We’re building our dream home in the Philippines and want it to have a Filipino flavor.  Our roof design seeks to capture a bit of the design aesthetic of the classic Philippine native house – the “bahay kubo”.

Here’s a little about the architectural design of our roof.   Our roof design goes against the trend.  Increasingly elaborate roof designs are very popular, especially for houses that are or aspire to be “upscale”.  The more valleys, ridges, dormers and other complications the more impressive the house.  Bob was brought up in the northern U.S. where every valley was another spot for ice and snow to build up and cause ice dams and leaks to form,  so simple roofs are an instinctive choice.

These over-complex roofs are a recent development in the Philippines.  Traditional Philippines houses had “dos aguas” or “quatro aguas” roofs.  These terms are a carryover from the Spanish “un tejado de dos aguas”, a simple ridged roof or “un tejado de quatro aguas” a hip roof.  The older members of my construction crew still understand and use these old Spanish terms.

The hip roof has been very popular in traditional Philippine buildings and for good reason.  In a land where buildings are buffeted by typhoons every year, the hip roof is streamlined, giving the winds little purchase.

The roof above was popular in the 19th century but during the Commonwealth era one starts to see a modification which adds roof vents.

In Western architectural lingo such roofs are called “gablet” roofs or “Dutch gable” roofs.

Certainly the aesthetic for this roof  is inspired by the roof profile of the beloved Philippine “bahay kubo” native bamboo house. Filipinos, rich or poor, seem to have a deep attachment to life in the provinces.  For Filipinos, the provincial life  and the bahay kubo conjure up an idyllic paradise lost.  Of course Filipinos know about the hardships of provincial life, but those don’t seem to dilute the romantic attraction of life in the provinces.  Just consider the current crop of TV soaps which alternate between a sorid, squabbling life in huge, pretentious houses in Manila, lives filled with greed, envy and bickering.  Then in a flash you are in the provinces, in a bahay kubo,maybe with some pretty capiz windows–a harmonious pastoral life populated with kindly, wise lolos and lolas with birds singing and maybe a carabao contentedly ploughing in the background!

This rustic bahay kubo roof design, transferred to wood frame and concrete buildings,  has evolved to incorporate a ventilator in the peak of the roof.  We wanted to incorporate at least some Filipino style into our house and also realized the advantages of attic ventilation under our hot metal roof.  Here’s our original design for a two story house.

We finally decided on a one story home but kept the roof design we liked so much! More at http://goiloilo.com/our-house-project-design-devolution/

Here’s a single shot showing our bamboo bahay kubo and our house roof taking shape.  See the similarities?

More to come……

A friends of ours in Iloilo had their casement windows made by:

Denis Jaleco, denisjaleco@gmail.com, 0929-772-8699

Here’s a photo of the Jaleco casement windows in our friend’s bedroom.  These large windows give a light, airy feeling to this fairly small room.

Bedroom window 2m high and 2.5m wide (on a 3m ceiling and 3.5m wall). Also note sliding screens. These windows were custom fabricated.

The Jalecos (Denis is an architect and his father makes the windows) gave us a quote for all of our windows (12 in all) of about P90,000 installed but not glazed.  We thought this was a very fair price but since we already had a welding shop set up, our welders said they knew how to make windows, and they were running short of welding projects, we decided to try to make our own windows.

In the U.S. we’re used to windows being pre-made with fancy insulated glass, plastic cladding, smooth opening and locking hardware and big prices.  In the Philippines it’s quite common to weld up windows at the job site, especially for less expensive homes.  Here’s a steel casement window in a big house in one of Iloilo’s swanky subdivisions. You can see the security grilles behind the glass panes.  Our windows will be just about the same, with three pairs of sash per window, each having three panes of glass.  Our windows are bigger so the glass panes will be quite large — about 50cm high and 35cm wide.

Our welders beginning the fabrication of casement windows

Because steel window-making is common in the Philippines, the larger construction supply outlets stock the necessary materials; Z-bar, T-bar, I-bar, hinges and latches.  The problem is that such windows usually go into cheaper houses, so the materials are aimed toward affordability rather than quality.  This is so often the case in the Philippines.  The z-bar is the main problem.  Standard z-bar is very flimsy.  It was hard to find better z-bar.  We found somewhat better z-bar at Far Eastern Hardware on Quezon Street.  The cheap z-bar is P189, the better is P520.  We bought the better stuff, but it’s easy to see why the cheap stuff is the best seller.

"Premium" 7/8" z-bar from Far Eastern.

The z-bar constitutes the main item in window construction.  It is used to make the exterior of each sash.

This is the quite heavy I-bar stock.  It is used as part of the frame, separating the sashes.

T-bar

This is the the T-bar which separates the panes in each sash.

Another key part of the window is the security bars.  Practically all windows in the Philippines are protected with security grilles. With casement windows, the bars forming the grilles are welded to the interior of the steel window frame.  They are spaced to create a grid which the smallest child cannot climb through. You can see the grilles in the photos above.   This is because children are sometime used as part of a break-in.  If the children can squeeze through, they can then make their way to an entrance door and unlock it to allow the rest of the team to get in.

The windows themselves are welded to reinforcement bars embedded in the concrete walls.  The windows are then mortared into the wall openings making a very secure window.

Handles and security bars

We were able to find good quality window handles at Far Eastern Hardware in Iloilo City.  They have at least three grades of handles for those making their own casement windows.  These are the deluxe models at P45.  This photo also shows the 13mm security bars.

The first window being installed 3-12-10

and adjusted....

and welded to the rebar in the wall.

This makes for a fairly secure window.

The building looks a little more finished with windows installed.

The security grill in each bedroom has a fire escape secured by a padlock.

COMMENT:  The materials available for window making, especially the z-bar — even if you buy the premium material, is still not that sturdy.  Perhaps heavier material is available in Manila, but I suggest welding up your own z-bar and t-bar from angle bar and flat bar.  This is going to involve more labor, but the reality is that labor is inexpensive in the Philippines.  Welding your own stock (say 3mm flat bar) means you can make really sturdy windows, something not really possible using the stock that was available in Iloilo City.  Our windows are fine, but if I had it to do over again, I would weld our own stock.

March 18, 2010.  The windows are now complete except for final painting and glazing which will be done as part of the finishing of the interior.  The two welders took 19 days to construct the twelve windows.  They were paid P280 per day each for a total of P10,640 ($US 230).  The welders sometimes had to help with other work so the real cost of labor is a bit less.  The materials were about P70,000 so the total cost of the windows before glazing is about P80,000 or $US 1,750.

Another great thing about making your own windows is the complete flexibility to choose whatever thickness, color, energy efficiency of glazing (glass) you want to use.

COMMENT:  June 6, 2010.  Now we are finishing (plastering) the interior walls of the house.  This includes making cement window sills.  Another thing we’d do differently is to add a slightly larger steel frame around the outside of the window assembly.  As it is, the cement finishing comes quite close to the sash.  More space would be better.  You can see the narrow gap between hollow block and the windows in the photo above.

Window installed and cemented in 6-11-10

Another coat of Boysen epoxy primer and a finish coat of Boysen “Mahogany” enamel got the sash ready for glazing.

Installing 3/16" glass.

We used about 27 tubes of Corning silicone caulk (made in Korea) to install the glass.

We bought the glass from Iloilo Glass Service, 439 Iznart Street, phone 033-335-0768.  They gave truly superior service.  There were some minor problems, partly our fault.  Iloilo Glass made things right with no hesitation.  188 panes of 3/16″ glass cost us P16,640.  The Iloilo Glass quote was one-half the quote we received from another Iloilo glass shop.

Completed and glazed (but not washed!) windows.

My estimate of the total cost of our eleven windows is about P120,000 or about P11,000 per window.  Aside from the size of the windows, we used more expensive, higher cost materials; 11mm security bars, the best Z-bar we could find, epoxy primer, brass hardware, thicker 3/16″ glass and Corning silicone.

More to come…..

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

Ours is a one-story house, so a single standard six meter long rebar (about 20 feet) can extend from the footer (1.2 M deep) to the topmost roof beam without splicing.  That’s a good thing.  Our columns used 12mm diameter rebar. All columns and beams also include rings of reinforcing steel called “stirrups”.  The stirrups are held in position using “tie wire”.  Together the rebar and stirrups make up the rebar cage which will go into a plywood form, the form will be filled with wet concrete to make a column or beam.

Column footer. The vertical rebar at bent at the bottom and secured to the footer rebar. When the footer concrete is poured the base of the column is well secured 1.2M (about 4 feet) underground.

The beams are a different matter.  Since the room beam length for our house is 13.5M and 15M,  the 6M beam rebar must be spliced.  How and where is splicing is done affects the strength of the beams and of the house.  Disappointingly, our engineers did not provide a rebar splicing plan with the plan package.  They should have.  Our good, experienced workers could neatly make the rebar splices but really had no idea of how much overlap there should be at the splices or where the splices should be.  Splicing was done incorrectly and had to be redone, in one case three times.  This wasted time and money and caused considerable frustration.

Since our workers had worked on dozens of houses this leaves one wondering about the errors embedded in them.  On commercial buildings there will likely be a supervising engineer, but on residences — who knows?  In the case of our house, if Bob had not been there, the critical roof beams would have been already poured and the mistakes, hidden.

Splicing error in roof beam rebar

The above photo shows the completed rebar cage for our east roof beam.  The rebar is 16mm diameter.  At the top and bottom are two rebars spliced together at the center of the beam.  This is wrong in two ways.  The top splice is OK as it is over the center of the span.  The bottom splice is wrong because it should be over a column.  Both splices have far too little overlap at 30 or 40cm.  The minimum is 64cm for 16mm diameter rebar.

Although this splicing was done by a excellent, experienced worker he was just guessing about how to assemble the rebar because the engineers had given no instruction in the plans.  Their lame excuse is that the workers should have known how to do the splicing. Further, the engineers could have, should have suggested using longer rebar (9M) which would need less splicing.

Here are the engineering rules-of-thumb we garnered regarding splicing:

• Splice beam top bars at locations between support columns.
• Splice bottom beam bars at or near support columns.
• The splice overlap should be a minimum of 40X the diameter of the rebar.  So, for 16mm rebar the splice should be a minimum of 64CM, for 12mm rebar, 48cm.

So, the above splicing violates every one of these rules.  The splice overlap was 30CM, less than one-half of what it should have been.  All bars were spliced in one location.  This rebar cage had to be taken down and completely redone.  Without supervision this beam would have been poured and the mistakes hidden forever, or until the first earthquake.

Why were our experienced workers ignorant of these rules?  The answer is a little scary!

Here’s a pretty good article on rebar, and rebar cage fabrications: http://www.wikihow.com/Tie-Rebar

Rebar cage at intersection of roof beams and column. Little room for concrete.

While our attention to  these construction details may seem over-obsessive (they certainly do seem so to our construction crew!), the Haiti disaster and now the Chile earthquakes show that proper engineering and construction can make the difference between life and death or at least between being able to live in your home after an earthquake as opposed to being homeless and starting all over again.

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

February 20, 2010. Construction cost report for our Philippine House Project.   Thirty work days so far.

Here’s what the house looks like after thirty days of work:

After thirty work days...

March 12, 2010 construction expense report. Covers 45 work days since beginning of construction on January 18, 2010.

House Construction Expense – YTD:2

1/1/2010 through 3/12/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Category Description 1/1/2010- 3/12/2010

House Construction 22,843.05

Equipment 2,350.47

Labor 3,658.36

Materials 15,908.79

Soft Costs 925.43

OVERALL TOTAL 22,843.05

House after 45 days of work and about one million pesos.

March 12, 2010 Total House Construction Expense to date  (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,350.47 (10.29% of total)

Labor 3,658.36 (16.02% of total)

Materials 15,908.79 (69.64% of total)

Soft Costs 925.43 (4.05% of total)

OVERALL TOTAL 22,843.05 (a little over one million pesos)

Current crew size: 11.  This is a fairly small house building crew by Philippine standards but we feel it suits the capabilities of our foreman.

Included in this accounting are stockpiled materials (especially roof trusses), P100,000 deposit on roofing and construction equipment (cement mixer, concrete vibrator) which will be sold once the project is complete.  So, the true cost of the work to date really is about $20,000.

We have had various problems caused by questionable engineering and some poor workmanship.  Because we are the general contractor and are on site almost every day, and because we buy all materials, we are able to correct problems, use quality materials and still and keep down the cost of construction.

Size of house: 150 square meters. Cost per square meter so far: P7,000.  Target total construction cost: P2.25 million or about $50,000.

Cement used to date: 350 bags at P212 or about P75,000 0r about $US 1,600.

______________________________________________________________________

March 27, 2010 Construction Expense Report. Covers 60 work days since beginning of project.

House after 60 days of construction. March 27, 2010

House Construction Expense Report

1/1/2010 through 3/27/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,484.79

Labor 4,783.31

Materials 18,039.56

Soft Costs 950.25

OVERALL TOTAL $26,257.91

Project after 70 work days 4-21-10. Shows carport framework.

House Construction Expense 1/1/2010 through 4/21/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,484.79

Labor 5,866.73

Materials 21,756.69

Soft Costs 972.16

OVERALL TOTAL $31,080.37

Crew size: 8. Cost per square meter so far: P9,324.

Roof completed

House Construction Expense

1/1/2010 through 5/22/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,545.19

Labor 7,095.75

Materials 30,251.73

Soft Costs 1,011.65

OVERALL TOTAL $40,904.32

Total includes stockpiled materials, almost all electrical and plumbing supplies and fixtures. Electrical work about 50% complete. Plumbing about 75% complete. Includes work on 35 square meter carport. Next step finishing the walls (cement plaster) inside and out.

Cost per square meter to date P12,271 (P10,226 including carport)

*************************************************************************

Carport, almost done!

Carport, big enough for delivery trucks

Carport from the road

House Construction Expense Report
1/1/2010 through 7/18/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,379.95
Labor 9,465.06
Materials 36,341.32
Soft Costs 1,023.19
OVERALL TOTAL 49,209.52

Total includes stockpiled material; tile, Hardiflex for ceilings, all plumbing fixtures and cost of carport.

House is 150 square meters

Carport is 36 square meters

Size of crew: 7

]]> http://goiloilo.com/our-philippine-house-project-construction-cost-report/feed/ 11 http://goiloilo.com/our-philippine-house-project-septic-and-drainage/ http://goiloilo.com/our-philippine-house-project-septic-and-drainage/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:33:24 +0000 GOIloilo http://goiloilo.com/?p=3536 Our Philippine House project – septic system and drainage.

Septic tank excavation

One of our workers has been assigned the job of digging the pit in which the septic tank will be built.  The three chamber septic tank will measure 3.1 meters (10 feet)  by 1.9 meters (6 feet)  and will be 2.1 meters deep (almost 7 feet). The tank will have a concrete slab on the bottom, filled, steel reinforced hollow block walls and a concrete  top with clean-out ports.

During typhoons, the considerable water from the roof downspouts, will be collected in a series of concrete catch basins and directed outside the lot.

