I Even tho I thoroughly enjoy spending time in the PI, and plan on retiring there in a few years, I do have one major nagging thought, and that is the quality of health care. Am I wrong on this, but I sense that if a person were to become seriously ill, their odds of survival would be much greater in the USA, Australia, or Europe. Another aspect of this would be that I (or you) would die happy, in a setting we love and appreciate. But then we should also take into consideration the feelings of our families back home. Is this fair to them?

If health care is important, which it is to me, I will consider my final retiring place where I have access to adequate health care. This does not mean necessarily close but somewhere with easy access. Health care at least in Manila is very good, with the Makati Medical Centre and the recently opened Asian Hospital (looks more like a 5 star hotel with marble flooring and grand piano in reception). I believe there are other good hospitals as well in Manila and other cities. These hospitals while expensive for Philippine standards are still very cheap for international standards. To have good access to say the Asian Hospital does not mean living in manila, it is right on the edge of Metro Manila, by the highway next to Laguna, with easy access from Laguna, Batangas and parts of Cavite, as well as Manila airport. The problem of low cost health is having an effect on the quality particularly in the provinces as per some articles in the Inquirer, qualified doctors are obtaining nursing qualifications so they can work abroad, resulting in lack of good doctors in the provinces. The article went on to state how these doctors just cannot afford to run a practice. I have medical insurance that if in a critical condition will fly me to a place of medical excellence. This is important because even if I live in Manila, but something happens where I am far from adequate medical facilities they will fly me there. To do it without insurance could be extremely costly. If the facilities are not available they will fly me to another country probably Hong Kong. I know somebody who had his life saved because he was taken from Manila to Hong Kong for treatment; this was 12 years ago, probably now they would be able to see to him in Manila. There is no need to go to Australia, Europe or USA as Hong Kong and Singapore has as good medical facilities as you can get anywhere, but prices at the top hospitals can be as expensive as the U.S. To summarize as long as you have access to these medical facilities there should be no need to concern yourself with quality of health care.

Hi again all, Pardon my complete ignorance but when i am in the philippines will i be able to use my canadian ""visa"" credit card? or will it be usually unuseable? d'apres moi, comme une personne qui parle deja trois langues......... in my opinion as a person who speaks three languages........... (with varying degrees of success) speaking another language can give you a headache. i have taught french immersion and i sometimes as an anglophone still wish that my colleagues would just speak english and make it easier for me. so i guess we learn as much as we can of whatever language is going around. I am really enjoying this site and looking forward to my first visit to the philippines.

A lot of peaple say there are problems with the residents around CDM due to flooding and/or loss of irrigation water due to the development (this has been in the local newspapers but I wont make categorical statements for legal reasons). Also very few houses have been built there, the roads are mainly dirt (still) although the lots were all sold out long ago (phase I) but the clubhouse building is there with a swimming pool. It is next to the sea but at low water it recedes vary far and the view bears little resemblance as depicted in the glossy brochures.

On Mindanao they speak Vasaya (misspelled) which is the same as Cebuano. I live in a Philippine community here in San Diego called Mira Mesa (oft called Manila Mesa). I have neighbors that speak Takalog and Cebuano. My wife speaks both so no problems (she also speaks German and French as well as English). Guess who is the dumb one in this family.

That might be the $1,000,000 question. I can only make some comments because I don't think there is one answer for everyone. It appears that Cebu is the most common nesting ground for Expats. It also apprears that Cebuano is more widely spoken than Tagalog (which was a surprise to me). That would lead some to beleive that Cebuano is the choice. Another factor would be what your plans are as it relates to travel once in the Philipppines. If you are going to travel on a regular basis as opposed to settling down *maybe* Tagalog would be better, I'm not really sure. Now that I've learned that Cebuano is more widely spokenn than Tagalog. That would tend to lead me towards Cebuano. But that's me with a wife fron Cebu. On a side note my wife's friends who speak Cebuano at get togethers are very apparent in there lack of desire to speak Tagalog even if there are girls who only speak Tagalog. I'm not 100% sure why and will try to get some clarification on this. I believe it has something to do with pride of province. I guess you couldn't hurt yourself trying to learn either or both. Or you could work on all the other aspects of Living in the Philippines and wait to meet your sweetheart to pick a language. Although it is always impressive to a filipina if you have any command of any philipino dialect.

