Top 
Organization
That's a word the most people don't know in The Philippines. For instance : If in a shop an article is almost out of stock, they don't order new stock yet. They wait until the last is sold and then they order new stock. As long as it is'nt arrived yet, the customer will hear :"Out of stock , sir !" and he'll have to buy it somewhere else.
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TopMaintenance
That's also a unknown word here, if something does'nt work anymore, many times they don't replace it but just don't use it anymore. If the toilet does'nt flush anymore because the mechanism is rotten, they take a bucket to flush the toilet instead of repairing it. Also water faucets many don't replace if they don't function anymore, they just don't use them . Many trucks and other vehicles are standing beside (or in the middle) of the road because they keep on driving without maintenance until the vehicle automatically stops.
Most of the houses have a galvanized iron roof because of the low weight of it and mostly they don't paint it so it will last 4--5 times as long. They just wait until there are holes in it by the rust and then they first put a bucket for a long time to catch the water. If there are more holes in the roof then they have buckets, they will replace the roof. It's an exception if somebody like me maintenance everything so it lasts longer. I also saw houses who get a lot of water inside every time there's a heavy rain. But instead of putting a small concrete obstacle outside to stop the water, they just keep on waiting for the next heavy rain.
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TopCarrolling
In the USA it's a custom that on christmas eve children go from door to door to sing where they receive something for. Also here it's a custom, only it are adults who are singing and making music and they start early december until half of january when they still wish a merry christmas and happy new year. Some of them give a pain in the ears and you would give them money to stop quickly. I give like most people here nothing because they keep on coming and they all have 2 hands and 2 feet which they can use for working. Also on the street sometimes they approach you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and after that hold up their hand because they expect a tip for that.
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TopBegging
It also happens that healthy adults who are to lazy to work, go from door to door to beg for food or money, they would enjoy living in The Netherlands visiting the Social Security ! Mostly with an excuse after a fire somewhere that their house has burned down or after floods somewhere that their house is destroyed by floods. Because they are mostly young and healthy people who come to beg on the doors, almost nobody give something to them because they can also use their energy for working. Because i have a white skin, sometimes they gonna sit in front of my gate and stay there until they (hope to) get something. As soon as i'm tired of the begging, i take my bouvier (big belgian dog) on his collar and open my gate.
What you can see then on acceleration, you can compare with the social security in Holland closing the doors for 3 months and unexpectedly opening it again. The nice animal would not attack them, even if i gave order to do it, but only the size of the dog is enough to chase them away. An other purpose of this begging is to look if nobody is home and if that is the case, if they can steal something.
One of our neighbours came almost home when he saw somebody walking on the street with the same type of television as he had himself. Without thinking about it, he came home and when he entered his living-room, it was the same television who was standing there before. He went after them, but they disappeared already ! That's why everywhere you can see high hollow block walls with pieces of glass on top or high fences around the houses.
I don't think there are more parasites here in the Philippines then in Holland, maby there are, i never counted them and have no plan to do it. But there is one very big difference : Here they approach the targeted victim and he decides himself if he give something if they look at him with those sad sausage dog eyes.
In Holland the extreme left political party invented the social security long time ago where such a beggers get money with 100% successs and the government steals that money from the working victim using the very high taxes, if he likes it or not. The only thing a working victim can do to avoid that the government steals from him is sell his/her house, stop working and also go to hold up his/her hands at the social security. As i watched already the customers there, bringing a gas mask would'nt be luxury i think.
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TopGeography
It happened to me a few times that somebody asked me where i come from and when i say "The Netherlands", the next question came :"In what part of America is that ?' Many here think that there are only 2 countries on the world : Philippines and America. Older people who lived trough the war, also know that Japan exists and some people who have relatives in Europe also know that there are more countries. England many times is called :"London". Nobody is interested in a map, if i show them where Holland, Germany etc is, they look to somewhere else and start a conversation with somebody else. Only the one who have international connections or a high education know there are more than 2 countries on earth.
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TopSquatter Area
Here they call it sometimes :"U.S.A. = United Squatter Area". Some people
(especially red socialists)
in the western countries who can't point The Philippines on the map, know the cause of these areas : "Because the government is corrupt over there !". It's possible that there are corrupt people, but i'm sure that's not the cause because i can see that over here. Almost always the cause of some people living in a situation like that is a trait of character that for instance in Holland is rewarded with a subsidized house, a free television and carpet etc from the social security, exemption of city taxes and a big benefit on top of it, and that trait of character is called :LAZYNESS, PURE LAZYNESS ! Why do you have to work while you have enough rice in the house for the whole week ? If your boss don't want you anymore after being absent for a whole week and it can take a few weeks more before you urn some money again is thinking too far into the future ! If you expect that in that case they are the whole day looking everywhere for a job : No !
The only thing they do is laying down on the (old & damaged) cauch or on the floor and wait until relatives come to offer them a job if they know one or go to relatives/friends who have liquor/cigarettes because they can't buy it themselve and if during a drinking/smoking session somebody tells them where they maby can find a job, they will take a look there the next day if they have the time in between the drinking and smoking. Also if you count this gambling, smoking and drinking habbit from the husband during the weekend/week, maby you 're not surprised this is the result. Also the result is that there's no money anymore for clothes and schoolbooks for the children, so in the future they go looking for food in the carbidge or begging for food and money between the cars at the traffic lights instead of going to school. If they grow up they behave the same like the parents because that's what they're learned and they also gonna live in the squatter area.
Sometimes i meet someone who've been thinking at a young age that he don't want to bring up children in this way and those people study in the evening after work until they have good papers too. I know somebody who became lawyer after many years of studying in the evening. But mostly the children go the same way like the parents. There are also people who come from the provence and come to work in the city. Because they have already a decent house in the provence, they can't buy another one in the city. So they also gonna live in the squatter area, but their house looks decent and maintenanced and their children go to a good school.
To show you what the character from many people in the squatter area is, the next thing :
An example what i made myself what could happen if a daughter from a family living in the squatter area should marry to a (real) foreign millionairee who feld pity with his family in law :
*Suppose he would give his family in law a bungalow from 5 million peso, a new mercedes from 3 million peso, all new furniture and on top of that a bank account with 10 million peso on it what is more than enough for their whole life if they should take care of it. The next scenario could be reality :
*As soon as the foreigner goes home, the party with liquor, cigarettes and gambling begins and many relatives are present.
*They already come as soon as they hear it and 99% of them will ask if they can borrow money, they will pay it back as soon as possible. Here it's normal they give the money to relatives if they have it, because most of them try it them self also everywhere.
*The 10 million peso could be reduced to zero in a matter of a few months (if it takes that long !)
*So they need of course new money to buy liquor, cigarettes and for gambling, so they start selling the furniture piece by piece for a small amount, the most important is that they have money again !
*If all the furniture is sold out, the next item that goes out for any acceptable amount is the mercedes, and if somebody shows a few hundred thousand peso cash, that is already acceptable for them !
*If that money is gone within 1 or 2 weeks, the bungalow has to go for any acceptable amount because they need money again. If somebody shows them a few hundred thousand peso cash, it's also already acceptable for them !
*After 1 or 2 weeks that money is also gone because they still give money to relatives who want to "borrow" from them.
*After a few months the capital from around 17 million peso could be reduced to zero and they would go back to the squatter area again where they build a simple roof from galvanized iron where they can live under.
*And most people in western countries would feel sorry for them if they should see them on tv.
*Something like this seems impossible for somebody who lives in a western country who already counts all the bills that are coming for mortgage or rent, cable tv, electricity, insurances etc. etc. as soon as he receives his salary in his bank account, over here they don't think so far into the future ! Many here have only 1 thing inside their head and that is :liquor, cigarettes and gambling, all the rest like working and schooling for the children is'nt important.
*I know 1 example here from 2 sisters who were working very hard abroad so they could send money to their parents to buy a few hectares of land in the mountain that was very cheep at that moment because there were rebels around and many people wanted to sell their land there. If you have so much land in the Philippines, you can survive easily if you have your own vegetables in your garden and keep some cows, pigs, goats and chickens. When the girls came here, their parents bought just enough land to put a small house on (what was'nt there !) and the rest of the money went out immediately on partying. Their comment to their daughters :"You gave the money to us, so we can do with it what we want !". They did'nt understand that the girls almost exploded when they heard that !
Also all the money they've send to the parents to send their youngest brothers and sisters to school was gone and all spend on liquor, cigarets and maby on gambling and the youngest children had to stay at home because there was no money to send them to school. When the oldest sisters came on holiday here they expected to see nice diplomas from their youngest brothers and sisters, but nothing !
Now everybody here is not like that, i don't know what percentage because i don't leave Cebu City a lot, but i expect it's around 20-30%, i don't know how much the percentage in the whole Philippines will be. The local people here who are not to lazy to work always mention 70-80%, so i think the real percentage will be somewhere in between those 2. There are also parents here like my parents in law who are working very hard to make enough money to send their children to a good private school/university. The result is many times that without noticing it, they're spoiling their children who start acting like rich and become no more than selfish basterds who only think on them self and will not support their parents later if they retire what is the custom here. Shit instead of thanks ! There are enough examples here from them !
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TopEducation
If somebody is applying for a high level job, they ask for his diplomas and the school he graduated. There is a big difference in the education on state schools or on expensive private schools, and that's why people who can afford it send their children to private schools. Even between the private schools there is a difference and that's why the same diploma, but from different schools has a different value. So normal somebody with a diploma from a high valuated school/course gets the job. And it also can be different for different courses. Like for one course school A is better then school B and for another course it's just the other way. Here in Cebu is also de Don Bosco school who is also in Halle (Belgium, also the same building style) and many other countries. That school has also a high valuation here.
