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Health Care Costs and Availability

August 27, 2010 By Philly 16 Comments

We’ve mentioned this subject before, especially within the living in the Philippines or retiring in the Philippines context.  Medical care seems to be one of the top areas of concern to everyone planning a move here to the Philippines.  And of course, medical care and the costs you have to pay for it should certainly be an area of concern … but I often wonder just how much of an area of concern this should be … and further, if many of my fellow Americans are spending too much time obsessing over this issue rather than making it just a part of the overall decision plan.

As Americans we somehow have become attached to the idea that US health care is the “best in the world”.  Well, it’s just find to believe that the USA id “number one” in everything … but it isn’t always the fact of the matter.

What the US spends

First in the World --- in costs

Actually under current, independent assessments … like the rankings of the Word Health Organization .. the USA comes out a distant 37th or so in overall citizen health rankings.  I’ve written about this before … one article worth reading comparing the US health care costs and Philippine health care costs is here.  I attached an appropriate graphic, and further down a music video … it’s informative, funny and sad, all in one.

But regardless of what Americans are spending right now, an operative question which often comes up is, what can I do about health care insurance if I decide to move to the Philippines.

So here are some answers, presented to the best of my abilities … you always need to check the facts for yourself because, as they say, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

PhilHealth:

First of all, let me remind you about PhilHealth.  I’ve covered it extensively and I don’t want to make this article too long, so you might want to read up on PhilHealth benefits or visit their site themselves.  One way or another it is available to all, not just Filipinos and the cost, for the groups who have to pay, is very small … P 100 a month. $27 USD per year at today’s rate.  If that is the sort of amount you need to budget carefully for, I don’t think you are a good candidate to read the rest of this article, sorry.

Recommendation:  Whatever other choices you make, get PhilHealth for yourself, your spouse, minor children and for elderly Filipino relatives (it’s free for the aged, like US Medicare).  I can’t believe how many people ignore this insurance, especially when they have elderly relatives back in the Philippines and then are staggered by Lolo or Lola having to go into hospital.  It’s a no-brainer to me, get it.

Your Existing Insurance:

The first big bugaboo regarding moving to and living in the Philippines that concerns foreigners the most seems to be the fact that they immediately assume their current medical insurance will not cover them here.

That may be true, but in many cases it is not … and each of you making this decision needs to carefully check, independently, the facts on this regarding your very own policy.

I often get questions like “Will my Blue Cross” cover me there?  The answer is, definitely, I don’t know.  “Blue Cross” is not a single company, it’s a consortium of more than 50 companies in every US state as well as multi-state components such as the “Anthem” product line which provides the insurance most Federal employees call “Blue Cross”.

All plans may differ and you can not afford to make a decision based on what “Joe” says, or on “Mary’s experience”, etc.

Many US policies do cover pan members living overseas.  For example, my own Federal GEHA plan does… in fact it pays claims at the preferred provider rate … a good deal for me.  You MUST check for yourself.

Other Commercial Insurance Options:

OK, let’s suppose you can’t use existing coverage.  Would you be able to buy insurance to cover yourself and your family here.  And what kind of prices are we looking at?  here are just three possibilities I have found.  I don’t recommend any of these outfits, but I chose them carefully because I know they have, overall a very good rating with their policy holders, and they all have the modern outlook of giving you access to rates and coverage online, so people can make good comparisons for themselves.  They are presented in alphabetical order.

Blue Cross Philippines:

Yep, not only is that name used all over the USA, but all over the Philippines as well.  Here’s the main website for Blue Cross Philippines. They have a lot of offerings.  They also make it plain what their offerings and restrictions are on the really elderly … something that many Filipino companies are a little ‘shy’ about owning up to.

There are many different options here, mainly having to do with three things … policy holder’s age, how much coverage the policyholder wants to buy, and where the policy can be used.

It’s very important to notice with this and any other company ho offers the option … if you ask for full coverage within the US,a s well as the country you are thinking about moving to?  be forewarned .. the cost for US coverage is shockingly high.  But for Philippine-only coverage,the costs are very reasonable … often a few hundred USD per year … that’s right, per year.  For us Medicare-eligible persons, it seems very reasonable to just rely upon Medicare when we are back in the US, and buy Philippine-only coverage.  Certainly worth checking out.

Bupa International:

This is an old-line international health care provider, based in the UK, who provides coverage to expats virtually world-wide.  In looking up their various plans, I find they can fit very easily into many budgets … if, again, you exclude US coverage.  Example, for a person my age, 64, coverage outside the US and also including the pre-paid option of repatriation to the US or another country for medical attention, is only about $3600 USD per year, or three hundred US per month.  Many commercial plans that people already pay are in this price range, so while they are not cheap, they certainly fall within reason.  As an interesting illustration … when I changed the requested quote to include US coverage. the cost jumped to almost $12,000 USD per year … yep, that’s how much extra you folks are paying extra back there in the USA for 37th place health care.  Sad.

MEDEX Global Group, Inc.:

This is a US-based company.  i sometimes run ads for them on the site, but I notice that they don’t attract much attention.  They do not even provide coverage for US residents, but their coverage for US citizens residing in other countries seems pretty reasonable.

As with all these companies you need to look closely at all the plans, but as an example, their basic full coverage, including emergency repatriation, comes in at a slow as $1.16 per day .. about $36USD per month or roughly $436 a year.  Certainly well within reason.

Conclusion:

It’s certainly well within reason to get your own health insurance in the Philippines.  I’m afraid the US medical insurance, doctor’s promotional agencies, outrageous drug profits protection lobbyists and other such scum have perverted the thinking of many of my fellow Americans.  remember, you all hail from a country who used to be brave and used to be self-reliant.  Believe it or not, you still can be today … you don’t need “permission” to use the brains and courage God gave you.

I’ve also written on this subject before, listing other possible “freedom of choice” for health care candidates.

By the way, it’s also OK to laugh at ourselves.  Many of the expats I know who are my age … even some younger … are letting themselves become so consumed by worry and “fear of the future” that they are already on blood pressure medicine, tranquilizers and who know what all else to make the drug companies rich.  Relax and stop taking everything so seriously for a while … you’ll still live just as long, maybe even longer.  This will help.

Popularity: 100% [?]

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Yes, We Went There Again — Casablanca Hotel, Subic

August 23, 2010 By Philly 9 Comments

Well, what else would you do if it were a rainy Friday and your favorite nephews had finished their term in pre-school … sit around and watch it drizzle, or hit the road.

We took off for the former US Navy base at Subic, now called the Subic Bay Special Economic Zone just before ten am and arrived at our first destination, Texas Joe’s, where the boys thoroughly enjoyed the classic wood hobby hours in the outside waiting area and then everyone enjoyed a Texas Joe's Dining room, SubicOverview of the SCTEX, Philippines delicious Texas-style lunch.  I can highly recommend the “Bubba Burger” … friend Paul who had visited there recently suggested that would be a good choice and indeed it was.  Hard to believe now that we can drive from Marilao, right outside the city limits of Metro Manila to the central business district on Subic in about two hours, but it’s easy now with the new roads, even for a relatively slow driver like me.

The boys ate fast though, and after all, they had been promised swimming (the sun was out by now, an absolutely lovely day).  So we piled in the trusty Adventure (almost 40,000 km on it now and it hasn’t skipped a beat, what a great investment that car was … those of you who refuse to have a car and drive yourself in the Philippines just don’t realize what you are missing).

Our main destination was the Casablanca hotel, restaurant and condominium complex, just a 20 minute drive out on the Argonaut Highway, heading toward the airport.

(For those who might not have driven in the US for a while, or those who seldom see a traffic light even powered, let alone being observed, let me remind you … on the SBEZ, people actually stop for stop signs, observe traffic signals, follow speed limits, and if you happened to get stopped by a traffic officer, do not, under any circumstances attempt to bribe him .. it’s against the law.  Oh, and did I mention no smoke belching, road clogging tricycles allowed either?)

Condo units at Casablanca, SubicArriving at the Casablanca, the ever hospitable host, Kristian had our room already ready, right at Casablanca Poolpoolside. We were in a ground floor unit, exactly like the one pictured, the patio doors in the center were out main entrance and the ample living/dining/kitchen area, along with the generous private bedroom would be behind the windows to the right.  At over 7 meters by over 7 meters these are very ample single bedroom units, about twice the size of what passes for a one bedroom condo in Metro manila.  You can see floor plans and more details on Casablanca’ own excellent website, here and here.

Splash, and the boys were in the pool before I even finished locking up the car and signing the register in the reception office.  P3600 for a unit like this (rainy season special) seemed like a pretty darn good bargain to me.  I’ve paid more and gotten a lot less, even here in the Philippines.

Notice also that these rooms have very decent monthly rates available.  Especially the one and two bedroom condos are equipped and sized so that a couple (or a couple with several children, could just live there as long as you cared to ..they are that big and comfortable.

There are a number of units for sale as well (see the inquiry form here to get a personal condo sale quotation), and the management stands ready to managed purchased units for absentee owners … in other words you can live here part time and rent your unit out to recoup expenses when you are living elsewhere.  Very flexible arrangements.

After a few Margaritas (the only good ones I have found so far in the Philippines, I was hungry again (time had passed, it was getting dark, time for dinner anyway).  Rather than go inside the restaurant, where the Friday night special was an excellent Mongolian barbeque, we just ordered at our table right at poolside and right outside the door to our unit.

The boys, of course, were very interested in why we adults were drinking out of strange (to them) looking margarita glasses.  So we ordered them pineapple juice in margarita glasses .. oh what a hit that was.