Pardon my complete ignorance but when i am in the philippines will i be able to use my canadian ""visa"" credit card? or will it be usually unuseable? d'apres moi, comme une personne qui parle deja trois langues......... in my opinion as a person who speaks three languages........... (with varying degrees of success) speaking another language can give you a headache. i have taught french immersion and i sometimes as an anglophone still wish that my colleagues would just speak english and make it easier for me. so i guess we learn as much as we can of whatever language is going around. I am really enjoying this site and looking forward to my first visit to the philippines.

Perhaps a silly question, but tried to search the archives but really didn't find anything. As you know, the laws of weapons here in the states can be quite harsh and restrictive depending on the weapon and state that you are in. Here for the most part we can have rifles and shotguns in the homes for hunting and self protection. There are different laws between semi and fully automatic weapons as well. handguns are supposed to be registered. Concealed weapons laws are quite varied as well for example a knife carried with a blade in excess of x inches is considered a concealed weapon and can land you in jail. A concealed weapon does not have to be carried on person but can be in a vehicle out of site. How does some of this compare in the RP?

Had a look at the site my self! The ""For Sale"" note on the page does appear as it has been put in as an after thought. It looks like the page has been ""hacked""! Let me know what it is like and if the ""drink"" ban is real. If it is any good perhaps we could all have a trip up there the next time we are in Cebu.

There is dozens of shipping companies in Al Khobar and Dammam that specialise shipping from KSA to the Pi. Many of the companies have Filipino staff and have are all around the same price per Kg air or sea cargo. I do not know about shipping from other countries to the PI but what I have found is the big price difference between shipping to Cebu and shipping to Manila. For example One such company offers 0.80USD / Kg (Sea Cargo) to Manila and around 1.6USD to Visayas and Mindanao with a minimum shipping order of 20KG It does not matter if it is air freight or sea cargo the prices are double to the Visayas and Mindanao. It seems strange that your shipment travels all the way from Saudi to Manila for 0.8 USD but cost exactly the same again to be shipped from Manila to Cebu! Perhaps it is all the handling charges to get it out of Manila and down to Cebu. What really increases the price of the door to door shipment is provincial delivery at 13 cents /KM We are in the process of shipping around 200KG Door to Door so we will see how well it works.

I've been a member of this newsgroup for a long time now. I am a German national (born half-Filipino, half-German). I'm married to a Filipino and we have four children. We live in Baguio City and lead an ordinary Filipino lifestyle. I've lived most of my years in this country, since I was 4 years old, and I speak Filipino and other dialects fluently. I've lived in the PI since 1976. I am here on a Balikbayan visa which was given me upon entry from a very brief trip in Hong Kong just to clear my status in 1994. I have not applied as permanent resident or as non-quota immigrant in this country because of limited financial resources. I tried to apply for this in 1995 but there was a lot of red tape involved or whatever-that-is at the BID so I began to lose interest and resigned myself to a life as a ""silent"" alien here. Problem that I have now is that I need to go to UK because a relative has offered to help me in seeking employment there. It is an opportunity for me to work there as an EU national so I applied for a new passport last December and I was able to get it this February. In my eagerness to complete the necessary papers, I went to the BID. I got the shock of my life when I was being charged with a fee of Php180,000 for overstaying and extension fees. I've asked around among some foreigners residing here in our region and they were not surprised as some of them are also charged almost the same amount. Anyway, I was advised by somebody at the BID to get a certificate of indigency from our embassy, as I am not able to pay up this much amount for now. Then, I was told at our embassy that it is a lengthy process and will need to be determined further. Despite all that, I am trying to come up with the papers little by little. But at the rate I am going, it might take me a really long time. However, there are several options suggested by some people concerned about my plight but these options leave me confused on which direction to take so I thought of seeking the advice of anybody in this group who has any idea or any friend who had the same situation as I. I was advised to apply for a Filipino passport then use it in my exit. How is that possible in my case? Can I use a Filipino passport in exiting the country and enter the UK with my EU passport? Furthermore, are there any supporting documents to present? I was also told to exit the country with just my passport and plane ticket. It happened in 1990 that I was able to exit the Philippines by doing this. A year after, I was still allowed entry. How it happened, I have no idea at that time because my relatives took care of the processing. Will that be okay? For now, I am really decided to go to UK just so I could find work. It is quite unfortunate that I am in this situation now. Are there any members who know of somebody who have gone through this situation? I would really appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you so much.

Associated Press MANILA, Philippines -- A moderate earthquake shook the Philippine capital of Manila and the northern island of Luzon early Monday. No damages or casualties were reported, officials said. The epicenter of the preliminary magnitude 4 earthquake was about 75 miles northeast of Manila. A magnitude 4 earthquake can cause moderate damage. The earthquake also shook the cities of Tarlac, Palayan, Baler and Angeles north of Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported. The mountainous Philippine archipelago of 7,100 islands sits on at least four major faults, and mild earthquakes are common. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1990 killed nearly 2,000 people on Luzon.

