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LIVING IN ILOILO
My wife and I have made our move to the Philippines. We've spent several months in Cebu City over the last three years and two weeks
in Dumaguete. We're trying to be systematic about looking at various
places before we settle down. While we've found much to like in Cebu
City, I think, for us, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
Despite friendly people, top-notch medical care, shopping, pretty
subdivisions in the surrounding hills and an active arts and
entertainment scene, we find the worsening air pollution, traffic
congestion and escalating prices hard to live with. So, we decided
to look at some of the smaller Visayan cities; in particular Bacolod
and Iloilo and to spend more time in Dumaguete.
We started with Iloilo because the late Chuck James (Senior in Paradise) had made arrangements with his landlady for us to rent the
upstairs of his house in Molo, a westerly section of the city. It's
a wonderful place to stay and the owners treat us like royalty. We
have no lease, no damage deposit, full furnishings including large
and small appliances, dishes, cookware and linens. The house is
located in a green, leafy and secure private compound fifteen
minutes walk from Molo plaza which has most of what we need; banks, small but good supermarket, post office, Mercury drugstore,
Andok's and so forth. I love having such things within walking
distance. The usual huge malls (SM City, Robinson's, Gaisano) are
available elsewhere in Iloilo.
We realize that having a great place to live colors our impressions of the city generally. With that in mind, here are a few
impressions. The city has a new provincial capitol building and
quite a good provincial museum. The city seems to make an effort to
keep the main thoroughfares attractive with trees and flowers
planted in the median of the main drag, General Luna. Transportation
is mainly by jeepney but there are also plenty of cabs. Thankfully,
the swarms of trikes you find in smaller cities are absent. I spend
most of my time in Molo so I can't speak for the rest of the city,
but here there is a very visible police presence. Molo Plaza, a busy
park, is very free of scary people -- drunks, shabu dealers etc.
There are traffic problems but the city is quite compact so the
scale of congested and polluted area is less. I like to walk and find it easier to walk here. In Banilad it was near-suicidal to do so. Here,
there is less traffic and more sidewalks and road shoulders for
pedestrians. It's certainly not perfect, but is better. There's not
much industry. Air quality seems considerably better than Cebu City. Real estate prices in the top subdivisions are about half of what they are in Cebu City. Since the terrain is flat, you don't get the
pretty "overlooking" properties that you do in Cebu. Because the
city in low-lying, flooding is a problem in some areas. Iloilo does
not seem to be growing and expanding the way Cebu is.
While we had some favorite affordable restaurants in Cebu City such
as the Golden Cowrie on Salinas and Spice Fusion in the Banilad Town
Center, we were never over impressed with the restaurant scene
there. There may be great restaurants at the big hotels but they are
beyond our budget. The dining situation in Iloilo seems at least
comparable to Cebu City but with prices lower here, especially for
seafood. One prominent Illonga restauranteur attended the Culinary
Institute of America in New York and is now running some trendy restaurants in Manila as well as
Iloilo.
There are no Shangri-la or Waterfront type luxury accommodations in
Iloilo. The supply of mid-range accommodations seems good. The
Sarabia Manor reminds us, in some ways, of Montebello Villa. I've
taken a membership at Sarabia which allows us to use the fitness
center and pool. Showers, lockers and towels are included. I try to
go there three times a week for exercise.
There are lots of Koreans here learning English but there seems to
be fewer foreigners here, or at least those from the US and Europe.
Many locals seem shyer and not so attuned to seeing foreigners as an
opportunity. My wife (who keeps an eye on such things) tells me the
girls here don't look at me the way they would in Cebu; not sure if
that's good or bad! The focus seems more on seeking overseas
employment than a foreigner husband. There don't seem to be many
guys coming here to find lady friends. Many of the Fil-Am couples I meet are older, long-time residents. There's an
expat group which holds regular meetings. The one I went to was very
well attended. While I don't partake, I'm told the girlie bar scene
is limited, nothing like that in Cebu City.
There are a couple of medium-sized hospitals, Iloilo Doctors and St.Paul's. I can't really report on them except that I found a
cardiologist at St. Paul's who did an internship at NYU and seemed
very capable. His fee was P400 for an extensive consult and EKG. The
same cost me P700 at
Chong Hua. We also had occasion to visit the St. Paul's emergency
room and
found the process a near endless series of waits for cashier, lab
work,
doctor and so forth. We've been through this before at Chong Hua,
but this was much worse. Maybe it was just a bad day or my wife's malady (Dengue)
was
just not enough of an emergency. On the positive side I got a chance
to
stroll in St. Paul's landscaped grounds. The hospital is older but
quite
attractive. The doctor visit fee was P250, the lowest so far. For
something serious I'd prefer to get to Cebu or Manila, if I could.
As a Citibank customer, I was pleased that there is a new Citibank Saving Bank branch with ATM not far from our residence, but no HSBC
or other
foreign banks except maybe a Standard Chartered. They are in the process of building a new airport but I'm not sure
if that's such a great thing. The existing airport in Mandurriao is
very convenient to the city -- maybe 15 minutes from where we live. The
terminal is
pretty basic but adequate. If you have friends arriving, you can
hear the
plane come in, wait 15 minutes and drive to the airport know that by
the
time you get there they will have collected their luggage and be
ready to be
picked up! The new airport will be much further out of town.
The safety/security situation seems good. Our fenced, gated compound
has a guard, lots of dogs and many young men who work here for our
landlord
but also watch over things, so our security situation is fantastic.
We
don't need to lock the door when we leave. I have walked, taken
taxis and
ridden jeepneys almost daily and have never felt threatened. I'm
told that some areas downtown, by the port area are unsafe at night.
If you want to leave the city for the mountains or beaches, they are close at hand; beaches on Guimaras, and the mountains of Antique and
of
course Boracay, about a four hour drive.
All in all, based on our first two months here, we're pretty pleased
with Iloilo City. There's lots of fresh fruit and seafood. There are
some surprisingly decent restaurants, and you seem to be able to
find
and buy whatever you might need at the numerous malls or the
downtown commercial
area. The city is fairly compact, easy to get around and just feels
comfortable to me. All in all, it seems to have what I need to
live comfortably, but with fewer of the urban negatives of Manila or
Cebu.
Bob and Carol Hammerslag
Molo, Iloilo City
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