The restaurant has a top quality Swiss chef, and I have found the food excellent and quite reasonably priced … all except the steak I ordered that night … very tasty and excellently presented, but with way too much gristle to suit me … you have to watch out for steaks in the Philippines, almost always better not to order one, because they almost always disappoint … Filipinos in general love fat and gristle, personally I can’t abide it.  Likewise, as a general rule, the salt.  I’ve had more meals ruined for me by excessive salt than for any other reason … Philippine-branded soy sauces are exceptionally salty, thus anything that might be soy sauce flavored is likely to be over salted by along shot.  It’s no wonder hypertension (high blood) is a big problem in the Philippines, the vast majority of restaurants just tip the salt shaker way, way too much.  Anyway, enough on the salt rant.

There’s enough on the international menu to please any palate.  A cousin came by to chat later in the evening and stayed for Friday night special, Mongolian barbeque.  He pronounced it excellent and finished every morsel, so I believed him ;-)   For a guy who said he wasn’t hungry to begin with, he did a darn good job enjoying the Mongolian barbeque.

Sleeping in the extremely quiet area where the Casablanca is located is excellent …no traffic noises to speak of, fresh breezes off the water which is only a few feet from the whole complex … restful and relaxing, and if you aren’t sleepy the Wi-Fi Internet is excellent … worked very well and much faster than my Wi-Fi at home.

In the morning the boys were up early and of course, into the pool.  after a suitable time of soaking and splashing around … measured by the amount of ‘prune skin’ visible, we got them out and went into the restaurant for breakfast.

What do you want to drink, boys?  Easy … margaritas …their special ones.  What do you want to eat?  Calamari rings and pizza, the hits, for them of last night’s supper.

Well, they’re o
nly young one, and therefore if they want calamari rings and pizza for breakfast, then that’s what they shall have.  Their mom had American style hotcakes, made well, with good maple syrup, often hard to find in the Philippines.  Mita had an excellent cheese omelet and I had a man size American breakfast with a big portion of scrambled eggs, sausage, good beacon and excellent toast … tasted like home cooked bread, very nice indeed.

All too soon it was time to pack up and get on the road for some family commitments and our trip home.  Will we be back to visit the Casablanca again?  You bet we will.  There are far too many places in the Philippines that “say” they are interested in the tourism business, far too few, that like the Casablanca actual ‘walk the walk” of making tourist feel wanted and welcome.  A big thanks to the owner, Gunnar, who made it all happen to begin with, Kristian, the general manager, and all the friendly, accommodating staff.  Recommended.

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Just Refuse To Pay The Fear Tax!

August 23, 2010 By Philly 10 Comments

Seth  had an interesting post that he happened to pen at virtually the same time I wrote my “Just Give Up” opus last “Opinionated Monday”.

Here’s what happens as a result of security theater at the Orlando airport:

  • You wait in line at least twenty minutes
  • There’s a scrum of pushing and shoving
  • The staff are unhappy and not afraid to share it
  • An unreasonable workload leads to fatigue and errors
  • People miss their flights

Here’s what doesn’t happen:

  • Security is not increased
  • Peace of mind is not enhanced

In other words, we’re paying a significant tax (time and money) and getting nothing in return. In fact, we get worse than nothing. We could call it an anxiety program, instead of a tax. (After all, when you pay a luxury tax, you get some hard-won luxury as part of the deal).

The reason the TSA keeps changing the rules is not because the rules work, but because changing the rules creates more anxiety (for bad guys, they say, but for us too). …

We pay the fear tax every time we spend time or money seeking reassurance. We pay it twice when the act of seeking that reassurance actually makes us more anxious, not less.

We pay the tax when we cover our butt instead of doing the right thing, and we pay the tax when we take away someone’s dignity because we’re afraid. (my emphasis)

Here’s another “breaking news” item I just came across during the time I started drafting this post and then sent it off to publish:

“TSA was notified of a passenger allegedly smoking onboard American Airlines Flight 117 from John I. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX),” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

This caused the diversion of the aircraft to an alternate landing site, the confinement of all the passengers in Gulag-like interrogation areas and then finally resulted in the aircraft being sent on it’s way after about 6 hours of delay, lost time, lost wages, added on expenses and so forth.

Why?  Because of a recognized terrorist threat?  No, because an American Citizen was rude enough/unlawful enough/ignorant enough to light a cigarette in a place he was not allowed to.  Wow.  Surprised they didn’t land the plane in the desert and just nuke everyone on board … real hardened criminals there, especially all the innocents who did not break the law, but still were treated and inconvenienced as if they had.

Before you rabid anti-smokers out there get on your high horse, I used to fly when smoking was allowed on aircraft and I still fly today.  Even as a smoker, I certainly support a smoking ban on airline flights, because the air on board is unhealthy enough without subjecting non-smokers to my habit … but Jesus, people, can we have a little bit of intelligence here … a measured response to the level of the threat?

The guy broke the law.  So take him off the plane and deal with him as the law requires … but subject all his innocent fellow passengers to a captive situation like they were?  Complete lack of control and intelligence on the part of our government … rampant display of arrogance, actually, in my view of course, since I know Carnivore is reading my blog posts to make sure I don’t use bad words like bomb, and terrorism, and overthrow and civil disobedience … and other words that are no longer part of free speech.

And then again, just before I was ready to go to press I got another news item involving air planes, terrorism paranoia and the aggrandizement of government agencies who somehow have forgotten their place … yes, Secret Service and TSA, I’m talking about your own disloyalty to the oaths you are supposed to serve under (more carnivore fodder there, eh?)

Two fighter jets were responsible for a pair of loud sonic booms that shook Western Washington Tuesday afternoon. The Oregon Air National Guard F-15s took off from Portland, Ore. in pursuit of a seaplane that breached a 10-mile restricted fly zone around the president’s Air Force One.

The intruding plane left the restricted area shortly before the fighter jets arrived and later landed in Lake Washington, outside of Seattle, where the unsuspecting pilot and passenger were awaited by the Secret Service. The pair were unaware of President Obama’s visit and the restricted fly-zone.

The explosion-like sounds heard throughout the area were caused by shock waves produced when the jets exceeded the speed of sound.

At the time, Air Force One was parked at a nearby air field while President Obama was in Seattle visiting an eatery and attending a fundraiser.

F-15 enforcing the far tax. The President crisscrosses the country at will .. for important things like fundraisers.  OK, fine, he’s the elected chief executive, and certainly he is so far less of a traveler/delay causer than his predecessor or his predecessor’s predecessor .. although I I were in the President’s shoes, I’d travel less and use the money to create more honest jobs … but hey, that’s just me.

But he’s my issue.  Even when the president isn’t on board.the Secret Service expects everyone to know where Air Force One is (technically it is never Air Force One when the President isn’t on board, but you wouldn’t expect new reporters to understand the laws of our land).  They only understand hyperbole and fear mongering.

In the name of “Presidential Security” we launch fighter aircraft from hundreds of miles away to “protect” an airplane that doesn’t even have the president on board.  Why?  because we are powerful agencies and we CAN, not because there is the slightest indication of any threat to the president.  Sad.

Also note, that just like in 2001, the Air Force still arrived too late to do anything about the threat, had it been real.  So in nearly 10 years now, almost a decade into this “War On Terror”, we, the people have accomplished exactly what?

Sacred the crap out of a lot of people and instilled fear in the hearts of Americans who actually have nothing to fear.

The heck with these Tea Parties and other Fox News propaganda, let’s revolt against the damnable “Fear Tax” Americans are paying … remember who we are and then act accordingly … and just say no to Federal Agency jackboots … do we still have the guts to live by our own Constitution?  What sayeth you?

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Filed Under: Editorials Tagged With: , ,

The Rodney Dangerfield of the Philippines — Can’t Get No Respect

August 21, 2010 By Philly 3 Comments

Heard it again just the other day and wondered, yet again, what is it so many of these folks have heard?  A fellow was asking me some advice about a business idea and listing of some of the cites around the Philippines he had thought through where he might sell his product, and true to form for so many folks in the “Philippines wanna be ” community, he end his list with the comment, “of course I’m sure it would sell in Angeles City, but I don’t know if I can deal with the crime and the prostitutes there.”  I mean I could almost picture this fellow spitting in disgust at the end of his statement.

A while back, in a totally different matter, another online friend wrote about a foreigner he knew who had suffered a misfortune or two, and he ended the account of his fellow expat’s hard times by saying, “Of course I can’t help him because he’s chosen to live up there in Angles City, next to all the whorehouses.”

Does this look like a whorehouse to you? Fully furnished house for sale, Angeles Selling for about $65,000 USD.  Or this townhouse?  $334/month Furnished 2 Bedroom Apartment Fully furnished at $334 USD per month?  These are just a couple samples I pulled at random from current listings in Angles.

You know one of the things I have noticed is, in many cities in the Philippines you can’t even find listings of homes for sale or rent.  It’s as if you have to be a member of some private club just to find houses for sale or rent. 

In Angeles City this certainly isn’t the case.  Just take a look at this Blue-Book publication (you can download their current issue in .pdf format) and see some of the flavor of what’s available to expats in Angeles City.  there isn’t another city in the Philippines that even has such a publication, let alone some of the services offered in Angeles.

There are many, very “livable” older subdivision homes for sale or rent too.  One unique feature found in no other city I know of is that many of the rental homes on the market today are in subdivisions that were built back in the US Air Force days and the homes had to be very “Americanized” in order to be approved for servicemen’s off base quarters. 

Angeles City is a medical education center for the Philippines.  There are dozens of hospitals including a couple well regarded teaching hospitals.

There are two major shopping hubs .. one of the larger SM malls and a huge new Ayala property called Marquis Mall.

And restaurants and food stores with products and cuisine from all over the world?  Oh yes, you bet.  Exploring the different restaurants in Angles can be an experience all on its own.

