I agree with Ray 100%! Having just turned 40, I've seen the devastation caused by crank, meth, shabu (or whatever you want to call it) for the last 20 or so years. This nasty drug started appearing about the time I graduated high school and being in California, it caught on quickly. Meth isn't a just a barrio drug. Most of my white collar professional friends in Silicon Valley have used the drug as a ""productive enhnacement."" It definately pumps up production...... but only for a short time. Those who get hooked on it try to keep their energy up by doing more and more. The problem, not being realized by the user, is that they need sleep. And so they keep doing more until they are just another chronic drug user. There was an anti drug campaign add on television a couple of years ago where a guy was talking to himself, trying to figure out why he did drugs. He kept saying the following infinate phrase over and over: I use drugs so I can work harder and get paid more so I can buy more drugs so I can use drugs to work harder so I can..... That pretty much sums up the confusion of what I've seen from my friends that have been bitten by this drug. Fortunately, it's soluble drug that only stays in the blood stream for less than 24 hrs. Addiction is more mental than physical. As far as rehabilitation clinics for meth/shabu go, they're nothing more than treatment centers for sleep deprivation. In other words, 3 hots and a cot without bars and a big bill in the end. So, if you have a Filipino relative that's messed up on this stuff, I agree with Ray... Your money isn't likely to help him. It'll just give your relative a nice vacation somewhere for a couple of weeks. After that, he'll most likely be back on the stuff. My friends who have overcome the drug have almost always moved, changed jobs, changed wives/friends or made some kind of very dramatic lifestyle change to keep from falling back. Every single one of them have told me they only stopped when THEY thought it was a problem which is something a chronic user has a hard time realizing. Hope this helps. Having been there, I do feel sorry for you and your extended family for having to be a part of a users life. The user tends to bring everyone down with himself and it aint pretty sometimes.

In short they sell for way above market price but you do not have to pay if you can find other people who will buy from you. And probably you have too find lots of them as that is not specified. If they are lucky you fail and they make a profit. For me it is easy to see were there money is coming from and probably not even illegal. By the way buying solid gold will keep you in your current job as it does not generate extra money for you. Certainly not if bought at these prices. Just browse around on the internet and try to find the lowest price for these coins. Believe me it is way below their asking price.

The boats from Hagnaya aren't big enough for anything but box's, though I did get a refrigerator and a couple of aircons on it, but the ship that leaves out of Cebu in the evening and then arrives at Santa Fe at 6:00 AM is a larger ship that has the capability to handle larger loads and drive on and off (vehicle's, fork lift's loading pallets of egg's.) I think the easiest way is to take Vanpacks. I'm just not sure about the cost or the security of doing it that way.

My 2 cents worth,, to go to the Philippines to live with the view of making large amount of money or gainful employment from within PI is like bringing a container full of electric blankets and woollen jumpers to make a dollar. To live in the Philippines long term 6 to 12 months or more, you need income. In the last 4-5 months of research here are my findings. 1) Live off income from overseas investments either from within your home country or another country with reasonably secure investments. Live off earnings, this way you do not deplete your capital. How you do this is up to you. Then get bored and spend more money than planned. 2) Run a small share ownership business with the locals/family and burn yourself out trying to keeping on top (hang on wasn't that the reason you were leaving the home country??). You may have to have your fingers in more than one business to make a Peso or two. 3) Pre arrange a manufacturing business within your home country to use the labour resources in the PI. And export the value added product back to home country or another country. This will involve some sort of infrastructure and liaisons with the PI government and and and. Also will require upfront capital a lot of planning. With recent terrorist scares it may be a bit harder to find financial backers. 4) Arrange a Government grant or the likes and run a humanity venture in the PI which is financed by your home country Government. Has to support you and your family as well. A lot of foot work to get off the ground at the moment. Governments are spending big on internal security. 5) Last,, treat the PI as heavens waiting room and live off your pension or option (1) from your home country and have a decent computer and a fast net service. My suggestion is option 1. then consider option 2 & 3 if anybody wants to have a go, been said in previous posts, do your home work well then live in the PI for awhile to see. To any enterprising person one have to create employment and you may have half a chance. My Asawa and I will be there about April next year with an open mind and a budget. At worst after 6-12 month we go home and say it was a nice break and a healthy diet.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned LBC here on this board but, the asawa and I found LBC to be the better bank for us. They (at least our branch in Cebu) seems to be 3 dimensional thinking and they actually act like they want our business. Here's why I say this and how we do our Philippine banking from the US: I think alot of future expats aren't aware of the money remitance program LBC has. It's twelve dollars to transfer funds from the US to a LBC bank account in the PI and the money is tranfered within 15 minutes. It's really easy! We have four accounts there, two atm accounts, a savings account and a time deposit account. One of the ATM accounts is for the extended family welfare plan where we make deposits on the first of each month and they use the atm card we gave them to make the withdrawl. LBC only transfers money from the US to the PI ATM account. So, we spoke with the accounts manager in Cebu who allowed us to set up our accounts up in the following manor; Any deposit or US funds transfer of 10,000p or more which is deposited into our ATM account automatically gets transferred into our savings account where we are getting I think 5.6% interest. When the amount in the savings account reaches 60,000p, then 50,000p is redirected from savings to the timed deposit account where the interest rate floats between 7.5 and 9.5%. Beware, the timed deposit accounts are subject to witholding tax laws and may not give you the same return as a savings account depending on your situation. The only drawback is, we have to call LBC's San Francisco branch to get our account balances monthly to keep track of the accounts.