On my first visit to the Philippines my lovely wife decided to take me to her local church(we are both the same religion). As we walked up to the church door I could clearly hear the talk being given by a young lady in visayan. I opened the door to allow my wife to enter the building as I started to enter the church building the young woman giving her talk looked up and saw us entering. By the time I had crossed the threshold of the door she had cooly switched to english with no hesitation and for the remainder for the srvices all I heard was english. needless to say I have always felt welcome there.

retiz and I will be not posting for the next three weeks as we are coming to the Phils for the funeral of my wifes twin sister. Perry can you send me your phone number off list so that I can contact you when I get there

Hi all, Geat to see so many that love the Phil. and its people like me. Anyway as far as bribes? I am the most honest person I know. And as I see it .. a bribe in the Phil. isn't really a bribe in most cases rather it is more like a expedency fee... Lets face it we even have those in the USA..I know first hand cause I payed one to a Georgia State Police Officer and $75.00 isn't cheap. But thats another story.

There is dozens of shipping companies in Al Khobar and Dammam that specialise shipping from KSA to the Pi. Many of the companies have Filipino staff and have are all around the same price per Kg air or sea cargo. I do not know about shipping from other countries to the PI but what I have found is the big price difference between shipping to Cebu and shipping to Manila. For example One such company offers 0.80USD / Kg (Sea Cargo) to Manila and around 1.6USD to Visayas and Mindanao with a minimum shipping order of 20KG It does not matter if it is air freight or sea cargo the prices are double to the Visayas and Mindanao. It seems strange that your shipment travels all the way from Saudi to Manila for 0.8 USD but cost exactly the same again to be shipped from Manila to Cebu! Perhaps it is all the handling charges to get it out of Manila and down to Cebu. What really increases the price of the door to door shipment is provincial delivery at 13 cents /KM We are in the process of shipping around 200KG Door to Door so we will see how well it works.

On my first visit to the Philippines my lovely wife decided to take me to her local church(we are both the same religion). As we walked up to the church door I could clearly hear the talk being given by a young lady in visayan. I opened the door to allow my wife to enter the building as I started to enter the church building the young woman giving her talk looked up and saw us entering. By the time I had crossed the threshold of the door she had cooly switched to english with no hesitation and for the remainder for the srvices all I heard was english. needless to say I have always felt welcome there.

I have also been in the same situation as you are now facing. Perhaps different countries have different rules etc. I am American and was also stuck there in the Philippines due to financial problems. I found the Philippine immigration office in Manila where you went to be most kind and helpful. They advised me to get that same letter from my embassy. I went to the American embassy and had no problem in getting the needed document. It took only a five minute interview with a worker there and another 15 minutes waiting for the letter to be typed. I returned to Philippine immigration with that letter in hand. After waiting a short time I was interviewed by an attorney and also the immigration commissioner. Again, everyone there at immigration was kind and helpful. The departure fines were waived, the departure order was signed, and I was on a jet to the U.S. the following day. Only problem doing it that way, is you are put onto a ""black list"" and can not return to the Philippine unless or until the fines are paid-(before returning to the Philippines.) The best of luck to you and please keep us posted as to what is happening with your planned departure.

I believe that there are nine square feet in a square yard. I also believe that a square yard is just slightly smaller than a square meter. I use this as a way to get the general idea of size. If anyone can provide an exact formula, I, and I'm sure Ruby, would appreciate it. Thanks

I believe that there are nine square feet in a square yard. I also believe that a square yard is just slightly smaller than a square meter. I use this as a way to get the general idea of size. If anyone can provide an exact formula, I, and I'm sure Ruby, would appreciate it.

Does anyone know whether the ""Dual Citizenship Bill"" has been passed and signed by the President, and is indeed in effect right now? My lawyer recently told me that he thought the bill was not active yet. I am an American living here in the Philippines for 11 years, married to a Filipina, and we have four children, all born here in the Philippines. I have taken all of them to the US Embassy and acquired their USA citizenship and USA passports. My question is whether the new ""Dual Citizenship Bill"" will apply to my children and allow them to also acquire Philippine citizenship and thus have both USA and PI citizenship. I have read that the primary requirement of acquiring dual citizenship is that you were born a Philippine citizen (which they were since born here and Filipina mother), later acquired foreign citizenship, and that one of your parents needs to be a Filipino. By that basis it would seem that they could acquire dual citizenship unless there is a specific exclusion for this situation. Does anyone have any good information on this? No one I have run into appears to have the definitive answer to this and I have been perplexed for a while. I sure would appreciate any help with this.