And a real jewel in the crown of Angeles City is the airport.  If you’ve ever been through NAIA airport in Manila, you know one of the chief reasons many visitors to the Philippines never make a second visit.  For an international airport serving the capital city of a whole country, NAIA … well, let’s just say it leaves a bit to be desired, shall we?

Clark, Angeles City’s airport is a full-fledged international airport with service to domestic destinations and a dozen or so international cities.  And it’s clean, modern, spacious and fully “no hassle”.  I highly recommend it, in fact one can often get a good travel deal from the US by looking for a discount flight into Hong Kong and then continuing on to Clark via PAL or Cebu Pacific.  A worthy asset.

Now before you get the idea I am ‘selling” Angeles City (I’m not, I don’t even live there), let me assure you I am not selling anything here.  (If I were, I’d be selling Subic, just a few miles down the brand new, international standard SCTEX toll road ;-) )

But what I get a bit upset about is, the massive amounts of information that circulate about living in the Philippines on line.  And the way certain places get reputations they don’t deserve, just from a certain group who know nothing at all themselves, but spend their life repeating all the hearsay they have heard and passing it on as if they had actually seen things for themselves.  You may not always get the information from me that makes you say, “yes, yes, he’s right, that’s what so-and so-said”, but what you will get from me is honest personal opinion, and if I haven’t had first-hand knowledge, I’ll tell you so.”

Would Angles City be the right place for you to settle in the Philippines?  Maybe yes, maybe no, but for goodness sake, base your decision making on fact rather than fiction … for your own peace of mind, OK?

Popularity: 26% [?]

Filed Under: Things to Do Tagged With: , ,

How Do You Cope With Living in the Philippines?

August 16, 2010 By Philly 9 Comments

This article kind of pairs up with the “slow down” one I wrote recently  It’s mainly an expanded answer I gave to an interesting comment I received from a reader … keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

Here’s an interesting comment from faithful reader, Dave from Texas:

… More and more frequently I think about leaving the rat race and retiring. I could easily live on my savings until age 70 and collect SS at the maximum rate for the remainder of my life. Some questions I’ve been asking myself are:

1. Will I be able to adjust to shopping Filipino style: going to a store and spending excessive waiting periods to complete my transaction. The horror stories of mall shopping in the Philippines can be sobering.

2. Will seeming bureaucratic inefficiencies drive me to insanity? Reading about what should be a simple process of paying bills or renewing immigration documents is somewhat intimidating.

3. Sorry this is not in stock. I take for granted I can get just about whatever I want today. I rarely have to go to more than one store to find it.

I guess I can get used to the crowds, beggars, various forms of pollution – litter, smog and noise. I can even get in the habit of carrying my own TP. I suppose one could always hire a “professional shopper/line waiter. It’s one of the advantages of a third world country – low cost of labor.

How do you cope with things like these Dave?

Well the short answer is, I just do *sigh*.  Looking at your concerns objectively and one by one, let me say in general I’ve experienced frustrations like many of my Philippine frustrations back in the USA … in some cases, maybe worse here, in other cases, the frustrations are  just more noticeable because they are ‘different”.

Mall Shopping:

In the US I am well known for avoiding malls like the plague.  In the Philippines it seems quite the opposite.  I visit our local SM City on virtually a daily basis it seems.  Not that I like the place any more than any other mall, but here I find different things are a lot more important>

Convenience.  Almost every store I ever want to go to, from buying some plumbing item for the house, to buying myself a new package of underwear, to getting a haircut or a manicure to buying fresh flowers for the table and a fresh salad to accompany whatever Mita is cooking for lunch is there …no searching, no wondering where to go, just follow my well-worn path down a couple local streets.  Also the local branch of my bank, BDO is in the mall, so I get 7 day a a week, 10 hour a day banking hours, even on all holidays except Easter and Christmas day.  Also, when you have a local branch available like that you don’t have to live in fear of an ATM outage when you’re short of cash … just step up top the counter with your passbook in hand (you do remember passbooks, don’t you?) and withdraw, just like we all used to do back in the pre-ATM days, if needed.  Hard to beat.

Every other store I visit always has plenty clerks readily at hand and is never crowded in the morning when I typically go.  I also buy regularly from several small kiosks in the aisle of the mall … people know me on site, ask about my health, my wife’s welfare, where my two little nephews are whom I take with me often, etc.  It’s just like home there.

Parking:  A big consideration.  Many places in the Philippine shave no place to park, or else the parking lots provided are a cruel joke.  here I can just drive in and park in am ample, well-patrolled parking lot.  If I want to I can have the car washed right where it sits while I shop … and in addition to the regular security patrols, SM provides a basic theft prevention service … when you drive in you get a ticket from the guards and you must produce the receipt or your registration and proof of ownership before you can drive out.

If I chose to drive into the city, I zip right through the dedicated ‘Easy Pass” only lane … it’s great how no one else seems to want one of these great gimmicks, and when I get to the city mall I’ll have acres and acres of basement parking … but with a fee of 30 Pesos all day … about $0.66 USD cents at today’s rate.

Exercise:  Let’s face it, it gets hot here.  One reason I go to the mall most every day is mall walking along with whatever shopping needs doing.  An hour’s walk around the perimeter of both floors is about 3,000 brisk steps (or 2.6 km) in air conditioned comfort.  there are lots of free-standing gyms and fitness centers on local streets as well, and a swimming resort along the road to our local mall I am ashamed to say I have never checked out. 

Mall horror stories?  Not from me, YMMV.  Unlike the malls in the US, I love going to the mall here. (also, I live near family.  If I really didn’t want to go to the store, I could easily send a niece of nephew, they’re always up for a trip to the mall).  Everything needed to live without the mall is within easy walk of my house as well … or at the press of a few keys to text.  There are 6 or 8 sari-sari stores on every block, a bigger grocery store 2 short blocks away, a dozen food delivery places, filtered water delivery, delivery ladies who come buy with fresh fruits and vegetables (and fish and meats to order) several times a week.

All told it’s way, way more convenient than all the freeway driving I had to do in the US for shopping on a regular basis.  And although I have a car and enjoy driving, I don’t need one at all … tricycles are available by texting or waving my hand from my front door to go anywhere local, and a walk (or tricycle ride to the major Jeepney stop two short blocks away will give me access to a 40 or 50 cent ride to Metro Manila.

These are things to consider when you are going to live somewhere long-term.  I’d hate to grow old in the US, because you HAVE to have a car, and (as will come to all of us someday), when that day comes you no longer are safe driving, you’re essentially ‘dead’ … a huge burden on other people to get you places.  Some cites are still blessed with senior ambulatory services, but I don’t want to live out my life as a pitiful old fart waiting for the city “short bus” to come get me … and in today’s budgetary climate, how many cites are cutting these services, drastically.  Here, I take care of my own needs, I don’t live as a ward of the city and a burden on other taxpayers.

Bureaucratic Inefficiencies:

Paying Bills:  Well it is true this used to be an issue.  But I just paid my monthly cable TV bill today .. 550 pesos … about $12.22 USD … includes the ‘big three’ movie channels, ESPN, the big news channels and Discovery and Nat Geo, along with a couple dozen other channels I never watch … and I realized it’s the only monthly bill I now have that I have to leave my house to pay.  My rent I pay over the fence to my next door neighbor.  Electric, Internet and my BDO credit card I pay on line via the bank’s excellent online bill pay system.  I carry the BDO Philippine Master Card just for the purpose of things like grocery shopping, hotels, larger restaurants, etc., so I don’t have to carry wads of pesos around with me.  It costs 75 Pesos a month and it’s well worth it.  I normally visit the bank once a month to deposit a US dollar check from my US credit union and transfer dollars to my pesos account for the upcoming month’s needs.  The cable company is the only one who hasn’t gotten on the direct debit bandwagon, so I stop at a local Bill Pay Center that’s on the way to the mall … takes 30 seconds or so for the guy to take my cash and issue a receipt … done and dusted.  When I had a car payment, that came directly out of my pesos account monthly, and when my annual car insurance is due, they send a bill, I pay that online as well.  Not much hassle in bill paying, pretty much the same as when I was paying bills back in Colorado.

Bureaucratic Inefficiencies:  Oh yes, we have them, but really I don’t see much hassle factor.  You do have to be flexible though … which goes along with the “out of stock” situation.  Example, in January when my license plates needed renewal I drove to the local LTO (Land Transportation Office) in our town, backed my car into a stall in the adjacent emissions testing center .. there was no one waiting .. and stood with the emissions tech next to my license plate while the boss snapped a picture to prove the test was done with the owner present.  this is part of a huge program the LTO is vigorously pursuing to stamp out ‘fixers”.

Then I went to Window One and asked what form to fill up … I mean you go to Window One at every motor vehicle department I have ever seen, except when I lived in Japan .. it was Window 0 first there ;-) .  Filled up the form, handed it in in Window two, sat on a bench in the shade and chatted with other drivers there about where I came from in the US, how much did it cost to get license plates renewed in the US, how I found Filipino driving, etc., and waited for the guy in Window Three to call my name.

When he did, he handed me a sheet to show my charges … about P3,000 since it’s a nearly new car still, then I went to Window 4 to hand in the bill and my money.  Went back to sit on the bench until my name was called from Window 5.

Rebewing registration or license Philippines In a few minutes the Window 5 guy called me, handed me an OR (Official Receipt) and said, “No renewal stickers, sir, out of stock,  Come back in 30 days.  You are legal to drive with your expired stickers and this OR.”