The soil, as is true with most rice fields (that’s why they retain water as “rice paddies”) is extremely heavy clay.  The water table really varies with the season from being more or less at the surface of the land during the wet season to about fifteen feet down during the dry season.  If one had to do a percolation test to check the absorptive capacity of this clay  – well there must be none during the wet season.  During the dry season the clay becomes cracked and very absorptive.

There are complications with wastewater disposal in our “neighborhood”.  Being flat, mostly undeveloped farmland there is no municipal or subdivision drainage system into which to discharge.  As is typical, only “black water” (toilet waste) will go into the septic system.  Rain water from the roof gutters, and water from washing, sinks and showers will not be treated but will just be discharged as is.  As our neighborhood develops, probably a drainage system or ditch will be installed to carry wastewater to the nearest stream bed.  Many local families live along the streams and have their dug wells in or near the streams. Outside of treatment in a septic tank, there is virtually no sewerage treatment in the Philippines.  Boracay is one exception we know of.

When you buy property in a formal subdivision, you’re supposed to have access to a formal drainage system provided by the developer, an advantage.  The waste will just be eventually discharged into a ditch, stream, river or the ocean, but at least it will be carried away from your lot.  I have not heard of on-site leaching systems as are typical in the U.S.

Reinforcing bar framework for septic tank

In the Philippines, septic tanks are built on-site, not delivered by a truck.

Setting the rebar cage into the septic tank excavation

Concrete floor of tank and beginning of walls and partitions

Lots of smiles, even in a septic tank!

Septic tank just about done and ready for 4" reinforced concrete top. 3-3-10

Septic tank lid ready to be poured.

Catch Basin under construction

A system of concrete catch basins and drain pipes surround the house, collect water from the gutters and downspouts and gray water from showers, floor drains, lavatories and kitchen sink and discharge all this into a exterior drainage ditch.  Our house has ten catch basins connected by 4″ pipe.

Finished catch basins sans covers

Downspouts temporarily in place

While our house is not large, the the area of the roof is over 300 square meters. During tropical rains the amount of water coming off the roof is impressive. We were forced to temorarily install our downspouts because the water pouring off the roof was eroding the fill and making a muddy mess around the house. The downspouts were not glued so that they can be removed to allow the finishing of the exterior of the house and then permanently installed. The plans called for twelve 3″ downspouts to drain the roof.

We had to relocate one of the catch basins - heavy!

I never gave much thought to the sysstem of catch basins and drains. We put them in because they were on the plans. Now I realize how critically important they are.

More details to follow.

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

Return to Building Our Philippine House main page

Splicing error in roof beam rebar

Our Philippine house building project: concrete roof beams.  This photo shows the 16mm rebar framework for the concrete roof beam which is supported by the columns and in turn will carry the considerable weight of the roof structure. For that see http://goiloilo.com/our-house-project-welding/.

A visit by our engineer confirmed a problem with the arrangement of the rebar in the beam.  Rebar comes in six meter lengths.  As shown in the photo, the workers spiced all the rebar in the center of the span.  The engineer directed that splices be staggered with no splices at mid-span in the bottom rebar and no splices at the support columns in the top of the beam. Everything you see above will have to be taken down and redone.  Our plans lacked a rebar splicing plan.  This has caused endless required corrections and wasted time and money. Our foreman and workers just don’t know the engineering principles. We’ve asked the engineer to prepare a splicing plan so that the workers (and owners) will be sure that things are done properly.  We suggest that you insist that your architect or engineer include a splicing plan.

Here’s a few rebar splicing guidelines we learned.  They are only rules of thumb.

• The splices for reinforcing bars in the top of the beam should be between columns.
• The splices for reinforcing bars in the bottom of the beam should be approximately over the support columns.
• The reinforcing bar splice overlap should be 40X the diameter of the rebar.  For example the splice on a 12mm rebar should be a minimum of 48cm.  For a 16mm bar, the splice should be at least 64cm.  Longer splices are better.

This photo (above) shows 16mm rebar spliced with a 40cm splice. The minimum overlap should be 64cm. This rebar cage had to be disassembled and redone.

Lintel Beam 2-19-10

The forms shown above are for the lintel beam.  This beam is at the top of the window and door openings to carry the load above those openings.  In the case of our house, the lintel beam will go around the entire perimeter of the house.  Above it will be two more courses of block and on top of that will be the main roof beam.

Rebar cage at intersection of roof beams and column.

It’s hard too see exactly where there is room for concrete in this dense tangle of rebar.  We’ll have to use small aggregate (the rule of thumb is that aggregate should be one-fifth the size of the smallest rebar opening) and gently vibrate the concrete.

A forest of bamboo scaffolding

Bamboo scaffolding in Kowloon, Hong Kong, 2005

The roof beam is complete

The crew worked feverishly to finish pouring the roof beam.  This is the last structural concrete work.  It will take two weeks for the beam to cure, then the steel roof trusses can go on.

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

Shopping for steel.  It does seem very difficult to save money on basic materials such as cement and steel.  While there are hundreds of construction supply firms, post-negotiation prices vary only by a few pesos.  There are some pitfalls.  Our specifications called for our roof trusses to be made of 2″ X 2″ X 1/4″ angle bar. Give this spec to construction material sellers and you’ll be excited by the price variations, hoping for a bargain.  Look deeper and you’ll see that there is no 1/4″ thick angle bar available.  After looking at angle bar from various sellers, I decided to buy a vernier caliper so that I could measure the thickness of various items.  It turns out that the prices varied because their response for a price on 2×2x1/4 included material not even remotely meeting the specification; 4mm, 5mm, 5.5mm and 6mm angle bar.  One-fourth inch equals 6.35mm.   The caliper is also useful for detecting undersized rebar.  Not surprisingly, it turns out that, once again, price differences are minor once you’ve finally managed compare products with similar specs.

There’s another complication.  It turns out that steel is sold by kilograms per meter.  This may be a fair way to price steel products but a difficult translation when your engineering specs call for 2″x2″x1/4″!

Welding. The angle iron in this load will be used to make roof trusses.  They will be constructed on-site by our crew, two of whom are experienced welders.  Setting up our own welding shop makes economic sense.  The 300 amp welder and AEG cut-off saw cost about P25,000 or about $500.  Our welders are paid P280 per day.  Our equipment will be paid for in savings on the trusses. We are also considering constructing our own steel casement windows.

My ambition to have top quality concrete quality concrete in our house project has sometimes led to frustration.  My crew are hard workers, but accustomed to their ways of concrete work.  The local gravel contains so much sand that the mix probably ends up being 1-3-2 (one cement, three sand and two gravel).   The workers like this sandy gravel because it’s easy to work with, flows easily into forms.  I pushed to use the washed 3/4′ gravel as the only aggregate, but I learned that the 3/4″ gravel in fact has larger stone which can lodge in the rebar cages.  Our most recent solution is to screen the supposed 3/4″ gravel with  a 1″ screen.  About half of the material passes through the screen.  The smaller material should work better in the columns and beams.

Trying to keep workers from adding too much water to concrete is a legendary Philippine construction problem.  They like to make soupy concrete because it flows easily and does not set-up quickly, it remains “workable”  for a much longer time than proper concrete.  It flows easily into forms.  Once the soupy concrete sets, it looks fine but really is weakened.  When I mange to get proper concrete made, the crew is horrified at at how quickly it sets.  It disrupts the way they are used to working.  I had read that some on-site supervising engineers have been so frustrated with this problem that they just disappeared from the project site.  I now understand their problem. Another problem is keeping workers from “tempering” (adding water and remixing) the already mixed concrete or mortar.  This is a definite NO on our project.  My insisting that concrete be mixed my way is resented by some crew members who have been working with concrete all their working lives.

The above photo is from the end of week three.  About $12,500 has been spent, but a good part of this is in materials stored on site but not yet used, including cement, block, and the load of steel shown above.

With some help from El Nino we have had perfect construction weather.  We have not had any rain since October.  This has been terrible for farmers but good for us. One continuing worry about the dry weather is that our well will run dry.  We use so much water for making concrete, cleaning tools and equipment, watering plants, and for our crew’s personal needs — washing, laundry and so forth.  So far the well has held up.  We had it redug deeper last year.  See http://goiloilo.com/digging-water-well-tigbauan-philippines/ From this point it should be about a month until we have our walls up and roof on.  After that, rain is not such a problem.

Walls, Feb. 13, 2010 (24 work days)

Wetting hollow block

Once you receive delivery of your hollow block, you must constantly keep them wet.  If they dry out they lose strength and eventually crumble back into the sand they were made from. 2-16-10. Day 26 of project.

Lintel Beam 2-19-10

Overview 2-19-10

The building looks a little more finished with windows installed.

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

We were quoted a price of P250 per cubic meter.  We happended to know that another major buyer of this same material paid P160 per square meter so we offered P170 for 150 cubic meters.  Our offer was accepted.

The truck drivers and helpers ham it up for the camera. Bahay kubo in background.

Four or five trucks delivered the fifteen ten cubic meter loads in one day.  The truck were constantly getting stuck in the clayey soil of the lot.  The workers were pretty good natured about that even though digging the big trucks out was a lot of work.

Comment.  In total, we’ve placed over 100 loads of fill in our 1,500 square meter lot.  Keep in mind the expense of fill when you shop for real estate.

Read all about our Philippine House building Project at http://goiloilo.com/building-our-philippine-house-index/

However, Medicare offers the “Medicare Advantage Program” as an alternative to traditional Medicare.  The Advantage programs provide medical services through private insurance companies, usually HMOs.  These plans receive payments from the Federal government to provide Medicare services to Advantage program enrollees.

The Medicare Advantage providers are allowed to provide services beyond those allowed under traditional Medicare.  For example, most Advantage programs offer dental and vision services.  It appears that the Advantage programs are also free (to an unknown extent) to provide services overseas.  Here’s what the Medicare brochure says: “If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan (like an HMO or PPO) or anotherMedicare health plan, your plan may offer additional coverage for health care services you get outside the U.S. Check with your plan before traveling to seewhat’s covered.”  See http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11037.pdf

At least one Medicare Advantage program, the Care1st HMO in Southern California is said to be linking up with an physician’s group (IPA), United Physicians International to provide Medicare Advantage services to provide Medicare services in the Philippines through their clinic at The Medical City in Manila.  The Medical City is a well respected hospital, however I don’t have detailed information on the relationship between TMC and UPI.  See the Medical City website.

One thing to keep in mind — with traditional Medicare you are free to seek medical services from just about any hospital or physician in the United States, including relatively nearby Hawaii.  If you enroll in a Medicare Advantage program, you are generally required to use providers which are part of the Advantage Plan network you have joined.  At some point you may need or desire to return to the U.S. for treatment.  You will restricted to hospitals and physicians in your HMO network.  So basically you get coverage in the Philippines at The Medical City in exchange for giving up nationwide traditional Medicare coverage in the U.S.

Another possible complication with the UPI/Care1st program is that you must reside in Southern California to enroll in Care1st.  There may be other Medicare Advantage Programs offering similar services.  The economic rationale seems compelling.  The HMO receives Medicare funding but pays for medical services at drastically lower Philippine rates.

Despite  teething problems, these new programs have the potential to be a tremendous benefit to expat retirees.

You can see a copy of the UPI brochure here.

We have a Filipina acquaintance from Tigbauan who is a nurse in Los Angeles.  She is an agent for the UPI Program.  You may contact her for additional information.

If any reader knows of similar programs, please let us know.

Lunar New Year Celebration, China Bank Mabini Branch, Iloilo City. At smaller branches, they'll try to make you feel part of the family.

All that expats need to know about banking in the Philippines: credit cards, debit cards, checking accounts, Social Security and pension direct deposit, wire transfers, Internet banking.

Our first advice to foreigners living in the Philippines is to keep the bulk of your financial assets in your home country.  Here are a few reasons.  If you have substantial assets it’s best to keep that fact strictly to yourself.  That’s difficult to do if you keep your funds in a Philippine bank.  Bank employees gossip, especially if you live in a place with fewer foreigners. You’ll receive bank statements through the insecure Philippine Postal Service.  There have been instances where bank insiders have sent text messages to compatriots outside when a foreigner withdrew a substantial sum.  Shortly thereafter, the foreigner was robbed at gunpoint. Our bank tells us that rich Chinoys (Filipinos of Chinese heritage) do not allow their name or address to be printed on their personal bank checks. They don’t want anyone to know anything about their financial affairs.

Whatever your financial circumstances are, it’s best to promote the impression that you are retired on a modest pension which will end when you do.  Depending on your relationship with your girlfriend or wife and her family, such a impression is very worth giving.  It may be an ego boost to appear affluent in a poor place like the Philippines, especially if for the first time in your life you are relatively wealthy.  This will only expose you to the interest of cash-starved locals and foreigners and 101 schemes to get at your money, in some cases dead or alive.

Deposit insurance in Philippine banks is limited to P500,000 pesos or about $10,000 and there are limitations on the insurance coverage.  Many foreigners, including our friends, have lost money in too-good-to-be-true accounts in Philippine rural banks.  Most are still awaiting reimbursement from the PDIC.

You can arrive at your rural bank and find it shuttered....

with a notice from the PDIC that your bank is closed.

Despite the recent travails of American and European banks, it’s unlikely that an individual depositor will lose money and if there is a problem there are effective consumer protection laws and regulators to appeal to.  Further, Internet banking facilities are better and more secure.  If you lose money from your U.S. bank account through online fraud such as key loggers, trojans etc., your bank has to make you whole.

If you are a American Social Security pensioner, you can have your monthly pension check direct-deposited to a Philippine bank (more on that here) or to your U.S. bank.  If deposited to a Philippine bank, U.S. public pensions must be to an account in your name only — not a joint account with your wife.  If you are incapacitated it may be hard for your wife to access the funds.

–Philippine banks charge a monthly fee to receive each pension check of between $2.50 and $7.50, depending on the bank

–The government will not pay certain benefits to a foreign bank — for example the recent $250 economic stimulus checks that went to all Social Security recipients, except those with foreign addresses.

–In theory, funds in joint accounts in the Philippines are frozen when a spouse dies — until probate taxes are settled.  Every time you make a withdrawal you must certify that your spouse is still living subject to perjury penalties.  While this rule is often ignored, it still presents additional complications for the grieving spouse.  If the family funds are in a joint account at an American bank, your spouse will have access to the funds via ATM or check writing without such complications.

We’re not sure what estate taxes are like in the Philippines, but we’re guessing that for those that pay them they are higher than what you’d pay in America.  For example, in the Philippines we pay a 20% “withholding tax” on any interest income.  This is automatically deducted from your account when interest is paid.  There is no refund.  We fear Philippine estate taxes may be similar. Because of our very modest income and a progressive U.S. tax system, we essentially pay no tax on interest earned in the U.S.

However, we do very strongly suggest that you do have bank accounts in the Philippines to use for routine banking and living necessities and to provide readily available emergency funds.  We feel it’s unwise to be completely dependent on ATM machines or other electronic transfers from overseas accounts for all your money needs in the Philippines.   It’s essential that you have uninterruptible access to funds while living in the Philippines.  In the past, breaks in undersea fiber optic cables have severely disrupted Internet service in the Philippines.  Bigger, possibly total outages or other geopolitical or natural disasters (in an area subject to typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, disease outbreaks) could cut you off from access to your overseas funds.  That would be just the wrong time to be without funds — funds for evacuation, medical care or ordinary living expenses.  The supply line is so fragile in the Philippines.  When typhoon Frank hit Iloilo City, the grocery store shelves were stripped bare in hours.  You must have funds available to take care of yourself and your family.