I would encourage anyone who hasn't been vaccinated for tb tuberculosis, and who spends significant time in the Philippines to consulate a Doctor, get tested , and probably go ahead and get vaccinated if needed. TB is not commonly vaccinated in the USA, but I believe children in the Philippines typically are. When I read or people tell me that TB is prevalent here in the Philippines - I believe them. Now on to your question - is the TB vaccine effective? The following is my guess, speculation, and some antidotal stories. The fact that your sons are always showing up positive when tested for TB - probably means their previous vaccine is still effective. However some vaccines need boosters and Vietnam in the 60s when they were vaccinated was a long time ago. I talked with a Mormon Doctor who was visiting the Philippines. He told me that TB was rampant in the Philippines, and some of the new strains were resistant to established medical treatment. I thought he said the vaccine wasn't being as effective, but wouldn't swear to it. He did say that the vaccine even if not 100% effective did tend to reduce the severity of the TB symptoms. In other words the vaccine may help. His speculation about the severity of the symptoms being reduced seems reasonable to me. A few weeks ago my daughter (age 5) came down with Chickenpox. She had been vaccinated against chickenpox while still in the USA, several years previously. Her vaccination failed to stop her from coming down with the illness. But nevertheless I credit her vaccination for significantly reducing the severity of her illness. Her chickenpox was very mild. When getting the TB vaccine - think about getting the vaccine in the buttocks. The TB vaccine may cause scaring. However, my two children and I received our TB vaccinations on our upper arms. We believe my wife was vaccinated as a child against TB.

If you say you will marry your filipina girlfriend or is married to a filipina (she must still be a filipino citizen) you can apply for a 13(a) visa. With a 13(a) visa, once you get a permanent residence visa, you can stay in the country indefenitely for as long as your marriage is subsisting. No deposit/monetary requirements, except that you need to show that you have income to support yourself. Your $1400 per month must be enough.

I assume this means that we will have a real consulate, with paid officials, instead of the 'volunteer' basis under which it has been operating. Perhaps this was determined, in part, by the number of Americans, living here, who have registered as permanent residents with the consulate. And if you have not, please do register! We added 4 to the list this year, and soon baby makes 5. Good point and excellent suggestion, Tom. I will register, finally afer seven years. I never thought about it and no one at the counsulate ever called it to my attention.

If you want long, deep, intellectual conversations with girls here in the Philippines, you can have them. The only problem is, after you are done, you will realize that neither one of you really understood what the other was trying to say. Unfortunately you will find yourself limited to females in the top 5% of the educated population (my guess only) because a college education here is not much better than a good high school education in the States. I'm sure the top private, expensive schools are pretty good, but only the very rich or foreigners with decent incomes can afford them. The vast majority have to make do with the lower tier schools, which are, for the most part appalling. My gf, who is a fourth year college student here in Cebu, just told me today that one of her teachers told his students that is was ok to engage in prostitution to pay their tuition, because it was for a good cause. Students with a little money, not much, pay others to do their work for them. If you are failing a class, you ask the teacher for a ""special project"", which means you buy the teacher something they need to get a passing grade. The top students in the school, are invariably from rich families. I asked my gf, who is number 4 in her class without any ""special projects"" why she wasn't number one. Her answer, ""because I don't have enough money"". Come to your own conclusions about what this has done to Philippine society, I have.

with that kind of logic there would be little or no rubbish to be found anywhere. That thinking would also encourage people to continue just throwing stuff anywehere. Do you really think it all gets cleaned up by people who are paid to do so? Where are you living? It certainly isn't here. In Subic maybe -although you go to the beaches there and all the rubbish can be found lying around just behind the beach (the first one around the airport), and Miracle beach. As for the country in general, look at the countryside and town streets you drive through. Look in the rivers and streams in and near any community. You have no idea how big a problem it is. It doesn't get cleaned up, and few realize that they should care.

