Correspondence Services

They go by a variety of names:  Correspondence Service, Introduction Service, Mail-Order-Bride company, Marriage Broker, and Dating Service, just to name a few.  The operators of these companies are not in agreement themselves, as to what they or their competitors should be labeled.  Nevertheless, they all operate in a similar fashion.  Within this article, we'll just use the less-charged title of Correspondence Service. 

A Correspondence Service (Fil-West variety) collects the names, addresses, photographs, and short biographies of Filipinas who are interested in meeting men outside the Philippines.  Most successful, reputable correspondence services establish their contact lists passively, i.e., they do not advertise for, recruit, or otherwise solicit Filipina contacts.   They can do this because Filipinas interested in such services will usually initiate contact themselves, sending the required biographic information necessary for inclusion in the contact list even before being asked to do so.  Filipinas will usually elect to contact services that friends or family members recommend, or that they know have resulted in successful, happy unions.  There are, however, a few correspondence services that actively seek Filipinas as contacts for their clientele.  Such services are walking on thin ice, however, since recruitment of Filipinas in this manner, within the Philippines, is illegal, per Republic Act No. 6955.   

The modus operandi for such businesses was pretty standard in previous decades, modeled after the standard set forth by the pioneering company, “Cherry Blossoms”. Women interested in meeting foreign men (typically westerners) provided their names, photos, and occasionally their biographies to a correspondence service, at no charge. The service then placed this information in a paper brochure, often referred to as a “catalogue”. The brochure was available through the mail. A recipient could peruse the listings, look at the photos, read the personal data, and decide which women he’d most like to correspond with. To get a woman’s address, he would send a payment to the service. A few weeks later, the address would arrive in the mail, and he’d be writing his first letter.

Today, the Internet provides anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to tackle HTML the opportunity to operate a penpal service. Not surprisingly, a great number of Filipinas and their western husbands have set up websites that provide western men with the addresses of Filipinas looking for "Pen Pals".  Some of these sites are operated for profit while others are more altruistic and give addresses to qualified requestors. The latter are becoming more common as the competition in the for-profit arena becomes stiffer. Why would anyone put up a site that gives away addresses that other sites are selling for a profit? Because many Filipinas with western husbands are determined to find suitable spouses for the friends and relatives they left behind in the Philippines. If this means setting up a small website with only a dozen photos and addresses on it, then that’s what a determined Filipina will do.  

I advise both the guys and gals who consider such services to be cautious. Some of the gals are wonderful, loving girls, some are gold diggers. Some of the guys are well-meaning and caring men, some are creeps. Be sure you know who you're dealing with before you make a commitment.

If you decide to use a service, here are some things for you to keep an eye out for:

1. Are the Filipinas advertised as sexual objects? If there are images of Filipinas on the site, are they models in bikinis or normal looking women in normal looking clothes?

2. Are "tours" to the Philippines offered? If so, do they sound like legitimate travel packages, or sex tours?

3. Is the site operated by a Fil-West couple? If yes, does the wife contribute actively to the site?

4. Does the site seem to you to be in compliance with Republic Act No. 6955 ?

5. Is there customer feedback?

6. How long has the company been in business?

7. Does the site provide insight into Filipino culture?

8. Do you know of anyone who has used the company before?

9.  Have they met the requirements of the H.R. 3657: International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005?   (see also http://www.govtrack.us/data/us/bills.text/109/h3657.pdf for full text).  This new law "Prohibits an international marriage broker from providing any U.S. client with any personal contact information of any individual under the age of 18. Prohibits a marriage broker from providing any U.S. client with the personal contact information of any foreign national client 18 years of age or older until the marriage broker has: (1) collected certain background information from the U.S. client; (2) provided a copy of such background information to the foreign national client; (3) provided the foreign national client information about legal rights; (4) received consent from the foreign national client to release personal contact information; and (5) informed the U.S. client that he or she will be subject to a criminal background check."

Those are at least a few of the things you should keep in mind when looking at sites. Remember, many, if not most, are legitimate and do act within the laws of their host nation as well as the Philippines. But there are a handful that do not, and you need to keep an eye out for them. Once you find them, deprive them of your business and let them whither on the vine. There are the types of businesses run by the types of individuals that make Fil-West relationships the center of far too much controversy.

Good luck!