So I guess that’s pretty inefficient, apparently they forgot to order stickers.  But, all in all, no big deal.  I was in and out in under 30 minutes, and second week in February I drove over again, handed my OR directly to the guy in Window 5, he handed my back the OR and my shiny new “2010” stickers.  The second trip, including sticking on the stickers didn’t take 30 minutes … about par for the course.

This was mostly all done in English by the way.  My wife was with me on the first trip and did get into the conversation quite a bit, though.  And while I am grateful for her assistance, I’m resolved to do it all on my own next time.  I’ve learned the hard way that taking family ‘helpers” along, or worse yet, paying “fixers”, often gets things all screwed up. It’s not that they don’t mean well.  In fact, it’s often a case that they try to do too much for you, sometimes asking special favors that annoy people and build up that hidden resentment against the foreigner throwing his weight around. 

I mean truly, if you go on your own, what’s the worst that can happen?  You get treated like you don’t know what you are doing by a rude clerk?  Well, you don’t know what you are doing, and rude clerks are a hazard of life world-wide.  It’s part of paying the tuition of life.  Just learn from the experience and next time you will know what you are doing.  You can’t learn to surf by reading a book, and you can’t learn how to live in the Philippines unless you learn how to fend for yourself.

Now with the Bureau of Immigration?  Never had a problem.  Just remember to wear shoes, long pants and a proper shirt, fill up whatever simple forms you are asked to, when the cashier calls your name, pay, when the immigration officer walks out of the back room with a handful of passports and calls your name again, go collect the passport and leave.  You also can use a licensed agent for visa renewals, most travel agents are accredited, so it’s possible to almost never visit the BI.

I just read some very cogent similar advice from a foreigner whose been in the Philippines a lot longer than me.

Forget about the 2 words "WHY" and "SHOULD" or you get constant headache trying to understand why things happen like they do in places outside your own country, especially the Philippines. Acceptance is the preferable attitude. There are too many things for you to question, so it’s better for you not to start. So just relax and enjoy the positive aspects of your surroundings with a sense of humor.

Anyway, David (and others), hope these thoughts may help you a bit with the idea of what you will need to adjust to here.  There’s another article I wrote with some good illustrations on these points … dealing with the inefficiencies and keeping you cool by deciding what you really want in the first place here.

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A (soon to be) Definitive Answer to those Cost of Living Questions

August 10, 2010 By Philly 4 Comments

Thanks and a big tip of the blog hat to frequent reader John form Austria for sending this my way.  It’s a really kewl tewl put together by just one guy with a sense of purpose, and if we can get enough people participating it will become a very useful tool for expats here in the Philippines and allover the world as well.

What is It?  A website and cost of living tool called Expatistan.com (gotta love that name, eh?)

Who Built It? A fellow by the name of Gerardo Robledillo.  Big thanks and a double tip of the hat to Gerardo!

How does it Work?  Here’s the basics from their FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions):

  • How do you find the prices?

    Short answer, I don’t. You do.

    Expatistan is a collaborative effort. Prices are added and improved by other users of the website, just like you. Think of it as a Wikipedia for prices. At the moment, there are around 18,300 prices entered by 5,000 users for 289 different cities.


  • Some of the prices are wrong. Will you fix them?

    Well, you can fix them yourself. And entering the correct prices online is probably easier, faster and less boring than having to type and send an email with a long list of prices in it.


  • How do you know that the prices entered are correct?

    By relying on the power of big numbers, and collective wisdom. If you ask one person what is the price for a beer in New York, he may be wrong, he may even be wrong by a long shot. But if you ask 150 people, and you average their answers (in a clever way), then there’s a very good chance that the answer will be pretty accurate.

    Anyway, whenever there is not enough data for a city, or if the application suspects that the data is incorrect in any way, there will be a prominent warning in the page alerting of that.


  • Can you add my city to your index?

    Probably, but you will have to ask.

    I have started by adding the biggest 850 cities in the world (since I had to make the cut somewhere). I have done that to try to minimize the dispersion of the price entry. The smaller the city, the more likely that only a small number of people will enter prices for it.

    Of course, there will be exceptions to this rule. There are some smaller cities that are very popular among expats, or are important in some way. Zürich is a perfect example. It has an official population of only 350,000 people, but it’s quite an important city, with a huge expat community.

    If you think that your city may fall in this case, then please, let me know about it (using the contact form at the bottom of the page). More often than not, I will add your city.

    • Pretty interesting if you ask me … and one of those “head slapper”,”Why Didn’t I Think of That” ideas.

    Now I know, immediately, I’m going to get mail and comments from folks who say, “It doesn’t list my city”, or “the prices are too high, too low”, etc.

    Well re-read the above Q&A and you(we) can fix it ourselves.  I’ve already updated a bunch of prices for Manila, if you are  interested in prices in other Philippine cities, just make a request, as Gerardo suggests.

    Go forth, compare, enjoy.

    Philippine Cost of Living Comparisons

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    Pulling the Trigger is More Important Than Any Other task

    July 29, 2010 By Philly 16 Comments

    Whenever I am not sure exactly what idea I should craft an article around, there is one “evergreen”, always ready one that will work on this blog … Moving to the Philippines.  One reason it is always a “go” for me writing or visitors reading is, there’s a whole group of people who have been “thinking about” and “planning for” and “considering” moving here for years now … I just heard from a guy this am that surprised me … he was a frequent contributor to a Yahoo Group about living in the Philippines which I used to frequent back before the year 2000.

    And, he still hasn’t made up his mind.

    How many more like him are out there?  I don’t know, but feedback from my readers here certainly let’s me know that it is more than a few.

    I saw a neat quote this morning about an article from Steve Pavlina that I’ve read before … but perhaps not pointed out here.  Thanks, Michael, for pointing this important concept out to me, yet again Launching Your First Product – How We Did It!

    Steve Pavlina explains READY FIRE AIM perfectly in this article:

    As Steve explains – the ready-fire-aim approach, rather surprisingly works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach.

    “The reason is that after you’ve “fired” once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim…)?

    If you think you want to move to the Philippines, then move to  the Philippines.  You know,the door swings both ways … if you try to make go of it here and you find out that the luster of your dream is a little less bright, then pack up and go somewhere else.

    Ready, Fire, Aim, Philippines I need not be the soul numbing, stress inducing torture than so many of you seem to make it out to be.  What’s the worst that can happen?  You have to pay for some plane fares back home?  Let me assure you of something … if you are living in the US right now, you are likely wasting way more than the cost of some air tickets, each and every year, burning up your money on cable TV. ridiculous cell phone plans, insurance for everything up to and including orthodontics for your dog … and likely even some ore US-induced waste I haven’t thought of yet.

    You might be interested in my article on “Economy Birding” in the Philippines as well.  Many folks, in today’s US economy, might find out it’s very smart to come here for a few years, wipe out the debts that are making you lose sleep now, get rid of the expenses you don’t really need, so you can focus on the important issues you feel you have to pay … and in general, just adding a few years to your life.

    Could I be wrong?  Of course I could … but guess what?  If you just sit there, worrying and wishing and never do anything, you will never, ever know.

    Ready, Fire, Aim … it can work.

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    First Philippine Typhoon of the Year is History

    July 14, 2010 By Philly 2 Comments

    It’s a little too early in the year for typhoons here in central Luzon … at least so far as I’m concerned., but Typhoon Conson, Philippine name Basyang, was just a tiny dot on the map way out east a few days ago … an inconsequential ‘x’ called “03W”, (the third tropical depression in the western Pacific for 2010.  It picked up force, and much more ground speed than usual and yesterday, the elementary school kids were already sent home under Storm Signal One, the mildest of the three standardized storm signals issued by PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration).

    Last night, before bed, I rolled up the outside sun shades on some of the windows, closed all the windows and made sure the candles and flashlights were in easy reach.  Woke up when the air con went off with the rest of the power about 1 am, and actually spent the rest of the night in my recliner in the living room … it was much cooler there because the way the wind was coming I could have a window open.

    By first light, most of the wind and all the rain was gone .. but no power and no Internet until after noon time.  (but the way, hint for coffee lovers .. I filled the electric coffeemaker before bed, but without electric I had to wait until noon for the first cup you might be thinking.  No, just boil a kettle of water on the gas stove and pour that through the coffee in the filter and your drip coffee maker will make you piping hot and fresh coffee any time, “curyente” or no “curyente”).

    Depression 03W just a few days ago

    03w-2010-1

    Conson/Bayang current track:

    conson-2010-1

    The naming of these northwest Pacific storms gets confusing, especially to those folks thousands of miles away who may have family or other loved ones here in the Philippines.  This web site gives a pretty good explanation.

    http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/B2.html

    The next storm to come, not on the radar yet,will be Philippine name: Caloy

    Meanwhile, life goes on at it’s same pace as ever in the Philippines … and I’m a happy camper, because both the the electric power and my Internet service is working just fine.

    Popularity: 5% [?]

    Filed Under: Weather Reports Tagged With: , ,

    Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. Leave the Philippines or Stay, Part 2

    July 10, 2010 By Philly 2 Comments

    Part two.  If you missed Part One, it is here, telling the story of how I got started on this whole “leave the Philippines or stay” question.

    In summary regarding the much ballyhooed US recession, yes there are people hurting, but to a large extent the recession impression fueled by the mass media is not representative of what is really going on in the USA. 

    They (the media) get more viewers writing stories about people who paid $400,000 USD for a house that wasn’t worth $200,000 and now can’t accept the fact they did something stupid, than they can ever make out of a story about Joe Six-pack who works in a steel mill and gets more overtime per month than he really wants.

