Are you suggesting that there would be significantly high safety issues for whities who stand out too much in the Philippines? Does familiarity help with not being a kidnapping/ransom target, or are there just some folks who are targeting whities for economic reasons in the more rural areas (or the areas that you outlined)?
Only in the really isolated far areas. There are lots of whities in the big cities, so it's no longer much of an issue. All the police are there too, to make sure whities don't become targets.
The whities who end up in the news are the ones going too far away from civilization or some secluded beach spot, and where there is little to no law enforcement. Don't go there, you'll be fine.