Another way, which I used before I married my wife who is from Cebu City, was to get a one year visa from your local Philippines Embassy. I was living in Saudi Arabia at the time, and used a courier service (did not even have to go to the PI Embassy in person), and the cost of the visa as I recall was the equivalent of $US 75. good luck. 3: This is the most important. I understand that you can only stay 59 days at a time on a visa extension. How can I get around that? I do not want to be a Philippine citizen. Is it possible to leave the country for a day or so every 59 days and then return and repeat the process? Based on my income and profile, do you think I could qualify for a longer extension? You don't need to leave the country after 59 days, just get an extension by going to immigration for two more months for about $40.. After a year you need to leave the country for a day. Most take a trip to Hong Kong or Thailand, a fun thing to do and cheap, maybe $300 per person and fun, hotel and a terrible breakfast included. Of course all of this is in the archives. People stay here for many years, retire here on a tourist visa.

Some time back (a long time back in fact) I went along to LTO in Cebu City and tried to get a Philippine Licence as Foreign Licece exchange. The woman official behind the counter window took a look at my passport and said I ""could not apply for Philippine Driving Licence since I did not have 5 month validity remaining on my Visa?"". She indicated I could carry on using my British Driving Licence. I guess I have been driving illegally in Cebu, since I recently only found out one can only drive on a Foreign licence for 90 days! Is that 90 days from when one arrives or 90 days from when one wants to start driving? Whatever - I decided that I really ought to try again at getting a Philippine Driving Licence on the strength of having held a Full British licence for 30 years and now have my 13A Visa and ACR allowing me to be resident in the Philippines. This time I decided to try the LTO at Mandaue to see if any different than Central, and because I was passing near it at the time. Mandaue LTO is certainly less crowded than Cebu City LTO office and much easier to find somewhere to park. First job was the Medical Examination. This was easy here since there was approved clinic right opposite the LTO. No queues - no fuss, all very simple and quick. Blood pressure reading, question enquiring if I needed glasses to see at all and asking me if I was fit; hand over Php50 and I was given a Certificate and the OR. I then went to get the Application Form and was then going to have a go at the Drug Testing. It was too close to lunchtime so we continued our planned journey to visit Sha-Sha's Sister over in Pacific Grand Villas, Mactan. We returned later that afternoon sure they would be back from lunch. Here is a tip - dont visit the CR for a few hours prior to attending Drug Testing Centre! Having filled out the Form and paid the Php300 I was then told to fill a sample bottle at the urinal by the open door (it has to stay open - SOP, to spot if you are switching samples or filling with water I guess?). I was in the embarrassing position of having an empty bladder and all I could manage was about 10% of what they wanted. ""Water - Free, Drink All you Want"" proclaimed a sign by the Reverse Osmosis filled bottle water Drinking Chiller. 5 glasses of water and 10-15 minute wait and I managed another 80%! They accepted this however (probably fed up of waiting or thought I might drink all the water if they insisted on the last 10%?). Having got the Medical and Drug Testing done and the Application Form completed it was time to submit the application - or not. We decided it would be better to try this first thing the next day since we had no idea what was involved orr how long it would take. The next day we found out. Having finally managed to shove our application submission in through the Cashiers Window (#3) at Mandaue LTO office, the nice lady official asked is to go around the back and come inside the LTO office. I was given a seat to sit down on inside the aircon office whilst they processed my application. Yet another photocopy of my UK Driving licence was required for some reason and the page of my Passport showing my last date of entry into the Philippines! I found they prefered speaking to my asawa Sha-Sha and let her tell me what to do. Next stage was out the back to the 'outdoor classroom' type area. They wanted me to do the 'Compulsory Written Test'. I did not know quite why since I had a UK Driving Licence and felt sure the Test there was much more involved and difficult than any the Philippines is likely to be (I based this on the almost complete lack of observance of UK Highway Code standards). Anyway I thought this would be fun. The system is some 40 questions on road safety and driving techniques and road signs and conditions were presented with 3 multiple-choice questions and one had to select the 'best or most appropriate/correct' answer. In summary the questions were mostly very easy provided one does know road signs etc and plain common sense. There were a few RP related questions I had some trouble with or second thoughts about like (E&OE):- ""At what age can one apply for a Non-Professional Driving Licence?"". 17/18/21 years of age? Answer is 17 (it is 18 for the Professional Licence). ""What Documents are required by law to be carried at all times ?"". Vehicle Registration and Receipt*/Motor Insurance/Insurance and Driving Licence? ""Which lane should a slow moving vehicle utilise on multiple lane road?"" Inner/Middle/Outer? Correct answer is Outer according to Examinar - I put 'Inner' (In the UK the fast cars use the overtaking lane or 'outer' lane which is actually the one closest to the central reservation, hence Inner. Also I found it confusing in Cebu when my asawa was learning to drive (slowly), the Instructor told her to use the lane closest the centre of the road - which I was always told was the 'fast lane'. Mind you knowing the frustrations of driving behind Jeepneys that stop and pull out without warning, I can understand the advice to use the other lane. I just explained to the Examinar my reasons for putting inside or inner lane and he seemed to accept that. In fact the Examinar seemed to be quite excited that I was doing so well. He was reading out the Question and then saying the correct answer. This would be very useful to the Filipinos still conducting the Written Driving Test whilst he did this provided they had 'latched on' to what was going on with me and the Examiner! The Examinar obviously had a sense of humour since we came to the question "" How does one indicate via hand signals how to turn left?"". I was acting out possible answers as observed whilst driving ""Wave left arm furiously up and down in flapping type motion"" or "" Hold left arm limply out of window whilst opening and closing fist (to simulate flashing indicator bulb!), or ""hold left arm straight out palms facing foreward"". I cant remember what was the wording of the actual alternatives? The correct hand signal is rarely seen practiced! The Question I had the most trouble with ""What is the safe distance to tavel behind a car per 16KPH"" (or something like that) and the answers was to be in the number of Car Lengths 1/2/3? For me the correct answer was ""The 3 second Rule"". (""Only a Fool Breaks the 3 Second Rule"" was the slogan of a graphic UK campaign Advert, I seem to recall fairly vividly). One should increase the gap the faster one drives but it is NOT proportional. If 1 car length is fine at 16KPH it is not necessarily double at 32KPH and 3 car lengths at 48KPH and 4 car lengths at 72KPH. At 72KPH the reaction time is 100' and braking distance is 90' making a total of 190'. The correct answer according to the Examiner (here in the Philippines) is 1 car length, I chose 2 car lengths to be safe, rather than sorry. (They must be very long cars used in the exam is all I can suggest?).