    … Another thing I am considering is the loss of my license to practice law here if I acquire US Citizenship. Filipino citizenship is a necessary requirement to practice law in the Philippines. Even assuming that I can make use of the Dual Citizenship law, would I not have to initially relinquish my Filipino citizenship upon acquiring US citizenship and just subsequently re-acquire it? Does that mean I have to lose my license initially? Of course I am kind of thinking about all these things out loud. Eventually, I will have everything kind of charted in a kind of pros and cons thing where I can make a more careful evaluation of our options. …

    I’m not a lawyer myself (obvious) and I certainly can’t research all the fifty states, but California is a good place to look, because it’s typically a leading state in advances and changes to the law and they also publish a lot of information. 

    So far as I can tell, in any state, there is no requirement for US citizenship in order to practice law.  As a spouse of a US citizen, you have the right to work in the US immediately, so you would be qualified to look for a job from day one as something on the order of a paralegal or legal secretary/researcher. 

    Ask someone like Attorney Michael Gurfinkel (do you ever watch him on “Citizen Pinoy”, or read his newspaper columns?) if there are opportunities in the US for folks who are up to date in Philippines law.

    So far as actually getting back to being a full-fledged lawyer, California at least doesn’t seem to make it all that difficult.  Your UP credentials seem to count for a lot:

    … Persons who have studied law in a law school in a foreign state or country may qualify as general applicants provided that they
    (A) have a first degree in law, acceptable to the Committee, from a law school in the foreign state or country and have completed a year of legal education at an American Bar Association Approved Law School or a California accredited law school in areas of law prescribed by the Committee; or
    (B) have a legal education from a law school located in a foreign state or country without a first degree in law, acceptable to the Committee, and
    (1) have met the general education requirements;
    (2) have studied law as permitted by these rules in a law school, in a law office or judge’s chambers, or by any combination of these methods (up to one year of legal education credit may be awarded for foreign law study completed); and
    (3)have passed the First-Year Law Students’ Examination in accordance with these rules and Committee policies….

    It’s likely paragraph (A) would apply to you, and I note that the California Bar is very attuned to correspondence school and on-line education, so the apparent one year of education at an ABA Approved law school would not even have to be in residence.

    I have no idea of the legal issue regarding your law license and a brief time as a US citizen only.  However, you should consider this. if you went to the USA and took up citizenship, you technically, at the time you take your US oath, lose your Filipino citizenship. 

    But in real-world, “what happens” terms, this is a “nothing” event in day-to-day events.  No “official notice” gets sent to any Philippine government agency that I know of. nor the Philippine bar.  Depending upon the actual dates of events, you can reacquire your Philippine citizenship within a day or a week of renouncing it, depending on what Philippine Consulate serves the place you are living in the US.

    Now you are again a Philippine (and US) citizen once again, with her same law license documentation.  I’m sure you wouldn’t want to just “ignore” the fact that the change occurred … although I am sure some would ;-) , but check the rules out here for yourself.  I’m sure there is a way around this, legally and forthrightly.

    And one issue that has troubled me this whole conversation.  Going over all the pros and cons of US citizenship versus Philippine citizenship.  Why is this the question?

    Have you considered this alternative?  Go to the US with your husband on a spousal visa.  Get your US Green Card (virtually the same issues that you and your husband went through to get his 13(a) percent Resident visa for the Philippines).

    If you then decided you wanted to become a US citizen.  I’d be flattered even, but there is no need, ever, for you to go any farther.  As a lawful US permanent resident, a status you are already qualified for, you can live in the US for as long as you chose to, you can come and go from and to the Philippines as you wish (there are some limits, but they are broad), and you need never deal with any Dual Citizen questions. 

    No Filipino suffers any consequence to his/her citizenship by virtue of having a US Green Card.  Presto, in one fell swoop, all the troublesome questions disappear.  Am I missing something here?

    … On the other hand, I wonder if by staying here I deprive my Asawa of good healthcare. I also wonder if by staying here I deprive myself even of the opportunities that would not be available for me here — a higher-paying job and survivorship benefits. Also if we have kids I also wonder if by staying here, I would also deprive them of opportunities that could be available for them there.

    There are also so many advantages to staying here. I feel so much better raising children here (if we can still have one). I feel they can turn out more like the way we would want them if they were raised here. I don’t know… but what do you think? …

    Children are of course the most important consideration of all.  Even though my wife and I are currently planning to remain childless, one never knows.  Children you and your husband might have while living here in the Philippines would be eligible to be US citizens except for two legal points.  They couldn’t run for President of the USA (the only office that Constitutionally requires birth on US soil), and, unless they physically lived in the USA for a certain period of time, they, in turn, could not pass on US citizenship to children they might have.

    If you went to the US and then had children, they would be ‘regular” US citizens and “natural born” Filipinos, based on your citizenship. (Even if you gave yours up, if you reacquire, they gain their Philippine citizens as part of a “package deal”).

    So citizenship-wise, there is no clear cut advantage for potential children no mater where you live … they will have the opportunity to carry both country’s passport and the ability to take advantage of whatever opportunities either country has to off.

    I do think maternity and child reari
    ng leaves and working rights are more liberal here in the Philippines … but if you follow my frequent advice you won’t get yourself “stuck”: in a job anyway .. set up your own law practice or firm (incorporation laws in the US are ludicrously easy compared with corporate rues here) and then you dictate maternity benefits ;-)

    What you would not have the advantage of are the excellent private schools available here.  Myself, having raised two children in the US years ago, I wouldn’t send another child to US public schools … I’d home school … but then, that’s just me. 

    The question of where to raise your children is indeed important, and to me, the Philippines has some great advantages … but may I point out a simple fact?  You have no children now.  If you start a family immediately, aren’t we talking about at least 4 to 5 years from now before schools become a big issue?

    It seems to me that you are making this whole question a bit more difficult for yourself than it has to be.  If you can tell, for sure, where you are going to be and what work you will be doing in 5 years’ time, then I’d say you are a much better prognosticator than most of us. 

    In five years you could have been to the States, gotten a Green Card, studied for and passed the Bar, attained US citizenship, reacquired your Filipino citizenship, borne a child or two and raised them to pre-school readiness and now be sitting there wondering if you and your family wanted to return to the Philippines or stay there in the US.

    This is an important decision but hardly a permanent one … people come and go between our two countries often … some are very happy with a home in the Philippines and one in the US as well.  I don’t recall seeing a single word about how your husband feels on this issue, either.  What is his preference?

    Whichever you decide on, I wish you the best.  You really can’t make “the wrong”  decision here, because there are clear advantages to either going or staying.  I’m sure you’ll do well.

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    Recent Queries That People Used To Find PhilFAQS — Frequently Asked Philippine Questions

    July 8, 2010 By Philly Leave a Comment

    How much is gas in the Philippines?  As of 7 July 2010 in northern Metro Manila .. Diesel, 34.5 Pesos per Liter and regular Unleaded for 42 Pesos per liter.  Saw those prices at at least five gas stations I passed yesterday.  OK, wow, Pesos per Liter,.  What does that mean in “real” prices.

    Well actually, those are real prices.  I am always amazed by the number of people who contact me with questions … often real, meaningful questions, about living here or moving here, yet they have not even made the most trivial attempt to understand things by learning what a liter or a meter or a hectare or a kilometer are.  You aren’t in Kansas any more, fellow Americans … learn the basics of the Metric system. please.  (I can address this rant only to fellow Americns, because the USA id virtually the only “first world” country who refuses to use the far superior Metric system.)  Hmm, and all the jobs are flowing to countries that do?  You don’t suppose there can be any connection there, do you?

    Anyway, back to the motor fuel question:  Diesel: P34.x x 3.785 liters per gallon = P 130.58 per gallon or $2.80 USD at today’s rate of 46.5.  Regular unleaded? P42 x 3,785 = P159 pesos per liter, or about $3.42USD  per gallon.

    Of course ‘gas” might also mean cooking gas, which nearly everyone uses for cooking here .. typically LPG or CNG.  That currently runs about P700 for an 11 kilogram bottle (the same bottle you are used to on BBQ grills in the US), delivered.  Works out to about $15 USD, we use about 4 bottles a year here at Blog Central Bulacan, with a larger or smaller family, YMMV.

    Number of gasoline stations in Philippines? Wow.  Don’t know where to get this info.  I can tell you one thing, it is a very, very large number.  Unlike the US, almost all of them are actually what we used to call “service stations”.  They pump your gas, wash you windshield, air up your tires, provide restrooms, repair tires, replace wiper blades, etc..  Those of you under 40 years old or so likely have no idea what I’m talking about ;_0

    Car wash services and price list Philippines?  There’s a car wash on every other corner, it seems, and at all the major malls there are roving car was boys with a tank on wheels and a soapy water bucket who will wash your car while you shop.  I always go to a local fellow a few blocks from me who has a three-car facility tacked on to the end of his house.  Car wash, foam and hand wiping on the outside, complete inside vacuum, take out the floor mats and scrub them and last step, make the tires black .. P70 or P80 or P90 depending on the size of the car or van.  This seems a pretty common price.  They will wax the car, by hand, with US-brand wax after a wash for the same price … in other words inside and out complete was and hand wax, P160 or about $3.45 USD.  Prices in the shopping malls and such can be ludicrous, I never use them.

    SCTEX rate? The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) is a 94-kilometer four-lane expressway north of Manila, in the Philippines.  This is actually a kind of funny query I get all the time, based(sadly) ion the fact that the people who probably charged the operators of this toll roads and others a fortune for their pretty web sites, but they neglected the most simplistic rules for getting stuff indexed with Google.  I find I am as high as number 5 on the first page of Google for this query from time to time.  I don’t have a table of the tolls between individual exits.  From Dau, (Angeles City) where I usually enter to Tipo, the southern end that serves Subic, the toll is P112.  From Dau to Tarlac, the current northern end, the toll is P69.  From Tipo to Tarlac, it is P181.  Happy motoring.

