Bad Experience at Rudy's Place

It was Wednesday night in Rudy's Place in Coron, Palawan. We will not be returning to Manila until Friday and our money is just a handful of coins and small bills that didn't even sum up to a hundred pesos.

We were not aware that we already lost our money until the time we are about to give a tip to our boat crew for helping us find one of the two snorkeling masks we misplaced that day.

To our surprise, the only wallet that we have with us didn't have money in it. My girlfriend was sure that she had all her money there. I said to her that it might have just slipped out of the wallet and was left in our hotel room. I've managed to convince her that with that. The day ended and we only managed to give the boat guys a hundred pesos because that's the only money I got.

We waited for around 20 minutes for our ride back to Rudy's Place but to no avail. So we had to call out for another tricycle even knowing that we don't have money for fare. When we reached Rudy's Place, we had to ask the tricycle to wait for our payment. I sent my girlfriend to our room to get money. When she got back, that  was when she told me about my wallet not having any money in it as well. I first thought she was just joking but she was not. I then asked her to wait by the tricycle and I went rushing to our room. I checked all my things, my money was nowhere to be found.

We had to borrow Php20 from our hotel hostess to pay for the ride. We went back and double checked our belongings and even all the nooks and cranny in our room but we never found our money. We also thought that we even lost our cellphones when we couldn't find it until we searched under the pillows. It was weird because we didn't leave our cellphones there.

We told this to our hostess and shocked as we were, we calmly discussed what could have possibly happened.  She advised us to look for it again so we did. What we found out is that even my girlfriend's digital camera was also missing. What else could possibly have gone? My girlfriend is starting to get hysterical and I couldn't blame her, we just lost a total of Php7,500 and digital camera.

After taking a shower, we went to the town proper to withdraw some cash and eat dinner. We also thought about what have just happened.

The next morning, we discussed everything with Mang Rudy, the owner of place, thus, Rudy's Place. We told him that our stuff were definitely got stolen given the nature of how they got lost. Although we were not pointing fingers, the fact that it happened in their premise should be enough for them to take responsibility. They have already done their part of searching their staff's belongings, though not in our presence. Mang Rudy proposed that he'd pay half of the value that we lost. Even though initially, we couldn't accept it, we eventually understood that it is only fair since none would have wanted what happened and it would not have happened in the first place if we did not entrust our valuables to the security of their room. It was just unfortunate that it happened there.

Even before the incident, our experience in Rudy's Place is not that very good. We had to do a makeshift filter for the faucet in the bath room because the weak flowing water have rust in it. And at night, scratching noise can be heard  because a mouse is trying to dig a hole through the wall near the ceiling.

On a good note, though, aling Fatima and her mother were very accomodating, even Mang Rudy. Their staff, not very well. The food is also great, a hefty amount during dinner and basic Filipino breakfast every morning. Our lunch is provided during tours and is not part of Rudy's Place.

I don't think I would be recommending Rudy's Place to anyone I know who would go to Coron. Firstly, because of the bad experience my girlfriend and I had. Secondly, there are definitely better place within the same price range. And last but not the least, it is a tricycle ride from the town proper, not very practical if you will be doing Coron on your own.