Many TVs and DVD's VCR's sold in the staes are dual voltage as well.. you have to look at the specification label on the back near where the power cord attaches. Might not need a transformer. my advice use auto-volt selection: no hassle and accidents. and works even on brown outs where a simple transformer won't. (note here in RP they call it brownout when it should be called a blackout. Brownout is an abnormal low voltage condition while a blackout is total loss of power. They only use blackout if it covers a huge area, in case you need to know) However what I haven't seen mentioned, though is DVD regions. US DVD players and DVD's are normally 'region 1' only and DVD's you buy in the RP may be for another region.. but all your DVD's you already have certainly will work just fine but new DVD players now are so called multi-region: accepts any format. and so no distinction. also note TV standards here in RP also follow the US NTSC format not like the UK PAL and French SECAM and there are also TVs supporting all of them...Japan also uses NTSC but different frequencies on the tuner (but a converter is also available) Just in case you need to bring a TV...but better buy them here!

If you ask me you do not need any picture, at least not in Manila as all the equipment is digital. They make the picture there and only had some problems adjusting the height of the camera ;-) Officially you can use your foreign or international license up to 90 days after *last* arrival in the Philippines but they never bothered to check my passport. I was given the drivers license while still holding only a Balikbayan stamp in my passport. The license was Dutch and only for normal cars as I can not drive a truck, bus or something big like that. A Fords Expedition is considered to be a small car The only test I took was the drugs test and I passed without any problems.

Some of you may have remembered an almost eternal thread we had months ago on painting the roofs of houses here. I just searched the archives to find the conclusion with no success. Ani tells me there is a product here called. RoofCoat. She plans to paint the roof of the her (our) newly built house in Leyte with it. Is there a better option? Did someone finally come up with a definitive answer to that question that took over the list for a while. I did not follow the thread. I swore at the time I would never build a house here. And I guess I never have. But Ani has, almost.

A long time ago, maybe even before this list was migrated over to Yahoo, there was a discussion where at least one person was claiming something along the lines - Do not paint the GI roof. An unpainted GI roof will last much longer than a painted one. To the best of my memory the rational for this was never really well explained. However I am not willing to dismiss this claim out of hand. Painting a new GI roof a pain in the butt, with the various acid treatments or preparations needed to get rid of the galvanization so the paint can appear properly. I can tell you that my sister in laws house's GI roof was painted a couple of years ago, apparently the required treatment to the GI wasn't done properly and it didn't take long at all for the paint to start peeling off. It doesn't look good at all. As to way an unpainted GI roof might last longer - I have wondered if the small cracks and bubbles in paint over time allow water to stay in contact with the roof much longer, thus significantly increases rust, and damage to the roof. I am certainly not sure whether it is better to paint or not.