    Jobs in Philippines for foreigners?  One of my perennial favorites, I probably get found for this query five times more than any other.  My answer is, as it has been for years, you don’t want a job here.  But if you read my posts by category, or search my site by keyword, you’ll find a lot of articles here, including pointers to web sites in the Philippines that do list jobs for foreigners … for those who have a stubborn streak and don’t want to take expert advice.

    Anyway, another fun day with Google, hope yours has been half as much fun as mine has.

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    Can You Insulate Yourself Cool in the Philippines — Why R Value is Useless

    June 9, 2010 By Philly 18 Comments

    Those of you who were interested in the first article of this Philippine cool series will be happy to see I didn’t forget to keep going … the others, well maybe not so much.  No problem, you’re welcome to sweat along with the rest of us while you surf around and find something you like better.

    We closed the last article talking about the three ways heat energy transfers from a warm place to a cold place … radiation, conduction and convection.  Remember it heat energy is similar in many ways to electrical energy, it only travels one way, from hot to cold.  We mentioned that in the the US and other countries that get cold in the winter, the major mode of heat transfer we deal with is building paths against heat CONDUCTION.  We work hard at keeping the expensive, relatively puny heat source inside from escaping into the infinite coldness of space.  And basically, to be successful, we really only need to keep things sealed up as tight as possible and provide as many barriers to the conduction of heat from inside to outside in order to keep our utility bills and comfort level reasonable.

    Thermodynamics in the Philippines operate exactly the same way as anywhere else on the globe, but the scale of heat energy here is way different than in the US.  Our houses are virtually always warm enough, our problem is basically far different in scope.  Instead of trying to keep the heat from a furnace capable of, at best, a few hundred thousand BTU’s of heat production per hour, (roughly 2900/3500 Watts per hour in a typical home)we instead have the sun … a thermonuclear furnace of vast proportions … estimated at 384.6 YW (yottaWatts, 10 to the 24th .. that’s 10 with 24 zeros after it).  The differences is the scale of the problem are astounding.  In more practical terms each square meter of you roof in the Philippines receives about10,000 Watts per hour when in full sun … a typical (small) roof would be perhaps 150 square meters, so at noon we are looking at something like 1,500,000 Watts of solar radiation hitting the roof. or, going back to US familiar terms 5,172,000 BTU per hour heat load … three hundred forty or more standard US furnaces on the roof, all trying hard to pup their thermal energy inside.

    And remember our heat flow … warm to cold.  If you have a room inside cooled to some comfortable level … say72/74 F or 21 or 22 degrees C, how hard do you really think it will be for our 344 roaring roof furnaces to start raising that temperature into the discomfort zone?

    Actually, when you lay the figures out like this it seems impossible.  Better stay home in the US of A.  What the heck am I doing here?  It’s 7:31 am and a cloudy day, yet I’m already starting to sweat in front of the computer room fan .. in a few minutes I’ll have to close the windows and start the air conditioner …because even if I can stand the heat, my computer can’t and it will go into a very slow, hesitating “max cooling” mode which drives me crazy (a short trip, by the way).

    And yes I said cloudy.  Just because the sun is behind the clouds doesn’t mean there isn’t tremendous solar radiation coming in from it .. may be slowed down measurably but a whole hell of a lot of heat is still a whole hell of a lot of heat, even if you cut it in half.

    But it’s not hopeless, not hopeless at all.  You just have to attack the problem in the way it needs to be attacked.

    Packing the attic space full of insulating materials, as Fred described in the first article is not going to do much good.  The sun’s energy comes to us directly as radiation .. radiant energy.  When it strikes the roof, some significant portion of it is reflected or re-radiated.  We’ll talk much more on those processes later.  The remainder of the sun’s visible and infrared energy is conducted through the metal roof and heats the air in the attic (above the room ceiling) space via conduction and immediately circulates to warm the attic space by convection.  In other words, in a very short time after sunrise, the attic spaces gets uncomfortably hot and it keeps on getting hot as the day goes on.

    And what is that heat trying to do … always?  Travel from hot to cold .. which in this case (relatively speaking) is the room you are trying to be comfortable in.

    Guarded hot plate R value testing In the US and many other countries we are very familiar with the term “R” value.  It is even a government-mandated term in the US and it stems from precise laboratory tests where insulating materials are placed between two calibrated and instrumented plates in a laboratory, one plate is heated and the flow of heat from the hot to the cold plate is measured.  The higher the resistance to this conductive heat flow, the higher the “R” value of the material under test.

    This is of primary concern where, as I illustrated earlier, we are trying to trap the relatively minuscule energy our home heating plant puts out and keep it from being conducted into the cold night sky.

    But when we go into the reverse summertime situation, especially when we have summers like they have in Miami or the Philippines, the R value essentially becomes useless.  It really doesn’t matter if you have a fiberglass bat umpteen inches thick, or some sort of polyurethane materials, or even cellulose (one of the most effective R value conduction insulators known) .. with those millions and millions of watts radiating the insulation itself going to eventually heat up and essentially not even be there.  You can delay the flow from hot to cold but most of the heat is coming to you by radiant energy and conductive R value products don’t effectively stop radiation.

    I even recently heard a fellow here in the Philippines tell me he was going to dump a lot of some sort of high R value insulation in his attic and to keep the heat from flowing in through his walls, he was going to cover the outside of his house with Styrofoam insulation board and then stucco over that.

    While researching that idea if found a pretty interesting report of a US government test that mimicked quite a bit of what he was planning to do:

    The Test: Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee which is the technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department of Energy, took homes in Miami FL, Phoenix AZ and Atlanta GA which were single-story, single-family detached houses with exterior walls constructed of concrete block, and interior walls of wood-framed drywall. (author’s note … this pretty much describes the typical Philippine single-story hollow-block home)They insulated the walls and applied stucco as follows,

    "We attached two layers of inch-thick polystyrene foam insulation boards to the exterior walls, next a wire lath, and finally, stucco. After the stucco had dried, it was painted a light color. Total retrofit costs ranged from $3,610 to $4,550 per house, averaging $3.34 per square foot of exterior wall area to be covered with insulation."

    The Results?   "In all cases, insulating the walls resulted in a much lower rate of heat transfer through the walls when the outdoor temperature
    exceeded the indoor temperature, but the added insulation also increased the retention of heat generated within the house when the outdoor temperature fell below the indoor temperature.
    In some locations–particularly in Miami–the addition of wall insulation actually increased the cooling load during the spring and fall."
    Note: "A lower RATE of transfer", not a reduction in the total amount.

    It’s probably worth reading and thinking about those last two sentences again.  The ones I highlighted in red.  “R” value-rated insulation can slow the transfer of heat by conduction, but it can not block it.  And the heat that we get in our attic spaces and thence into our room here in the Philippines is only 3 to 5% from thermal Conduction  the remaining 90 plus percent of the heat flow is by Radiation, and typical R value insulation not only doesn’t stop this radiant energy, it may even INCREASE the overall cooling load on your Philippine house because it holds the heat in longer during the night.

    Pretty depressing overall, eh?  For years we have been following that cute Pink Panther down to the Home Depot store and buying all that itchy fiberglass insulation be cause even our own government told us it was good for us and good for the environment.

    Well the US government wasn’t wrong at all, they were just advising us on how to solve a totally different problem than what we have here, living in the Philippines.

    Nest installment?  Some solutions .. some conventional and some, positively space age.  Stay tuned.

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    Can You Insulate Yourself Cool in the Philippines — Intro

    June 8, 2010 By Philly 1 Comment

    Like most everyone else I know in the Philippines., I currently suffer from two main complaints … it’s hot … especially my little one-story, steel roofed bungalow style house and two, electricity costs way too dang much.

    Last time I looked electricity in the Philip[pines was second in cost only to Japan, and with the 25% (plus) increase my area suffered two months back, it’s likely more than Japan now.

    Those of you in the US with abundant, often government subsidized electric power (Hoover Dam, TVA, REA, the list goes on) rally have little or no idea what you will be up against if you move to the Philippines.  The electric supply is not only expensive, it’s very, very often unreliable, or it can even be used as a political tool as a few in-the-know allege happen this past election in the Philippin3es.  Regardless how much truth there is or isn’t in that conspiracy theory, I can assure you you’ll become a lot more conscious of kilowatt hours (kWh) here than you are used to in the US.

    By far the major electric expense for any household here is cooling.  If you’re a Westerner to have Western budget resources, you’ll spend most of the monthly bill running air conditioners.  If you’re Filipino or more Filipino-oriented in your outlook/budget, you’re going to spend most of your day and evening sitting in the past of a fan … electric fans are cheaper to run than air conditioners but they sure ain’t free either … but go without any power in couple hours Brownout/Blackout and you’ll be very, very appreciative of a simple fan … trust me on that.

    Now I got an interesting comment from a regular reader here, (thanks, Fred) and it made me think a lot … and, in fact, made me do a lot of research over the weekend.  Here’s some excerpts from Fred’s comment to consider:

    ….. QUESTIONS!! how many homes built in the last 20 years have CEILING INSULATION equal to R40 or better, 1 in 100,000, How many have NON- LOUVERED WINDOWS, not talking about double pane or Triple pane here, just ordinary windows, same number!! How many have roofs which are not huge heat sinks, painted a DARK COLOR, such as RED!!!, SILVER or WHITE much better!!

    Try to buy formaldehyde free fiberglass insulation here in Cebu, Have not found it yet!!! I get referred to what passes as insulation, open foam styro with some shiny aluminum foil on it. I ask what is the R value, get blank look, so I stop.

