Pregnant ex-gf moving back to PH

Having lived in Abu Dhabi, Germany and Cyprus in the past (so feel I have a bit of experience) - I decided Filo was definitely not for me, love the place and the people but not for living. The one big reason was medical. I didn’t want to live in Manila and in most provinces your done before medical help even arrives, let alone reach a hospital. The wife’s sister in law was shot 6 times (in Manila) and when the son got her to a general hospital (by trike and bleeding out) they turned her away because there was no doctor at A&E willing to help. She lasted 2 days in a private hospital with a 3 million peso bill.

Might be worth going out there first for a feel of the place, you can stay for upto 30 days without an extension and if you want to stay longer you can extend when your there upto 90 days visa

If i was seriously thinking of moving to phils i would go to Angeles City plenty of expats there all friendly and you would soon find mates and a G/F, decent apartments around 20,000 pesos a month bills are cheap electric the most expensive no council tax the garbage man you pay weekly water cheap internet is good there and not expensive get an amazon box for sports etc, food is good there plenty of western food and if you have cash you will have what they call pesonality and the girls will love you, drink in the hangout or night moves bar where the expats are, plenty to do if you like golf or go to Subic for beach fun etc, hotels are cheap compared to Europe, but for long stay get your own place, Boracay is nice one hour flight time and Cebu, i loved living there but had to come home every 3 months to work then back every 3 months lots of travelling most expats there are retired of work in the oil ,gold industries on contracts all over the world but based in Angeles go there for a holiday try it out see if you like it not many don' like it i preferred it to Thailand where i lived for 6 months did not like the woman there but phils woman are lovely .

lots of good points there but I don’t like being around lots of expats. My past experience (especially Cyprus), expats got here for a healthy relaxed life but spend all day sat in a bar, backstabbing anyone that’s not flavour of the month. The next day you see them sitting with them, all very false. The wife’s province is 40 minutes from Boracay, if I was to consider buying it would be there as I love it (especially as I kitesurf and wingfoil), Cebu or Palawan

The province is not for me hate fish, most of the food resembles road kill to me, i need western food and company, and if you are sick well the province is not the place to be , medical city is ok in Angeles but not if you are really sick jump on a plane back t U/K or Thailand, my last trip to the province lasted two days said to the wife lets go electricity power cuts all the time no air con, everyone wants something if you are foreign assume you are rich, not for me I'm afraid back to civilisation of Angeles city.

Thanks for all the comments and advice, it’s very interesting to hear about everyone’s take on the PH culture, personal experiences and preferences. It’s given me much to think about!

Does anyone know anything about Roxas City?

went to Puerto Galera a few times not too bad there lots of Koreans there diving etc nice beaches at white beach etc but a bit quiet for me.

Good point. lol

99% of what I eat (in the province) I've cooked myself.

(I was in AC last weekend, visiting with friends)

ah yes, I forgot about the daily brownouts, a generator is a must, although I love the fresh fish, for me, can’t beat it.

Roxas is on Panay where the wife comes from (although she is from Buruanga, up the North West, near Boracay. I haven’t been there but the wife says it is just “normal” small city, nothing that made her want to take me there, but it is nice.
Not far from Roxas is Iloilo which is nice, spent a few days there. Not too big but has the malls, and all facilities required. The only other small city on Panay is Kalibo which I was not impressed with (spent 2 nights there)

That's horrific…

unfortunately life can be cheap over there, you can have someone terminated for 5000 peso or less. And when the police are corrupt and totally useless it is easy to get away with it. No one was ever caught, the police didn’t much bother to find the culprit. I saw CCTV of the moped pulling up outside the shop she was working in, the guy got off the passenger seat. Registration was clear on the bike(I know it was probably stolen or disposed of afterwards) but the police did no enquiries, house to house, obtain further CCTV from the area, ask for witnesses, Nothing. They told the family, more money would get more enquiries !!
They were even given a suspects as a cousin attempted to rape my wife’s sister in law a few years earlier, she had him arrested and he was jailed. He died in prison and it is thought that his wife had the job done because she held a grudge against my wife’s sister in law for reporting him!
What is also bad is her 9 year old daughter was in the shop with her at the time. The sister in law was doing something behind the counter and the gunman put the gun to the daughter head first and asked where her mother was. My argument with the police was the gunman knew the daughter so assume knew the family.

my wife's aunt was shot dead by a hit man because she was standing for election as the local mayor. This happened in recent years.

More recently my wife's father was hacked with a machete by his next door neighbour--he suffered near fatal head and neck injuries. No reason for the attack. The attacker was never even charged. My wife paid the hospital bills.

Ive no intention of ever going there.