I live between Iloilo City and San Miguel, in an Iloilo City suburb of Mandurriao, I like it much better here than, Tacloben, on Leyte, where my wife was raised, (in villiage about 30K, Aubuyog) I go to Guimarais every chance I get and really like it there because it is very remote, but since we have two children in elementary school, I cannot get her interested in Guimarais, we have already built house here in Mandurriao, have been here 10 months, the longer I stay the better I like it, Oton is very nice , again they are fairly remote but I like Leon and San Miguel also.

I have visited Roxas City in Panay Islands. I like the place. However, a friend told me that the Bantayan Island is a very nice place to live and retire. I am very much interested to know more about the place. I remember I read some posting about the Bantayan Island before from this group. Can anybody describe the place for me? I plan to visit the place next January and I want to know what to expect.

THE Christmas season formally started Monday with the beginning of the nine-day ""Simbang Gabi"" or dawn Masses. Actually Christmas in the Philippines starts as early as Nov. 3, after the flowers and the candles of All Saints Day and All Souls Day have been put away. But this year the start of the unofficial celebration seems to have been dampened by the hard times. Fewer ""parol"" (native Christmas lanterns) are being bought. The Christmas decor in homes and offices is kept simple and inexpensive. People still go on Christmas shopping sprees but they are buying the budget and sale items. The crowds are in the low-price public markets and bazaars in Metro Manila's Divisoria, Baclaran and Bambang sections. But despite the hard times and the tight money situation, there is still much to be thankful for during this Christmas season. We can be thankful that the Philippines has not suffered the fate of some countries in South America like Argentina where inflation at one time reached 200 percent. We can be thankful that we have not suffered a catastrophe like the bombing of Bali where some 200 foreign tourists died. We have had our own share of bad news like the Abu Sayyaf, but -- thank God -- nothing of the scale of the Bali bombing. Some people, though, would say that the precipitate closing of the embassies of Australia, Canada and the European Union had almost the same effect. We can be thankful that there has been no major, frightfully devastating disaster -- a super typhoon or a high-magnitude earthquake. Earlier, there were predictions of an El Nino, but if there has been one, it has been very mild. No drought, no water shortage, although in Metro Manila, consumers have had to bear with the increase in water rates. There were sea, air and land disasters all right, but in the Philippines, where human life is cheap and where safety laws are honored more in the breach than the observance, they were (we hate to say this but it is true) almost par for the course. We can be thankful that despite all the noise and heat generated in the constant and endless political debate and wrangling, no upheaval or street rebellion of the scale of the so-called ""EDSA People Power III"" has taken place. The hard times may be hard to take for some people who are used to a display of extravagance and wasteful and conspicuous consumption, but maybe now they will begin to realize the virtues of thrift and moderation. We are being forced by circumstances to live a life of involuntary simplicity and austerity. And we hope the austerity will make us focus on the central figure of Christmas, which is Christ. And that it will also make us meditate on the message of Christmas, which is peace, sacrifice and love.

It isn't so much the cost of the labor - carpenters and painters labor is very cheap here. But rather the cost of the materials such as the acid preparations to remove the galvanization, and various bases and paints which drive up the cost. I have had numerous carpentry projects done here in the Philippines where the cost of the materials far exceeds the labor cost. I do like your idea of using Rubber based paints - frankly I didn't even know such a thing existed. But while I mention my lack of knowledge if you should also know that your carpenter/painter may not know how to properly prepare the GI roof for painting. I think the painters used a diluted lemon juice solution to try to strip the galvanization on my sister-in-laws roof. There appear to be many possibilities of messing up the paint job - as evidenced by my sister-in-laws unsatisfactory paint job on their GI roof. I find myself wondering occasionally as I glance at their eye sore of a roof - what was it that really messed the painting up, and realize I don't know. As I glance out the front door at the neighbors unpainted GI roof, which has been there a long time - I have to say, unpainted looks pretty good to me. I wonder if the painting really does more harm than good. While it may be a little late in your case Don - a nice slop on the roof lets the water roll right off, and not stay on the roof. But any cracks or bubbles in the paint will have the opposite effect.

u.s.steel, invented cortan steel thirty years ago.......is seen many places here in usa, especially on the u s steel building in pittsburgh................available in cebu.....maybe........... i remember reading as did another recent poster that galvanizing was purposefull and outlasted paint as a coating....... imho i would imagine, that blue board insulation covered with a tight plastic covering and secured to the tin would provide both an insulation and protection from the elements for the tin. just a guess though

Let me see you would like to break to law in order to keep everybody happy? If you do not have the papers then get them. Legal capacity will come from your embassy. Use FedEx and it will take no more than a week or do you have another problem?