    SOLUTION:
    I have found Styrofoam peanuts the size of Monggo Beans here, price depends on number of kilos you buy at one time. Fill the voids between rafters on the ceilings over full, then take that Styrofoam with the shiny backing and staple it over the top of the styro peanuts to push them down, then take 4×8 sheets of Styrofoam an lay over the top of the shiny Styro an push down to compact.
    DO THIS IN BEDROOM WITH THE AIR CON, SHOULD SEE AT LEAST A DROP IN ELECTRIC TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT ALL THE WORK, AN STAY MUCH COOLER.
    Then replace those louvered windows In the air con bedroom with glass block windows
    If you like the results then insulate the ceilings in the whole house …

    Well most of what Fred says there is some pretty good advice, but a couple thing are, in my opinion, absolutely wrong … mainly because we Westerners think that “applied physics” … like deciding how to insulate our houses here … is the same, US or or Philippines.  because we never really got the actual physics of insulation right, we spend a lot of hours of our lives chasing things like “R values”, when in fact … except for a few cool nights in Baguio, where people often have a fireplace for heat … R Value and many other US concepts regarding insulation and energy costs are way out in left field.

    It’s going to take several articles to convey the real facts about insulation in a foreign, tropical country and how those facts relate to what most Americans “know” or at least think they know about home insulation.  Let’s explore the very basics here in this article and then I’ll run some more posts depending on the interest I see.

    imageFirst of all, what the heck is heat anyway?

    In physics and thermodynamics, heat is the process of energy transfer from one body or system due to thermal contact, which in turn is defined as an energy transfer to a body in any other way than due to work performed on the body.[1]

    A related term is thermal energy, loosely defined as the energy of a body that increases with its temperature. Heat is also loosely referred to as thermal energy, although many definitions require this thermal energy to actually be in the process of movement between one body and another to be technically called heat (otherwise, many sources prefer to continue to refer to the static quantity as "thermal energy"). Heat is a flow of energy, rather than a form of energy.[citation needed]

    Energy transfer by heat can occur between objects by radiation, conduction and convection. Temperature is used as a measure of the internal energy or enthalpy, that is the level of elementary motion giving rise to heat transfer. Energy can only be transferred by heat between objects – or areas within an object – with different temperatures (as given by the zeroth law of thermodynamics). This transfer happens spontaneously only in the direction of the colder body (as per the second law of thermodynamics).

    Now this is nearly a thousand words already and I don’t want to make anyone sweat, trying to wrap their head around too much at once.   There are two important points, though, that you have got to take away from this and remember in our next discussion:

    radiation, conduction and convection.  In the US and other countries that get cold in the winter, the major mode of heat transfer we deal with is building paths against heat CONDUCTION.  When you are trying to keep your 2,000 square foot home at a livable temperature on a zero-degree night, you need worry very little about radiation or convection.  Conduction is the process that “sucks” your expensive heat energy right out the roof, walls and windows an doors … and most of what we know and most of what we do regarding insulation in the USA is related to slowing down “conduction” of heat … remember … always “From” the warm inside
    of out house “To the vast coldness of space … the heat always travels from hot to cold.

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    Things You Can Do For Fun At Subic Bay, Philippines

    June 3, 2010 By Philly 3 Comments

    I spend quite a bit of time here on the blog and in many personal conversations, explaining to people that living in the Philippines is nothing like the lady enjoying life in this picture.Re;axing on the beack at Subic

    Yet, on the other hand, I have been to the exact patch of sand where that picture was taken and I guarantee you it is real, and within a two or two and a half hour drive from the smoggy heart of Manila, along modern toll roads with no traffic lights or tricycle snarls.

    So maybe life in the Philippines is a beach … and I just don’t go there often enough?  

    As I mentioned last time, we frequently visit the Subic Bay Freeport.  And one of the absolute prime attractions on Subic is the Ocean View Adventure theme park.  A comment often thrown about in the Philippines is “world class”.  Sometimes it refers to something that truly is worth the adjective and other times it is what some hopeful resort entrepreneur wants you to think is world class, when the place doesn’t even have toilet seats, toilet paper and soap in the washroom.

    Well I can personally attest, as a satisfied customer, that ocean Adventure delivers on their promises.  What exactly is Ocean Adventure?  Well it’s loosely called a theme park, and that part is true.  But there are quite a few attractions when you sit down and list them all out … more than you can do on a one day visit, that is for sure.

    What To See:

    Here’s the “Main Course” .. what you get for a very reasonable one day admission … 500 Pesos … about $11.50USD the day I was there. … all-in, no ups, mo extras

    Ocean Discovery Aquarium

    aquarium1

    Bright colors. Strange shapes. Mysterious creatures. Welcome to the World of the Discovery Aquarium. Explore the fascinating waters of Subic Bay and the South China Sea – without getting wet. Inside our air conditioned aquarium explore many habitats and the amazing animals that live in them – fresh water streams, mangrove forests, coral reefs and deep dark caves. Discover actions you can take to protect these fragile marine environments.

    This is the first attraction we visited.  (they are all close together in easy kids waling distance, and connected by covered walkways to shade you from the sun, or the rainy season showers.  This is one of the few attractions up here in the Northland that is pretty much a rain or shine environment.  Good for the “gray season’ “cabin fever “blahs”.

    Small, but exquisitely maintained … not just a bunch of fish in a tank.

    Learning Center

    learningcenter

    What’s the difference between a fish and a mammal? What is Baleen? What do you call a group of dolphins? Discover the answers to these fun facts and many more in the learning center. Find out how you can get involved in conservation action. Colorful graphics,fun activities, and interesting talks by our friendly Park Guides – there’s always something going on in the Learning Center!

    This will be more appropriate for my nephews when they are a little older.  At 3 and (almost) five they are already veterans of organized school, but we made this trip on their summer vacations, so give them a break, OK?

     

     

     The International Champions High Dive Show

    image

    Back by popular demand, Ocean Adventure is proud to present the International Champion High Divers. This exciting show features amazing divers from around the world, all here for a summer season of great entertainment. From precision diving to wild and crazy comic antics to the drama of a high dive 85 feet in the air, the high divers show is guaranteed to thrill and amaze the entire family.

    Sadly I didn’t get to see the diving show itself .. the kids were already tuckered out … the show itself normally runs at 1330 or 1400 and you can believe me I’ll be back to see it RSN (Real Soon Now). 

    The next time we visit I think one of my grown nieces who is a bit of a high diver herself (I have a picture of her around her somewhere going off a 30 foot platform) will be along.  I’ll tell her to bring her swimsuit … can there be much difference between 30 feet and 85 feet?

    I’ll say one thing … you have to tilt your head back really, really far just to look up far enough to see that 85 foot platform.  Impressive.

    Dolphin Friends Show

    dolphinfriends1

    Enjoy our dolphin friends in their lovely lagoon by the rain forest. Learn about these fascinating animals, while being thrilled by their grace, agility, power, and intelligence. This presentation is packed with action, smiles, interesting information, and an important conservation message.

    This is by far the one and only centerpiece show not to miss.

    The dolphins and false killer whales are close up and personal and they seem trained to the highest standards … they put on quite a show.  And they don’t have to live in relatively tiny tanks like so many performing animals in the US do … plus, good quality fresh fish is cheap here, they are well fed … and I can tell there is a genuine rapport between the animals and their trainers .. you can tell when an animal is performing by rote, or when s/he loves to show off, and these animals are living the good life here in the Philippines as I am … they enjoy their work.

    These are just about half the attractions your standard admission gives you.  The full list of Ocean Adventure attractions is here.  It will be a full day, believe me.  Hard for me to believe the bargain we got and the kids … wish you were here to ask them … they loved it.

    Inside the park you’ll find everything is clean and neat and perfectly laid out for the visitor.  There’s even an excellent cafe that serves quite good food … Filipino and Western and normal, outside the park prices … no gouging the tourist here.  Learn more about the dozens of other attractions … organized diving adventures, swim with the dolphins, be a dolphin trainer and more here at their excellent website

    Where To Stay

    There’s good quality lodging directly across the parking lot from Ocean Park,  Camayan Beach Resort … it’s run by the same folks who operate Ocean Adventure.  I haven’t tried it though, I’d rather be back at the Venezia or one of the other hotels along the beachfront across the Freeport and adjacent to Olongapo City.

    Do I recommend visiting Subic and Ocean Adventure?  You bet I do.

    image

     

     

    Ocean Adventure
    Telephone Nos. , +63 (47) 252-5885
    Fax No. +63 (47) 252-5883

    Camayan Beach Resort
    Telephone No. +63 (47) 252-8000
    Fax No. +63 (47) 252-2959

    Manila Marketing Office
    Telephone No. +63 (2) 706-3344 to 46
    Mobile Number: +63 (908) 885-4911

    E-Mail: info@oceanadventure.com.ph

     

     

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    You see, Apple’s iPhone store wants to be your partner, and they do all the sales and collections and "heavy lifting".  An iPhone App factoid:

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    As with everything I ever promote, this program is 100% unconditionally guaranteed to be right … for you … and you are the sole judge of its value.  If you make a fortune, see you at Ocean Adventure.  If you don’t like the program, your money will be instantly refunded, no questions asked.

    If you’ve been waiting and wondering and studying how you can have the freedom to live where you want to, here’s a fork in the road.  As my friend Yogi is famous for saying,“Take It!”

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    Having More Fun in the Philippines

    June 3, 2010 By Philly 9 Comments

    I wrote recently about how I try to have more fun out of life rather than pondering on all the problems of the world.  For sure one of the major reasons I enjoy living in the Philippines is the absence of almost all the FUD … Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt … sensationalism of the US media those of you still back in the USA subject themselves to every night.