Well my apologies. Upon further reading I just noticed that this was recently discussed (had not read my recent digests) and that the dual citizenship bill is stuck in Congress right now. John Wood mentioned I believe that he acquired dual citizenship for his daughter in a situation similar to my own. Is that completely legal even without the dual citizenship bill? And how long can a child maintain that dual status? Do they have to declare one or the other when they are 18 or can they maintain that dual status for life? Having that dual status would make traveling abroad much easier, as he mentioned.

Does anyone know whether the ""Dual Citizenship Bill"" has been passed and signed by the President, and is indeed in effect right now? My lawyer recently told me that he thought the bill was not active yet. I am an American living here in the Philippines for 11 years, married to a Filipina, and we have four children, all born here in the Philippines. I have taken all of them to the US Embassy and acquired their USA citizenship and USA passports. My question is whether the new ""Dual Citizenship Bill"" will apply to my children and allow them to also acquire Philippine citizenship and thus have both USA and PI citizenship. I have read that the primary requirement of acquiring dual citizenship is that you were born a Philippine citizen (which they were since born here and Filipina mother), later acquired foreign citizenship, and that one of your parents needs to be a Filipino. By that basis it would seem that they could acquire dual citizenship unless there is a specific exclusion for this situation. Does anyone have any good information on this? No one I have run into appears to have the definitive answer to this and I have been perplexed for a while. I sure would appreciate any help with this.

WOW! this is like the energizer bunny...just keeps going and going....my final thought....the 'universal language' I go by is understanding, and kindness to anyone, regardless of race, origin, or ethnic background.

The below message is in answer to a question posed to me from Ray and Junalyn Madsen of Dallas. I lost the thread and had to query Margaret in Guimaras for the correct answers. My company (Raytheon) evacuated the wives due to the current situation here in the Middle- East. Margaret left Amman on Feb.8th and returned to our home. Below are some answers to Ray and Junalyn questions on House construction costs and some additional information regarding our Guimaras Island Home. On Guimaras we have had 2 houses constructed: 1-main house (150 SqM)2-bedrooms (Queen Size Beds, with attached full bathrooms (Showers)and built in closets, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen w/ Breakfast area/ Dirty Kitchen, Maids(Storage)Room) with seperate 1/2 Bathroom, 1-Computer/Library & Guest Bedroom and a 3X7 meter enclosed patio area. The main house is concrete construction, but the roofing is made of asphalt shingles imported from N. Carolina, and are readily available in the market with a 25 year guarantee but a bit expensive - our roofing alone is about P260.000. 2. Flooring is Italian tiles (Glossy and embossed design) which is about P75.00 per piece and I would recommend the above as marble is not practical in the province, expensive and quiet hard to maintain. 3. All appliances (AC/ Stove/ Refer etc) are not included in our contract but everything from bathroom fixtures to sewage disposal are included - and the house is completly screened so that we have cross flow ventilation. We signed a ""straight contract"" with our architect/contractor (for 1.5 Million Pesos-including the roofing) which means labor and materials are included as well as processing of all building and electrical permits. 4. We had our fencing, driveway, and landscaping done personally as we prefer to do these according to our personal specification and to save a little bit (estimated cost 145,000 pesos) as we have 14,000 square meters to develop and work on so you can just imagine if you'll have a contractor do this for you($$$), but of course everything can be handled by your architect/contractor, it's an option. 5.Lastly, our second house (The Guest House) has 2 bedrooms (w/1 Queen Bed in 1 room and 2 single beds in the other)with a full bathroom (shower) big deck, bar and a secondary cooking area. This Guest house is basically made of local materials but the foundation is concrete, I personally did the supervision and purchasing of materials but hired an architect for the design and supervision. The Guest House labor, materials and furnishings cost is about P500.000 I hope that I have answered some of the questions Ray and Junalyn have asked. Maybe he or someone else maybe interested in buying our property since we have such a long term contract in Jordan. It may save Ray and Junalyn or someone else a big headache and also benefit from not having to start from ""ground zero"" . You can probably send or post the photos of our little quiet nook in PI that you took in Dec. or since I am here on Guimaras till Raytheon authorizes my return maybe they would like to visit? That was Margaret's e-mail to me yesterday. I would like to add that both houses were completed and Blessed in Dec.2000. We also have 2 wells w/ electric pumps, complete Cyclone Fencing around the property, two Metal Gates, Water Tower w/ Large Water Tank, an additional caretakers cottage, a small gezabo, 2 Large Shaded areas utilizing Tennis Court Netting overhead, a 8000 watt honda generator (as back-up), and attached to the back of the main house a small carport (we do not own or need a car) that I park my Kawasaki 650 Enduro Bike, my tools, snorkle gear etc. Additionally, we have 85 Coconut Trees, 600+ Calimansi Trees, a 2-3 each of Jackfruit, Mango & Bannana trees, Margaret's Orchards and various plants, 15 chickens, 10 ducks, 2 dogs. I love the place, it's quiet & peaceful, the people are super friendly, great weather patterns, no crime, no pollution, fresh breeses and we live on $400 a month. That is, when we are there. Hope that this has been of assistance.