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TopCriminality
That is something that occurs a lot in The Philippines and that is the reason that almost in every shop there's a security guard armed with a revolver and/or riot gun and at some banks you'll see sometimes 5 or 6 guards. And they don't hesitate to pull the trigger like the police in Holland. I saw on the news that somebody tryed to steal the riot gun from the guard in a bank and a few seconds later he was laying on the floor in his own blood after a few direct hits. What also is a big difference with Holland is that on the news you can see a suspect and a victim in 1 room at the police station where reporters interview them. Also the names from the suspects are shown on tv, they don't have the same protection over here like in western countries.
Tonight i saw on the news that a man was arrested because he used his stepdaughter from her 7 th until now on her 14 th year. Now she filed a case against him and the comment from the police chief was short, very clear, efficient and very cheap for the community : "He will go before the court and that will be a lethal injection !" A very good solution for dirty people like that i think !
1 of the main reasons there are so many criminals here is the family protection where you also can read about on this page. If a child has done something, the parents and all the relatives immediately start protecting the child and deny any involvement, their child is "innocééééént". So in that way those children get a big head and can do what they want because all the family will protect them and what started with stealing a small item ends with armed robbery and/or murder. And even then they are still declared "innocééééént" by their relatives.
The main cause behind the most criminal activity's here is alcohol and drugs because after using those things all the breaks go off.
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TopHelpers
Here in the Philippines some people like to make impression to others with the amount of helpers they have in the house. 1 for washing the clothes, 1 for cleaning, 1 for in the kitchen and a "yaya" (babysit) for the children. If you have no helper here, people like that think you are poor. So i'm poor ! I told my wife already that she can use a helper from around 20 years old with big bumpers, but she don't want one. I don't know why !
After 2 years the work in and around the house became too much for my wife and she was looking for a helper who can be trusted which (we thought) we found, because some of the helpers can't be trusted because they steal. That's why many people now go first to the police station to ask information about a helper they want to hire, or if there was no registration yet, they first do that so the helper can be tracked more easily in case it's necessary later. I will put our experience here :
We hired a helper(without big bumpers !) and she worked good, we did'nt told her what to do, she did everything herself automatically. She could eat with us and was treated like a relative, that was'nt the problem. But very quickly the whole day the telephone was ringing for her and we asked her how the people knew our number, she did'nt gave it she said. The ones who were calling all said she did.
After a few days we put down the phone if they asked for her. Also after a few days a phone call from het mother that her father was in the hospital and needed money for medicine and she asked us if she could borrow money from us for that. We did'nt gave it because i did'nt trust the whole story. When she went out to the hospital, it was'nt true, only a excuse from her mother to get money. She also had only a few clothes and 1 pair of damaged slippers, so my wife gave her almost new shoes and a jeans and bought new ones herself.
During sunday she goes to her relatives and returns barefooted and without the jeans. She gave both to her relatives who asked for it. A few days later she asked if she could borrow money to buy new shoes : NO ! What we noticed when she went out after receiving her first salary was that she went out on sunday and after a few hours she returned without any money left, because that is not our business, we said nothing.
The second month the same and later on we found out she had a boyfriend who was on drugs and she was in a hurry to bring her salary there including all the coins and she had to walk home 4 km because she had no single peso left for a jeepney. One day the blood was running down her legs and she asked my wife for a napkin : NO ! My wife just bought a supply but did'nt gave 1 ! She is in a hurry to bring her salary to the boyfriend to buy drugs and we pay everything for here, we are good, but not crazy !
The 3 th month we went out during sunday, but because she said she would be back around 6 PM, we went home eearlier than planned. Never give a key of the house here ! Monday morning at 9 Am the phone ringed and she said she was on the way home and when she arrived she could pack her things and leave the house. Her eyes showed very clearly she was under influence from drugs. Later on we heard from the neighbours that every time we went out when she was still here, 15 mminutes later her boyfriend came to the gate or she went out herself and was waiting on the road for him. What he came to do we can only guess, he did'nt came for nothing !
We suspect she was stealing small amounts of rice and other food and gave it to him. What we also found out after she was gone, was the fact that she put-up the price a little bit if she went to buy food for us (including herself) at a restaurant nearby and put the difference in her own pocket. After she was out we went ourself to buy the food there and we heard the real price. Probably picking up those few pesos she stole from us was also a reason for her drugs friend to come at the gate here when we went out. Anyway, we were lucky we did'nt loose more.
Now 4.5 years later she was on tv with Police Patrol. They showed a picture from her that was taken in the house she was working as a helper. The reason was that she stole a lot of money and disappeared with it and is now wanted by the police.
So later on we hired a working student who works here half a day and goes to school half a day and who gives no problems like that, but it's difficult to find a good one you can trust.
Maby you don't understand why you have to be strict here, a while ago there was a woman in Lapu-Lapu who had to collect a big amount of money to pay for a piece of land where they later on wanted to build a house. The husband was working in Saudi-Arabia and came home only 1 time in every 2 years because he wanted a nice future for himself and his children. The helper who knew about the money and who was already 40+ and also married and had children called her sister who was also helper somewhere in Cebu and 40+ and had children. Together they first killed the very young daughter and after that the mother and went off with the money. Very quickly they were captured with most of the money still with them, but they were innocent like every criminal who has relatives here. That's why you have to watch out here !
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Top Car
Here there are also many cars who are sponsored by a finance company and many of the owners think they belong to a higher caste and don't talk anymore to neighbours and other people without a car. So it can happen that one day they still talk to their neighbours and the next day they have a car and pull their nose up if they pass them. If somebody else buys a more expensive car they become also jealous just like in western countries. At the first house i bought here in Cebu i had a neighbour who did'nt talk to me from the first day i moved in, probably because i payed my house and new lite-ace cash and he had a old car, probably also sponsored by a finance company. The cars last longer here, 20 year is normal. You can see many old cars from 30 years or older like old types of Mercedes (double bumpers) and beetles you can see a lot here.
One of my neighbours still has a Renault 8 which he bought new 33 years ago. Still no rust on it, but he is spray painted 3 times because the paint was'nt shining anymore. Now the engine needs a repair and he bought another engine for spare parts. In Holland you can see every saturday morning the same people with the same ritual :washing and cleaning the car. That is nothing compared to here, here they do it every morning so the car enters the road clean. At 6 am the helpers or owners are already washing and cleaning their status symbol.
My car is now 1 year old and is mostly the most dirty of all. What you can see here and can be very annoying is that they blow their horn in front of their gate because their helper or wife have to open the gate for them. Most of the gates are so high that somebody from the inside has to open it. I had a neighbour who always came home at 9.30 PM and always blowed his horn. One time he blowed his horn for half an hour until his wife came out to open the gate. His gate is only 1 meter high, but as a car owner you can't open your gate yourself !
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TopPhilippine party's
If there is a party here for a birthday or another reason, the table is full with all kinds of food and there is enough for everybody. Normal there is food left because they don't like somebody walking out with a half full stomach. (Except at the people with a car sponsored by a finance company) I went in Holland to a party 1 time at people who also think they belong to a higher caste en all the food was measured and when we came home, first we boiled and consumed 3 kilo of clams which we bought for the next day because our stomach was still empty. They have to get the money for the car finance somewhere. ! I heard other guests say that there was sooooo much food, what they are use to eat at home, i don't know. I think my dog gets better food then those people. Overhere people don't give a party if they can't serve proper food. Even in the squatter area they eat more that such "rich" people in Holland.
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TopKaraoke
In all of Asia that is popular, so also in The Philippines you see it everywhere. Almost in every house they have a "singalong" (karaokeset) and at every party or just to fill up the time they are singing and they don't all have the same voice like Elvis . I think sometimes if i hear some people singing here, that they're only chasing away the cockroaches. Many times they are alone and singing and the more drunk they get, the more they sing out of tune. On the cable tv are 2 channels who broadcast 24 hours a day karaoke video's. At party's people almost fight to hold the microphone. Everybody his own hobby, this is'nt mine. At party's there is normal always karaokesinging and if they give the microphone to me and i refuse to accept it, mostly they look angry to me.
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TopPawnshops
On every street corner you can see 1 or more pawnshops sometimes opened 24 hours a day where people can bring their jewelry if they certainly need cash. A lot of people here don't trust any bank and if they want to save, they buy golden jewelry who they keep at home. Here they are much cheaper than in for instance Europe and mostly 24 carats (also others are available). It can happen that somebody certainly needs money for instance if they have to be admitted in a private hospital where they first have to pay a warranty before a doctor looks at the patient. The free state hospital is mostly crowded and many times without the wanted medicines and also every doctor has so many patients that he has no time enough for every patient. Also it's possible that there is an emergency and they need certainly money in the evening to buy cigarets and liquor or for gambling.
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TopFirecrackers
They are the whole year for sale here and also it's allowed to let them off, but on christmas and 31 of december sometimes there's a fog on the street from the smoke. It starts half of december and ends half of january. Fire crackers are sold here on the street without any safety. The amount of decibels is unlimited so it makes a lot of noise, especially if you know there are open windows here
The amount of paper from the firecrackers is difficult to see here, but at the end it's around 3-4 inches thick. This is all from 1 neighbour, the rest buy only a little bit or no firecrackers at all. This is at 4-6 yards from my house, it looked like Afghanistan. Next morning they filled 3 cement bags with the paper. So you have an impression what can happen here. At new year we have the same.