Further, medical care in the in the Philippines is strictly on a cash basis.  Some city hospitals will take credit cards, but most do not.  In case of the kinds of disruptions mentioned above, the credit card processing system might be down.  Just as in the U.S., your first stop will be the hospital billing office to pay for services before they are delivered. More payments will be mandatory if treatment is to be continued.  You’ll have to pay for drugs before they are administered.  Foreigners have been allowed to die for lack of a relatively minor amount of funds to pay for treatment.  While not exactly on point, see this story http://balatucan.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/sad-tragic-story-of-thomas-hunt/ to get a sense of what life in the Philippines is like without money for medical care.

We feel it’s ideal to have $10,000 in a Philippine bank as an emergency reserve and buffer.  Once you establish a relationship with a Philippine bank manager they will be anxious to assist you if you need access to your funds. You’ll likely have his or her home cellphone number.

So, now that we’ve recommended that you keep your funds and receive your pension deposits in your home country bank, how do you get access to the funds you need to live in the Philippines?  There are a variety of approaches.

International bank to bank wires.  This is a fast but expensive option, about $25 to $35 for each wire.  Be sure to wire from your U.S. dollar account to your U.S. dollar account in the Philippines.  If you allow the remitting bank to do the currency conversion to Philippine pesos, the process becomes even more expensive.  Wires can be good for major purchases such as autos or real estate.  There’s going to be security questions and procedures imposed by your home bank when you seek to have a large sum of money wired to the Philippines.  It’s best that you determine the wire transfer requirements from your bank while you’re still in your home country.  Citibank (U.S.) allows entirely online wire transfer requests.  For your first wire transfer, you’ll be asked to call the bank to confirm your identity but after that the wires can be done very easily online for $25 to any Philippine bank or $18.50 if to a Citibank branch in the Philippines.

ATM cards.  Some get the money they need by using ATM or debit cards from their home country bank.  This is fine for short stays, but increasingly U.S. banks are raising their fees.  It used to be that you could find banks that had no ATM fees and minimal foreign transaction fees.  That was true of Netbank before it went out of business.  It was true of Citibank if you used a Citi ATM machine in the Philippines.  Those days are mostly over. Fees have gone up and this can be an expensive way to get your money.  If you have a Philippine ATM machine dispensing only P5,000 or even P10,000 at a time and are charged a $ 3 to $5 fee for each withdrawal.  Further, if you are entirely dependent on this method, you are subject to some of the uncertainties mentioned above in terms of Internet problems and calamities.  Another tip: insist that your home country bank give you an ATM card, not a debit card.  What’s the difference?  The ATM card can only be used at an ATM machine.  The debit card with the Visa or Mastercard logo can be used to make purchases at stores with or without a PIN number.  A lost or stolen debit card can result in drained accounts even though the malefactor does not have the PIN number.  An ATM-only card is generally useless without a PIN number.

Pension direct deposit to Philippine banks. Retired Americans with government pensions can have their pension checks directly deposited to several Philippine banks.  This can be a good option for U.S. government pensioners.  For a full discussion including a list of participating banks see http://goiloilo.com/social-security-direct-deposit-in-the-philippines/

Our recommendation. We do what lots of expats do.  We write an ordinary check from our U.S. checking account every month and deposit it to our joint U.S. dollar  account at our local Philippine bank.  The check is generally in the same amount which Social Security has direct deposited into my U.S. bank, although it can be more if we expect will have more expenses in the upcoming month. It can  take a month to clear, but there are NO fees of any kind from either the U.S. or Philippine bank.  (Before selecting a Philippine bank, be sure they don’t charge for foreign bank deposits.  Some do, some don’t.)  If you are able to establish a cash buffer as we have recommended, there really is no waiting to get money.  Just get into a regular rhythm of monthly deposits and you’ll always have the money you need.

We know that some live from month to month, but living in the Philippines without any cash buffer is just not prudent. If there is some major disruption (earthquakes, tsunamis, broken cables, worldwide flu pandemic etc.) you have to have money here or you are in deep trouble.  Stay in the U.S. work and save a little longer and come with at least $10,000 to get set up and allow for an emergency reserve.

Should you bank with an American or European bank in the Philippines? When we first moved to the Philippines, we felt that it would be best to do so.  So, we opened accounts at Citibank Savings in Iloilo — which has since closed.  There are really only two choices, Citibank and HSBC, both global banking goliaths.  HSBC has 10,000 offices in 85 countries. Citi operates in 140 countries with approximately 16,000 offices. Citi is the major foreign bank in the Philippines and HSBC a close second. No other American bank does retail business in the Philippines.  These banks only have offices in a few of the biggest Philippine cities.

Citi and HSBC have excellent cash machines.  Citi’s machines will dispense both pesos and dollars.  We used to get almost all our funds from Citi’s cash machine in Iloilo.  That’s because Citi did not charge any ATM or foreign transaction fees so we could use our Citi U.S. ATM card and withdraw just about everything we needed, up to our $2,500 daily limit per account.  Then in 2008 Citi imposed a 2% foreign currency fee for ATM withdrawals.  We have never used our Citi ATM card since.  We noticed that routine banking charges were high at Citi in the Philippines.  We also found that the advantages or interconnections leveraged by banking with in both Citi in the U.S. and in the Philippines were just about nil.  Although both parts of the same global banks, there were no useful interconnections. When we had to wire money from the Philippines to the U.S., we were charged $135.  It costs $18.50 to wire from Citi U.S. to Citi Philippines but $135.00 to do the opposite!  That’s when we decided to shop for another bank.

China Bank Mabini Branch staff usher in the Lunar New Year. Ever see such a thing in Peoria?

We went about it fairly systematically. We got rate and service fee cards or checked the web sites of the various banks in Iloilo.  We ended up feeling China Bank offered us the best deal — the lowest fees and best interest.  They were quite accommodating when we visited the branch.  We are quite satisfied with China Bank, which is by the way a Philippine Bank.  But really, the location and responsiveness of the banking staff are key.  Choose a bank which is close to you, has a big parking lot and which treats you well.  The mid-tier banks do seem to have lower fees than PNB and other big Philippine banks.  Be cautious about “rural banks”.  They seem to fail with regularity.  We don’t believe the Philippine Central Bank (BSP) will allow one of the commercial banks to fail and in fact they seem to have survived the current financial crisis quite intact.

Choosing a U.S. bank.  In general we have found Citibank U.S.’s Internet banking to be excellent.  Their competence at international banking is tops.  We once used a small local bank to wire a big (for me) sum overseas and they made a mistake and the money was lost for weeks.  That’s when We changed to Citibank.  Banking with Citibank can also be inexpensive if you don’t use their ATM/debit cards.  If you direct deposit your pension check there are no checking fees.  We pay nothing for our Citibank banking because we just use it to receive funds in the U.S. which we access via writing checks to our Philippine bank and for online bill pay services for purchases and expenses we have in the U.S.

The U.S. bank (also in the U.K.) that seems the most friendly to expats is Capital One.  We’ve had Capital One credit cards for years.  It’s one of a handful of banks which do not charge foreign transaction fees.  We use our Capital One Visa card for lots of routine purchases in the Philippines, including groceries.  Why?  The exchange rate is as good or better than we can get from a money changer.  The other reason is that it’s good to keep a card in play through fairly constant use.  If you never use you card and then need it for a medical emergency in the Philippines, you may find problems with getting approval.  The card is also good for purchases and bill paying in the U.S.  For some U.S. purchases a U.S. credit card is required.  For example if you want to buy Kindle content (see this article) you have to have a U.S. credit card. Capital One cards also have various award programs.  We just got $70 bank on my Capital One rewards card.  Of course, as with any credit card, you have to pay every month on time or you’ll get hit with horrible fees.  Capital One has started charging an annual fee of $20.  We hate paying such fees, but for this card it’s worth it.

Capital One also offers checking and savings accounts which do not charge an ATM or foreign transaction fees.  This is a link to an excellent compilation (Wiki) of the fees that various US banks charge for using their credit, debit and ATM cards overseas: Click here.

Here’s a New York Times article about U.S. citizens renouncing citizenship, in part because of the increasing difficulty of opening and maintaining U.S. bank accounts.

A few other tips:

• Be sure to do you research on banks and open accounts while still in your home country.  Due to security, terrorism and money laundering concerns it can be quite difficult to open an account in the U.S. from the Philippines.

• When making a major purchase, don’t carry big amounts of money on your person.  As noted earlier, bank employees have notified compatriots outside when a big withdrawal has left with a customer resulting in robbery and injury.  It only costs about P30 to purchase a “manager’s check” at your bank.  Or, if it’s a real estate transaction, have it close at your bank.

• Don’t assume that safe deposit boxes are safe.

• Don’t use public computers (Internet cafes, hotels) to access your bank accounts.

Further reading. If you’d like get all the inside scoop on the Philippine banking industry, I highly recommend Paul Hutchcroft’s “Booty Capitalism”, published by the Ateneo de Manila Press.   You can buy it from Amazon using this link.  If you do so you’ll help support goIloilo.com!
Buy this book from Amazon

I bought my copy at the excellent Pilipinas Heritage Library Bookstore at Ayala Triangle Park in Makati.  Last time I was there this book was not in stock.

Allied Banking Corporation – $3.00
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) – $3.00
Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) – $5.00
Land Bank of the Philippines – $5.00
Maybank – $3.00
Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) – $3.00
China Bank – $3.00
RCBC – $3.00 to $5.00
Banco de Oro – Unknown
Bank of Commerce (BOC) – $5.00 to $7.00
Manila Bank – $1.00
Security Bank – $5.00
United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) – $4.00 to $6.00
Metrobank – $3.00
Philippine National Bank – $7.00

The banks with variable fees charge more for larger direct deposits.

If you’d like to sign up for direct deposit in the Philippines go to the bank you have chosen and ask for the direct deposit enrollment form.  They will help you fill it out and the bank will submit the form to Social Security representatives in Manila. U.S. Veteran’s benefits may also be direct deposited.

The account into which the funds are paid must be an individual account.  A Social Security concern is that benefits may continue to be paid and spent long after the pensioner has expired.  A large Social Security operation is lodged at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.  A main responsibility is ensuring that Social Security recipients are still alive.  This often includes annual letters to which you must respond or your benefits will be suspended.

More information is available at the U.S. Embassy website: http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwh3032.html

Disadvantages of direct deposit to Philippine banks:

• The account may not be joint with your wife.  This could present problems in accessing pension funds if you are incapacitated.
• You will receive periodic letters from Social Security to confirm that you have not deceased.  If these are not received or answered your benefits may be suspended.
• Fee as shown above.  There are no fees for direct deposit to U.S. banks.  If you receive Social Security and VA benefits, you’ll pay two fees.

Tax ID number

The hiccup was getting the tax ID number.  After finding out that it was required, I headed straight to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.  A mistake.  I should have asked at LTO.  I needed a letter from the LTO before getting a tax ID number from the BIR.  Why?  I can only speculate, and since you can do the same, I won’t bother here.

The foreign license official

The next step is that I went back to the LTO with the ID number.  I was first sent upstairs to see a very nice man who is in charge of foreign driver’s license conversions.  He looked at my documents and told me what I needed exactly (copies of various documents and passport pages, med exam, and drug test).  I went across the street, xeroxed, peed, and was asked questions by a doctor.  An hour later I was back upstairs with all my documents in order.  Everything was inspected, signed, and given back to me to take downstairs. Downstairs I went and was told that there was no time left in the day (I had gotten to the LTO at 2p) and I should come back the next day.

Written but no driving test

The next day, I returned, just after 1:00p.  I filed the paperwork, had my photograph taken, twice, and paid a 167.63p fee.  I then waited for the written exam.  When called, I entered the exam room. They asked me if I wanted to review and I said yes because I didn’t know what special rules there might be for the Philippines (i.e. 80 KPH speed limit outside the cities). They gave me a 7 page list of questions and their correct answers.  After reading it through, I returned the booklet and picked up the 40 question, multiple choice, optical scan test, specially printed for me with my name on it.  I answered it, left the room and after waiting yet again, I was asked to pay about 517.63p and was handed my non-professional driver’s license.

I passed the exam, obviously, but I don’t know how many questions I got wrong. Drat.  The questions were pretty straight forward. I didn’t need the review and some questions were missing on the review.   Some of the English was confusing for this American English speaker and at least two questions I took an informed guess one (i.e. a red flag is needed when the load sticks out how far from the back?).

From the website I thought I would have to take a practical test since my Massachusetts license had expired.  That is not the case, as the foreign license official told me, since I have a conversion.

Various websites talk about the LTO having cars to use for the practical exam.  If that’s the case, it’s not true in Iloilo, at least according to a sign on the wall which says that you need to bring your own car for the practical exam.  This of course implies that in the past they had their own vehicle.  The sign was also in the far corner and I would not have seen it if it wasn’t for the waiting I did.

This second day took me about two hours.

I did not go with anyone — no Filipino or anyone else.  I am not sure whether that helps. I always think that it does because then they are limited in what they can ask me.  They cannot ask me subtly for a bribe.

I have heard horror stories about LTO offices, including about the Iloilo office, which is located in Jaro, but my experience is of a efficient, professional and well-run office, though still a government bureaucracy and so maybe I am judging on a curve.

Bruce in Iloilo

Our apartment is in this duplex building. Photo is taken from the beach

We rented in Molo, Iloilo City for two and a half years.  Our new apartment is steps from the beach in Tigbauan, Iloilo, about 22 km from Iloilo City.

Our Tigbauan Apartment

In our apartment, Filipinas master the Internet. Left to right: Lika, Carol and Allen

We have a carport and a car wash team!

Beachfront Promenade

My beachfront parapet/reading nook at sunrise

The seawall from below

During storms,waves will break over this seawall, sending coconuts and gravel over the wall. The pounding of the waves on this seawall is easily heard from our apartment. The salty spray covers everything.

Sunset at our apartment

The two km. stroll to our Tigbauan property is through pleasant agricultural landscapes is a real treat and a pleasant change from the streets of Iloilo City.

There are a number of options for maintaining a U.S. phone number.  Vonage, Skype and other VOIP vendors offer such numbers.  I have had a Skype U.S. number, but now use Maxemail (www.maxemail.com) because it’s cheap and reliable.   I found the Skype answering system to be unreliable and besides, more expensive.  Especially annoying was that it would constantly “lose” our personalized message and so play a generic one.  Callers are reassured if they hear a personalized message in your own voice.  Getting a computer-generated generic message can raise more questions.

With Maxemail, you can choose a number in a specific city (that costs more) or you can accept whatever number they assign you.  With the proliferation of cell phones, having a number in the area code where you live has become pretty irrelevant.  I use the “Lite” versions of Maxemail which costs $24.95 per year.

