Bohol land wanted

She left her family (Big thing to do in the Philippines) - but they were Jehovah's Witnesses, and her mum was trying to get her to marry someone else in the cult, sorry, religion (I was right the first time)

She doesn't want anything to do with them, so I doubt she would include any of them in her decisions. I know she has no contact with them. Not even on FaceTok or whatever. Knowing what a stubborn madam she can be, I can't imagine a reconciliation being initiated by her anytime soon.

It is certainly something I would like to see buttoned up before we start investing a fortune in this project

https://www.zigguratrealestate.ph/post/can-a-foreigner-inherit-land-in-the-philippines

This seems to be fairly clear and relevant to the situation.


Can a foreigner inherit land in the Philippines?

There are many possible variations of this theme. An exhaustive dissertation of all of them would take volumes. This article will discuss one particular, common scenario. In this scenario, a foreigner spouse is married to a Filipino. The Filipino owns land in the Philippines. Let’s assume there are no children, mutual or otherwise, involved. Philippine law prohibits a foreigner from buying land in the Philippines. But what if the Filipino spouse were to pass away? Can the surviving foreigner spouse then inherit the land owned by the deceased Filipino?

Yes, a foreigner can inherit Philippine land if there is no will.

Default inheritance rules will then come into play.

Although Sections 3 and 8 of Article XII of the Constitution famously restrict the ownership of land by individuals to Filipinos and former Filipinos, Section 7 of the same Article allows foreign citizens to own land by way of legal inheritance.

Section 7. Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain.

Note that Section 7 speaks of hereditary succession. In legal speak, this means that a foreigner can acquire land through intestate inheritance, i.e. the default laws on inheritance which are not transfers of ownership by way of a last will and testament.

A foreigner cannot inherit land through a will.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a transfer of ownership to a foreigner by way of last will and testament would be unconstitutional.

"We are of the opinion that the Constitutional provision which enables aliens to acquire private lands does not extend to testamentary succession for otherwise the prohibition will be for naught and meaningless. Any alien would be able to circumvent the prohibition by paying money to a Philippine landowner in exchange for a devise of a piece of land."

Ramirez vs. Vda. de Ramirez, G.R. No. L-27952, February 15, 1982

This means that Section 7, Article XII of the Constitution should be read in relation with the Philippine Civil Code’s provisions on intestate inheritance.

The Philippine Civil Code on Intestate Inheritance

Articles 995, 997 and 1001 of the Civil Code are the specific sections to look at. We give you the entire subsection on a surviving spouse:

Without any siblings, ascendants, or descendants, the spouse can inherit the entire estate.

Subsection 4. – Surviving Spouse

Art. 995. In the absence of legitimate descendants and ascendants, and illegitimate children and their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, the surviving spouse shall inherit the entire estate, without prejudice to the rights of brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, should there be any, under article 1001. (946a)

Art. 996. If a widow or widower and legitimate children or descendants are left, the surviving spouse has in the succession the same share as that of each of the children. (834a)

Art. 997. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate parents or ascendants, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to one-half of the estate, and the legitimate parents or ascendants to the other half. (836a)

Art. 998. If a widow or widower survives with illegitimate children, such widow or widower shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, to the other half. (n)

With ascendants, the spouse inherits half of the estate.

Art. 999. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate children or their descendants and illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, such widow or widower shall be entitled to the same share as that of a legitimate child. (n)

Art. 1000. If legitimate ascendants, the surviving spouse, and illegitimate children are left, the ascendants shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the other half shall be divided between the surviving spouse and the illegitimate children so that such widow or widower shall have one-fourth of the estate, and the illegitimate children the other fourth. (841a)

Art. 1001. Should brothers and sisters or their children survive with the widow or widower, the latter shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance and the brothers and sisters or their children to the other half. (953, 837a)

Art. 1002. In case of a legal separation, if the surviving spouse gave cause for the separation, he or she shall not have any of the rights granted in the preceding articles. (n)

These articles should be read in relation to Article 985 of the same Code.

Article 985. In default of legitimate children and descendants of the deceased, his parents and ascendants shall inherit from him, to the exclusion of collateral relatives. (935a)

The Inheritance Rights of the Foreign Spouse

So given our scenario of a childless Filipina wife who owns land in the Philippines, should she pass away without a will, what are the legal inheritance rights of her foreign, surviving husband?

Answer:

He can inherit her property (including land), subject to the shares of her surviving relatives.

1) If the Filipina wife were to pass away with none of her parents or siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to his wife’s entire estate.

2) If the Filipina wife were to pass away with her parents and siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s estate and her parents to the other half.

