Aside from the many speculations you hear, or will now find out, we hope that the flight will not provide you with a reason to be discouraged from going to the Philippines.  The flight is in fact very long, and quite expensive.  February, however is a low travel season and prices can go down as low as $500.    

 

Regarding the many speculations of crime and kidnapping focused on tourists, I suppose we can claim that it does happen although the percentage is very low.  The reason why it is a prevailing thought is that it has become a conventional knowledge that tourists are the basic targets of exploitations.  We all know however, that there is in fact, a huge discrepancy between reality based on statistics and that of what we regard as conventional knowledge.  That being said, you should still take precautions like you would in any other unfamiliar places.