Once you have your account with Maxemail, you can record a personal message  in your voice which will be played when someone calls your number.  Callers will be given the option of leaving a voice message or sending a fax.  The messages they leave are saved and immediately sent to your e-mail address.  There will be an e-mail in your inbox with an attached audio recording of the telephone voice message.  You can choose which audio format works best for you.  I use Real Audio.

If you receive a fax, it will be converted into a PDF file and sent to your e-mail address.  You can also send faxes (at a small extra charge) using the Maxemail service.  Supported file types include: .doc, .xls, .txt, .pdf, .tif, .html, .htm, .gif, .jpg and others.  I almost always use PDF.

We don’t have any interest in Maxemail, except that it works well for us.

Breakfast with Kindle

KINDLE NEWS FLASH! October 7, 2009. Amazon has announced a new international version of the Kindle which, according to Amazon, works wirelessly in the Philippines and around the world.

I have never found having to get my Kindle downloads through USB to be a major inconvenince.  To me the biggest news is that Amazon will ship the Kindle to the Philippines and allow Philippine residents to purchase Kindle content.  Here’s the link to the new INTERNATIONAL KINDLE. You can click on the image below just to get all the details. If you decide to buy, you’ll help support goIloilo by using this link. Thanks! Just remember that such purchases will be subject to Philippine customs duty.

NEWS FLASH TWO.  Before buying a Kindle be sure to look over the brand new Barnes & Noble “Nook” e-reader. More info at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp

A big advantage for Philippine readers is that the Nook offers Wi-Fi purchase of books.

The e-reader competition is heating up!

Here’s our older Kindle post. I was fortunate to receive an Amazon Kindle for Christmas from a very kind friend in the U.S.  I have had no problems performing the required device registration at the Amazon website in the U.S.  I have had no problems buying, downloading and using Kindle content.  Amazon will convert files (PDF, TXT etc.) you email them to the Kindle .azw file format for free.  That also works fine.  All these tasks were accomplished with a Philippine (Globe) IP address.  It’s my understanding that you must have a credit card with a U.S. address in order to purchase a Kindle.  Some have said that it’s possible to get around this requirement by purchasing an Amazon gift card with a foreign (non-U.S.) credit card and using the gift card to purchase the Kindle.  I have not needed to test this work-around as I have a U.S. address and credit card. Let’s hope the Kindle does become available in the Philippines. I’m sure it’s Amazon’s objective to sell it worldwide.  As of now, they can’t keep up with the demand in the U.S.

I’m a reader.  If you don’t live in Manila, the selection of books and international newspapers and magazines is quite limited — in Iloilo, very limited.  Iloilo has a huge college student population but, as far as I know, no bookstores other than the National Bookstore branches at Robinson’s and SM City.  The number of books actually for sale is shockingly small. High shipping costs make buying from Amazon or other foreign booksellers expensive.  Electronic versions of many classic and out-of-copyright books are available for 99 cents on Amazon and free from other sites such as Project Gutenberg.

Kindle offers a work-around, and not only for books.  International newspapers are completely unavailable in Iloilo City.  Using the Kindle I can have the current issue of the Financial Times with my morning coffee — or of course any one of a dozen other foreign papers. Sure, I can read these on my computer, but the user interface and especially the portability of the Kindle is superior to my laptop.  Now that we live on the ocean in Tigbauan, Iloilo, I like to take my Kindle down to the shore in late afternoon. I read the paper and watch the sun set behind the palm trees! The Kindle is another technology (along with DSL and Skype) that helps make the life of the expat even better.  Now you can live in the most remote provincial location* and read the New York Times with your breakfast.  That’s progress!

The one problem I’ve had with our Kindle, the original Kindle, is that the display fades almost to unreadability when the ambient temperature is high, say 90F. We do not use usually use air conditioning so this is a disadvantage.

If you’d like to buy a Kindle in the U.S.A. before you come to the Philippines please use this link and help to support goILOILO.com

*if you have Internet access.  You didn’t buy rural property with checking that did you?

WATTPAD. If you’re interested in e-books and you’re on a budget, check out http://www.wattpad.com/ They offer e-book materials which work on a variety of cellphones and lots of free books and other content for download.  The website is available in Tagalog.

• Prescription drugs and medical care.  A $1,700 per month budget may cover routine medical and dental care for a reasonably healthy couple.  Someone requiring expensive prescription drugs or expensive medical care needs to adjust the budget accordingly.  A reserve account to cover emergency medical expenses is a must.
• Support you provide to your spouse’s Philippine family — routine and special such as medical emergencies.
• Family size.
• Dining out, entertainment
• Expenses in ones home country.
• Immigration fees.
• Overseas travel.
• Any installment payments such as for a motor vehicle.

Here’s our expenses for 2008 (in U.S. Dollars)
Auto – fuel and maintenance   449.94
Bank Charges    103.96
Books, Mags, Music, News    229.41
Charity    143.10
Clothing    182.33
Computer Expense    282.27
Dining Out    758.56
Entertainment    10.15
Help to our Families (US and RP)    3,107.81
Gifts    43.17
Groceries    2,886.83
Household    1,100.89
Insurance:    32.49
Investment Exp    48.85
Legal & Immigration    19.47
Total Medical & Dental    1,187.70
Misc    490.78
Photography    597.31
Postage-Shipping    226.37
Recreation    10.81
Rent    6,000.00
Subscriptions    138.00
Taxes:    524.98
Real property Expense    192.72
Transportation    53.75
Travel    359.67
Utilities:
Bottled Water    56.52
Electric    744.39
Propane    28.96
Telephone & DSL    518.11
Utilities – Other    1.59
Total Utilities    1,349.57
House Help  581.87
Expenses – Other    0.25

Total Expenses    $21,113.01
Notes.  Our rent is very high by local standards.  You can rent a nice apartment in Iloilo for P6500.  Our is very deluxe — an unnecessary luxury.

Would be Philippine retirees often ask if they can live in the Philippines for $600 per month or $800 or $1000 per month.  The answer to all these is yes.  If you are healthy, can be happy living in a rural area, riding public transport, shopping in the public markets, avoid imported foods and can get along without air conditioning and maybe Internet access (if you’re reading this maybe you can’t), you can live on very little.

• Prescription drugs and medical care.  A $1,700 per month budget may cover routine medical and dental care for a reasonably healthy couple.  Someone requiring expensive prescription drugs or expensive medical care needs to adjust the budget accordingly.  A reserve account to cover emergency medical expenses is a must.
• Support you provide to your spouse’s Philippine family — routine and special such as medical emergencies.
• Family size.
• Dining out, entertainment
• Expenses in ones home country.
• Immigration fees.
• Overseas travel.
• Any installment payments such as for a motor vehicle.

Here’s our expenses for 2008 (in U.S. Dollars)
Auto – fuel and maintenance   449.94
Bank Charges    103.96
Books, Mags, Music, News    229.41
Charity    143.10
Clothing    182.33
Computer Expense    282.27
Dining Out    758.56
Entertainment    10.15
Help to our Families (US and RP)    3,107.81
Gifts    43.17
Groceries    2,886.83
Household    1,100.89
Insurance:    32.49
Investment Exp    48.85
Legal & Immigration    19.47
Total Medical & Dental    1,187.70
Misc    490.78
Photography    597.31
Postage-Shipping    226.37
Recreation    10.81
Rent    6,000.00
Subscriptions    138.00
Taxes:    524.98
Real property Expense    192.72
Transportation    53.75
Travel    359.67
Utilities:
Bottled Water    56.52
Electric    744.39
Propane    28.96
Telephone & DSL    518.11
Utilities – Other    1.59
Total Utilities    1,349.57
House Help  581.87
Expenses – Other    0.25

Total Expenses    $21,113.01
Notes.  Our rent is very high by local standards.  You can rent a nice apartment in Iloilo for P6500.  Our is very deluxe — an unnecessary luxury.

Would be Philippine retirees often ask if they can live in the Philippines for $600 per month or $800 or $1000 per month.  The answer to all these is yes.  If you are healthy, can be happy living in a rural area, riding public transport, shopping in the public markets, avoid imported foods and can get along without air conditioning and maybe Internet access (if you’re reading this maybe you can’t), you can live on very little.

7-15-06

Very nice job, Tom. To reinforce some of Tom’s post I will add a couple of sentences on my own satisfaction with life in RP. Finding a happy location to live in was true for us… moved a few times, finally buying, building and matching our desires with our income.

Though there are 3 expats in our city of 51 barangays, we seldom see each other (except at joint Rotary Club meetings), and I have more to say to my barkada (close group of Filipino men my age who have taken me in lock-stock and barrel). I sit with them 2 or 3 nights a week and drink beer and eat pulutan. I work at a university with one, play tennis with another, take small trips with 2 others, and so on. I never had this level of social interaction in the US, preferring pretty much to stay apart. These guys are always sort of around and while not bothering, or pestering me, they make it very easy to do things with them that I enjoy. They often do things that incorporate my wife and kids.

I am mostly stared at, called Joe, and my presence sometimes stimulates laughter and a clerk scurrying away to call for another clerk to wait on me. Though I have learned to speak Tagalog in a primitive fashion, those listening always expect me to speak English and there is always that communication dance until we settle. While some Filipinos are fluent in English, most in my experience are marginally able to communicate in English, and a lot cannot). My Rotary Club is made up of doctors and attorneys and the like, and they insist that I speak Tagalog because its hard work for them to translate constantly.

This list, remote when I choose it to be, serves my need for expat communication. Strange huh? Oddly, it fills my need when I read and write things back and forth with members. While I have never met Don H. personally, I feel I am a friend. We sometimes communicate by text or voice. Others on the list I know as “friends”, though they aren’t what you would think of in the US as friends. With a few others I sometimes sense animosity or adversity. On a few occasions I have been in Angeles but never try to talk with any of the expats or visitors I run across.

Just my thoughts,
Mike M.
——

10-22-07

Hi Chris,
I am the project director of a program that brings education (1st to 10th grade), counseling (drug, offender, victim), skills training (electronic, well drilling, etc), and spiritual- read character development, to approximately 500 prisoners at the Bulacan Provincial Jail. Its not a prison until they have been convicted which takes up to 5 or 6 years, and then they go to one of the 7 prisons in the Philippines- from here they go to Muntinlupa. My “salary” goes to the prison. There are a total of 2,2500 prisoners here. I also direct Tanglaw Pag-asa (hope and peace), the juvenile rehab center for 75 youth in slam for index crimes.

Visiting daily 1 – 5. The are dependent on family/visitors for everything (medication, shampoo, clothes, etc), except an insufficient amount of food daily. Now we are not allowing money in because of extortion. I am trying to establish a bank against administrative opposition.

Many if not most prisoners are indigent-usually meaning squatters. Their children, spouses, can’t afford transportation so they never receive visitors. Many families disintegrate during the 5 year incarceration period. I have recently arranged with a Rotary Club in San Jose del Monte to bring 50 visitors twice a month. My club will pay one trip per month (about 1,600 with food thrown in).

There are many groups waiting for counseling. I do 10 sessions per groups- in part for the therapy and in larger part for the opportunity for prisoners to talk to someone.

If you want to know about hell, visit one. If you are in Bulacan, drop in and I’ll give you the tour.

Thanks for asking, Mike M.
—-

10-31-07

Its how we live, its what we do and we are not likely to change. Its also known and talked about by everyone and everyone throws up their hands. This level of pessimism is like fresh salt, spicy or painful.

For me, the most difficult part of finding solace in living in the Philippines has been fitting into the culture. The hugely numerically dominant lower classes beg, borrow, and steal what I have and throw their offal in any water source. We cherish their white toothed smiles though many if not most have rotting teeth and no health insurance. The overflow of their offspring roam the streets of every municipality, unclaimed.

The extremely thin middle classes hang onto their legacy of property and practice their barkadas day and night, clinging to one another while drinking 5 beers each night and eating pulutan. They have insurance, make heartless use of the lower class in their employment, and enjoy their status. Their smiles conceal what they are thinking. They claim they want to change the status of the lower classes but cling tightly to everything they own- except for when it comes to the barcadas. They are pessimistic about the government.

The extremely wealthy overlords- it is said that 250 families own 95% of the Philippines- rule with impunity. They seldom have to rethink anything they wish to do because they are in charge. They control government, economy, crime and social progress.

——-
To oversimplify about myself, I was raised in a lower class environment, and like many, many Americans crawled into and was accepted by the huge middle class. Poor people brushing elbows with well-to-do people and no one the wiser. I didn’t hobnob with the Rockefeller, Kennedy and Bush families, but except as a child, never knew hunger. We all had/have money sufficient to keep us content.

Here, I am welcomed with open arms into the middle classes, but as a generality find it cloistering, sadly hypocritical and disingenuous. They seem to tolerate my pitiful philanthropy, commenting that they are blessed to have me here- but, they don’t want to join me in trying to fix things. I search among them unsuccessfully for a confidante. I relish my daily reading of the comments of people on this list- my contact with reality. I seem to be stuck in paradise to sort of coin a phrase. I don’t really want to spend my remaining years consuming 5 beers a night and eating goat entrails.

But, that’s who we are and what we do. Take it or leave it.

Mike M.

———

“I am lonely here, made more so by an increasing recognition of how deeply alien I am. I have long tired of the nightly drinking and eating with the barcada. I see more deeply into the Austroasian mind as time passes.”

——–

News Report

American found dead By: Emil G. Gamos & Erick Silverio MALOLOS City —An American psychologist was found dead under his car parked on the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Pio Cruzcosa, Calumpit, Bulacan early yesterday morning.

Police said Mike Mikesell, president of the Rotary Club of Barasoain,
Malolos and former consultant at the Tanglaw Pag-asa (Bulacan Center for Youth Offenders), had a gunshot wound in the head.

The victim was found by village watchmen under his silver XLT Ford Ranger with a .25 handgun at 3:50 a.m., police said.

Police said a handwritten note with a message “Pls. contact Fe Mikesell” was found on the car windshield. Fe Mikesell turned out to be the victim’s Filipino wife.

Acting Bulacan police director Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo said he is still awaiting the results of the forensic investigation of the SOCO on the incident.

“Sa initial report, it appears na mukhang me element ng suicide dahil sa nakitang handwritten note at baril sa tabi ng bangkay ng biktima,” Bantolo said.

Bantolo directed the Provincial Police investigation branch to conduct a thorough probe of the incident.

Mikesell supported the giving of free services to juvenile delinquents detained at Tanglaw Pag-asa. He is also very active helping the local government in its youth and health programs.
——–

3-28-08

Hello everyone. I’m a long-time friend of Mike Mikesell, and I’ve been a member of this group as long as he had, although I never posted a message. I’m also married to a filipina, and I was the one to introduce the Philippines to Mike.

I want to clear up some confusion about his passing and to recognize his contributions to the Philippines.

I’ve been quite active to trying to ensure a complete investigation happens, and that is the case. The police are extensively conducting this, and the Am. Embassy is watching all of this too.

If you knew Mike well, you would know he would never take his own life, and just last week I had been helping him line up a boat that he had planned to live on with his family. They recently visited a marina to look at one. He was also investigating a business idea I sent him.