3) If the Filipina wife were to pass away after her parents had already passed away and with her siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s estate and her siblings to the other half.

There are other aspects of the law you might consider in practice.

A foreigner cannot own land, but he can own the house built on it. A thorough documentation of his costs and acquisition of the house in his name, amply corroborated by other evidence, can establish that at least the house will not be part of his deceased wife’s estate. This reduces the extent of his exposure to problems down the line.

It might also be possible for the wife to encumber the Title to the land in some way — via her making a limited will or through an annotation on the Title or through some other deed (such as a lease agreement if this is allowed under their marriage settlement) — so as to protect her widower’s use of the land for at least his lifetime.

Right!

From all of that confusion, it would appear true that I cannot be left the land in my wife's Will, but she can lay down a condition that it be leased to me....... but not in her Will.

Therefore, the Title for the land would need some codicil or condition on it to prevent it being sold while I'm alive. It would then be leased to me, and the payment for the lease shared out between her siblings (5) and me (1) - they would get 10% each, and I would get 50% - but this is conditional on my wife dying WITHOUT A WILL.

The buildings are a different matter. I would need to make all the payments and keep receipts
for everything so that I could prove that I was the owner of the property. This should then be removed from avaricious siblings. I should have a WILL, and leave everything to my wife, in the much more likely event of my kicking the bucket.

Should anyone feel that I have misinterpreted the document, please jump in and correct me.

Up until the part where it said Right!

It all made sense to me and seemed to go along with my own understanding of my/your to be position.

The buildings are reasonably straightforward because you can own those - Technically, I own our house but it's not much good unless I can get to the front door is it?

My own, unprofessional and much shorter opinion of what Filipino law is trying to say is:

If, whilst you are married, you and your Filipina wife buy a piece of land together and both your names appear on the title then if the worst happens and your wife dies as the spouse/widow you will be entitled to a share (I think) the same way her Filipino husband would...

But...

If, whilst you are married, you and your Filipina wife buy a piece of land together and the husband attempts to circumvent, by whatever means whatsoever, the general law that Foreigners are not permitted to buy/own land in their own names; it will be later viewed as an attempt to outsmart the Filipino Government and and dealt with accordingly...

Chris I had to think long and hard before replying here and much of what I have to say is based on my experience and that of other Ex-pats living in PH over long periods, being a bit of a reprobate and Drunken Master I have spent many hours in Bars doing my research over there (of coarse this was all done for the benefit of mankind) in these dens of iniquity I have met so many Foreigners drowning their sorrows in the drink telling of their hard times in order to mooch a free Beer, other are just stuck there living on a meagre pension with no place to turn to having sold everything back in their home country, many men go over there to PH meet a lovely young partner 40yrs their junior and decide to build a House for their little Princess, one man I know come home one day to his new house only for his wife's Brothers to be there holding Guns, sending him packing and only allowing him a black bag full of his clothes, this is not just a one off I can relate a few stories similar to this, in most of these cases there was a wide age gap with a few having something else in common, the man had a vasectomy, in a country such as PH life can be difficult for a Pinay that does not have a child and it is their dream to have a Golden one, this being the term used for a child born of a white skinned Father.

On the other hand I know of many relationships there that have worked out very well, in many cases the age gap will be closer to 20yrs and a few that are no more than two or three years, when there is children involved this often works well and even better if there is the Golden Child, in this case a wider age gap can work.

I would suggest to any Foreigner looking to find his match in PH to pick someone half his age plus 10yrs preferably one that has one or two children before and not been married, so a man of 64yrs meeting a Pinay Widow of 42yrs and now past child bearing age is a good starting point even better if she already has children as long as it is no more than two now this has an odds on chance to work.

How much money should a Foreigner invest in PH, NO More than what he can afford to walk away from and still have enough to return to his home country if things go tits up, even better if he finds a way to maintain ownership of his house back home, this applies more to a fairly new relationship of just a few years and not so much to one of long standing of say 10yrs or more.

What kind of business should a Foreigner get involved in? or perhaps I should be saying what type of Foreigner should get involved in any business in any Foreign country? certainly not one that has no business experience at any level? and not one who does not have the fitness level required to work long hours, a prime requirement for most business start ups even in their home country and only to start a business where he would be fully conversant in all aspects of the business in which he is to get involved in, preferably one that he has run successfully back in his home country, so many Foreigners start Resto bars in PH for them to fail in a very short duration of time, running a business in PH has an additional hazard, employees if they are required are liable to have a low standard of education and need to be closely monitored at all times.