    I also try to get out of the house and travel as often as possible.  One of my favorite destinations is relatively close by, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Freeport, one of of the more common names for the former US Navy base at Subic Bay, now run by an agency of the Philippine government.

    There are many places to stay at Subic, more every day it seems, and I have stayed at a number of them.  Here’s the one that is definitely my favoriteInternet workspace Veniza though, the Venezia Hotel.  One big reason we like to make the Venezia our first destination choice is their special promo room rates, as low as P1,800 … about $39 USD at today’s rate of exchange.  I plan to be there this coming Saturday and Sunday nights, actually, and if I decide to make any blog posts, I already know what “blog central” will look like on those nights.  (no wires and other paraphernalia needed, good quality high speed Wi-Fi is included with the room)

    Typical Veniza hotel suite This is how a typical low-end promo room is furnished and this left-hand photo will give you an idea of the overall size of the room you get for the discount promo price.

    Now I did say these are promos … they only have a limited number of rooms available at these rates … but so far in several stays I have never failed to be early enough to get one.  The “promo rooms” are on the third floor too, there is no elevator, but quite frankly, I need the exercise so that’s fine with me.

    Also, the most expensive rooms are only into the low &100 USD range,(with many lesser choices in between), and compared with the rooms I paid well over $100 USD in Florida last February, even the Venezia’s top executive suite is a bargain.

    The hotel is attached to a PAGCOR Casino (only electronic games at this one) and free shuttle service is available to a brand new ‘real” casino on the beach. 

    There’s an excellent Chinese restaurant in the hotel proper, as well as a small coffee shop/cafe, and many local restaurants to chose from who deliver to your room.  Free parking, excellent, near silent air-conditioning, and most important to me, a staff who is ever-present without being intrusive in any way, and who is unfailingly courteous and friendly

    In case you didn’t get the drift from this article yet, I like the place and highly recommend it.   Next article I’ll write up some of the attractions you can visit right there on the Freeport which I also feel are well worth their price.

     

    Subic Bay Venezia Hotel
    Bldg. 675 Canal Road
    Subic Bay Freeport Zone
    Zambales 2222
    Telephone : ; 252-8399
    Fax: (+63)(47) 252-8404

    Mobile: 0917-836-3942
    customer_service@subicbayveneziahotel.com

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    Philippines Flying

    June 1, 2010 By Philly 6 Comments

    I must seem to some of you on the outside looking in that my like here in the Philippines is nothing but tax issues, making money online, government office issues, retirement panning, Social Security dealings and that old bugaboo everyone loves to talk about … health insurance. ABS.SDM.May27 Actually, nothing could be farther from the truth. Here’s tow of the things I spend a lot of my time with … my nephews, Sami (on the left) and Mazen. Yesterday (Monday) dawned cloudy and undecided about promising rain or sunshine, so I made a command decision to bundle the boys (and Mita and the boys mom and Mita’s dad) into the car and head up north, east of Angeles City, to check out a place I had hard about for years but never visited … the Angeles City Flying Club.image Flying Club? Yep, famous around the world for their international ultra light aircraft activities. I’ve seen club members from time to time flying demonstrations at various shows and events and I wanted to see just what was there at their site at the foot of Mount Arrayat, aside from a neatly trimmed grass runway (like the one I earned my pilot’s license on, lo those many years ago). Well, it turns out there is a LOT more than a runway there. A compete ‘fixed base operation” (FBO) as we’d call it in the US. Aircraft for rent, fuel, repairs, flight instructors and a complete flight training program, hangar space if you want to store your own aircraft and much more important to the boys … a complete little cafe with a view overlooking the runway and all the flying activity, overnight room for guests who want to come by and spend a few days dying, and a great kid and adult and bahay kubo complex. The boys loved their lunch … lots of German imagedelicacies as well as American and Filipino favorites (pleasant, friendly staff and very economical pricing .. the exact opposite of the food facilities at most tourist destinations), butimage they really liked going swimming in the afternoon. We stopped by just to see what it was all about and wound up spending three plus fun-filled couple hours there … a great place to visit. (Oh, and memo to other tourist destinations … the restrooms have toilets that flush with a handle, not a bucket, seats on the toilets!, a bidet WITH SOAP and even hand towels (real, made from cloth) at the sinks … an exceptional Philippine find, believe me) If you want to learn more about the club or want to get the low-down on ultra light aviation in the Philippines (no imagelicense required, by the way), visit the club’s excellent website here (another plus factor many tourist sites have yet to catch onto). A thoroughly enjoyable day, no work involved … after all, I am allegedly retired, you know.

    And just in case learning to fly, at a price you can afford, has made you interested in coming to the Philippines (if not now, when?), and you want insider info that can save you real money how you could still afford to fly you might be interesting in this: "If you are planning a vacation, wish you could visit distant family or just want to see the world then my guide is for you. I give you all the essentials on how to get Extremely Cheap Flights , tell you the scams to avoid and reveal all of the biggest money saving and confidential insider secrets the airlines have threatened me to keep silent about…"

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    Retreat From the Philippines, What Will Be Your Reason

    May 25, 2010 By Philly Leave a Comment

    I had something else in mind today but I just happened across an item on the front page of fellow Philippine web site owner and US retiree in the Philippines, Barry Ruth’s excellent site on Philippine living.

    The thrust of the article was that for more than 10 years now the estimated number of US citizens living in the Philippines (the majority retirees, semi-retirees and a few entrepreneurs, has stayed pretty steady at about 250,000 or so.  If the Philippines is really a great retirement location, why isn’t this figure going up?

    The article went on to mention some of the major reasons many folks move here to the Philippines and then change their minds and return to the USA.  I’d like to touch on the top 10 or so of those reasons along with 4years or so of perspective.  The views expressed here are mine alone.  These reasons are listed in no particular order:

    ==>>Inability to adapt to Philippine culture:  If not the biggest reason, this ought to be way up at the top.  I hear continuously in conversations, read in blog comments, forum quotes and questions I receive continuously comments that all seem to center around one thought:  The Philippines is run differently, they do things differently, and essentially they won’t do things the way I want them done.

    Well, at the risk of tarnishing your view of paradise (you never heard me call it that), let me make you aware of something a great many of my fellow Americans seem to have great difficulty in dealing with … the Philippines is a whole different country, and it is run by Filipinos.  It’s their country, plain and simple.  If you come here, even if you “marry into” the country as I did, oh and let’s not forget, one more time, no matter how much you spend here … you are still a guest in someone else’s home.  Just because you are certain in your heart that you know better than they do, your opinion is not needed.

    I was going to just end this thought here with a famous (or perhaps infamous) quote of the the first Filipino president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Manuel L. Quezon.  Then I found a much more elegant way to mention that quote and some other important ideas about an independent Philippines from his grandson, instead:

    AFTER THE MASSACRE at Amritsar, Mahatma Gandhi said to British officials led by the viceroy of India: “I beg you to accept that there is no people on earth who wouldn’t prefer their own bad government to the good government of an alien power.”

    About 10 years earlier, a Filipino said basically the same thing: “I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans.” It was a sound bite heard around the world. But what all too few recalled was the essential sentence that came next: “Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.”

    To this day, there are Filipinos who, whenever something goes wrong, cackle and say, “Look, Quezon got his wish. We have a government run like hell!” As if it is something uniquely Quezonian-and Filipino-to want to run our own lives, badly as the case may be, rather than entrust it to the guidance of foreigners.

    What Quezon and Gandhi said roughly a decade apart is the essence of nationalism: a people, a nation, must have the chance to make good and bad decisions, because there is simply no substitute for decisions made for one’s self, by one’s self. Government will not always be good, leaders will not always be the best, but in the end, a government and its leaders must be selected by the people and no one else. Love of country, nationalism, requires that a people have the freedom both to make mistakes and achieve great things. After all, the lives of individuals as well as nations require learning, and one cannot learn without, at times, doing wrong or making mistakes. Surely it is better to make one’s own mistakes, to collectively endure errors of one’s choosing, rather than undertake the same risks at the direction of a colonial power.

    Nationalism is not my country, right or wrong, or everything for my countrymen at the expense of all aliens, but rather a more fundamental appreciation that one belongs to a people who have a country, and that the destiny of that country is in the hands of a people free to make errors but at the same time rectify their mistakes. It involves a sense of stewardship over a particular territory that geography and history have made the primary responsibility of no one else on earth but those who inhabit that territory…  (My emphasis. I encourage you to read the whole article here and to reflect upon it seriously, because, although there may be times you want to say, as a Filipino lawyer friend of mine has often said, “Manuel, you got your damn wish”, there is more to it than a funny tagline to utter every time something seems to have gone “Filipino wrong”.)

    image As an American, it is incumbent upon us to reflect that once upon a time the “greatest nation on Earth” was a group of muddy-streeted ramshackle towns populated mostly by ner-do-wells and other “expats” from various European countries who often didn’t want them in the first place.  Mistakes were made.  Experiments were tried and failed.  Corruption, even today still raises it’s “Whack a Mole” head more often than the average American may be able to admit.

    But we felt so strongly about the need for our own independence we fought a war over it … and the Filipinos did too.  So think through what I’m saying here and decide for yourself if you are going to be able to live here and (most of the time) keep your mouth shut … or if you are going to be constantly enraged and stressed by everything you see wrong on a daily basis.  The answer you come up with for yourself may go a long way toward improving the quality of your life, perhaps even the length of it.

    Well, the old clock on the wall tells me I have already spent too long on this one reason, but that’s OK, so far as I am concerned I said something that needed to be said and highlighted something from Manolo that I can’t believe I have ever come across, that tells the story ever so much more eloquently than I can.

    Are you planning to come here and make it an us versus them time in your life, or are you willing to accept that things are different here and if you do come to live you will not be in Kansas any more?

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