There are casinos in some parts of the RP, but the lines for employment are pretty long and the pay is not what you would expect. Rather than me making suggestions which may not pan out, you need to get over there on a dry run and see how the wind blows. Lingayen is a good destination, but not much is going on there. The beaches are about to be developed by RP and Chinese interests and the sin employees from out of the area will probably be booted out. Dagupan is the business hub of the province, but it is further from the ocean. You can go further north on the coast and see lots of good locations to settle in, but you aren't going to generate a decent income from local folks. If I was planning to retire over there in the near future, I would choose the part of the RP we are talking about, right on the China Sea, maybe up towards Hundred Islands. The best local products around Lingayen is hand-crafted furniture.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFICULTIES WITH PAINTING GALVANIZED METAL? One problem concerns the surface treatment manufacturers use to seal off the surface from the atmosphere to prevent ""white rusting. during storage. This treatment is often a simple vegetable oil that must be removed before painting or adhesion will be impaired. Solvent cleaning with clean rags (periodically rotated and replaced), washing with a detergent or degreaser such as Devoe DEV- CLEANT 88 Water Based Cleaner, or weathering for several months is usually effective. Weathered galvanized metal will also require cleaning to remove zinc corrosion products. Another concern is the reactivity and alkalinity of the zinc coating. The zinc will react with an oil or alkyd based paint. A saponification reaction will occur causing peeling or softening at the paint/surface interface.

The requirements for marriage are in the Family Code. The one requirement where there seems to be little room for ""flexibility""is (in the case of a U.S.foreigner) the ""affidavit in lieu of certificate of legal capacity"".Only the foreigner, his passport, and a fee are required to obtain this at the U.S. Embassy.Call the embassy for the schedule.

Don as a slight variation from the Quack Doctor suggestion, in a predominately Catholic country - it might also be advisable after the house is built to have a Priest come over, and bless the house, sprinkling Holy Water as part of the blessing ritual. This blessing with Holy Water is advisable for all major purchases or important items including cars, and new born children (baptism), and during weddings. My wife believes the Priest was good enough to sprinkle some Holy Water on our Marriage Contract (wedding certificate). The family members also need to pray and ask for God's blessing and protection.

Hi I'm now a USA citizen 46 years old, my Filipina wife is 31 years old, and we have two children ages 5 and 7. We moved from the USA to Cebu roughly 3 years 9 months ago. Financially I'm guessing we are roughly in the same boat, with you perhaps having a little more money. I don't work in the Philippines, but rather live off our investments. But frankly the money could run out, and I could potentially be forced back to work. We are living with my wife's family in Minglanilla, Cebu - a little ways South of Cebu City. My wife had been living with me in El Paso, Texas for almost 5 years before we made the decision to move to Cebu. While I suppose I could go into some big list of my personal view of the pros and cons of living here, frankly that hasn't yet been established as the key question and the heart of the matter. Have you been to the Philippines? I'm going to assume you have been to Cebu (where you indicate you are like to live). But if you haven't you really need to come for a visit first, and find out first hand a little of what living in the Philippines is like. What I really expect someone to be saying who wants to Immigrate and make their new home in the Philippines to be saying is - I really, really want to do this. I am prepared to put up with most of the cons I already know about in order to get these very significant anticipated benefits. This is important to me, if I can do it - I am going to do it. More over your wife needs to be in agreement with you. If she deep down in her heart doesn't want to return and *live* in Cebu - you need to know. You have to be asking yourself were will my family and I be better off and happier. I understand this is not an easy decision. You may want to think long and hard before coming to Cebu. How do you feel about her family. Are they out just to take advantage of you and your wife, because they really need lots and lots of help? Some additional information about yourself, wife, and family would be helpful. I would suggest you keep reading the messages. Read some of the old messages if you can. Keep studying this situation up. I'm sure some of the members can give you some really good advice, and information - but the most significant issues of living in the Philippines can only be resolved by you and your family. Only you and your family can answer: ""Is moving to the Philippines a good move fro me?"" I am very happy with our decision to move and live in the Philippines. I feel it has been good for me and my family, especially the children. Maybe a little tougher on my wife.

In the Philippines, my daughter's place in society is very much determined by birth. My daughter being rich and American would be entitled to undue respect from the lower and middle classes. We lived in a high end neighborhood in the PI and saw far too many adults kowtowing to rich spoiled children and teens. I'd rather she grow up in America where she'll be middle class. Here we start out on a more equal footing and one's place in society is earned not granted by birthright. Granted the Philippine culture does much better in other values like childrens respect for their family. I'm hoping we can instill more of that at home but realize we'll be fighting and uphill battle against what she'll pick up in US society.

