I bring enough cash for at least one months living and then write a US check and deposit it into my Philippine bank dollar account and wait the 21 business days for it to clear, that way I then withdraw that when it becomes ready and at the same time deposit another US check and that has worked for us for approx 20 years, although I have changed banks a few times.
Also I call the money changer to meet us at the bank or use their off site money changer if they have similar rates to those I can find around town and thus never leave the bank with any cash. Once the exchange is done, I deposit most of the pesos into our Philippine ATM account and then live of that for the month.
My way costs me nothing in exchange or sending fees, and if just doing it for a visit, then no big deal paying the extra but if doing it over a long period of time, then I would rather that extra money is in my pocket to be used for a night out on the town or many nights out on the town over the years time, all depending on how much is to be sent.
In the example you used above, the savings is $13.73 if my math is correct, thus x12 that comes out to $165 a year, now I can think of a lot of things to do with an extra $165 or thereabouts.