Thanks Mike. I just noticed your location as well. I feel a little better knowing there is another person who has gone through what I am beginning to go through that is near to me. Gives me a better understanding on what I need to do and where I need to do it. Will certainly be following you. You have been at this for a couple years now so I would trust your experience and your recommendations.
As for the driving, I have but a short time in CDO. It takes 2 days to fly in and 2 days to fly out. I burned up a lot of my vacation time making sure my wife of 24 years would rest in peace. What vacation time I do have left will be spent entirely in CDO. I will be in country only 4 days excluding the arrival date and the departure date. This means that every second of my stay is critically precious. After seeing the replies left here on this topic, which is greatly appreciated, and a lengthy discussion with my beloved, we just do not have the time to wait on a Grab or Taxi to come pick us up when we are finished with our engagements. The places we have to go whilst there are over an hour away from our hotel which I imagine could run deep into my pocket. So we have decided that I will rent a vehicle. I have been watching a ton of YouTube videos on street level tours of CDO, Manila, and the like and agreed, it is a madhouse and very intimidating when first looked at. For this reason and the obvious, I will only drive during the day and drive as defensively as I possibly could. I believe being alert and very focused, I could manage the couple days I have there behind the wheel. Of course a whole bunch of prayer will help as well so if you would, say a prayer for us that we may be kept safe and sound during this encounter.
So as it now stands, I have 4 days before I head to the airport and I have not packed a single thing yet. We are very near to making this a reality and I probably should be getting busy preparing for the trip. Thanks for the comments and I appreciate each and every one of them. Will keep everyone posted as time permits.