Rating: 
Summary: Ah such a Beautiful Country!
Review: Contradictory to the last reviewer, I believe that the book did a good job of warning people of the dangers in certain areas of the country, which of course, happen anywhere and everywhere you go in the world. But it did not deter anyone from entering those areas. The book does have a certain reponsibilty to its readers and even after reading the guide, it did not put me off the trip. What a wonderful country. And extremely affordable. Prices were accurate in the guide. I spent three weeks this past February at a time when Army Helicopters where crashing off the coasts of Minandao and the Americans had sent in more troops to aid the Filipinos in capturing the terrorists. 60% of the countries tourism has disappeared. But I felt so safe. I thank the book for warning me of being cautious. As a woman travelling on my own, the book actually encouraged in many areas. The guide did a good job of explaining how to get to many destinations, although I wouldn't be so brave as they had indicated. One of the bus depots that they suggest departing from in Manila, is in one of the poorest poverty striken areas of the world. Where theives and beggars hang about. So this is where the book goes wrong in explaining details. But it keeps straight to the facts... Boracay's details were accurate, especially when it came to hunting down a hotel and as they explained, there was no problem in finding lodging. I only give the guide a three because I do believe the country has made such great progress since the books published date of October 2000 and is in well need of updating. Filipinos travel quite alot by plane now and there are many more destinations on the list. The guide was correct in saying that internal flights where extremely cheap. I wish that the guide would have gone more into detail about the many festivals in the Philippines. After all, this counrty has the greatest number of festivals of any country in the world and amoung the most colourful! There is no other guide that I have read better than this one! The country is so enormous that it is not possible to cover everything in it's entirety. The guide is in need of a challenge.
Rating: 
Summary: Lonely Planet, do you screen your authors?
Review: Despite a new batch of authors, the listed places were almost a direct lift of Jens Peters' work (including the ommission of Bulacan). What is different is the condescending way it is written. After reading the guidebook, you would think the Philippines is there with Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda and other wartorn countries. Although there are dangers, the risk level in Manila is about the same as any other major city in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Lonely Planet, do you screen your authors?
Review: Generally Lonely Planet does a good job on providing travel information. This book, when it comes to providing hotel and sightseeing information on the Philippines is no exception. However, it has a critical flaw which, to me, makes it unacceptable and which, had I known in advance, would have led me to purchase some other, equally helpful book. There is a section on the history of the Philippines which is written by someone with extreme biases which are decidedly anti-American. Although the US role in the Philippines was not always ideal, the author(s) go out of his/her way, including distortion of several situations, to make political points. Presenting political viewpoints and personal biases has no place in a guidebook where the reader should be able to expect impartiality and fact. I would strongly recommend that any potential buyers read the section on "History" before making the purchase. Then they can decide whether or not they wish to support such biases with thier money.
Rating:
Summary: A book with a very anti-American bias
Review: Generally Lonely Planet does a good job on providing travel information. This book, when it comes to providing hotel and sightseeing information on the Philippines is no exception. However, it has a critical flaw which, to me, makes it unacceptable and which, had I known in advance, would have led me to purchase some other, equally helpful book. There is a section on the history of the Philippines which is written by someone with extreme biases which are decidedly anti-American. Although the US role in the Philippines was not always ideal, the author(s) go out of his/her way, including distortion of several situations, to make political points. Presenting political viewpoints and personal biases has no place in a guidebook where the reader should be able to expect impartiality and fact. I would strongly recommend that any potential buyers read the section on "History" before making the purchase. Then they can decide whether or not they wish to support such biases with thier money.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not live up to the Lonely Planet standard
Review: I love Lonely Planet travel guides. The pithy been-there-done-that tone and insider information is invaluable. Every where I travel, I take along an LP guide. My recent trip to the Philippines was no different, but I cannot recommend this travel guide to anyone. The LP Philippines guide simply does not live up to the standard.
The historical information is biased and slightly anti-American. The authors go out of their way to make anti-American comments throughout the historical section, while saying little or nothing about the historical atrocities committed by other nations in the Philippines (Japanese death march anyone?). The authors clearly feel that is their duty to inform the world that the United States is an empire building, bumbling, inept nation. I found the condescending tone and political prejudices personally offensive.
Secondly, I felt like the guide was written like a research report. There is so much that isn't reflected in the guide. We hired a taxi or van (with the driver) for about 2,000 pesos and hit all the tourist areas for the entire a day, in Bohol, Cebu, and Davao (note: it is expected you feed the driver and he eats with you or at another table). Depending on how you negotiate, the rate can go as high as 5,000 per day for an air conditioned van and driver. This guide would have you waiting for taxi's or navigating Jeepney routes all day.
In general, the travel information is adequate for the northern islands, with some notable exceptions. If you plan on visiting Mindanao, find another travel guide entirely. The authors are simply ignorant of the political situation in the Philippines, and the section on Mindanao is filled with inaccurate travel warnings.
The information about Mindanao and Davao are almost non-existent. If you are going to visit Mindanao, I would urge you to get another travel guide. After spending time in and around Davao, I began to wonder if any of the authors actually visited Davao, or did their exploration over the telephone.