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TopTraffic
That is a chaos here compared to western countries. All participants use the whole road : trucks, busses, cars, motorbikes, bikes, tricycles, mopeds and also horse and carriage. Direction indicators and mirrors are on the cars, but the drivers mostly don't know what purpose they have. Jeepneys are stopping everywhere, sometimes in the middle of the road to let passengers in and out and if they start driving again, mostly the driver does'nt use the mirror. Very slowly drivers who delay all the traffic and keep on driving on the left hand side of the road so you are forced to pass them on the right hand side is also normal. Motorbike drivers who are racing like a idiot left and right between the cars, taxi drivers who try to pass left and right and always try to go before their turn if they have a customer. If they're looking for a customer they drive the speed of a turtle and push the break every time they see a possible customer and delay all the traffic.
The biggest idiots are the drivers of big busses/coaches who drive between the cities. I went one time with a bus during a holiday and never again. Last year i went to Toledo which is 1.5-2 hours driving and i saw those bus drivers doing stunts which made us waiting for a big accident what fortunately did'nt happen. Passing just before a dangerous curve in the road or just before the top of a hill was normal. A miracle that no accident happened ! There are different company's driving the same route and the drivers keep trying to pass each other to pick up the passengers. Regularly there are big accidents with those busses. There are also many vehicles who are driving with a few lights are none at all during dark.
The ones who drive with the speed from a turtle are grandfathers from 90 years old or young girls or homosexuals(they think they are a girl !). At the traffic lights you can recognize them if you are behind them. The grandfathers drive away slowly with the rest of the traffic, the girls wait until the rest of the traffic is already 2-300 yards away and they push the accelerator all the way down and raping the clutch. With a lot of noise the car start moving very slowly until they are on their maximum speed from 20 km/hour ! If 300 yards away from them an obstacle appears on the side of the empty road, the breaking lights are already on ! The most crazy i saw was a girl who drove constantly (probably automatic gearbox) with 1 foot on the accelerator and the other foot on the break (was afraid that she could'nt stop in case of a emergency stop with a speed from 15 km/hour !), very rarely the breaking lights went out.
The ones who drive a bicycle look like a asylmentseeker in Europe who just chanced from a camel to a bicycle, they need 2 meters of space and drive like they're drunk. In generally, if you drive a car here you have to keep in mind that everybody with any vehicle can move in any direction at any moment without giving a signal or checking if the road is free, stopping, starting, left, right, you have to think about that all the time you drive here !
The reason that many don't know how to drive in the traffic and how to handle a car is very simple. Here if they go to get a driving license, the costs are P350 they've told me. After that payment they have to answer some questions about the traffic rules, no drivingtest. If they put P800 instead of P350 between their papers, even the questions don't come, they've already passed that test ! That is what everybody here tells me it happens, so i think it's true.
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TopShops
People who work in a shop are not interested at all in their work and mostly they don't know what they have for sale. If you ask for something and they have to search to much in the catalogue they use, they sometimes say they don't have it. I asked one time very clearly and understandable for 2 gallons of "red lead primer" what i bought before in that hardware shop and the answer was : "We have latex glossy, Sir !". After that i told i did'nt want latex glossy but "red lead primer "!. Answer :" We have latex glossy, Sir ! ". Again :"I don't want latex glossy, i want red lead primer ! Answer : "We don't have that, but we have latex glossy Sir !". In the mean time a second person came to assist and he also said they did'nt sold that. I told them that i bought it before and they did sold that.
I took a paper and wrote down : Red lead primer which was the name of the paint on the can . When i gave that the next reaction came : "Aah red lead metal primer ! We have that sir ! ". You need a lot of patience here. When i bought my first house, i made my kitchen cabinet myself and i asked in that hardware for wood glue. The girl who worked there for years said they did'nt sold that and everybody used ordinary glue for that. The same when i bought my bungalow here. When i came afterwards in that hardware again i took another position at the counter and there i saw 3-4 different brands of wood glue displayed. If i order 3 pieces of the same item and tell them in english and their own language, it still very often happens they write only 1 piece down.
They are totally not interested in their job.
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TopBuying
If we want to buy mangoes at a street vendor, i always walk behind my wife and just pass the vendor. If i join my wife buying them, the price goes up to 100 peso/kilo instead of 35 peso/kilo because i'm white. If they find out later that she is married to a foreigner they very often look angry .
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TopFruit
I always eat the local fruit here because the import is to expensive. 1 apple (mostly dry from America) costs for instance 18 peso/piece ( 50 US dollarcent) An orange the same and also dry. Now we have the MAKRO shop here in Cebu where they sell good quality fruit for a more reasonable price.
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TopBrownout
That happens many times here, especially after a heavy rain. That's why i have a UPS (back up batterie) between the outlet and the computer so i can save my work in a file. On the table i always have a candle with a box of matches for the next brownout.
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TopProtection
Here it's normal that the whole family protect eachother. If they hear that one member of their family is arrested, they already say he is innocent, even if they don't know what was the crime and all the evidence like fingerprints is against the suspect and there are 10000 eye witnesses and it's also on video, and they keep saying he's innocent for the rest of their life. In Holland my wife had a telephone call from a far relative who also lives there. She said that both her brothers (with a big criminal record) were arrested here in Cebu, but they were "innocent" because " somebody put something in their pocket ".
Now by coincidence my wife had a short telephone conversation with her mother just before this one and she told that those 2 stole a pig and were arrested on the way home in the jeepney with that pig. So the answer to her relative was :"Aha, somebody put a pig in their pocket !" what was followed with a silence and another topic. Later on it seamed they've stolen a pig and a goat. Those 2 always escape with a short stay in the jail because their "rich" sisters abroad always send money what they give to the victims so they redraw their complaint.
It even happened that the same "rich" sister came on holiday here and also bought new shoes for those 2 which they sold the same day they received them. A box from more than 100 USD with knifes, forks and spoons for her mother was empty the next day because those 2 sold all to buy drugs. And then she still protects those 2 criminals ! Even the wedding ring from their mother which she put on the table they've took and sold. Their own sisters who saw that and reported it to their mother received a spank because her sons "don't do that", it was somebody from outside ! This behaviour is normal here, but fortunately they are not all crazy like that. It seams that if somebody asks information at the police station if a person has a criminal record and if that is the case, they can get a whole list with all crimes that person committed. The criminals are here not protected like in western countries. Criminals like that can't find a job (if they want to !) because employers ask information at the police station first.
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TopBig family's
The low (or not) educated people still make sometimes 12 children because that is their future pension. Because those children probably also won't receive a good education they will have a low salary so they need a lot of them to have decent food when they get older. People with a reasonable or higher education take mostly a few children so they can afford to send them to a good expensive private school so they will have a good salary if they start working. There is also a possibility that man are sterilized for free, but for the most that's to much work because they have to go all the way to the hospital for that, it's more easy to bring up 12 children. If everybody who had a free sterilization should get 2 bottles of liquor and 5 packs with cigarets as a reward, there would be a waiting line from half a mile probably.
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TopSalary
The difference in salary between non-educated and educated workers is big here. A carpenter has 160-300 peso a day, it depends on his speed and experience. My brother in law who is a ordinary traffic enforcer where you already need good diplomas for, has around 440 peso a day and he does'nt get tired, he only have to drive around in a airconditioned car en sometimes have to go out. Jobs on a higher level will give a much bigger difference compared to lower payed people.
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TopSoapseries
They call it "drama" here and every evening it's for every serie half an hour of crying and arguments always between the same actors. Always a nice girl with a flower in her hair and another bitch with a sneaky smile on her face who always gives dirty comments to everybody and who has a few criminal helpers. There are actors who only have to cry, they almost never have to speak. Many people are hooked on these drama series and can't miss it for a day. Add to this that the most drama series come from South America and are synchronized so the sound is'nt according to the movements of the lips which is very disturbing to watch. Locally made crime movies are the same nonsense, a gang, a kidnapping and a hero who solves everything.
Everybody knows karate and at every gunfight with machine guns they fire around 40.000 bullets and the good guy mostly have 1 pistol and always wins. Mostly at the end of the gunfight his pistol is empty and he wins in a man to man fight. Ridiculous ! Sometimes around 5 criminals empty their machine gun on the hero from the story who is standing on 20 yards distance in a open field telling whole stories and is not hit by 1 bullet. Also as many effects as possible like exploding cars etc. Now there is a hero who even can fire a pistol in every hand to the left and right of him at the same time without looking and always direct hits. During watching these ridiculous movies most people put the sound as loud as possible.
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TopDisco
Here they have open air disco on open places between the houses. With the sound at high volume the people who live next to it can enjoy the music every weekend until midnight.
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TopCredit Cards
Here in the shops it's normal that they charge 2% extra if you pay with a credit card, so almost everybody pay cash. Also some of the banks charge 5% if you want to cash a traveller cheque. Tourists visiting the Philippines better use a credit card to get money from a machine. Almost at any shopping mal is a money machine. Only you have to check if the logo from the creditcard is also on the machine because not all the banks here support all credit cards. It also happend to me that in a remote bank the money machine gave a warning that they charge 5% if i continued the withdrawal, even when the logo from the mastercard was on the machine. Normal that does'nt happen here.