Margaret and I have shipped 2 sets of HouseHold Goods (HHG) from Taif, KSA (5000 lbs) as well as from San Diego (2000 lbs.) We have also shipped individual and multiple Balikbyan Boxes from the above locations. We found that it was more cost effective to send everything to Manila, then Trans-ship from there to Iloilo. We have used and will continue to use GeoLogistics, Sucat Road (within 10-15 min from NAIA)Paranaque, MM. GL picks up our stuff, sends it to Iloilo and will then bring it to the Iloilo Port (Parola) to then be brought over to Guimaras Island by boat. Once at Guimaras Port (Ste. Rosario) we have contracted ($25) for a clean Dump Truck and crew to load and unload and bring everything to our property.

Hi to all, I'm a new member and have found this to be a useful site. Am moving to Davao this June or July, to build a house on lot we bought two years ago. My question is, since I like to fish does anyone know if it's feasible to bring a boat over there in a shipping container. I have an 18' boat and trailer that would fit in a container and since we were planning on a container anyway to ship furniture and such, I was wondering if the fees would be to high to make it worthwhile. Thanks in advance for any info.

I was wondering if you have a contractor, or if you are hiring the labor yourself. We were quoted P8000 per square meter, structure only, or P15,000 per square meter finished. I feel this is very high from what I have been reading.

Yes, if your children are born in the Philippines, and your wife has not immigrated (yet?), your children can carry both passports until they are 18 years old. Maybe by that time, they will pass the Dual Citizenship bill! LOL When traveling, just show both passports to Immigration and the airline check in when leaving and arriving in the Philippines. By the way, do not forget that or they will search the plane looking for the miscounted person or stowaway!! We have traveled 4 times with my daughter and there has been no problems with it.

Ok folks me and my wife have bought land inPI Bicol province and now we are splitting up and could end up in divorce vill yes it is sad but that is not my question here I want to sell out of the land or at least get back some of my investment for the time being anything I can do my name is not on the land papers due to I cant be tied to the land excpet Im listed as her husband and some worker supporting the payments I have offeredd the land office 50% of the vested net worth balance of the calue of the land and my wife was agreeable to this but they turned up down any suggestions on the best way to advertise or sell this lot of land.

Just curious, does anyone have an idea of the Caucasian/Filipina divorce rate vs a typical Caucasian rate (such as the USA)? I realize that the vast majority of Filipinas are Catholic, and divorce is frowned upon by the church, so that leaves open the real possibility of unhappy, yet still wed couples. Me? American, divorced (she was Caucasian) and happy as a clam!

If married in the Philippines and living in the Philippines the divorce rate is just about zero. In the states I have no idea but wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit higher than the average. Besides the cultural differances there are some ladies for various reasons looking for a way out of the Philippines most reasons are honorable I believe but some not so.

I AM AN AMERICAN, HAVE BEEN LIVING IN DANAO SINCE MAY...NOW LIVING IN MACTAN. I TRYING TO START A WEBSITE, AND WOULD LIKE TO FIND A COLLEGE STUDENT TO HELP DESIGN, POSSIBLE PART-TIME SECRETARIAL WORK, ALSO.

Dear Joe and Mimi, and others who are interested in Orchids. I have been unable to get the exact name of the Orchid farm, but I can tell you the following: It is not South of Moal Boal. It is on the main road, IN Moal Boal. Go to Moal Boal, and anyone can direct you further. I have also learned that they have some cottages and a swimming pool, so it is possible to stay right there at the orchid farm. I have also learned that the display of orchids is even more spectacular than when I visited a year ago. I hope this is helpful. Sorry I cannot provide a name and phone number. Regards,