While I am living in Manila I am not worried about the security here. I would rather live in the province to avoid the pollution here in Manila. Nobody can convince me that this has not a bad affect on year health on the long term. Now how you raise you kids while living here in the Philippines is something that you do have to consider. Some families here have a yaya for every child and the spoiled brats are even to lazy to tie their own shoe laces. You're still the one who has most influence on your kids and I do like the schools here in the Philippines. Without any doubt better equipped than those in the Netherlands with teachers that actually care about their students. By far they the students are more disciplined then in the Netherlands and there is much emphasis on how they should interact with the people around them. You do have to pay for them yourself but for me it is worth the money at all times.

The Philippine Immigration Officer at the port of entry determines the length of stay of a foreign visitor in the country. Normally, a visitor with a visa is given a 59-day stay in the Philippines. This is stated in the visa issued. Should a visitor desire to remain longer than their authorized initial stay of 59 days, he/she may request extension of stay from the Bureau of Immigration Office and pay the necessary extension fees. The traveller will also have to pay the Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC) and the corresponding Legal Research Fee (LRF) in the total amount of Philippine Pesos Seven Hundred Ten (P710.00) upon his/her departure. VALIDITY OF TEMPORARY VISITOR'S VISA A temporary visitor's visa may be valid for single or multiple entries. A single entry visa is valid for three (3) months from the date of issuance. A multiple entry visa is valid either for six (6) months or one (1) year depending on the fee paid. (Please refer to Schedule of Visa Fees). A validity of an entry visa should be differentiated from the length of stay in the Philippines. A three-month validity means a person may enter the Philippines within three (3) months from the date of issuance of visa. If a traveller is in possession of a six- month multiple visa, this means that he/she may enter the Philippines any number of times provided it is within the six-month period specified in the visa.

a lot of the garbage is in fact brought to the island by visitors, mostly Filipino. They turn up with a dozen in the group carrying everything they need in food and drink and leave all the packaging behind where they throw it. They board the boat for home considerably lighter. The onus of cleaning up their mess is left to the resort owners who have not made a cracker from them as many sleep on the beach out front of their resorts. This Filipino phenomenom for littering really gets me going. They shower two or three times a day, keep their homes immaculate and their clothes clean yet as soon as they step outside they spit and litter like it was a national pastime. When you mention it they look at you dumbfounded with no comprehension of having done anything wrong. Before the advent of plastic everything, most food items were transported in natural packaging like banana leaves, all bio degradable. Once they had eaten a mango or banana there was no problem simply throwing it out of the window. The trouble is that habit is no longer viable given the prolification of plastic in the country. I try to refuse a plastic bag wherever I can and dispose of everything properly. But the Filipino does not. Add to this the deplorable and disgusting habit of spitting and it is no wonder TB is still a worry here. I was at the meat market today and watched in horror as the woman behind the counter hawked and spat on the floor next to the meat. Of course I have seen it on a daily basis here but I never lose my revulsion at this act. The problem is exacerbated on Malapascua as it is a small island. We are currently trying to develop a garbage collection business for a local to operate but lazyness is getting in the way. Meanwhile our clean up initiatives are going well but constant reminders are the order of the day. What do I do to help? I try to work with my personal Filipino's, family and friends. At the moment they are aware I abhor their habit and try to avoid littering when around me. It is a start and something I encourage all members to look at with their own families. I have only been to Malapascua twice - October 2001 and June this year. WWwe stayed at Blue Water Beach Resort since we knew the owners Nigel & Janet through Cebu Hash House Harriers that organised an 'Away Run' there back the first time we went. Nigel told us the locals and the Resort owners make an effort to keep Malapascua tidy. Everything that gets brought onto the island gets taken off again (in terms of bottles, cartons cans, newspapers, plastic bags etc). They also have 'Clean-up' drives every now and again. If you saw garbage on the beach, it was most probably left by a 'tourist' and not spotted by these local clean up campaigners. I have heard from Mike & Mary Rossiter who visited just a week ago that there were a lot of dogs there! Perhaps they left some 'deposits' behind? There was some loud music coming from Blue Coral Beach Resort or 'The Rock' but this was NOT a Disco. The Disco (the only one on the Island as far as I know?)- called Maldito (or something similar?), is located on the South West coast of Malapascua and is only open on Friday and Saturday night I think. We went during the weekdays so no noise from there. I did not explore the whole island looking for noisy Karaoke bars, so can't comment about that.