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TopBanks
It seems that every branch from a bank is a different business because the credit card they give for their money machine only works in that branch of the bank, like i also have with my bank. In the mean time i've changed from bank for the next reason : We wanted to get money from the machine at friday afternoon to go shopping in the SM shoppingmall next to the bank. As many times the machine was'nt working again and we went inside to the counter to get money and she told we had to get it from the machine. We told her the machine was'nt working and she had to give the money because we needed it. After consulting several people the answer was :"We can't give money over the counter, it's to much work !". We've told them immediately that it was'nt to much work for us to come back the following monday and close all our bank/saving accounts and move it to another bank. The following monday they looked at us in a strange way, but that is'nt our problem. Now we have a bank who gave a creditcard to get money from the most machines in the city.
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TopMarble
That is compared to Holland where i come from very cheap here in the Philippines, so the kitchen in my house and in my bungalow have a marble dresser.
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TopBusiness
I had my doubts about posting the next stories, but if the people who had the same experience read this, i hope they agree with me that this is a warning for others before they have the same plans !
From the first day we live here many times people here ask us what kind of business we have and if we say :"None", more questions following about how we can buy food without working etc. Also from all directions we get advice to start a business in lending money because of the many profits on that ! No bank gives money here without a security, so if you don't have real estate without already surrender de ownership documents :"no money !" So there are many official and non-official businisses who lend out money against a higher interest rate because people have no choice !
The interest is around 10 % for 3 months, so that means that the profit on a yearly base good be 30-40% if they all pay their credits in time !!! I've put very clearly "IF" because many lazy people here are having trouble paying back their debts, especially to a "white americano" ! Very friendly if they come to ask if they can borrow money, but if it's time to pay back and don't show up so the one who gave the money have to get it himself : very unfriendly language or acting in a way you feel pity and always delay, "next week i have money" etc.
I know from a few other foreigners who were thinking to do good business and enjoy their nice life here, but instead after a short while had to return to their home country to wear an overall again, what a failure ! The official business can go to the police and file a case against the people who refuse to pay back the money which results in a court case which easily can takes a year or 8 and does'nt mean they get their money back. It happens also many times that people disappear certainly because they have to much credit ! The unofficial businesses can't go to the police and lost their money !
I know 1 foreigner who came to live here and planned to buy a house cash first where he already was looking for and with the benefit he had send from his homecountry every month he thought he would had a nice life here ! But from all directions they adviced him to start a business first and later on buy a house from his profits ! He and his wife listened to it and started a business(no moneylending !). I don't think i have to tell you the result after you've been reading the previous text. The result :The rest of his life he have to rent a house and all the money where he good have bought a nice house for cash, was out ! The first time i met him and his wife they gave a (unnecessary) warning to me not to listen to others and never to start a business here !
Many stories are circulating from foreigners who started any kind of business here and ended without money. I know from another foreigner who started a business in second hand cars here and as i understand he had a reasonable business, but the problem was his family in law. They were like many here very happy with a foreigner(money !) in the family and so it happend that the foreigner went on a holiday with his wife and trusted the business to his brothers in law. When they returned, all the stock was sold out,but also his brothers in law disappeared until they had no money anymore and returned home. After that his wife started to protect her brothers(see "Protection" above)because they were "good boys". That happens also many times here.
The last extreme case that i heard from the wife of a foreigner here looks unbelievable, but because i saw the payment behaviour from some people here and especially to "white americano", in combination with a foreigner who's willing to believe everybody, i'm not surprised !
That women had a very good friend who is married to a foreigner from around 50 years old who had his own business. They've decided both to sell the business and move to the philippines to have a quiet life here. So they've did sold the business and moved here !From selling his business he had the nice amount of around 20 million peso(more than 500.000 USD !) If you count that this moment 2 people need between 10 and 20 thousand peso a month to live easy here, if they payed their house and car cash, you'll agree with me that he had no worry for the rest of his life ! In that case you'll get more interest than you spend money ! I've been counting quickly and if he had bought a house, furniture and car cash he had from 2 million peso still money left to live 1 year here. The yearly interest from the rest of his money against 7% would have been 1.260.000 peso a year which is more than 100.000 peso a month without a small amount of tax on it reduced.
But they also had a lot of good advice to start a money lending business first before buying a house cash , which they also did ! And the business was very successsfully, the customers were almost standing in line, except with paying back ! Because many customers came, they had no time to collect the money from earlier customers because they did'nt bring it themself and finally i think they did'nt see the wood for the trees ! The result was that after 8 MONTHS he had enough money left to buy 2 tickets to his homecountry where he good start working again ! This sounds unbelievable, but if this person was credulous enough and trusted everybody who came to loan money, this is very realistic here !
I also know a foreigner here who bought a farm on a distance from his house in the city and he trusted his family in law to run the farm. The next thing you've expected already i think : They've sold the whole harvest and first spend all that money on drinking, smoking and gambling and after that they went without any shame to the foreigner to ask for their salary they did'nt received yet.
For more investment stories like these CLICK HERE !
If you should think after reading all of this that i myself who can see such behaviour here also loan money to others :
Not 1 peso !!! Even if they beg me on their knees and are drowning in their own tears !
It happend in the beginning regularly that far relatives (1.5 hours driving !)from my wife who only visit if they need something, knocked on the door from my parents in law to ask my address because they want to loan money from my wife who is married to a "white americano" who they consider all to be rich ! They already are told by my mother in law not to wast the energy to visit me because they will not get 1 peso because i did'nt sweat and suffer all those years to fill up their stomach ! Now they don't come to beg anymore because i'm close-fisted, i'm holding my money for myself !
It happend 1 time that a far relative from my wife who is a pilot who lost his job because Philippine Air Lines was in financial trouble, knocked on my door to ask if he could loan money from me. He even brought his ownership title from his house to give me for security ! It did'nt make any difference, because he also like the rest left without 1 single peso from me !
The reason i don't get involved in business here is
1 Because i know already the result if i should do it !
2 I can manage here for many years if i keep acting normal.
3 And last but not least:there would be to many people and especially those who i give comment to at this site be laughing a lot if i should return to the "Paradise" (Holland) to start working again after a few years because my bankaccount is empty and i don't grant them that kind of fun!! Even if i would go back to Holland for whatever reason, i would'nt work anymore because there's enough money at the social security over there and also i'm allergic for everything connected with working !
Finally i also want to put here that also the wife's from the foreigners are sometimes to blame ! Especially if they come from a lazy family they become sometimes very quickly "High Class" because they're married to a "rich americano" and only wear expensive clothes, have 3 helpers in the house and buy new furniture regularly just like in the western countrys, and only to show to the others that their bankaccount is endless ! Also they don't buy on the market anymore, but only in the expensive shopping malls where they pay 2 times the price for fruit and vegetables. If they see somebody were they been looking in the carbidge with for food and empty bottles etc. when they were young, they look down on them, pull up their nose and pass them without talking ! Fortunately such behaviour punishes itself very quickly !
If somebody after reading all this about starting a business here, still thinks that he wants to start a business here in the Philippines and become a millionaireee within a few years with that, i will put here the next 2 possibilitys to start a business. To start with, you can't start a business here in the Philippines on the name of a foreigner, maby this will change later on. What is possible is that the business is official on 60/40 base, that means 60% of the money to start from the filipina wife from the foreigner and 40% from the foreigner. This seams to be a little bit more difficult and takes a little bit longer than the next way i'll explain. The most easy way to start a business here is to do it on the name of the filipina wife from the foreigner, this can be finished in 4 weeks time. The husband can become an employer or manager in that way.
Also i will put here that it's here not the same like in other countries to sell something to a customer if you have a good product at a compatitive price. I will give an example here which is exaggerated to make clear what i mean. Suppose you have a computershop and a sale from a 2Ghz with 256 RAM and 19" monitor en 40GB harddisk at a very compatitive price. Another shop has a 450Mhz with 64 RAM and 4 GB harddisk and 14" monitor for 20% less, many here are tempted to buy there immediately without watching what they get for their money. Even that both computers are not comparable does'nt matter. This was a little bit exaggerated to give an example. The same with a house, if they want to buy a house and they find a big house for sale which is in topcondition and they find another one which is much smaller and need a lot of repair but is a little bit cheaper, they prefer that one.
Even if after repairing they spend the same amount than if they would have bought the bigger house which is in topcondition. Here is the price they pay at the moment they buy the most important for them, extra costs afterwards don't count. So it's not so easy to convince a customer to buy something even if you sell the best product for the best price.
Also you will see here the for us very oldfashioned habbit to buy only in a shop where a member of the family works, comparing the prices is something they won't do or will only do half. That's why you can hear many times something like : "Overthere works a cousin from me, we take a look there !".
Also the fact that many people here buy on credit because they want something more expensive en newer that relatives/neighbours have is normal. Mailorder company's i did'nt saw here. The shop who gives easy credit to customers(with the most risk) will sell quicker their products than other shops who are cheeper and have a beter service. Mostly the credit here is on installment base, pay 50% cash and the rest in monthly payments. The shops who give easy credit always put this in their advertising to attract customers. There is 1 computershop here who is doing well and it's not because of their prices, expensive. Also the computerparts they sell is'nt the reason for their successss, once i asked there for the price of a 19" monitor and their answer was that they did'nt sell computerparts, only complete PC sets. That was the reason i saw no parts on display there. Only big advertising with the creditpossibilitys they offered.
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TopPolice
I have 2 brothers in law who are policemen here and if i tell them that in Holland it's not allowed for a policemen to shoot somebody who throw stones to them, they have to laugh ! If somebody here tryes to throw something to a policemen, the chance that he will catch some bullets is almost 100 % ! And they won't get dirty hands with giving first aid to people like that, and they have no hurry to call an ambulance eather ! The people have still respect for the police here compared to Holland where they laugh at the police. One of my brothers in law had to go to a bar because of trouble there and when he entered the bar, he was insulted by a drunk german who called him a "poor filipino" etc. The reaction from my brother in law was very quickly, he planted the butt of his Colt AR-15(M-16) in the stomach from that german who was very quickly quiet. If a dutch policemen would do that, he had to go on rapport and probably had some sanctions to !