It’s now become known Mike had recently taken out a restraining order on someone. He also had received death threats. Mike was found under his truck shot with his gun he carried in the truck. His hands were scraped. He was dirty, indicating he put up a fight.

I can only conclude something went sour with someone or with multiple people who decided to do this. It may have been Mike was going to protect himself with the gun, and they got it away from him.

You may be aware Mike was a psychologist (we went to the same grad school and were in the same psychology program), and Mike volunteered his time as a professor at the Univ. of Bulacan, a prison, an orphanage, a juvenile detention center, and a women’s insane asylum. I visited all these facilities with him last year, and the people there (both staff and patients/prisoners) loved him. Mike was also the president of the local Rotary. Mike brought programs to these facilities that had never been seen in the Phils . He moved people out of cages were they had been locked away for years. He brought hope to others who could not get the ear of anyone to listen to their plight. He helped people develop skills that would keep them out of these facilities in the future. Mike loved helping others caught up in these facilities/situations, and he was driven to do whatever he could.

Mike’s wife, Fe, is barely coping, as you can imagine. I’m sure at some point she will be viewing these postings. Any other positive comments, memories, you may want to relate to her, I’m sure she will appreciate.

These years in the Philippines for Mike have been the best for him. I’m sure that he has no regrets in coming here. He sometimes pushed things to their limits, but that only enhanced the wild ride of his life that simply added to his enjoyment. Goodbye Mike.

and finally,

I too feel a huge loss for Mike and now understand why Mike posted to this site concerning Life Getting To Him Here

I seriously doubt that Mike committed suicide but was set up for a contract killing,he may have underestimated the danger he was in. It is very easy to have a misunderstanding with a Filipino and be in grave danger.

We westerners commonly think that any altercations can be resolved by the courts and we rely on the Police to intervene in any disputes, however the mind set in this country leans more to revenge then settling disputes in court. The going rate for a contract killing is less then 300 USD thank God that the killers did not go after Mikes family as well

One of my best friends returned to America because of a land dispute between his wife’s family he nor his wife were involved The dispute was over fish pond ownership her father killed his cousin in a heated argument with a bolo and was also shot in the leg during the argument self defense but the cousins family put out a contract on my friends family

After this my friend started getting death threats on his life as well as his sons and his wife’s , so after 5 years of living here happly they decided to move back to the USA

My friend was a retired police officer from Detroit City and had seen his share of problems and had the recommendations on the wall to prove it but he realized that the threat to his family was real and it was impossible to insure his families safety.

As for Mike carrying a gun I’m sure the out come would have been the same with or with out the gun the only difference the gun could have made was if Mike had used it instead of carrying it he should never have let them get close enough to take it away from him

Just my opinion after 7 years of living here

Tom, Roxas City

When the foreigner living in the Philippines with his Filipina wife dies, what happens to the wife and kids?  In too many cases there is little saving, pensions may stop and the wife and kids may end up destitute.

That’s why there are big advantages to the Filipina of becoming a US or European citizen.  When the husband passes away the Filipina has a US or European citizenship and passport.  She and any children can relocate overseas and find employment or receive government benefits.  Even if the widow remains in the Philippines, as a US citizen she can receive US Social Security Survivor’s benefits, immediately if the couple has children, or when she turns 60.  Details at http://www.ssa.gov/pgm/links_survivor.htm The rules can be quite complicated.  You can call the Social Security Services section at the US Embassy in Manila at: (63) (2) 301-2000

There is one too little-known alternative for Filipina widows who were married to US Citizens, the I-360 Widow/Widower immigrant visa.  The widow or widower can self-apply to immigrate to the US after her husband’s death.  Of course their children are already US citizens, if their birth has been registered with the US Embassy in Manila.  The widow will need enough money to survive during the I-360 application process, to pay the application fees ($455.00 as of 10-08), to travel to the US Embassy in Manila for interviews and finally to travel to and get settled in the US. This will amount to several thousands of dollars. For more information, go to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Click on the “immigration forms” tab, scroll down to the I-360 line and download the form and instructions.

The widow or widower may self-file this petition if:

• You were married for at least two years to a U.S. citizen who is now deceased and who was a U.S. citizen at the time of death;
• Your citizen spouse’s death was less than two years ago – SO DON’T DELAY;
• You were not legally separated from your citizen spouse at the time of death; and
• You have not remarried.

The I-360 petition must be filed with:

• copy of your marriage certificate to the U.S. citizen and proof of termination of any prior marriages of either of you;
• Copies of evidence that your spouse was a U.S. citizen, such as a birth certificate if born in the United States, Naturalization Certificate or Certificate of Citizenship issued by USCIS; Form FS-240, Report of Birth Abroad of Citizen of the United States; or a U.S. passport which was valid at the time of the citizen’s death; and
• copy of the death certificate of your U.S. citizen spouse.

Unmarried minor children may be included on the same I-360 petition.

Special note to previous married widows: self-petitioning widows of US citizens may be denied visas if it is discovered that there was a prior marriage. When an individual marries more than once, the party applying for immigration benefit must show evidence of the termination of the first marriage as well as the existence and validity of the second marriage. The person seeking the immigration benefit of a marriage has the burden of establishing the validity of the second marriage. Proving that the prior marriage is terminated may either be through court documents granting annulment or dissolution of the marriage. The USCIS generally recognizes annulment granted in a foreign country such as in the Philippines, as a matter of comity, as long as that particular court had jurisdiction to grant the annulment.

The following was posted my Ron McCarthy of the excellent Mag-Anak Yahoo Group: “There have been circumstances where these (I-360) visas have been denied. Needless to say, many lawsuits have been filed against the USCIS regarding this matter. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (which has appellate authority over California, Nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington) was the first circuit court to address this issue. In its precedential case of Freeman v. Gonzalez decided in 2006, the Ninth Circuit held that alien spouses remain immediate relative spouse for the purpose of the immigration law, and that the death of their US citizen spouses prior to the second wedding anniversary does not strip them of the opportunity to obtain permanent residence in the United States.”

——

I have prepared a guidebook for my wife on the steps she should take should I predecease her.  These include:

• Contact our US attorney
• Inform American Citizen Services at the US Embassy in Manila
• Get several copies of my official death certificate. May also need a Consular Report of Death of an American Citizen Abroad
• Notify Social Security Administration of my death.
• My wishes regarding disposal of my remains.
• Various instructions on how to handle financial affairs.
• If your wife qualifies for an I-360, be sure she has a copy of your marriage certificate, divorce papers from any of your prior marriages and knows where to find your US Passport.  It’s much easier for you to obtain such documentation while you are alive than it will be for your widow after you die.

Sorry if this is not so helpful to non-Americans.  I am not knowledgeable about the situation for other nationalities.  If you can add more information, please leave a comment below.

Iloilo City Central Market, Philippines

We live in Iloilo City and keep quite close track of our food expenditures.  We had read about soaring food price inflation in the Philippines so we decided to see how much our own food expenditures had risen.  Bear in mind that our figures include the non-food items we buy at the grocery store such as soap products and a few other incidentals.  Since our income is in US dollars, we keep track of our expenses in dollars.

On Sept. 30, 07 the exchange rate was P45.20 pesos per USD.  On Sept. 30, 08 the exchange rate was P47.25 per USD.  I don’t have the math skills to make much more sense of this for peso purchasers.

I do note that the rice we buy is a premium quality rice variety called Malido.  Last year it was P32 per kilo.  Today it is P48, a 50% increase.  This is from the same rice vendor in the Villa, Iloilo City public market. We used to buy imported Thai Jasmine rice but now we like the Philippine Malido.

Here are our figures:

• Jan 1 to Sept 30 2007 $205.76 per month.
• Jan 1 to Sept 30 2008 $251.87 per month
• Increase: 22% or $46.11 per month

If anything, the picture may be worse than the above figures show.  We are buying more fruits and vegetables at public markets where they are cheaper — and better.  We are also buying some meat products from stalls rather than the supermarket.  We used to think that it was safer to buy meat at the supermarket (refrigeration, fewer flies) but we have been increasingly suspicious that supermarkets use red dye to make meat look fresh when it’s not and maybe other adulterants as well.  When we go to a meat vendor in the early morning we can find freshly killed and butchered (apologies to vegetarians!) meat that looks just that way — fresh and unadulterated.

We are a household of two persons.  We do buy luxuries such as imported olive oil, imported spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese and some other imported cheese, New Zealand milk and butter and so forth.  Nothing here claimed to be the product of statistical competence, but hope it may be of interest to others expats or aspiring expats.

ILOILO BIG MAC INDEX:  The price of a Big Mac meal has become something of a transnational guide to the cost of living, popularized by the Economist Magazine.  The news from Iloilo City is not promising.  When we moved here in early 2007 a Big Mac meal was P98.  As of January 2009 it’s P126, a 28% increase in two years.

Road trip: buying ultra-fresh Yellow Fin Tuna in San Joaquin, Iloilo

I’ve been driving in Iloilo City since February, 2008 when we bought a new, very basic  Toyota Innova. Most days the Innova stays at home. We take jeepneys in the city, sometimes taxis. For eight pesos we can go most places we need to go and we don’t have to worry about accidents or parking.  Besides, it can be more fun.  When I’m sealed up in my air conditioned SUV, I sometimes (not always) look with envy at those in the jeepneys.  That said, having your own car can be nice when it’s hot or raining or when heading to the mall to stock up on groceries or other hefty items.  But mainly we wanted our own vehicle to explore the Panay countryside, especially when family or friends visit.  Long haul jeepneys and buses drive so fast you can’t see or enjoy anything, can’t stop to see the sights, can’t buy local specialties, stop at restaurants and markets in the towns you go through, and so forth.  With your own vehicle you have a freedom to explore your island and stop where and when you feel like it.  Usually we take a cooler packed with ice, drink and snacks.  The cooler also allows us to buy seafood at some of the markets along the way.

I did not have my Philippine driving license when I bought the car so getting a license was my first task. Since my New York State license had not yet expired, getting the Philippine license was pretty easy.  Because I already had a valid license, the written and driving tests were waived.  My wife’s New York and Philippine licenses had expired so she was told she had to take both tests.

We went to the main Land Transportation Office (LTO) office in Jaro.  The experience was pretty good.  We did not need any fixers and were not asked for anything beyond the official fees.  The application form was given to us by the polite guard.  We were then sent to get our physical exam and drug test at the somewhat shabby private offices outside the LTO compound.  I had a hard time peeing more or less in public, but they were patient with me.  The drug test is for methamphetamine and marijuana, the popular and affordable street drugs in the Philippines.  The physical exam was pretty basic, vision and blood pressure.  Then it was back to the LTO for photo taking and processing.  We walked out with my completed license the same afternoon.

The main LTO office is in Jaro, near the Gran Plains Subdivision, before the Toyota dealership.  You can renew a valid existing license at a branch office on the second floor of Robinson’s Mall in Iloilo proper.

Road trip: the end of the road for our new Innova when going from Alimodian to Maasin, Iloilo

Driving in the Philippines. I admit that driving in the Philippines terrifies me.  I am terrified that I will have an accident, that I will hurt someone.  I am terrified at the complexity and chaos on the Philippine roads.  I feel that disaster is always close at hand.

There are so many complexities that I have to try to pay 100% attention 100% of the time.  Consider the hundreds of children and other pedestrians along side the road.  Will they dash in front of you? I had a young lady walk right in front of my car without looking.  If I had not been going so slowly, I definitely would have hit her. Consider the disparity of speeds on the road, crazily speeding buses and passenger vans, jeepneys always ready to stop in front of you to pick us a passenger, slow moving pedicabs and tricycles appearing suddenly, going much slower than other vehicles on the road.  Consider the darting dogs and chickens, grazing goats and cows wandering into the road. It’s nerve wracking!

Night time driving — I absolutely avoid it whenever it can.   To the above, consider that many vehicles have NO lights and that there are practically no street lights — the darkness is deep.  Consider speeding (or abruptly stopping) jeepneys with no lights — no headlights, no taillights, practically stopped pedicabs and tricycles appearing out the darkness in front of you, the roads still lined with people inches from your speeding vehicle.

Drive very slowly and cautiously.  Don’t feel under pressure to do anything. Don’t make a move until you are confident it is safe. You can creep down a street, you can turn anywhere you want, stop in the middle, park in the middle or side or side wise. No one will complain.

Generally big vehicles have the right of way no matter what.  Everyone yields to a loaded tandem dump truck barreling down the road.  Cars generally yield to jeepneys.  Keep your ego under control.  Driving in the Philippines is one big game of chicken.  Don’t be aggressive until you really know the rules.  Are you retired? What’s your hurry?

IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT, remember these rules:

1. Let your driver (if any) or wife do the talking.

2. Make the assumption that you are in the right.

3. Realize this is emotionally more difficult for the Filipino.

4. Remember that a Filipino driven to aggression is dangerous.

5. Get it over fast if you can – a crowd will develop quickly.  If someone has been hurt, you might get assaulted by an angry crowd.

The US Embassy in Manila offers this advice: “If the other parties involved in the accident become hostile or accusatory, give them your name, phone number and business card and ask them to call you when they are calmer so you can work out the details.  If you feel at risk or threatened by the section of town where the accident took place, travel to the nearest police station or inform the nearest police officer.”

6. Philippine accident investigation procedures require the driver of an involved vehicle to report to the local police station to give a statement. Expect this request and cooperate if all parties are amicable.

7. Always carry a photocopy of your Philippine Driver’s License and surrender this to the police. Do not give up your original license. This is often lost at the station and you’ll never get it back.

8. Have the police emergency number programmed into your cell phone.  If things turn ugly you’ll be happy to have the police show up.

9. Be sure to obtain complete information about the other party – name, address, driver’s license number, license number of the vehicle and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle if other than the driver.

US Embassy, Manila Offical Advice on Driving in the Philippines:

Travel within the archipelago is possible by boat, plane or car. Traffic conditions are often crowded and chaotic. Drivers routinely ignore stoplights, lane markers and other traffic control devices and traffic rules are rarely enforced. As in most places where traffic is highly congested and under-regulated, driving in the Philippines requires maximum attention and patience to avoid accidents. Vehicles on the road include automobiles, trucks and buses as well as manually-operated tricycles and carts. Due to a lack of navigable sidewalks, pedestrians also use the road in most areas. Many roads are in disrepair, with large potholes; roads under repair are often not clearly marked or identified and may be a significant hazard, especially at night. Lower-lying roads will frequently be flooded after even a light rain, making it difficult to see holes and other obstacles. During the rainy season, roads at higher elevations sometimes experience landslides.

Pedestrians should exercise extreme caution when crossing roads. Driving off the national highways and paved roads is particularly dangerous, especially at night. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive by U.S. standards, and are the recommended form of public transportation. All other forms of public transportation, including the light rail and jeepneys, should be avoided for both safety and security reasons.

All front seat occupants of vehicles are required to wear safety belts. Traffic signals and signs, often in English, are similar to those in the U.S., and traffic moves on the right. U.S. auto insurance is usually not accepted in the Philippines, and foreign drivers involved in serious accidents may face extreme difficulties. The central Philippine agencies responsible for transportation and safety are the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Department of Public Works and Highways. In several large metropolitan areas, emergency police services can be reached by dialing 166. Emergency ambulance service is slow and unreliable and crews are rarely equipped or trained for life-saving measures.

