long, the American man had eyes only for Jessica, and they became inseparable.
Once back in the USA, the American began a sustained letter-writing campaign and within three months proposed marriage to Jessica.
He returned soon afterward when she accepted his offer and, marrying her, he eventually took her to the United States as his wife.
So... things turned all right after all for that American man. However, he was more fortunate than many others.
There’s a lesson in there for all of we foreign men who do not look at what’s in front of us with eyes wide open, but would only see only what we wish to see.