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Top"Pineapples"
Here is a story that is true happend. 1 of my brothers in law who is a police, came home 1 day with a new weapon in the battle against terrorists who were active at that time. Every police who was longer than 1 year in service was given 6 handgranates with the order to use them if they could throw it in between terrorists if no other people could be hurd by it. The standart equipment is already a handgun (most of them use their own handgun, calibre .45 is very popular among the police, a Riotgun and a Colt AR15 (M16. My family in law was eating 1 week later and my mother in law had been very active that day with cleaning the bedrooms. She asks her son what kind of strange "Pineapples" he had on his desk, she picked them up, took the dust of and put them back. She only knew the steelhandgranates the japanese had during WW2 when they occupied the Philippines. When she heard what she had in her hand that day she was a little bit scared, my father in law said to him that every next item he braught in the house, he had to show first so everybody knew what it was. The first thing my brother in law did was putting a lock on his bedroomdoor so nobody could enter anymore.
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TopBegging street children
People in western countries feel always pity if they see begging street children in for instance the Philippines on their tv and some are probably crying if they watch that and blaming the government from that country because they are corrupt. I can be very short on that subject. The ones who are to blame for the fact that those children wearing old and dirty clothes and are begging on the street are in the first place the parents who are irresponsible and only think about drinking, smoking and gambling. They keep on making children without having money to support them and to give them food. The only thing those children get enough is beating and kicking when the father is drunk which is mostly. There are already many children run away from home because of that. If somebody during a holiday in the Philippines already gave money to a child on the street, the chance is big that 1 of the parents was waiting around the corner to take the money quickly or that the child spend it immediately on glue to sniff on. There are people here who buy 1 gallon of glue and sell it to the children in plastic bags.
It's also normal that if somebody wants to give food to a begging street child, they refuse it and demand money, very clear it's for glue ! Here in Cebu City is some kind of curfew for children, after that time the police picks them up and bring them to a orphanage where they take care of them and give them food each day and send them to school so later on they can get a nice job. The only thing most of them think about is to escape as quickly as possible because they only want to live on the street where there are no rules for them. I have a few german and swiss neighbours (girls) who work in a (from Germany) sponsored orphanage here in Cebu and they will tell you the same stories and they will know it i think ! Mostly the children the police bring escape and the people who accompany them gonna try to find them and ask if they want to come back. Now they have a limit and they don't try to find children from 12 year or older because all the time they spend to find them and to try to get them back in the orphanage is wasted time, they only want to live on the street.
According to the german and swiss girls, the chance for successs is 50%, nothing if you compare it to whole of the Philippines, but those children get a nice future and will have a better life. In that orphanage they send them even to expensive private schools and universitys if they can and want to learn well.
But the girls who accompany those children have a difficult and manytimes ungratefull job. The lazy, irresponsible and mostly drunk parents from those children are in the mean time laughing a lot because the rich "americano's" take care of their children so the little money they normal had to spend on food (only rice)for them, they can also use for liquor and cigarettes now. As soon as their children are finished with learning payed by the "americano's" and they have a nice good paying job, without any doubt those parents know how to find them and knock on their door to plunder them and in the most cases they also will succeed in that.
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TopLoaning money
Over here it's normal that somebody (always the same) gonna try to borrow money from relatives if they receive a bill they can't pay or for whatever excuse. The fact that they spend the same amount of money many times a month on drinking, smoking and gambling, they don't want to see themself. The person who give the money, will never see it back. What they will see again is the same person who receives the next month another bill which he can't pay and again want to borrow money. There are people who feel pity for them because it's a relative and give them every time money what never comes back. I know a girl here who has a married brother who returns every month to ask for money to pay the electric. That he has enough money to be drunk and to smoke the whole month she does'nt notice, she works every month 1 week for him.
What they always use here if they try to borrow money somewhere, is : "Pay back tomorrow !" or "Pay back next week !". My wife was approached by relatives to borrow them money to buy something and "Pay back next week !" was also added. She told them they better waited a short while untill next week with buying that product so they had the money themself. Why making a credit if the money was coming so soon ?
Their own tric to get money was used against them. This was not appreciated.
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TopTextphone
This moment it's a fashion in the Philippines to walk around and look the whole time on a textphone (SMS). Whole groups of young girls, married women and gays (who count themself to the same category) you see watching their phone while they walk on the street, in shopping malls, and even in the St.Nino chirch during a service they've told me to show they have enough money to join the latest fashion. Everywhere you'll see shops appearing where they sell all brands and types of textphones, in the shopping malls sometimes next to eachother. I'm curious how long this fashion will last before they all jump on something else. The last thing i heard was that at the cityhall they had no Xmasbonus last year because of the many hours the workers are watching their textphone, they have no time anymore for the customers ! I don't know if it was only to make them scared or not. Also in some churches warnings are appearing on the walls to switch off the textphones. It looks like some kind of disease that is spread by the mosquitos. Sometimes i wonder if they are also watching their textphone when they're making babys. Even during driving a car or motorbike they are watching the text on their phone.
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TopConstruction
I will put here some things about building a house etc here. First of all it's everywhere in the world wellknown that during a typhoon in de tropics, an enormous amount of rain is falling down what sometimes results in 50 cm or more water on the street, depending on the location. So if you think only a little bit about that, you put the groundfloor from a new building at least 1 metre above the land/street level. But here it looks sometimes that they first make a hole to be sure that they have an indoor swimming pool every time it rains. How somebody can be as stupid as that, i will never understand. It's very rarely that a new nouse has a higher level groundfloor.
In the mean time i learned that the reason for making the groundfloor below the streetlevel is that it costs to much money to buy the gravel to fill up the space to make it higher.
All the money they spend to make a house solid and for practical reasons is not necessary and they consider that as wasting money. Only the budget for things they can make the neighbours jealous with has almost no limit. Like marble or tiles against the wall outside or as much possible design in the wrought iron bars for the windows to stop the burglars. Also the roof design as difficult as possible(with as much chance as possible for leaking) to make the neighbours jealous is normal.
Also it's not rarely here that a new house after 2 years is already half or complete eaten by termites. Whole parts of the roof replacing after 2 years happens a lot. If you want to prevent that, the only materials you use are steel/concrete and hollowblocks for the walls/construction and steel/aluminium for the window frames so it will last your whole life.
Every now and then i see a steel roofconstruction appearing on a construction site, some people are opening their eyes ! Also triftines is many times a fact during a construction, like not enough/to small/non at all reinforcement steel in a concrete floor/wall to save money is normal here. And with some persons who like to save money that is the same with all the building materials. Where i live here they made a new concrete road to which we as users and homeowners here also contributed our share of the costs and after a few months it's already full with big cracks which they fill up with mastic. A space from 1 meter between the 10 mm thick reinforcement steel they consider as more than enough, if somebody like me tells them that the distance is much to far, it looks like they are laughing because of that remark.
If they spend a little bit more money so the distance between the reinforcement steel is 30 cm, it will probably not crack at all, but they don't think about that. The most important at that moment is that they are saving money by reducing the materials. What also is the reason to keep this road cheap is that many homeowners here are until their ears in the credits and i was the only one who payed his share in 1 time to the road owner. The roadowner needed a few weeks to convince the homeowners to contribute also because they also used the road and now they pay every month a part of their contribution. If the price from the road went up more, probably there was no new concrete road now.
And it's the same with private as with state/city management. A few years ago they made a new concrete road to Toledo from 20 cm/8 inch thick. According to western regulations, a road like that would last for at least a 50 years. But here they forget completely to put reinforcement steel in it ! Now already parts from a few square meters cracked and went down 10-30 cm so you have to drive slowly from the left to the right in between the cracks, sometimes on the other side of the road because your own side is impossible to drive on. If you should think that the next road they will make will have enough reinforcement steel : No !
We in the western countries learn from our or somebody else his mistakes, here they continue the same way. In the mean time i know why they don't use reinforcement steel in the road. I was at the office where they design the roads and buildings for the state and i heard that from Manilla they give a certain amount of money for a certain distance. Reinforcement steel does'nt fit in that budget, making a new road after 10 years with the same result does fit in. Also here if there is a fashion like in my house an inside gutter what is the most stupid construction possible, they all follow that fashion without thinking what can be the result. That is for later if the house is finished, so they can keep the carpenter busy. Also you see everywhere very high and very thick horizontal concrete supportingbeams, if they should use steel beams from 1/4 of that size for it, it would save a lot of time/money to make the reinforcement steel package and the plywood support to put the concrete in.
People who have their house on the beach, sometimes make a seawall if the water comes to close to their house. The way they do it is they put a layer of cement and put stones they've found on the beach in it to save money, after that another layer of cement and stones etc until they've reached the height they want. This is no bad construction if you also put reinforcement steel in the cement what they don't do. After a few decades (or a few years)seawalls like that are completely destroyed by the forces of the seawater during storms.
This is the way it looks.
Watch the anchor cables who were more than 6 months ago disconnected from their anchor in the seawall.
Nobody thought about it to anchor them back.
With the first typhoon that comes, this 30-40 meter hight antenna tower will fall down.
We visited about 2 years ago again over there and the antenna tower was down on the ground as predicted, the house was not hit by it. Unfortunately i had no camera with me that time.