Safety of Public Transportation: Poor

Urban Road Conditions/Maintenance: Poor

Rural Road Conditions/Maintenance:Poor

Availability of Roadside/Ambulance Assistance: Poor

VISITOR VISA.  The foreigner can arrive on a visitor visa.  On arrival you’ll be granted a 21 day visa.  Be sure you have an ongoing ticket out of the Philippines to show immigration officials if they ask for it.  The visitor visa can be renewed for another 38 days at an immigration office.  Further 59 day extensions can extend your stay up up to sixteen months.  After that, you’ll have to leave the Philippines and return to begin the cycle over again. This approach is followed by many long-term expats, although the visitor visa is not intended to allow permanent residency in the Philippines.  This alternative involves multiple visits to the Bureau of Immigration and payment of fees.  Some travel agents will take care of visa extensions for a fee.

BALIKBAYAN VISA. The foreign spouse and minor children of a Philippine citizen qualify for a special one year balikbayan visa — really just a stamp in your passport.  There are no fees or paperwork.  My advice is that on arrival in the Philippines, to give your Philippine spouse your passport and a copy of your marriage certificate and let her request the balikayan visa from the immigration officer on your behalf.  The granting of the balikbayan privilege is discretionary with the immigration officer.

No visits to the immigration office or payment of fees is required, but you must leave the Philippines before the end of your one year stay.  Then you may return to the Philippines more or less immediately and request another balikbayan stamp good for another year.  Your spouse must be with you when you return, otherwise you’ll be given a 21 day tourist visa.  Please note that the only documentation you’ll receive as proof of your balikbayan status is a small arrival stamp in your passport with a smaller stamp saying “balikbayan 1 year” or sometimes the regular arrival stamp with “BB” (for balikbayan) hand-written on it.

The balikbayan privilege is a great option for expats married to a Philippine citizen.  It’s totally free of charges and totally free of visits to immigration offices.  The only hitch is that that each year you have to pay for a round trip out of the Philippines for both you and your spouse.  This can be a very enjoyable requirement as long as your heath is good enough to allow for such travel.  There are many pleasant and economical options.  Check the Philippines Airlines “Swingaround” packages which offer airfare, transfers and hotels to many Asian destinations at affordable prices. Enter “Manila” into the “from” box then choose a destination such as Hong Kong.  Then you can download a list of travel packages to the selected destinations.

TIP: Rather than leaving the Philippines at the end of the year, the foreigner can report to an immigration office and request that the balikbayan status be converted to a section 9a visitor visa.  Then you’ll be required to make regular visits to the immigration office and pay fees, just as you would as a regular visitor.  Not every immigration office may be familiar with this procedure so be sure to allow enough time to resolve any snafus.

SECTION 13a or 13g PERMANENT RESIDENT VISA.  If you’re married to a Philippine citizen or former citizen, you qualify for a permanent residency in the Philippines.  This is similar to the “green card” status of foreigners living in the US, but retaining their foreign citizenship.  With this visa you can stay in the Philippines as long as you want.  My advice to to apply for permanent residency at the Philippine embassy or consulate in your home country before you arrive in the Philippines. The process in your home country is quite fast and simple and the permanent resident visa you receive really is permanent.  You’ll need to stop in Manila for further processing, but that can be done in one day.

If you apply in the Philippines, you’ll likely need three trips to Manila.  On the first you’ll submit your application.  The second will be when you’re summoned for an interview with an immigration attorney, and the third is to receive your visa.  If you live deep in the provinces, this can involve considerable inconvenience and expense. If you apply in the Philippines you’ll only receive a probationary visa good for one year.  At the end of the year you have to reapply to make your visa permanent — more trips to Manila.  The Philippine Bureau of Immigration seems to really be making an effort to make the process of obtaining a visa more painless and less subject to requests for “additional payments”.  They have also greatly improved their website at: http://immigration.gov.ph/

I receive my SRRV, Citibank Tower, Makati

SPECIAL RESIDENT RETIREE VISA (SRRV).  This is a good option if you are not married to a Philippine citizen, have a pension of more than $800 per month and have $10,000 to leave invested in a Philippine bank.  It’s sort of the Cadillac (BMW?) of Philippine visas. You’ll never have to set foot in a Bureau of Immigration office.  You’ll apply and get your visa at the relatively plush PRA offices in the Citibank Tower in Makati. SRRV holders are exempt from ACR, I-card, exit clearance and re-entry permit requirements.  You get a special photo ID card and a pretty PRA visa with tropical island motif is inserted into your passport.  As of 2009, the PRA has 21,000 foreign retirees from 17 countries.

More information at the much improved Philippine Retirement Authority website.  Here’s something I wrote after I received my SRRV in 2007.

I received my Special Resident Retiree Visa (SRRV) last Tuesday. For those interested in the pension-based SRRV visa, I’d like to update the list on a few things I’ve learned.

The pension-based SRRV allows a foreigner at least 50 years old who has a monthly pension of $800 or more to have permanent residence visa in the Philippines in exchange for a $10,000 investment or deposit and a $1400 application fee.  It is an excellent option for a foreigner not married to a Philippine citizen.  One can argue about whether it’s a good option for those married to a Philippine citizen.  I foolishly did not get a 13a in the US, a relatively simple process.

I was planning to apply for my 13a in the Philippines but decided on the SRRV in order to avoid the various problems one can have when dealing with BID (Bureau of Immigration and Deportation).  If I lived in the Manila area I may well have gone the 13a route, but we are in the provinces and so had to deal with multiple trips to BID in Intramuros plus the fact that a 13a issued in the Philippines is probationary, so that at the end of a year there are more trip(s) to Manila.  Some provincial BID offices will handle your application without any trips to Manila, but from what I’ve heard, the “fees” can run P40,000 to P50,000 for the probationary 13a with more when one applies to have the probationary status lifted.

Here’s a few SRRV facts:

• Timeline:  The PRA says you can have an SRRV in five business days.  This presumes that you have all the documents ready, bank deposit made and so forth.  Still, I thought they were pretty speedy. I sent my application to Bank of Commerce in Makati by DHL on July 30.  On Aug. 17 I was informed that my SRRV had been approved and I could pick up my SRRV visa at my convenience.

• While most foreigners married to a Philippine citizen opt to get a 13a visa, such persons DO qualify for an SRRV.

• The annual letter US Social Security recipients receive from the Social Security Administration stating the benefit amount for the upcoming year IS acceptable as proof of pension.  For me and most US SSA pensioners, this means we can get a SRRV for a $10,000 deposit with paperwork we already have.  You can fax or email a copy of your SSA benefit statement to the PRA for approval.

The only real glitch in my application had to do with pension documentation.  I sent my benefit statement to the PRA and they responded by email saying it WAS acceptable to them.  When the Bank of Commerce representative (see below) submitted my SRRV application on my behalf, he was told the proof of pension was NOT acceptable.  I sent an email to PRA management complaining.  They immediately apologized and disciplined (fired) the employee who created the problem.   PRA management seems very anxious to provide good service but seem to sometimes have a hard time getting the attention of their staff.

• You CAN apply for the SRRV while in balikbayan status.  You no longer have to downgrade to a tourist visa.
• TIP.  If your spouse has become a citizen of another country, he or she will have lost her Philippine citizenship.  It’s easy to reclaim his or her Philippine citizenship through the simple dual citizenship program but consider this;  as a former Philippine citizen your spouse may apply for an SRRV and can include you in her application.  Her application fee is $1400.  Including a spouse costs an additional $300 for a total application fee of $1700.  Now for the good part — the required deposit drops to $1500.

• For the pension-based SRRV, you must prove that your pension check is deposited to a Philippine bank.  It’s not clear if this means it must be DIRECT deposited.  In my case proof meant a letter from the bank or copies of deposit slips. I know many are leery about direct deposits to Philippine banks but for long-term residence in the Philippines, direct deposit is convenient and economical.    Allied and BPI and Chinabank offer good direct deposit programs.  More info at this link.

• I had good luck going through the Bank of Commerce for my SRRV.  More than other banks, they seem to grasp the opportunities the program offers to them.  Local branches will assist with the application.  The Iloilo JM Basa street branch was up to speed on the program and I’ve seen reports that their Dumaguete branch is too.  Joseph Pineda (phone 02-896-7085) of the Bel Air Makati branch on Jupiter Avenue is BOC’s point person for the SRRV program.  Your local branch should be able to help you put together your application package and then you can send it via FedEx or DHL to Pineda in Makati.  He will review it and then take it to the PRA offices for further review and submission.   I suggest you do not pay any fee or make any deposit until the PRA has informally reviewed your application and found it to be complete.  Then make your deposit, pay the $1400 application fee.  After you make the deposit, BOC will give you a deposit certificate for submission to the PRA.

My 2007 six month USD time deposit paid 4.25% interest.  Worldwide rates have fallen.  My 2009 account pays 2.25%.  Once you have your SRRV, you can convert to peso time deposit paying quite good interest.  BOC is offering very good rates on five year, tax free, peso CDs.  Unless you plan on withdrawing the money to buy a condo or make other investments, you must keep the $10,000 on deposit.  You cannot withdraw it without written permission from the PRA.

• Unless medically unable, you must travel to the PRA offices at the Citibank Tower in Makati one time to receive your SRRV ID card and visa and to sign and fingerprint an SRRV “affirmation” which outlines your responsibilities as an SRRV holder.  The whole process takes about 15 minutes.  We rendezvoused at the BOC Bel Air office and Pineda accompanied us to the PRA office for the “ceremony” complete with photo-op.  The view from the 26th floor PRA offices is fantastic.

• If you commit to keeping your required deposit in a bank for three years they will give you a SRRV ID card valid for three years at a total cost of $20.  At the end of the three year period you apply for another card good for three years for $30 and so forth.  There are no other recurring fees unless you want to withdraw your funds from the bank and invest them in real estate or business.

• If your investment is still in place when you die, your wife may have to pay estate taxes when she inherits the funds.

• The PRA offers to provide free assistance in getting drivers licenses and employment permits.  We took advantage of this, thinking that the PRA may have some some arrangement with the LTO.  This proved not to be the case.  This service might be helpful to clients (Korean, Japanese, Chinese are big users of the program) who do not speak English well and would have trouble navigating the LTO process, but otherwise you can just apply yourself in your Philippine home town.

• If you leave the Philippines, you must let the PRA know three days in advance.  This is required but informal and can be done by email or fax or maybe even by phone.  If you leave the Philippines frequently (more than once per year) you are exempt from paying the travel tax.

• You may want to keep your mail coming to a single USA address, especially if you are not sure if your overseas living experiment will be successful or if you are not sure where you will finally settle.
• Some institutions and agencies will not open or continue an account for you if you have an overseas address.
• You may not want sensitive financial information coming to the Philippines through the Philippine Postal Service.  If you’re fortunate enough to have substantial assets, it’s best to keep that information to yourself.  Internet-only access is another solution but one that is not always available.
• Some seek to change their residency from a high-tax state to one with no income tax.

I have been using usabox.com for about three years. So far I am very happy with them.  They provide you with a Miami street address.  You notify all correspondents of your new address and your mail starts flowing there.  Usabox.com assigns a bar code to each piece of incoming mail.  They scan the outside of each letter.  At your request, they will send you an email notifying you of each new piece of mail arriving in your box. You log on to the usabox.com website and review the items in your box.  You can see the scan of the front face of each envelope you have received.  That really helps figure out if something is junk or important.  You mark each to be retained in your box, to be discarded or to be forwarded to you anywhere in the world.  Under the plan I selected, the charge is $10.00 per month plus shipping.  If I want my mail forwarded to me in the Philippines, they usually use DHL overnight and I get the shipment in about three days.  It costs me about $32 per shipment of one pound. Each additional pound is $5.95.  These rates are very good for FedEx/DHL international express shipments.  Sometimes I’ll include a book or some other item I especially want.  I’ll order from amazon.com, have the item shipped to my usabox.com address and they will express mail it to me with my next shipment.  I only have my mail sent to me every several months, so the monthly cost is reasonable.

As noted above usabox.com only scans the outside of the envelope.  You can decide to have them throw the mail away or mail it to you — in my case by FedEx or DHL.  That’s the only and very expensive way to see what’s inside.  Emailing a scan of what’s inside the envelope is faster and cheaper.  Usually, I don’t really need the mail, I just need to see the contents.  The New York Times has an article on a remailing service which scans the contents of your mail and emails it to you. This new service seems worth a look.  One disadvantage; usabox.com gives you a U.S.A. street address, www.earthclassmail.com gives you a P.O. box address unless you want to pay extra for a street address.  Some businesses will not accept a P.O. box address.  Recent news articles raise uncertainties about the future of this service. See http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/02/09/daily18.html

When you select a mail forwarding service, do your best to find out how long it has been in business and how many customers it has.  It would be a nightmare to get all your mail going to a remailer and then have them go out of business.  When this happens, the US Postal Service may then return all your mail to the original sender as undeliverable.  Getting a new address and getting all your mail changed over to it will not be fun.  This is not a theoretical problem.  I was considering a Texas-based mail forwarding service but decided to go with www.usabox.com.  Later I learned that the Texas service had gone out of business.

I’m going to stick with usabox.com.  It’s a well-organized, well-managed business and it meets my needs.

When shipping to the Philippines, we suggest you avoid DHL. USABox receives our mail at a Miami address and forwards it to us in Iloilo.  They have been using DHL as the shipper.  More recently DHL service has been disappointing.  Although our shipments are prepaid, DHL collects additional fees such as “informal entry declaration”, “import processing fee” and “customs documentary stamps” despite the shipment being all forwarded mail with no value.   In our view, DHL is responsible for clearing our shipments with Philippine customs.  The way they performed this job was resulted in extra charges – P548.60 extra on a supposedly pre-paid shipment.  The Iloilo DHL office opened our package to confirm that the contents were documents.  They were, but it made no difference.  They insisted on payment.  Further, it was a bit disconcerting to have our mail, including investment account statements and bank statements rifled through in front of other customers.  When we contested these fees DHL threatened to declare our shipment to be “abandoned”. Since our forwarded mail included our 2008 tax documents, we had no choice but to pay the DHL fees.

Link to the NYT article:  http://tinyurl.com/6p3h38
Link to the service: www.earthclassmail.com

U.S. Telephone Service

When you live in the Philippines, or elsewhere overseas, you may wish to maintain a telephone number in the U.S.  For example, because I use my U.S. credit card overseas they sometimes call me with a “fraud inquiry” to find out if I authorized a particular charge.  There are many other circumstances where you may wish to have a permanent U.S. phone number so that people can reach you by phone or fax no matter where you may be in the world.

There are a number of options for maintaining a U.S. phone number.  Vonage, Skype and other VOIP vendors offer such numbers.  I have had a Skype U.S. number, but now use Maxemail (www.maxemail.com) because it’s cheap and reliable.   I found the Skype answering system to be unreliable and besides, more expensive.  Especially annoying was that it would constantly “lose” our personalized message and so play a generic one.  Callers are reassured if they hear a personalized message in your own voice.  Getting a computer-generated generic message can raise more questions.