Elections always cause trouble because people in power make money, the corruption is blatant you get money handed to you to vote a certain way in the province, most accept it because its usually a decent sum, people get killed all the time during elections, saw a guy shot dead near to my apartment in Angeles drive by shooting to do with drugs , shaboo is the problem mostly.

I never had any problems in 10 years was always friendly to filipinos don't upset anyone they don't fight with their fists, never try a business that will take trade away from a local you will get hurt, my barber always said you want someone shot tell me , life is cheap police are bent you get nicked as a foreigner they will leave you in jail with your mobile until you get cash down there charges will be dropped, police station four in Angeles well known for it, tourists an easy target, but its great place to live enjoy life great local bands i like to sing and play guitar so i get up with them love music and some of the parties i went to were the best I have ever been to, locals can get aggressive on the red horse but i always had fun with them , yes its a bit dangerous living there but so is it here , would not tell anyone not to got to A/C i think all men on the planet should go at least once and see how it is, .....

A

There is a rather bleak picture being painted here by many members of life for an Ex-pat in the Philippines, maybe I was lucky but I did not find it to be as bad as some would make it out to be? granted it is far from being perfect but I lived there for the best part of 10yrs, for a short time on Panay island then in Cebu, to end up on Negros Island living close to Dumaguete City in a small town named Valencia, I had a pretty good life there, this is a small sleepy town the locals are very friendly and there is many Foreigners there to stay for the long term.

I ended up building a small house there for the Family, my Partner and our young Son, but I run out of money in the final stages of the build and having some health problems had me scoot back to Scotland. I had kept on my house there and this is where I am living at this present time, getting on in years I have decided not to go back to PH to live for the long term, I do miss the place especially my young Son of 6yrs and the many friends I have made there, I still provide financial support to my Son and his Mum also paying his Schools fees in a private School. Having needed to use the Medical services there in PH on two occasions, one had a very positive outcome but the other was a disappointment.

A foreigner can get a Tourist Visa with various extensions to live in the Philippines for up to 3yrs before he has to fly out and return to start the 3yr period once more, cost is around a little over £300 per annum? investing money in certain designated banks can get a more permanent Visa this may be called an SRRV I think?

I would suggest that life in a big city there is not for everyone and certainly not for me, the main problem being the high volume of traffic and the polluted air, all cities all over the world suffer this problem, but few will be quite as bad as in PH, Valencia where I built the house is at the foot of a mountain around 600ft above sea level where the air is so clean, fresh and also slightly cooler, but still only 15mins drive to the City of Dumaguete, added to that it has a reasonable Public Park something of a rare find there in PH, adjacent to this there is a little Bar where the Foreigners go and there you can have a San Mig for P45 this is around half the price of anywhere in a city there in PH. Also I should add this is most certainly a very low crime area, Foreigners can feel safe there and the locals are quite friendly towards them, this was not the case where we lived in Mactan Cebu, there the locals were quite unfriendly towards the Foreigners, even down in the nearby City they are also pretty good, Dumaguete is named the City of Smiles and I would agree with this.

I agree with your post the traffic in A/C and air quality are not great if you have chest problems the dust as well, but having been to samar catbologan calbyog and leyte with different girls i was with at the time , it is not for me the province lifestyle, they go to bed real early and up at the crack of dawn, the diet does not suit me rice and fish etc, a lot of pork and chicken all on the bone which i don't like hard to find lettuce in the province as well ,
having said that the people are great very friendly, love a karaoke on sat nights and a few drinks, they live a very simple life off to the forest to forage cook with wood some have gas , get water from a hand pump although i understand my wifes island now has an electric pump.
The woman from Samar are very pretty plenty come to A/C to find a B/F and move abroad a lot find it and move some are stuck there with one kid from some deadbeat phils B./F who has run off after getting them buntis.
Plenty to like if you want a quiet life live in the province if you want a life with plenty of expats move to a big city like A./C , never liked Manila much always felt a bit threatened there walking around at night etc, Subic there are plenty of old men there enjoying their later years most of them drink too much though as not much else to do there but good western food and nightlife, miss it all and will go back in the summer to see my old mates there.

I live just outside of Dumaguete near HONEST DAVE'S gaff and yes it's clean and quite. Been coming here in Dumaguete over 21 years, 7 years permanent. Seen very little trouble. Just foreigners making an ass of them self's. Hospitals we have 5 of them and easy reach from my gaff.

although not on a permanent basis, I am considering a small place away from the UK winters and to give the wife a retreat should she wish to return. As previously said, Boracay, Cebu and Palawan are on the list but may have to include Dumaguete as I have heard good things about it, especially just outside the centre.

' and to give the wife a retreat should she wish to return'

Surely wives would prefer to be close to their families. Mine certainly does (and is happier for it).