I came a few weeks ago at somebody's house and he also made a new seawall. I asked him if he used reinforcement steel in it and he said that it's not possible because the steel will rust because of the salty seawater. Instead of steel he used bamboo in it and i know that is already rotten after a few months in the cement. So i explained to him that in Holland they also put steel in the concrete and the distance from the outside has to be at least 2 inches so it can't rust. That was not true according to him and after that i chanced the subject. Here most people don't except advice from a foreigner who wants to help/advice them to do something in a cheaper or better or longer lasting way. They see that as obtrusive, so i just let them do it the way they want.
I was looking for a white roof paint for my roof that was already in the rustconverter(acid) and primer and i found out that all the paintfactories here only make dark colored roofpaint. It is wellknown everywhere that a lightcolored roofpaint reflects the heat and keeps the temperature inside lower, but here they don't know that. So i bought the cheapest white laquerpaint i could find and put that on my roof.
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TopConstruction materials
Generally spoken the quality from all the construction materials who are locally made here is bad to very bad. That is'nt only my opinion, but also from all the construction workers here. If you in Europe build a new house, the outlets will last as long as the house itself. Here they use american plugs with 2 flat pins, mostly all the older outlets don't squeeze enough so the plug comes out quickly. The faucets who are locally made can last 10 years, but sometimes also refuse duty after 2 months which i had also. If you want a good quality you have to buy imported american faucets which gives the next problem that there is so many demand for them that they are mostly out of stock. Handy materials in the constructions who are'nt used in Europe for the last 20 years they never saw here because they work different here. PVC connections for the gutter they also don't know here, the plummer/carpenter has to fix himself something for it from galvanized iron plate and connect it with rivets. Not only construction materials, but also things for in and outside the house can be broken after a few months. It's all very cheep, but also the quality is cheep. Generally spoken, the only locally produced thing that's (mostly) from a good to very good quality are the girls !
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TopSkills
In Holland and other western countries you can presume that every carpenter or plummer you hire have enough knowledge from his occupation that he can deliver a good job because they learned it at school. Here they don't go to a school to learn a occupation in the construction, they learn it at young age as a helper with an older person so they also take over the mistakes they make. 1 example is here very clear, if you look at some doors and the way they hang them in their frame. In Holland it's normal you put a hinge at 10 cm from the top and from the bottom and also 1 in the middle. Here you can see on many doors that they've put 1 hinge at 10 cm from the top, 1 at 50 cm from the top and the 3th at 10 cm from the bottom, nothing in the middle ! Probably someone started that and his helper also took it over and everybody who saw it also. If you ask why they do it like that is the answer :"That's the style here !" or something like that.
And that's not everything, if you hire them for a renovation on your house, you have to watch them all the time, if you leave them alone for 1 second, they will sabotage the work because they do it their own way. Most of them here are very stubborn and you have to explain them several times how you want it, but if you turn your back, they think : "I do what i want !" and they do it their own way. It's also normal that they don't appear at work 1 or more days if they don't like or even because they start somewhere else. I also had that with 1 person who wanted to come back after 1 week because the other job was already finished, that was'nt possible with me. I even payed them more than a filipino would do, even that does'nt help. A certain amount of workers are not reliable because they do what they want at any time. If you hire people for a construction/renovation here you have to be very strict, otherwise they play with you !
I wanted to build a firewall and after only 50 cm height, it was already 5 cm out of balance. I've told them that it had to be straight, but Unfortunately i had to go away for half a day. When i came back, the wall was already at a height from 1 meter and 10 cm out of balance. The wall had to be 2 meters high, so he would be 20 cm out of balance if i said nothing. The comment when i pointed them on it :"No problem, if it's finished, we will fill up the difference with cement !". They thought i would accept that also, with a lot of murmuring they supported the wall the next day and pushed it straight and first made the concrete beams in between so it stayed straight before they continued with bricklaying.
I let another carpenter make a shower for me and i assembled support on two sides to make the concrete floor equal. I gave 1 inch sloop to the water drainage which was good according to the carpenter. When he put the tiles against the wall/floor, i had to watch a few others continuesly, this carpenter i could leave alone according to insiders, he was the best in the company where he worked for many years. When he was ready, he filled up the 1 inch difference in the floor because he never heard of cutting the tiles to work around the slooping floor. And this was the best one from the company he worked before, if i had hired one of his ex-colleagues, maby they've put the door in the sealing ! Also concrete they make thin like water, when i saw that, i told them that is not the way to make it because the more water you put in, the more it shrinks and cracks. But as soon as you turn around, they make it thin like water again, they are just like children you have to watch all the time. If you add the lazyness from many who are always try to hide somewhere and smoking, you can imagine that my father in law who contracted whole jobs was sometimes upset by them.
I will put here incase it's not clear, that they're not all the same here. There are also allround contruction workers who try to deliver a good job and first think before they do something(and you can cconsider to be real craftsman) so they always are allowed to return if the owner from the house has another job for them. They're not all at 5o clock and liquor, cigarets and gambling with their thoughts ! The problem is that such workers are booked a long time in advance, so you have to wait if you want to hire them. If you're in a hurry, you have to hire who's available. The cooperation between the craftsman and the one who spoil everything is not perfect most of the time.
A official construction company is only hired for big projects because the owner also needs his share and a profit and also that tax (what a nasty word !!!) has to be payed. What i also experienced myself was that i hired 2 carpenters who were still working on another job, but would start on my house as soon as they were finished. When they were already 2 weeks finished there, it seamed they've spend the last 2 weeks with drinking, smoking and gambling instead of starting on my house. Even if they wanted to start, they were not welcome anymore ! 1 of them(a nephew from my wife had such a disturbance that later on he asked my address to my family in law who did'nt gave it because he wanted to borrow P25.000 from me. Even if he and his whole family are starving on the street, it's better to give food to a street dog because he waves with his tail because he's grateful ! In the Netherlands already more than enough parasites have been eating from my salary !
The carpenter also needed 1 kilo of concrete nails to hold the reinforcement steel where they put the hollowblocks over in place. I've told them that was'nt necessary from the beginning, but everybody knew it better. I did'nt listened to it and when we started on the wall, i measured and drilled first the 10 mm holes in the floor where the reinforcement steel had to be, and after that i hid them in with a hammer so they kept standing. That was something they never saw before ! And that is what i mean with thinking first before you start building.
You can see everywhere appartment buildings who people can rent. If you look at the roof, the inside walls are above the roof, they put the roof in between the walls ! This is the most stupid construction i ever saw. If you think only a little bit, you know already that the rainwater will enter the building true the wall. Sometimes they cover the wall with galvanized plate to stop the water. If they put the roof on top of the wall, the rainwater can never enter the building, but they don't see that. I had the same thing with my kitchen and i explained the carpenter with 30 years experience 3 times that the roof had to be on top of the wall which he understood. As soon as he started there, he wanted to put the roof against the wall anyway, so i had to explain it again and watch it until it was finished. If you read this, you will wonder why i don't do it all myself because i know better how to do it. I hire others to do it because it's to hot to work here and they are used to it. Also the salary is very low here and with more people the job is quicker finished so i can relax again where i never had a chance for in Holland because i had to work and pay tax for all the parasites over there.
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TopHollowblocks
Here they use hollowblocks from 8 x 16 inch and 4.6 or 8 inch thick to make walls. The hollowblocks themself are very week because they are made from dry concrete which is only pushed together a little bit, the strenght of the wall is in the reinforcement steel that is vertically and horizontally put in it. If you put a hollowblock on both ends, and you put your full weight with 1 foot on it, the hollowblock falls apart in 1000 peaces, that's how week they are. If you than see here that some people are cutting down expenses by reducing the size and amount of reinforcement steel in the walls, you can imagine that a house collapse with an earthquake or typhoon. Plastering the walls is done without any lime because it's imported here and very expensive. That's why after a few days of drying, the plaster is already cracking. Also the cement is only in 1 quality available : doubtful. The hollowblocks are put together with ordinary concrete, it contains pebbles up to 3 cm. So they can use the same material to fill up the hollowblocks and to put them together. The joint become 4-5 cm thick, but that's no problem because they put plaster on it.
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TopWheelbarrows
The locally made wheelbarrows here look like a toy wheelbarrow in Europe, small with a small massive wheel and a dom design because the load will slide off if you lift the wheelbarrow a little bit too much. Sometimes i see that model wheelbarrow with 2 wheels next to each other in the shop. If you want a good wheelbarrow here, you have to buy an imported one who are expensive. At small constructions sites without guards they usually don't use wheelbarrows because they would disappear quickly. There they use wooden boxes where they nail cross bars on so 2 people can carry it. At the destination they only have to turn the box upside down to empty it.
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TopInternetcafes
The last years the internetcafes were appearing like mushrooms here in Cebu, on every streetcorner a few and in between a whole lot more. One of the reasons is that there are not so many computers at home. It looked like 20 years ago in Europe when everywhere videoshops appeared. The competition is hard because normal they have only a reasonable amount of visitors when the schools go out and in the weekends. That's why the prices went at some places already down from P25 to P10/hour to steal each others customers. If you count a minimum from P25.000 for 1 computer, the rent for the space, the electricity they use and on top of that around P6000 for an internetcafe connection at a internetprovider, you'll be not surprised that now many are closing/going bankrupt.