With Maxemail, you can choose a number in a specific city (that costs more) or you can accept whatever number they assign you.  With the proliferation of cell phones, having a number in the area code where you live has become pretty irrelevant.  I use the “Lite” versions of Maxemail which costs $24.95 per year.

Once you have your account with Maxemail, you can record a personal message  in your voice which will be played when someone calls your number.  Callers will be given the option of leaving a voice message or sending a fax.  The messages they leave are saved and immediately sent to your e-mail address.  There will be an e-mail in your inbox with an attached audio recording of the telephone voice message.  You can choose which audio format works best for you.  I use Real Audio.

If you receive a fax, it will be converted into a PDF file and sent to your e-mail address.  You can also send faxes (at a small extra charge) using the Maxemail service.  Supported file types include: .doc, .xls, .txt, .pdf, .tif, .html, .htm, .gif, .jpg and others.  I almost always use PDF.

We don’t have any interest in Maxemail, except that it works well for us.

On the first Wednesday of each month, the expat meeting is held at the Balkonahe (means balcony) Restaurant, 69 North Jalandoni St., in Jaro.  The restaurant phone is 509-5767.  We get there by driving out Diversion Road, just past SM City and turning right onto Jalandoni Street.  Balkonahe is on Jalandoni Street, about one km on the right.  The get together starts more or less at 3:00 p.m.  You can stay on to have a buffet dinner.  There is German and Filipino food.

On the third Wednesday of each month, the expat meetings are held at Ryan’s Eatery on Diversion Road, next to the Marina Restaurant complex.  Coming from Iloilo proper, Ryan’s is on the right, just after crossing the bridge.  Parking is limited. This meeting also starts at 3:00 p.m.  Again, you can stay from dinner.  The location is on the river.  It’s breezy and pretty.  Sometimes the music is too loud, to suit the tastes of the young workers.

Meeting is something of a misnomer.  There really is no meeting.  Expats show up, introduce themselves and order a beverage.  There’s generally a mix of Europeans and Americans.  The number of people showing up is highly variable from a handful to a couple of dozen.

There is an online group for Iloilo expats.  You can sign up at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Iloilo-EXPATS/

It’s not a busy group but you will receive advance notice of the meetings.  If you have questions, it’s a good place to ask them.

There’s another excellent online discussion group covering life in the Philippines.  It’s heavily moderated to prevent flame wars, and some degree it seeks to present a “rosy” view of life in the Philippines, limiting discussion of the negatives of life in the Philippines.  It’s a commercial site and in some cases gives fuller coverage to those who pay for advertising.  Still, it’s the single best online resource for those considering retirement in the Philippines. I’ve been a member of this group for years and have benefited tremendously.  You can sign up at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LivingInThePhilippines3/

You can also check the Mercury Drug web site at https://www.mercurydrug.com/cgi-bin/product/drugsearch/index.html Basically it gives you the same information at MIMS does but also lets you know whether the drug is available at Mercury, a major pharmacy chain in in the Philippines.  It does NOT give prices.  You have to e-mail Mercury to get prices.

Prescription drugs is really something of a misnomer when applied to the Philippines.  With the exception of opioid pain medications and benzodiazepine family drugs such as Valium, a doctor’s prescription is not generally needed.  Just write down the drug name, the dose and the quantity wanted on a slip of paper, take it to the counter of a pharmacy and it will be filled for you, assuming they have the drug in stock — and that it’s available in the Philippines.  Some drugs available in the US are not available in the Philippines.  Some drugs are available in the Philippines which are not sold in the US.  If you do need pain medication, be prepared for a giant hassle.  See http://goiloilo.com/philippine-medical-care-pain-management/

Prescription drug costs are generally higher than in the U.S. They are said to be the second highest in Asia after Japan.  If you can buy generics, then your drugs in the Philippines may be affordable.  By default, the drugstores will sell you the expensive brand-name drug unless you insist on a generic.  A recent effort to require that generic drugs be dispensed by default failed.  Let me give you an example.  If you ask for the blood pressure drug enalapril, you’ll be given genuine MSD “Renitec” enalapril, made by MSD in Australia, for about 40 pesos per tablet.  This is an older drug.  Its patents have long expired. If you get the generic Pharex version, you’ll pay about 13 pesos per tablet.  I bought the MSD version for several months before I asked about generic versions.  It turned out that there were two generics to choose from at vastly lower prices.  Of course this is a Philippine-made generic drug.  Some people, including many Filipinos, distrust things made in the Philippines.  However, it’s easy to tell if anti-hypertensive drug is working or not through blood pressure monitoring.  For me, the generic Pharex brand seem to be working just as well as the MSD version costing about three times as much.

The manufacturer and origin of many generic drugs in the Philippines is not necessarily going to be reassuring.  Usually it’s just about impossible to determine where the drug was manufactured.  Few pharmaceuticals are actually produced in the Philippines. China and India are the largest producers of pharmaceuticals in Asia.  Raw materials or finished product may be imported into the Philippines and packed for sale. I have seen generic drugs from Taiwan and Korea.  The prices have been high. I have not seen generic drugs from the big international generic drug producers such as Teva or Mylan, which are subject to regulation and inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I’m not sure why this is.  Perhaps it’s more profitable for the Philippine drug distributors to buy from smaller Asian drug companies than it is to buy from the better recognized generic manufacturers.  So, you’ll pay more for generic drugs of unknown origin and quality.

If no inexpensive generic is available you may ending up paying much more.  For example, I take an alpha-blocker for BPH.  In the U.S. I used Doxazosin.  8 mg Doxazosin at Wal-Mart costs $10 for 90. In the Philippines the only Doxazosin is sold by Pfizer as Alfadil XL at P76 ($1.58) for an 8 mg controlled release dose, about fourteen times the price in the U.S. for generic Doxazosin.  The annual cost for a drug which would cost $40 in the U.S. is $575 in the Philippines.  I have not been able to find any affordable alpha blocker in the Philippines.  One option is to arrange for a friend to bring prescription medications from Europe or the U.S.

At least one of the major pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has a very worthwhile discount program for many of their prescription drugs.  You may be able to get a Pfizer “Sulit” (value) card from your physician.  It looks like a credit card.  It entitles you to a significant discount on the drug for which it’s issued – about 25% to 50% or more.    Cards are available for Lipitor, Viagra, Lyrica, Norvasc, Neurontin, Ponstan and dozens of other Pfizer drugs.  Independent drug stores and smaller chains are trying to get the Pfizer Sulit program scuttled because the big chains (such as Mercury) can sell the Pfizer drugs for considerably less than can smaller stores and chains which do not participate in the Sulit program.  It’s unlikely that every physician has a Pfizer Sulit card to give you for each and every drug.  You may have to pester your physician to obtain the card from his Pfizer rep. I saw a list of the Pfizer drugs available at a Mercury Drug store but can’t find it online.  If you know where to find a list of Sulit drugs, please let us know in the comment box below.

According to its web site, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) offers a “ValueHealth” program. Covered drugs include: “essential antibiotics like co-trimoxazole and amoxicillin, cefaclor, erythromycin and cephalexin and other medication for common ailments such as Ambrolex (ambroxol), Calpol (paracetamol), the leading asthma brand of salbutamol, and rifampicin are made more affordable by as much as 34 percent under the ValueHealth program.”  I’ll try to get further details.

Philippine senior citizens can get a senior citizen discount card.  Foreigners do not qualify.

I usually buy my drugs at Mercury Drugs, which seems to be the biggest drugstore chain in the Philippines.  This is for a couple of reasons.  Mercury has a name to protect and presumably the expertise and motivation to avoid selling counterfeit drugs.  Counterfeit drugs are a serious problem.  Experts say as much as 30% of drugs sold in Asia are counterfeit.   Prescription drugs can be affected by heat.  Many drug stores are open air with temperatures exceeding those recommended for storing drugs.  Most Mercury Drugstores are more or less air conditioned. Always check to see the expiration date of the drugs you are buying.  All the drugs I have bought from Mercury have been fresh, usually with more than a year until they expire. There is little price competition for drugs (or anything else) in the Philippines.  I just don’t think it’s worth taking the risk to buy drugs from mom and pop drug stores.  There are other chains which may be just as reliable as Mercury.  That said, Mercury does not stock some the the cheaper generics. For example, Mercury sells the  generic drug Finasteride under the “Atepros” brand at P44 for 5 mg. The pharmacy at the Iloilo Supermarket sells the Indian-made “Finaid” brand for P24.75 for 5 mg.   Which is better, which is safer?  Who knows!  Only a rich nation can afford to test thousands of drugs to be sure they are safe and effective.  That’s why much of the world relies on research from the United States Food and Drug Administration.  That’s why it’s a bit disconcerting that many of the generics sold in the Philippines are from Asian pharmaceutical firms which may not be subject to FDA inspection.  The FDA does inspect some big Indian drug makers including Dr. Reddy and Ranbaxy Laboratories.  Both sell products in the U.S. market.

The Philippine government recently adopted a “Cheap Drugs” bill which required price cuts on a few medications.  One of the drugs affected by the law is Lipitor (atorvastatin).  80mg genuine Lipitor now costs P50.60 at Mercury Drug.  I split the 80mg tablets and use a 40mg dose which costs me only about P25 per day.

See http://www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001274&Itemid=2

Finally, you’ll be charged a 12% value added tax (VAT) on your prescription drugs.  I feel this is really unfortunate.  Filipinos have a hard enough time paying for medical care.

RP_drugs Link to PDF file of Philippine accredited pharmaceuticals.

The systems are not necessarily centralized. The idea is to get wastewater to a nearby ditch, stream or river. Ideally, each residence will have a septic tank or cesspool. This can provide some very basic level of treatment of human waste. The output of septic system (septage) is piped to the subdivision or barangay drainage system. Sometimes the drainage system is more or less underground and sometimes it is open concrete ditches. This can be smelly but cheaper and easier to keep clear than covered drainage systems. In many places the drainage system is under the sidewalks, the sidewalks consisting of concrete slabs covering the drainage channel. Sometimes these are broken, so walk carefully or plunge a few feet into the malodorous mess. There is no further treatment of the waste before it plunges into the nearest stream.

Missing slabs show a typical "sidewalk over sewer" Philippine municipal sewer system in Tigbauan, Iloilo

In squatter areas the the above scenario breaks down and there can be more obvious, surface pollution.

Iloilo has some big rivers with strong tidal flows so all that goes into the rivers seems to get promptly flushed away. My impression is that the situation is better here than in Cebu City where the streams used for drainage were really disgusting.  Check this link for a reality check on sewerage disposal in Iloilo City, but remember that the situation is the same everywhere in the Philippines and in most poor countries.

When you look at property, ask about and confirm the easy availability of a good drainage system. We have looked at property in Iloilo City which seemed so nice but actually had no access to a drainage system. Further, access to the nearest drainage would involve going through other properties. This may or may not be easy. Do NOT expect anyone to inform you of such problems when you look at property.

All comments and corrections appreciated.

Iloilo City, Panay Island, Philippines

NAMRIA Map Office, Iloilo City, Philippines

I’m the kind of person who really does not understand much about direction and geography unless I have a map. There are some good country and city maps of the Philippines available from Nelles, Periplus, the locally published EZ maps and some other maps available from National Bookstores. None of these are really of a scale to be useful for anything but an overview. So, I recently took a trip to the local National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) map sales office in Iloilo City. In Iloilo City, the office is on Fort San Pedro Road, just across from the wharf for pumpboats to Buenavista, Guimaras. The map sales official, Ma. Lucille Licarus, was well informed, very helpful and seemed to have good inventory. I found quite up-to-date (1993) and detailed (1:5000) maps of my neighborhood in Molo and 1:50,000 topographic maps of all the areas I was interested in in Iloilo and Guimaras provinces. The 1:50,000 topos I bought were from 1953 so pretty out of date in certain respects. I bought nine maps in all for P1155. They also had nautical charts available. You can check the NAMRIA website for the location of the office serving your location. http://www.namria.gov.ph/

Beachfront for sale, San Joaquin, Iloilo - about two hours from Iloilo City (this is an example only - don't contact me about buying it)

Buying rural real estate in the Philippines.  Real estate in the Philippine provinces. There are so many beautiful rural areas in the Philippines.  I think of the lush, unspoiled area around Lucban, Quezon Province, I think of the spectacular rural landscapes in the hills of Bohol.  Closer at hand for us, are the mountains and unspoiled beaches of Antique Province on Panay Island.  When the foreigner sees that fantastic ocean front is so affordable, that the promise of living the beach-front dream is so easily obtainable in these eye-catching rural places.

But, before you leap, consider why such undeveloped rural and beach properties are so undeveloped and so inexpensive.  For the Filipino there is no work.  Whenever one (Pinoy or foreigner) needs decent medical or dental care, whenever you want the most rudimentary imported groceries, whenever you want to dine out, whenever you want a shopping mall, whenever you need a hardware store, you may have to drive hours over rough provincial roads. Not once, but each and every time you need to see the doctor or dentist, for every shopping trip. Emergency medical care in the Philippines is poor in the cities.  Outside the cities there is none. There will be no Internet access, no Goggle and easy access to the world wide web’s rich resources for you or your kids, no Skype to keep up access to your family at home, no email and no blog. For all practical purposes there will be no police protection.  If you have kids, the public schools for your kids will unlikely be what you have in mind. There will be no private school alternatives.  You will be tremendously exotic to your neighbors, some of whom may never have seen a white foreigner before.  It’s likely that there will be no English speakers to chat with.

Don’t get me wrong, living such a life in the rural Philippines can be richly rewarding, but I contend that it’s a rare foreigner who could really be happy without the conveniences and necessities mentioned above. Bless those that can.

I’ve spent decades living in rural and very rural places in the USA; in the mountains of Washington State with no road access, in Maine when I was the only year-round resident of my township and twenty-three years on a farm in upstate New York in a town with a population of 750.  No matter where you are in the USA, you really are not disconnected from essential services and your home culture in the way you are in the rural Philippines.

Here as elsewhere, land prices seem to be directly related to distance from the city.  In Iloilo City (depending on location) land is about 5,000 pesos per square meter.  In Oton, ten kilometers out of the city, land is about 2,500 pesos per square meter, in Tigbauan, twenty-five kilometers out of the city, we paid 1,200 per square meter.  Tigbauan is a far commute to the city.  Continue further out, you’ll find beautiful small towns such as Miagao, and the prices continue to drop.

My wife and I ruled out places we really liked for some these considerations.  We ended up buying property in small town, twenty-five kilometers from Iloilo City.  The town is a very attractive rural place, quiet and beautiful, rice fields, carabaos ploughing, with the mountains of nearby Antique Province as the backdrop, a 250 year old Spanish church and good beaches.  We feel it’s a good compromise for us.  We like small town, rural life.  We’ll get that but we’ll also get reasonable access to the necessities and amenities of the city.