Allas that link is not complete but here are section 13 and 14. As for the interpretation of section 14, I would say that when holding dual citizenship you would be regarded a Filipino citizen when you are in the Philippines and not when you are in the US. So now what if you apply for a spousal visa in the US or can we say that we apply at the embassy so we are at Philippine territory? As for the difference between 13a and 13g once obtained I would say that this does not exist but as said I am open for other interpretations. Sec. 13. Under the conditions set forth in this Act, there may be admitted into the Philippines immigrants, termed ""quota immigrants"" not in excess of fifty (50) of any one nationality or without nationality for any one calendar year, except that the following immigrants, termed ""non-quota immigrants,"" may be admitted without regard to such numerical limitations. The corresponding Philippine Consular representative abroad shall investigate and certify the eligibility of a quota immigrant previous to his admission into the Philippines. Qualified and desirable aliens who are in the Philippines under temporary stay may be admitted within the quota, subject to the provisions of the last paragraph of Section 9 of this Act. (a) The wife or the husband or the unmarried child under twenty-one. years of age of a Philippine citizen, if accompanying or following to join such citizen; (b) A child of alien parents born during the temporary visit abroad of the mother, the mother having been previously lawfully admitted into the Philippines for permanent residence, if the child is accompanying or coming to join a parent and applies for admission within five years from the date of its birth; (c) A child born subsequent to the issuance of the immigration visa of the accompanying parent, the visa not having expired; (d) A woman who was a citizen of the Philippines and who lost her citizenship because of her marriage to an alien or by reason of the loss of Philippine citizenship by her husband, and her unmarried child under twenty- one years of age, if accompanying or following to join her; (e) A person previously lawfully admitted into the Philippines for permanent residence, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad to an unrelinquished residence in the Philippines; (g) A natural-born citizen of the Philippines, who has been naturalized in a foreign country, and is returning to the Philippines for permanent residence, including his spouse and minor unmarried children, shall be considered a non-quota immigrant for purposes of entering the Philippines. Sec. 14. Persons with dual nationality - The nationality of an immigrant whose admission is subject to the numerical limitations imposed by Section Thirteen of this Act shall be that of the country of which the immigrant is a citizen or subject, self-governing dominions being treated as separate countries. The nationality of an immigrant possessing dual nationality may be that of either of the two countries regarding him as a citizen or subject if he applies for a visa in a third country, but if he applies for such visa within one of the two countries regarding him as a national, his nationality shall be that of the country in which he shall file his application.

Your question's much too broad for an accurate answer. But if you're past the ""just thinking"" stage, here's an offer you can't refuse. I put an architect on retainer a while back, but decided renting was best for me, so he owes me work. I won't be able to get a refund (shame on me), so if you have even rudimentary building plans I can put him to work, get refined drawings and cost estimates at no cost to you. I can't accurately advise on the cost of a plot, but plan on a minimum USD40,000 for 500 square meters in ""nice"" subdivisions in urban areas down south....more for urban areas north of the Visayas. I haven't seen ""nice"" subdivisions in rural areas. Cheap is relative. Real quality in the Philippines will be no less than $100,000. The same property in the U.S. will give you a bigger back yard (RP land is expensive), but will cost $300,000. You can build at three or four levels of quality. U.S. quality for a 2,000 square ft, three bedroom place will come to $80,000. You can drop down two levels and pay $45,000 for a place of the same size, but that will require never-ending maintenance. (All prices exclude land.) Strange anomaly: Build a place for USD200,000, or rent the equivalent ( 3000 sq ft, five bedrooms) for $475 - $600 per month. (Requires a lot of head-knocking with alternate phases of kow-towing to negotiate the lease, but cost that out based on what you can earn on $200K, or the price of in-country financing at 18-21% for a five-year loan). My next trip to the Philippines will begin on January 20th, I can get you a free estimate if have your plans before I leave.

I don't know how its supposed to work or much about the visas, my wife is US Citizen, born in Philippines, however we brought a 40 ft container jam packed full, and paid P900 a little more or a little less, we had no visa at all,although the shipment sat in Manila at shippers, while almost daily they would call tring to get us to send money, anywhere from P100k to P250k in order to get our stuff, and we refused to pay them, and finally it was shipped on to us. The amount we paid Customs was for two ladies to come and watch us unload to make sure there was no auto in the container. All the paper work said ""returning Filipino"" I do not think you have a choice as to what visa to get, as 13A is for somebody who is married to a Philippine citizen, and 13G is a returning former Philippine citizen. I assumed my wife could have brought in the goods duty free, which is normal in most countries, but after research and discussion with the consulate in Hong Kong found out I needed to get the 13A visa to bring my goods in duty free and there was no way for her to bring them in, 100% duty free.

I'm beginning to think anyone unlucky enough to be involved in a traffic fatality while behind the wheel is going to be at fault no matter what the circumstances really are. Although unrelated, both fatality incidents in the article (posted below) suggest the drivers of the vehicles were not at fault. Yet, both drivers are being detained by the police. Can anyone shed some light on this? I remeber back when Subic was an American base, all the newby's were taught not to stop if they ran over someone on the highway. You were supposed to return to the base, then report it. Does anyone really know what the laws are concerning faults and liabilities when involved in an injury accident?