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TopPrices of living in the Philippines
( anno 2001 for 2-3 persons. P1000=$19)
I had before questions from people how much it costs to live here, that depends of course from the way you live and behave. If you want to act like the rich foreigner here and spend the money like water to make impression and quickly go back to your own country to work again because all your money is disappeared, you need a lot of money more than somebody who behaves simpel. I belong to the last category and i'm never jealous to somebody else for his property or bankaccount, not that i don't want to chance places with a multimillionaire (in Euro's or dollars), that is something different, i don't call that jealousy. It's also impossible that somebody makes a impression to me by buying (together with the financecompany) an expensive car and show it very proudly to me, the only impression he makes to me is that he is showing with somebody else his money !
To start with, if you want to live here permanently you need a permanent visa. You can also get a Balik-Bayan visa at entering the Philippines if you're married to a filipina and after 1 year make 6 times an extension on that and after 2 years leave the country and return with the same airplane to get another Balikbayan for the next 2 years. This method is quit expensive, but if you go to your homecountry 1 or more times a year this method is maby better. With a permanent visa you have to go first to the immigration office to get a returnvisa, if you don't have that, your permanent visa has no value anymore if you return and you have to apply again for it.
A permanent visa is advisable if you want to live here forever and like me don't go on holiday too much to the country you come from. I have no plans to go on holiday to Holland for the next 20 years, so happy i am that i'm escaped over there ! The permanent visa you can better apply in the country you live because it's more easy there and here in the Philippines you will get the choice to pay a lot of bribary to hurry-up the very slow procedure. At the embassy in your homecountry they will explain the procedure to apply for your visa. A medical examination with a X-ray and a copy from your bankaccount about the amount of money you have to survive here at least a few years.
Also a taxation rapport from your house with a copy from the mortgage you have is the same or a statement from the office that gives you a benefit or pension that they wil send it behind is okay. About the amount of money you have to show, don't imagine too much with that, the reality is that the most people who come to live here and have enough money to survive for at least 10-20 years, already have to go home within 2 years because their bankaccount is empty and the reason for it is that they've been acting like a millionaire too much or that their family in law or other parasites been helping him to empty his bankaccount. Also some business transactions/adventures as i described already enough on this page is many times a reason to go back to the country he came from.
I will put my experience with a permanent visa here as a warning :
That permanent visa you get at the embassy is a so called A13 visa which is a runner-up to the original permanent visa after 1 year in the Philippines if you at least behave. This is no Holland where foreigners can sell heroine in the street or commit robbery's without being deported !
I had my A13 visa from The Hague and i applied for it in November, but because it took a few weeks to get my passport back and i had a holiday to Cebu in December and i did know already the speed from Philippine offices, i said i could not leave my passport behind.
That was no problem, i had to return in February to get the visa which i did. The date of the A13 visa was from November, so i asked if it was'nt a problem because there was a Balik-Bayan visa from December in the passport. No problem, No problem ! So i started to put my house for sale(i wanted first my visa before i did that !) and in September first a holiday to the USA and finally on October 6 the big day was there ! Me, my wife and my dog go to Schiphol airport/Amsterdam with a one-way ticket to Cebu ! What a relief !!!! The feeling that no parasite in Holland will ever eat from my salary ever again, that feeling you can't describe on paper, you have to experience it yourself ! Like a weight from 100 kg is falling from your shoulder !
At arrival in Mactan airport/Cebu i show the A13 visa and the immigration officer takes a look in my passport and notices the Balik-bayan visa from December ! At the spot that A13 had no value anymore because of the date from the balik-Bayan visa ! Nothing helped, the next day to the head of the immigration(nice man ) and even he wanted to help me, but could'nt because the procedure was no good. Now if i knew that before i arrived, i just would have teared the page with the Balik-bayan visa out of my passport, allowed or not allowed, i don't care ! So the mistake was from the consul who said it was no problem at all. So after 1 year i went 6 times to the immigrationoffice for a extension from 2 months (every time P1000-P2000)and after that i applied all over again for the permanent visa which i have now and costs no more that a few hundred pesos a year and i have to report in the first 2 months of the year at the immigration office. Works very simple and cheap.
So my warning here is : Don't go on holiday to the Philippines if you have already the A13 visa unless you use that at arrival and get a returnvisa if you go back to your homecountry. Maby there is a timelimit on that returnvisa, i don't know.
Financial management :
If somebody wants to move to the Philippines and had already enough from working like me, probably he has a benefit/pension that is send behind with a small amount of saving money too, or like me only an amount of savingmoney and he counted it several times to make sure it's enough to survive until he gets his pension before he decides to move. So i imagine that all the cases i've mentioned before from people who had to go back to their own country to work again because the bankaccount was empty here after a few years, had a plan to survive until their pension. What happens before you come here is : People including relatives with credit until their ears from bankloans, financecompanys etc etc will tell to eachother : "That one thinks he has enough money for his whole life, within 1 or 2 years he comes back to work again ! Mark my word !". This is from the point of view :" I have only credit until my ears and no savings, so he's the same !". This is an extra reason to make sure your financial management is okay here so you don't have to go back to your own country i think. That's why i will put a warning here.
If you get a benefit every month, and you're acting like Santa Claus here, automatically you'll have to face the truth when you fall without food yourself because you gave all your money to parasites here. The next month i think you will watch out what happens to your money. Anyway you don't have to go back to your own country because every month new money is coming.
If you saved an amount of money which you think is enough until your pension, then the next thing :
I don't mention doing business anymore, that should be very clear already.
Here it's normal that the children take care of their parents if they get older and if they need P5000 a month to survive and there are 10 children, everybody gives P500. If the wife from the foreigner comes from a family who are'nt lazy and all the children went to school and are all working, it usually happens that way. If the wife from the foreigner comes from a lazy family who've only been thinking on having parties and the children only saw the school on the outside, it usually happens that she gets the next message from her sisters : "You are married to a americano, so you pay everything !". If that also happens at your presence, it means you're sleeping.
Also it's normal here that the oldest children pay the school for the youngest children if the parents get older so they also have a nice future.
As soon as you live here and you don't take a firm position and you give in the evening money to a relative or somebody you know because you feel pity, the next morning at 6 'O clock they're standing in line at your door and waiting with their hands open. Now if you worked before always at the social security in Holland, i'm sure you won't get homesick ! If you should think that your bankaccount has no bottom and you keep on acting like Santa Claus here until al your money has disappeared and you have to go back to your homecountry to work again, you better put the next thing that will happen to your brain :
*The ones who expected you back very soon will enjoy and laugh a lot when you come back. Possibly they will use it against you for the rest of your life as soon you open your mouth.
*Here is nobody, but REALLY NOBODY who will cry even 1 tear because you have to go back, except yourself ! All the parasites who've been eating, drinking, gambling your money until it was finished will tell only one thing to eachother : "To bad she went back with her americano, that was an easy address to get money !".
The fact you have a white skin causes such a magnetic effect to parasites here, that you better are warned for it !
Now it should be clear enough i think.
I will put some ordinary daily things here below with the prices if possible :
Container : If somebody wants to move to the Philippines, he needs to rent a container for his furniture, i will put my experience about that here. There are immediately people who give a comment that it's cheaper to buy new furniture here than to rent a container, very clear they are not so smart and acting like they know everything. I heard expensive prices from some persons about the rent, but because somebody who arranged transport at a big factory told me the price 2 years earlier, i had a idea about the real price and did'nt listen to stupid talk like that. Somebody told me that the cheapest one was a filipino businessmen in Belgium where the price was $2500 for a 10 feet (3M) container. Another called with a filipino businessmen in Amsterdam where the price was $6000 for a 20 feet container(6M), must be included packing and unpacking i think, but it was also the cheapest one.
Never listen for the prices to anybody else than a person from the office from the containercompany itself ! So i will mention the real price for a 20 feet container from Holland/Belgium to the Philippines in 1998 which i heard from a container company itself at the time i had to rent one, and they can now it i think ! The price was $1250 in 1998 including the transport to and from your house on a truck and a 2 hours limit for loading. Every hour extra for that you had to pay more. Big difference compared with the prices from the people who acting they know everything ! The transport in Cebu you have to arrange yourself, in my case it was P2500, depends on the distance of course. The time from transport was 2 months because of loading in another ship in Singapore. Try to buy new furniture here in the Philippines for $1250, not to smart people who give a comment like that !
The insurance from your furniture can be the same price or much more than from the rent of the container, so if your furniture is'nt new, you think first if you take an insurance or not, i did'nt do it. The custom has to inspect your container at unloading to see if the list you've made is correct. You have to pay an amount depending on the value from the articles you have. Also a signature from a policeofficer who is authorized for it that the container contains no firearms or drugs is necessary.
Household goods for arriving residents (Also with 13A visa) are free from importtax. You have to go to the Department of Finance in Manila to get the documents for that.
About articles that are allowed to bring into the country, you have to ask the philippine embassy or better is if somebody in the Philippines asks at the customoffice. Electrical household appliances you'll better don't bring because of the 220V/60H instead of the 220V/50H in Europe and the 110V/60H in the USA. Radio's who have diodes to make direct current, mostly work here. Also heating appliances give no problem. Tv and video must be american resolution or a possiblity to it and also different voltages/hertz. My tv gave up quickly, also the video. The microwave works only 5 minutes because a safety stops it, probably because of the 60 Hertz.
Electrical engines can be rewinded to 60 Hertz here which is not so expensive.
House : Depends of course on what you want, the most foreigners here(especially the ones who are acting to be very rich) never buy a house, but always rent one. A ordinary reasonable decent house costs between 1.5 and 3 million peso, depending of the design, size and location and maintenance. I most mention here that it's not possible to put a real estate on the name of a foreigner, it has to be on the name of the filipina wife. Only a condominium can be in the name of a foreigner. The prices to rent a ordinary house in Cebu City is around P10.000 a month and for a appartment around P8000 a month from what i hear.