See also my Philippine Real Estate Primer: http://goiloilo.com/a-primer-on-iloilo-real-estate

The Philippines has a totally pay-as-you-go health care system. Your first stop at the hospital (as it is in the US) will be the cashier’s office. You must have money to pay for health care, otherwise you will not get care, will not be admitted to a hospital no matter how dire your situation. A very few hospitals will accept foreign medical insurance cards, but most will not. Larger hospitals accept credit cards (St. Paul’s does) but many do not.

Do not come to the Philippines unless you have the resources to pay for medical care. Even if you are admitted to the hospital, security guards may prevent you from leaving the hospital until your bill is settled.

Routine health care expenses in the Philippines can be very inexpensive.  Your total cost for routine health care may be less than you’ll pay for deductibles and co-payments in the U.S.  Care for a serious illness (coronary bypass surgery, cancer treatment for example) can run in to the many tens or thousands of dollars.

The US medical insurance program for the elderly, Medicare, does not cover care in the Philippines.  Some US veterans can receive care through VA clinics.  Some retiree medical insurance programs will reimburse you for care paid for in the Philippines.  A very limited number of Philippine hospitals accept US Blue Cross Insurance.  One is Asian Hospital in Alabang, a southerly suburb of Manila.  If you’re well enough and are covered by Medicare, you can return to the US for treatment.

Sorry, but I’m not familar with how or if European, Canadian or Australian national health insurance programs work (if at all) in the Philippines.  Please add any information you can share in the comment box below.

Private heath insurance is available such as Blue Cross Philippines.  I’ve had mixed reports about it.  Some have had satisfactory experiences, others are very unhappy.  Pre-existing conditions will be excluded.

Consider signing up for the Philippine government program, PhilHealth. Benefits are very limited. The cost is P100 per month and the insurance covers the whole family. While PhilHealth not at all a comprehensive plan, it’s worth signing up for and can save a meaningful amount of money if you’re hospitalized. A foreign spouse can be covered. The Iloilo City PhilHealth office is well-run and signing up a fairly painless process. You can pay annually.

Packing for the Philippines - Plattsburgh New York

Our things arrive in Iloilo City

There are differing opinions about what you should ship to the Philippines and what you should leave at home.  One school says just bring a few personal things such as family photos and buy everything in the Philippines.  Others want to take furniture, appliances and almost all else.  If you don’t have a prearranged place to live or store your things in the Philippines, shipping a container is problematic.

Tropical Paradise?

This is addressed to those who have not been to the Philippines but are looking for an affordable tropical retirement location. It is not applicable to those who want to vacation at one of the many beautiful Philippine resorts for a few days or weeks.

The Philippines is not a budget version of Hawaii or Key West or Mallorca. It is an impoverished developing nation with about the same land area as the State of Arizona, but with more than 90 million residents. In cities, poverty, pollution and environmental degradation are everywhere. Open sewers and the smell of sewerage are frequent companions. Trash is strewn everywhere. There are hardly any parks. Power blackouts are frequent. The creatures of the land and sea have mostly been devoured by a hungry population. Vehicles belch black diesel fumes along main roads. Mangy dogs wander the streets. The raucous beat of karaoke shatters the night and ever-present roosters wake you at four in the morning. You’ll need walls and bars on the windows of your house to prevent break-ins.

If you’re careful, decent routine medical and dental care can be found in the larger cities, but questionable care is a real possibility. Dengue fever, malaria and other tropical diseases are risks as are hepatitis and tuberculosis. If you can’t pay up front for medical care, you will not receive any. Emergency medicine usually involves taking a taxi to the nearest hospital.

It can be inexpensive to live in the Philippines, but the biggest savings come when you can adapt to living more like Filipinos; buying chicken and pork rather than Australian steaks, skipping Cheerios and other imported products, eating eggplant and other fruits and vegetables that grow in the Philippines rather than imported broccoli and apples, using a fan rather than air conditioning, riding the jeepney rather than maintaining an SUV. Those who insist on trying to live a Western lifestyle, may not find the savings so great, especially when you consider you must pay all health care expenses.

Some rural places in the Philippines can be quite inexpensive and really are paradisaical, but you’ll be hours or days from medical care, Internet, books and so forth. Shopping will be restricted to fish, local vegetables and a few canned goods. If you’re healthy and self-sufficent and your material needs are simple, this might well be your paradise.

For my wife and me the Philippines is a paradise, but it’s the people who make it so. Filipinos, especially in the provinces, treat foreigners with great kindness and respect. In turn, I respect them for who they are and the way they live their lives. Every day I see them face their often very difficult lives with inspiring dignity and good humor. They are truly a special people and I feel privileged to live among them.

Pain management and pain medication in the Philippines. If you’re considering retiring in the Philippines or having medical treatment there, there is something you should be aware of. Perhaps you’re perfectly healthy now, but as a retiree in the Philippines you may not always be so.

The Philippines has one of the most restrictive regimes in the world regarding pain relievers for severe pain. The Philippines has its own “war on drugs”. It does not seem to be especially successful in combating the main illegal drug “shabu” (methamphetamine), but it has imposed such onerous requirements on doctors and pharmacies that for all practical purposes, strong pain medications are not generally available. The sad fact is that most Filipinos in severe pain get no medication. Cancer patients die in agony. A survey conducted by the Philippine Cancer Society indicates that 65% to 75% of the 37,623 cancer patients who die annually experience unrelieved pain. According to the International Narcotic Control Board, straight-laced Singapore doctors dispense 220 times as much morphine to cancer patients as do Philippine doctors. To prescribe opioids in the Philippines, a doctor requires what is known as an S2 license.  Only 4% of the 86,818 physicians possess this license, the result being that opioids are denied to 96% of the country’s physicians.

There are cultural differences. Filipinos may accept severe pain as part of living and dying. Few foreigners would like to face such a fate. My sister died of cancer when she was young. Even with Demerol the pain was terrible. Combating drug abuse is a worthy goal but a system that keeps pain medication from patients in severe pain is unconscionable.

If you live in the provinces there will probably be no physician able and willing to prescribe pain relievers and almost certainly no pharmacy which will dispense them.  This means frequent trips to a pain management clinic in the nearest city which has one.  This was so unworkable for the terminally ill mother of one foreigner that they had to leave the Philippines.  There was a recent report of an American in such terrible pain from prostate cancer that he killed himself.

Since the above was written in 2008, a couple from the U.S. visited us.  One of them had severe spinal pain.  They were interested in life in the Philippines, but were concerned by what they read on goIloilo and elsewhere about pain management and pain medications.  To their credit they contacted pain management specialists in the Philippines and then came to the Philippines to meet with doctors and do their own “due diligence”.   What they learned in encouraging, at least for those that live in or near a city with a pain management specialist and who can afford the medications. Thanks to them for sharing their experiences. Here is their report.

Pain Management in the Philippines, our experience

“I have been reading the responses here and on other sites as well for several years in respect to pain management and medications available in the Philippines. My wife and I have been considering a move to the Philippines; she unfortunately suffers with severe pain and most likely will for the rest of her life so the issue of pain management is a major issue. Due to the many conflicting comments we have read, we decided to visit the Philippines, meet Doctors and find out how this applies to us.

We made contact with the Pain Management Society of the Philippines and based on our potential locations got a recommendation to a Doctor and subsequently have received several more referrals in the Metro Manila area and Bacolod.

February/March 2010 we spent 18 days in Iloilo, Panay and met with the referred Doctor an Internal Medicine – Pain & Palliative Care Medicine, at Iloilo Mission Hospital. The Doctor was very interested in the medical documentation we brought with us and reviewed our case, she spent almost an hour and a half with us on the first visit. She reviewed the medications used here in the U.S., Lortab / Hydrocodone 10mg/500 4 X daily (for Pain), Soma / Carisoprodol (Muscle spasm) 350mg, 3 X daily, and Methadone (Pain) .05mg 2 X day. Pretty powerful stuff and we are not thrilled about them but there is a real need.

The Doctor explained that these medications are not available in the Philippine’s, we discussed the attitudes of the Philippine Government and Medical professionals in the country and what is being done to make changes there. She explained the controls for pain management drugs and what is available and how it can be prescribed and used.

We were prescribed Morphine Sulfate 10mg 6X daily for the pain management aspect and Lagaflex 20mg, 3 X daily for the muscle spasms and we discontinued all the U.S. prescribed medications.

I mentioned to the Doctor that I have read that such prescriptions are only available for 8 days at a time; she explained how the prescriptions and strengths are controlled. With the Morphine Sulfate at 10mg, the maximum number of tablets is 100 at a time. If the prescription is for 5mg the max would be 200 and with 20mg, maximum would be 50 tablets.

So with a prescription of 10mg, 100 tablets, at 6 X per day we have 16 days with each prescription.

Lagaflex is similar to Soma but not the same, it has different compounds and works in a different way but is intended to have a similar effect.

We found the combination of both medications a bit too strong and reduced the Lagaflex and then discontinued it for most of the time. Laura found sufficient pain control with just the Morphine.

We got a 6 day prescription on the first visit to see how the change might affect her and returned for a follow up visit and refill. In all we saw the Doctor three times during our stay in Iloilo and Tigbauan, each visit the Doctor spent a long time talking with us and showed a real concern.

We brought a letter back with us describing the care provided and medications prescribed for our Doctor here in the U.S., he of course wasn’t interested in what was prescribed there and explained that the Morphine available here is not available in the same dosages and would not be able to prescribe its use at this time.

So, we were able to meet my wife’s pain management needs in the Philippines and to have the care of skilled and caring Doctors.

The Doctor even suggested that if we wanted to move to Bacolod there is a good Pain Management Doctor there. We met with the Nurse that is assisting with the Medicare program being offer in the Philippines and were given 7 referrals in the Manila area. There are many other Pain Specialists in the country and the assistance we received from the Pain Society was invaluable.

We feel the change in life style we can achieve in the Philippines may lead to a better overall health aspect and ultimately be able to reduce the level of medications necessary.”

Pain Society of the Philippines

The Garden Heights Condominium, Unit 205

269 E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue 1102

Quezon City, Philippines

0063 2 721 2700

Further reading:

http://www.eolc-observatory.net/global_analysis/philippines_opioid.htm

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1071118

http://www.medobserver.com/janfeb2007/viewpoint.html

http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20080815-154942

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/health/09pain.html?ref=health

We received advice that we should leave our 110v gadgets at home and buy new here.  I can’t tell you how frequently we rue this decision.  Good kitchen appliances such as Braun, Krups, KitchenAid are hard to find and very expensive in the Philippines — about 2X.  Oh how I wish for the 110v  treadmill I gave away in the US!  We gave away our appliances when we left the US and now we are having new 110v appliances such as Kitchen Aid food processor sent from the US via balikbayan box.  We’re not alone in this. I can’t tell you how many Philippine households and businesses I have seen using 110v equipment running off of step-down transformers.  If you go into the fitness center of one of Iloilo’s main hotels you’ll see rows of treadmills running off of transformers.  In a bakery they are using 110v KitchenAid mixers, and so on.

It is better to buy frequently-used, high-wattage appliances in the Philippines; toasters, coffee makers etc.  Also, step down transformers do waste electricity, so we don’t leave ours plugged in.  When we need to use (for example) the sewing machine, or recharge the cordless drill, we plug in the transformer only when we are using the appliance.  Otherwise the transformer sits on the kitchen counter unplugged.

There is the danger of somebody making a mistake and plugging a 110v appliance into a 220v outlet.  My wife did this with her sewing machine and wondered why it was running so fast!  Miraculously it was not damaged.  Much will depend on your household.  We have not destroyed appliances because there is just the two of us and a maid who is very careful.  If you have a more numerous or less cautious household, then forget 110v stuff.

Bringing computers and peripherals to the Philippines.

Almost all computers can operate in the Philippines without a special adapter.  Check the label on your equipment. The Philippines is 220v 50 cycles.  Most computers (but not equipment and peripherals)  will automatically adjust.

Almost always you can plug in your laptop.  You might need an adaptor for your plug so it will fit into two-prong Philippine style outlets.  The Philippine outlets are just like those in the USA or Canada except they do not have a ground lug.  If your computer has a ground lug bring an grounded to non-grounded two prong adapter. Adapters are available at all hardware stores in the Philippines.

Some desktop computers have a 220/110 volt switch on the power supply.  Be sure that this is set to 220v before plugging in.

WARNING:  Many computer accessories and peripherals are 110v only.  This includes many printers (I had to buy a new one when I got here), USB hubs, speakers, surge protectors, battery backup and so forth.  Be sure to check before you plug in.  My Brother printer was 110v only.  My Apple wireless router worked with a problem. My LaCie Fireware drive worked without a problem.  My powered Belkin USB hub was 110 only.  You can buy step down transformers to run your 110v computer equipment in the Philippines but remember that electricty is expensive in the Philippines and these transformers waste power.  Computer gear usually is plugged in 24/7.  It may be better to just buy new gear in the Philippines.  But, bring any laptop computer with you.  They all run fine on 220v and are much cheaper in the US — if that’s where you’re coming from,

To the Molo market, Iloilo City

Iloilo does not get nearly so many foreign tourists as places such as Boracay, Cebu, Manila and even Dumaguete and Bohol. Often, I can spend the day in the city and not see another foreigner. Of course, there is a community of resident expats, many who have been in Iloilo many years. Expats hold meetings twice monthly. On the first Wednesday of the month at the Balkonahe Restaurant in Jaro and on the third Wednesday at the Marina on Diversion Road. As elsewhere in the Philippines, there are many Koreans here studying English.  Based my first year and a half in and Iloilo and several months in Cebu City, I find Ilonggos, male and female, to have a reserve and seriousness which differentiates them from the more outgoing Cebuanos and even Tagalogs.  They seem serious, proud, industrious, honest, and pious compared the more fun-loving Cebuanos or Tagalogs.  Beyond the reserve, I find Ilonggos to be honest, kind, and courteous but don’t expect them to fawn over you because you’re a foreigner.

There’s certainly nothing unusual about young Cebuanas dating foreigners but this does not seem common here. While Iloilo has a few “girlie bars” it does not have the kind of pervasive sex tourism/bar scene found in Angeles or Cebu City. Casual dating of a “white” guy would not be considered proper by many Ilonggas. I rarely see young Filipinas with older foreigners, a very common sight in Cebu. Many of the Filipina-foreigner couples appear to be married couples who have grown plump together over the years.

The upside of this is that the foreigner is more a curiosity than an opportunity and is generally left in peace and treated with respect. It’s unusual for me to be overcharged or otherwise taken solicited or taken advantage of because I’m a foreigner. There are not so many beggars. Sometimes when I do see children begging money, they will approach other Filipinos or my wife but not me. I have never been approached by prostitutes or other hustlers. “Hey Joe give me money” is rare here. I relate the relative lack of begging and prostitution to Ilonggo pride.

I ride jeepneys almost every day. I walk the streets downtown. So far, I have never had even a hint of a problem with crime or pickpockets, although friends have. On the contrary, I left a bag with cellphone and digital camera behind when getting off the jeepney. Fellow riders stopped me to be sure I did not forget the bag. If I drop something, multiple people rush to make sure I get it back. There is a robust police presence in many parts of Iloilo City. I do not wander the streets at night. If you do your mileage may vary.