Members visiting the Philippines

I think Jim @oss was the last member to visit the Philippines, I could be wrong.
It is such a shame that we don't get any new stories and photos about people going there.
The country is where our wives, fiancees and girlfriends are from and over there are relatives who miss their family over here too.

Just been chatting to my nephew this morning, he had just finished a night-shift on the railways, he is going in October, two weeks in Thailand then a week in Cebu.

It is good that you have family members who can give you feedback and about the Philippines these days; the forum has next to no insights these days with hardly anyone visiting there.
I ask my wife about her family but she has never been one to chat much about her country; she is more concerned with feeding all of us and for this I am always grateful.
She seems surprised that I ask questions.
I suppose I do because most of my life was travelling.

I think Covid broke the tradition of many part of the relationship routine visits, from my point of view I cannot see me returning, I think there are other places to explore as a family (wifes eldest daughter and granddaughter in the Philippines) and as the visa world opens up to traveling Filipinos then for us it is becoming easier to have family holidays somewhere new and this way opens up new experiences for all.

Most people visiting the Philippines go to the same places repeatedly with maybe a visit to Boracay or tagaytay, same places being their wives family home. It's a big world to explore and we are a long time dead, one more visit to the PI for me and that's it.

Okay to live in the Ph if you can put up with the crap. I would never go on holiday there, never have and never will.

My current insight, as a resident in the provinces , they're very much on the up here... which is exciting for most people... always felt the UK was on the way down... so many more new houses but the thing that really sticks out is the traffic - when I first arrived here there were very few cars now, it's like everyone has one - even me!

The Smokey joes!

Is that because of OFW cash and remittances?I know a few students who have graduated,all chose their degrees to get out of the PI,not one studied with the intention to stay in the Philippines.

I'm not really sure how the OFW remittances were affected by the pandemic - probably a bit of a mixed bag because quite a few of them lost their jobs in the beginning I think... Probably the longer term settled and higher qualified OFW's were ok so maybe ...

Generally, lots more children going to uni and stepping up... from my wife's (rather large family) her older brother's and sisters have 10-12 of their children with degree/engineering/teaching/vetinary qualifications etc... all her nieces and nephews are still here and working and earning...

Property prices increasing and selling/borrowing giving land owners cheap money to buy cars/white goods and build/improve property.

Probably much like the 60's in the UK but sadly no Beatles here just my dreadful sister-in-law on her karaoke every Sunday pm

You mentioned Teachers,I know they earn a pittance,certainly not enough to buy a house nor even build a new one.I think our experiences are different,all of ‘er indoors family graduated to get out of the islands,not one did so to stay,they all graduated in health care,physical therapists or Nurses mainly.

That's what we thought before... depends where you're teaching and how many tutorials you have - one of the nieces graduated as a teacher but works in a call centre ...

Yup,I know two teachers,one teaching on false credentials,neither are exactly rolling in dosh.

Better they marry an engineer or policeman then

As I always told my son if you can’t be a genius at least marry one,he qualified in medicine as did his fiancé.His mums family were policemen,they are exceptionally wealthy.

My daughter teaches Chinese youngsters English.She earns 25 USD an hour from home. She never earn less than 100k per month. Last month she earned 130.000 Peso. That's respectable money over here and can provide a standard of living here that would not be possible in let's say the U.S or Europe for that money.
About 6 months ago we got Her boyfriend an online sales related job. He works 12 hrs a day and earns 75.000 Peso per month. There are a lot of employment opportunities here for college graduates now. Not like before.
One of my partners friends just had a ceserian section. It cost her husband 155.000 Peso. 50.000 was the surgeons fee. I wonder how many of those procedures he performs in a day? A lot of local Dr's here are beggining to decide to stay here at home where they belong and for good reason.

I know 3 doctors who are now in Canada and one in the states,every health care professional I know (and that’s quite a few)opted to escape,nurses get the nursing degree to get out,that’s a fact,no one gets a nursing degree to stay in the Philippines.People earning 100,000 peso a month is not the norm in the Philippines,far from it.

just my dreadful sister-in-law on her karaoke

ha ha---do you mean your dreadful sister in law (on her karaoke-) --or dreadful sister in law ?

Not sure why because teachers pay is usually between 25 and 35.000 per month. Many Call center agents are still on 15 to 20k per month. It may well be that there are just too many teachers in certain areas and so there are just not enough jobs for them all?. From what I can tell, Dr's and perhaps even nurses recieve much better pay in the Provinces then they do in big cities like Manila.

To see a specialist consultant such as a cardiologist or a neurologist here these days cost 1.200 per visit. The consultation does not usually surpass 10 minutes.
Seeing 40 or 50 patients in one day would probably be on the low side if you see the size of the queues in the hospital corridors here.
That's around 1000 $s per day. Let that sink in.