Most businesses there run by Foreigners that are successful were often started a long time ago when everything was as cheap as chips now it is quite the opposite to that. It is also my opinion that a Foreigner starting a business in order to have a liveable income is destined to fail as it is likely to provide no more than a little pin money? even when it does seem to be working before long the same type of business will spring up next door, likely to be started with a returning OFW usually these fail eventually? like fools OFW's and their money are easily parted.

I have also heard so many stories of things going belly-up in the Phils too. Often it seems that the foreigner comes in with that typical male attitude of wanting to be the knight in shining armour, riding in on his steed to make everything right. These are the guys who wear their heart on their sleeve, and fall in love with the first bar girl who shows enough manual dexterity to rock his boat in a hotel room.

Instantly, they feel the compelling urge to win the girl's heart, or more usually, in the absence of any skills and knowledge of how to do just that, they attempt to buy it. And the girl, trained to prick her ears up at the sound of a Philippine banknote being taken from a wallet, will naturally play whatever role it is that pleases our poor fool.

When I first met Melody, and no, it wasn't in a bar - having been warned of such women by my well-meaning friends, I had a conversation with her along the lines of; If you're with me because of my money, you're sadly mistaken.

She replied that I had made it patently obvious that I was no millionaire, even a Peso-Millionaire, but that she was with me because she liked my blue eyes, my attitude, sense of humour and that I still look like I'm in my forties, despite being 60.

She also took a fair share in formulating our plans. She isn't being taken along on a ride as a passenger, and is undertaking sacrifices in order for us to achieve what we are planning to do.

The plan is to be able to semi-retire over there. The Bar-Resto thing is an addition to the accommodation, to serve the guests in our holiday homes, and not really for locals. To call it a bar-resto is probably giving it too grand a title, but in the absence of anything entirely appropriate, it'll have to suffice.

We aren't particularly interested in having it as a stand alone going concern. It's just that our guests will probably want somewhere to socialise in the evenings, or have somewhere to have their longsilog and kopiko in the morning while they plan their day ahead.

Each of our homes will have at least a dirty kitchen, but both the medium and large ones will also have a small kitchen. The smallest unit will have a kitchenette - big enough to make a coffee and something fresh from the microwave.

Our land is in the Bundoks, a mile or so away from anywhere, and certainly not within strolling distance of a row of restaurants. Alona Beach it ain't! And so. I figured that we are going to have to provide at least some way of giving people the option of not cooking for themselves, or buying something that they can take back up to their place.

Although I'm fairly certain that the nightmares suffered by others will not descend on me, I will take the precaution of not having it all in my wife's name, as I couldn't afford to walk away from it. As attractive as only putting in what I can afford to lose sounds, I'm not in the position of being able to hold anything back, and as such, will be forced to bet the farm on this.

At least by keeping it in my name, and bequeathing it to her in my Will, she will be secure, and hopefully not motivated to bump me off before my time. And if she kicks the bucket, at least I can sell it off without too much hassle, lick my wounds and take up fishing for a hobby.

We all have to take risks in life at times, but you'd be well-advised to take an umbrella with you if there's even a chance of rain. I hope to have used my membership of this group to thrash through the potential potholes and such, and come up with sensible solutions.

The plan won't change, but like Trigger's broom, the individual parts may be replaced with something new. we won't be moving there for six years, and only the house, and the shell of the resto-bar will be built before we make the move permanent. The resto-bar will be built on top of a triple garage, which will be our dry store for the building materials. The rest of the resto can be built on top of this, once we are in place. It's only going to be bamboo and nipa in its construction.

Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don't go out on the branch, you're never going to get the best fruit... Sarah Parish - whoever she is!

Anyway, I was looking for an alternative to a hotel in Cebu and noticed these just across the water in Loboc:


They're along the river... but look quite trendy eco friendly and all that... good if you can get people to book from Airbnb.

There are a few around the river. There is Loboc River Resort as well. Our problem with having land along the river is that after the last big typhoon - Odette I think it was, these resorts were smashed to smithereens. I followed their story on a YouTube site I subscribe to - Bohol is Awesome. I think the Fox and the Firefly suffered more than most. The river Loboc flooded so badly that a wall of mud came down it, and squeezed its way into the houses and filled them up to the bottom of the upstairs windows. They were digging mud out of those cottages for months.

Go to 1:10 on this video to see the aftermath of the typhoon



We couldn't afford land by the river and were looking at an 850m2 plot nearby. We were also looking at a plot down near the coast which was 1238m2. Both of them were priced at around 1000 pesos per square metre.

Luckily, while I was umming and ahhing over which to buy, a realtor whom we had already enquired over several different plots suggested the one we are buying, 3600 m2 for one million pesos. There is also adjoining land available should we want it.