Lotprices : That has a enormous variaton depending on the location. Here in the city of Cebu a price from P3500 for 1 square metre is normal while i know a canadian who lives in Negros and bought a lot with white beach for P35 (no mistake !) a square metre. I have to mention that he has no road to his lot, only a small almost impracticable passage that only can be driven on by an offroad motorbike. The distance to the nearest city is 1 hour. Also there is no telephone or cable-tv or waterconnection, only electricity that many times has a brownout. It's very quiet overthere and he asked me if i did'nt want to buy a few hectares next to him that are also for sale. I did'nt had to think long about that, in Holland i also lived a long time on a distance from the city in the polder, but if i can't drive to my house with my car, it's not necessary for me. Suppose you have a emergency and you have to go to the hospital !
In the mean time it's already 4 years after i wrote the article above and the prices for a lot in Cebu City are now P7000/P10.000/P12.000 a square metre depending on the location. Even there is sometimes a difference in price between 2 lots in the same subdivision, depending of the fact if the lot is flat or slooping. The last one is the cheapest because of extra investments during the construction.
I will put here also a warning for a swindle practice that is going on here and where many people already are the victim from, aswell filipino's and "americano's". If somebody here goes to the cityhall with the locationnumber from a lot, it seems to be possible that he can get a official looking paper named "taxdeclaration" that the realestatetax for that lot is payed, even he is'nt the owner. This paper what looks official is used by crooks to "sell" the lot for the already suspicious price from 10-30% of the real value to people who believe them and there are enough of those, some of them are even more than 1 time the victim of it ! I will explain here what is the official procedure to buy a lot and/or house. On every lot and house that can be sold is mostly a title given and to become the new owner of it you have to go to a lawyer with the owner and the lawyer has to make a "deed of sale" with both signatures from the old and new owner. After that a pressmark from the lawyer in the paper and the property has a new owner. If a Lot/House has no title yet, the property can also be sold, but only at the office from a lawyer with a "Deed of sale" and not on the street with chancing a paper for money !
The title can be applied for later and the requirements for that are : "Deed of sale", Surveyor rapport and the latest taxdeclaration which is on your name. That's what i've been told. I did'nt experience this, so the rest of the procedure is unknown to me. Advisable is only to buy a lot/house with already a title on it because of the long time everything takes here at offices. If somebody has a mortgage on his property he had to give the title to the bank who gave him the mortgage so he can't sell the house/lot. At my bungalow here it took 2 months before the title was released after the last payment was done, the previous owner even had to go to Manilla to put some "hurry" on it. It came probably because the mortgage was given at the SSS which is a stateinstitution. At privatebanks the procedure should go quicker.
Electricity :Is here 220 Volt/60 Hertz. That is around P1000 to P1500 a month with ordinary use of electrical household equipment. Without aircon !
Water : That is around P100 a month.In the beginning of this year they added chlorine to it without notification. The result was that many persons like me also had to run to the toilet the whole time and medicines did'nt help. Until we heard from the neighbours that they had the same problem, so we knew immediately what was the cause of it. There are also many houses without water connection who still have a pump.
Telephone : The price for a connection with PLDT is around P550 a month with unlimited free local calls. Only long distance calls have to be payed extra. Every month a P100 extra for a caller ID where you can see at the second ring who is calling you. Since they started selling them, the amount of calls from idiots who don't speak when you pick up the phone is almost with 100 % reduced, before it was some kind of hobby from some disturbed people to call all times of the day to always the same victims. Now we can call them back and they keep on saying they never called our number and they're eternally "innoceeeeent". The fact i don't have to pay for local calls reduces the costs from internet(see below) a little bit.
GOOD ADVICE :
Here in the Philippines it's normal that companies and hotels etc take a telephonedirectory and call all the foreigners they find in it to approach them about promo's they have. Like now from a expensive hotel in the city here that they have a promo for Valentinesday with a diner and room overnight included. If there are people who go into a very expensive hotel in the same city they own a house i don't know, i will never do it for sure. Also internetproviders and many other companies approach foreigners on this way to sell their goods because that is where the dollars are.
So if you don't want to be disturbed all the time with promo's like that, it's advisable to put the telephoneline on the name of your filipina wife. Asking not to be in the telephonedirectory does'nt work here, we submitted a special signed paper for that in time and we still are in the telephonedirectory.
Food and drinks : That's something with a big variaton depending of your adjustment to the local foods here. If you only eat imported foods, it's expensive. I eat almost everything (except Baho Boto: cebuano for dryed fish)((my own translation !). Bread is everywhere for sale, on every streetcorner you'll find 2 bakery shops and in between also a lot more. Count every month P6000 to P10.000 a month for 2 persons.
Healthinsurance : That is around P12.000 a year for 2 persons. I have to mention that it's not the same insurance like in western countries. Here the private insurance companies are paying up to P10.000 for a hospital admittance and everything more you have to pay yourself. They have their own doctor where you can go every workingday, if you want to wait for a few hours until it's your turn. The medicines you have to pay yourself, only the consultation is for free. In several hospitals they have contracts with specialists and ordinary doctors for emergencies during night. If there's no doctor present who has a contract with them, you have to pay it yourself or go to another hospital where there is one. This all did decide us to stop the insurance and pay ourself a doctor if we need one. If i ever should need a medical treatment (what i don't hope !) which is more expensive than a retourticket to Holland, i buy one and report overthere at a hospital so the hardworking taxpayers overthere can pay for me, they also love to pay for asylmentseekers !
Doctors : We always go to the same doctor where a consult is P300 including ordinary medicines. Other doctors charge sometimes P100, but you have to pay the medicines yourself. One remark i have to put here about doctors with their own practice here and that is that some of them have contracts with hospitals and receive a commission for every patient they send for a test with a machine or blood analyse etc. especially (white) patients with a fat wallet are the victim if they don't watch out ! One replacement doctor wanted to send me to the hospital for a test what was'nt necessary at all, you did'nt had to be a doctor to know that. After that she wanted to take a plastic clove and put a finger in my ass to investigate something. I told here immediately she had to find a gay (bayut, bakla) for that because they would enjoy that. She become a little bit chagrined because of that, i don't know why ! When our doctor was back the next day, she had to laugh because of that and after the remark from me that her replacement wanted to urn some extra money by receiving commission from a hospital, she had a confirming smile, but said nothing.
Medical test :If you need a medical test here, you're better of than in Holland where they let you sweat or even get depressed 1 or 2 weeks(or months) before you're tested and hear the result, other countries i don't know. Here you can go on advice from the doctor to any private labatory you want and wait for the result (if possible). If the result is good, they tell you, if it's bad they say nothing and you have to ask your doctor. You have to pay P1000 or something like that, but it's better and faster arranged than in Holland with a waitinglist.
Driving license : A foreign drivinglicense you can chance here easy (you can keep your old one !)for a filipino drivinglicense, that's a formality (+P1000 i thought). When you apply for it you have to give a translation in english or filipino from your embassy with the categorys your allowed to drive on your existing driving license. The filipino drivinglicense is a creditcard size with a digital picture on it what you have to renew every 3 year(P180).
Cars : They are a lot cheaper than in Holland, here they don't have semi-communists in the government who consider a car to be a milkcow that they tax so high that you just can afford to drive one. On this moment a (Suzuki?) minibus is around P150.000. European cars are expensive here, american cars i don't know, the japanese cars are the cheapest ! However, a ordinary sized familycar is already around P900.000, to expensive for me, my Toyota Lite-ace was P639.000 (in 1998) and has space for 8-10 persons with powersteering, aircon, electrical windows in front, dark windows etc etc, but Unfortunately a 1.5 litre gas engine instead of a decent dieselengine which was not available at that time. There is also roadtax now, something from a few hundred peso a year i thought.
Carinsurance : There are 3 kinds of carinsurances here and 1 is aquired by the law, and that is a insurance that pays the other party until a certain amount in case of damage. I pay around P2700 a year for my Toyota. A kind of allrisk insurance is around P18.000 which i don't do anymore.
Income tax : In the Philippines you don't have to pay incometax if you don't have an income, like me, very simple. Only people who work for the state like policemen or for a big company have to pay incometax. Everybody who always works where work is available, can keep everything in his own pocket. Or he buys liquor and cigarets for it or goes gambling and loose everything, that also happens a lot here. Even a small shop at home (sari-sari store) does'nt have to pay tax, that starts at a certain amount of sales or at a certain floorspace the shop has, i don't know how this works. If they have to pay tax, they have to registrate their business first and they have to surrender 3 times a year taxforms at the taxagency and after the 1 quarter year (april) there is a final taxbill for the year before. The fact that only a small part of the population pays tax results in the fact there's no anti-social security here where they can devide all the money that's left under the parasites.
Real estate tax :It depends here also on the value of the real estate. It can be from a few hundred peso until 5-6000 peso or more a year.
Savings tax :On the interest on savings in the bank is a tax which is automatically taken off if you collect the money from the savingsaccount, i don't know how much.
Internetconnection : Many foreigners have a internetconnection here to stay in contact with their family/friends all over the world. The internetconnection is expensive here compared to other countries. I pay at one of the best internet providers here every month for 30 hours connection P935(almost $20). And i have a connection where a internet provider in the USA or other western countries can't hold a customer for longer than 1 day. I have a maximum download speed from 3.5 kb/sec. And that goes up and down.
The internet providers here blame it on the coperwires that the phonecompanies are still using here instead of glasfiberwire. I also invited other internet providers who said the