The information in Manila is incomplete. I was amazed at how little information was available on a modern city of that size.
Surprisingly, the information about Cebu and Bohol, was more or less correct, but the price information was totally out of whack on panglao island on some of the resort hotels.
Rating:
Summary: rewrite this thing
Review: I was recently in Indonesia for several months for work, and I could not thank Lonely Planet enough for a wonderful job that is the Indonesia guidebook, which we referred to as The Bible in the course of our travel. When I came back home, I bought the Philippines guidebook because I was curious how they did it. I was so disappointed! The inaccuracies and omissions were horrible. One appalling omission: arguably the Philippines biggest and most colorful festival, the annual Sinulog in Cebu, is nowhere mentioned in the book. (I'm telling you guys planning to go the Philippines, this book could have been a lot thicker). And the worst part of reading this guidebook, you get the sense that as if the writers hacked their way through the archipelago to write this. Unlike in the Indonesia book wherein the writers sound like they truly loved the places they covered and have in fact spent some time in the places to be able to write about them accurately, in the Philippines guidebook it seemed that they finished it just to get over it, without passion and care. (Although I have to admit, Manila was amply covered). I suggest you still get this book for some practical tips, but for the attractions themselves, you could visit the website of the Philippine Department of Tourism (www.tourism.gov.ph) to complement what's written in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Guide Book to the Philippines !!!
Review: Im an Australian living fulltime in the Philippines and travel extensively as I'm a realtor selling islands & beaches here. Do not waste your money buying this book. Firstly, it is a second rate copy of the previous editions written by Jen Peters. You are better of buying his "Philippines Travel Guide" also available on Amazon. Secondly, its full of so many errors and danger warnings that I'm suprised anybody would come here if it were really true. For instance they write that Palawan is dangerous based upon a bomb being found at the airport. The bomb was in fact a defunct WWII hand grenade which was found in the grass at the edge of the runway, hardly something designed to kill tourists. It warnings about danger in Palawan are COMPLETELY wrong in every instance. I live there and crime and danger are almost non-existant. Yes the Abu Sayeff kidnapped people from a resort, but they were from Mindanao on the other extreme of the Philippines and there has not been 1 single incident since then .. 5 YEARS AGO! El Nido, one of the best places in the Philippines see EL-NIDO.NET The authors came for 1 day and how can the possibly have researched a whole town in 1 day? The write that the trip from Puerto to El Nido by road is 14 hours, when in fact it is now only 7 hours and half of that on the new concrete highway. Yes, there are dangers in the Philippines, but I feel safer here than living in any western city. Provided that you follow common sense you wont have any trouble here. This is one of the most under-rated tourism spots on the globe, exactly because of lame travel books and stupid travel advisories from overseas embassies. Do yourself a favour buy the Jens Peters Guide and ignore whatever the Lonely Planet Guide says.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Guide Book to the Philippines !!!
Review: Im an Australian living fulltime in the Philippines and travel extensively as I'm a realtor selling islands & beaches here. Do not waste your money buying this book. Firstly, it is a second rate copy of the previous editions written by Jen Peters. You are better of buying his "Philippines Travel Guide" also available on Amazon. Secondly, its full of so many errors and danger warnings that I'm suprised anybody would come here if it were really true. For instance they write that Palawan is dangerous based upon a bomb being found at the airport. The bomb was in fact a defunct WWII hand grenade which was found in the grass at the edge of the runway, hardly something designed to kill tourists. It warnings about danger in Palawan are COMPLETELY wrong in every instance. I live there and crime and danger are almost non-existant. Yes the Abu Sayeff kidnapped people from a resort, but they were from Mindanao on the other extreme of the Philippines and there has not been 1 single incident since then .. 5 YEARS AGO! El Nido, one of the best places in the Philippines see EL-NIDO.NET The authors came for 1 day and how can the possibly have researched a whole town in 1 day? The write that the trip from Puerto to El Nido by road is 14 hours, when in fact it is now only 7 hours and half of that on the new concrete highway. Yes, there are dangers in the Philippines, but I feel safer here than living in any western city. Provided that you follow common sense you wont have any trouble here. This is one of the most under-rated tourism spots on the globe, exactly because of lame travel books and stupid travel advisories from overseas embassies. Do yourself a favour buy the Jens Peters Guide and ignore whatever the Lonely Planet Guide says.
Rating:
Summary: Lonely Planet is not reliable!
Review: Ive seen the Philippines despite of the travel warnings that i have read in the Lonely Planet guide... Unfortunately not any of the warning in the Lonely planet guide was true.... Philippines is truly safe and tourist friendly... You can expect more surprises in this lovely paradise islands...
Rating:
Summary: Distressing injection of political prejudices
Review: Just as the cover photography of the 6th edition is far superior to the cover of this 7th edition, the bulk of the material in the 6th edition is far more informative and much more intelligently written than the 7th edition, with the added bonus that the 6th edition was not written primarily to promote the author's political viewpoints. If you can still find the 6th edition, buy it, and bypass this political diatribe disguised as a travel book.
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