I think we dodged a bullet there. The plot I was leaning towards was 850m2 for 980k, and I'm sure we could have knocked down the price by 10%. But it was a rice field, and I think that being 600m from the river, it would have been flooded. While it remains a rice field, that's not too much of a problem, but when you discover a newly-formed river in your living room, it's not ideal.



The Fox and the Firefly have an enviable position (apart from the flood thing), and they appear to be running things well, with their SUP tours side hustle, (which I suspect is half of their turnover). I will be picking their brains if possible, while I hope that they think we are far enough away not to be seen as a direct threat.

Except we are.

We will be about 15 minutes drove from Loboc town, but also very close to the up-and-coming Sikatuna Mirror of the World. And we will be 120 metres higher than the river.

You might say that they are better positioned, but I'm hoping that not being destroyed every couple of years will be in our favour. That said, I hope they never suffer anything like that ever again.

Everything as far as our own project is fluid. Nothing is yet carved in stone. We are still a fortnight away from handing over the cash for the land, six months away from me walking on the land with the contractor, and 18 months away from any work starting. Things change, as they often do, and between you, everyone else within the group, and with a bit of input from Melody and myself, I'm hoping that we can end up with something useful and popular with whomever chooses to come to stay.

Still stumped for ideas for the name of the place. Suggestions are always welcome.

Yup, they have a very good location with water, biking and pretty views. Concrete does have it's uses.

Chris's Place

After watching the Video of the F&F resort I can see why you would want to do something similar, don't like that name all that much, being a Scotsman, Natures Glen would be a good choice for me, however I would not mind if an Englishman were to steal the idea, although Glen actually means valley it does has a nice ring to it. Btw, I do like that Vlogger Alan who made that video he is one of the better ones.

The building there at F&F are quite simple using the thatched roof in the same style as they were done 100yrs ago and there is good reason for the high 60 degree pitch to the top half, at that angle it sheds all the rainwater off very quick preventing rot and extends the life of the Sac Sac, the bottom part needs to be renewed more often around every 7yrs they say? but the top will last 4 times as long. Using the GI steel stud method I could build these small Cabins 35 to40M2 for well less than a half million each, they would have the thatched roof and the Hardie of the exterior walls then clad in Amakan, I suspect having something of the same size professionally done prefabricated in a A frame would be at least P1.5M?

If I had not run out of money I had the idea to start a small Hardware Store, selling only quality hardware, this being not something a Filipino can/would copy as it requires some knowledge of ironmongery, buying these goods local in the big stores there like City Hardware there is around a 300%to even 400% mark up compared to buying the SAME on line. a few genuine of examples being; SS 4x2inch hinges for a heavy front door, on line in Shopee P125, CH price P450, SS double bowl Kitchen Sink of 2mm thickness made from welded steel panels and not the usual sh!t pressed steel ones, on line P2,800, the big hardware stores charge P12K for the exact same unit the only difference will be theirs will be marked American Standard, a tap for this same sink P1,200, on line price P280, I had bought the the more expensive one from CH which leaked after 3 months, to then buy the cheap one later only to find them to be exactly the same, in fact I just changed over the cartridge from the new to the old, later I was to find out these cartridges can be had quite cheaply on line for P50, but no Hardware stores there seem to keep them or even know what they are?

There is one really good piece of advice I can give to anyone intending to build there and that is send over S and P sink traps even bottle ones from their own home country, they do have a reducer there for both 32mm and 38mm in the form of a rubber doughnut to fit the standard 2inch orange soil pipe that they use there.

I found the best tool brands to be Lotus and Tolsen which I could only get on line.

In their ceramic sanitary ware the holes for both the taps and the trap tend to be oversized and this being the main reason that most taps there tend to be loose the nut and the washer barely catch on the edge of the hole, I had to end up cutting oversized captive washers out of an old plastic garden chair, PPR water pipe is very good and I would highly recommend this, the heater required to weld this together can be had for P2K, again fittings for this are best bought on line as these are quite cheap and at that price extra fittings can be had for use in any unexpected situations.

I have half a mind to fill up Balikbayan boxes and send them to myself in the interim period where we are living here and building there. Problem is of course that the cheap Chinese tatt that is causing so many quality-related problems in the Philippines is repeated over here, because most of the available products we have here are the same, just with different labels and a higher markup. Everything seems so shoddy nowadays.

However, if anyone can add to Dave's list, I will consider bunging it in a box. After all, each cabin will have a kitchen/kitchenette and a bathroom, and the bar/resto will need CRs, so there's a multiplication factor that would need good quality items where possible.

Mel seems to think that we will be going on a huge shopping spree, but I'm conscious that availability will be a huge consideration to make being as we will be on an island where the main city has a population of only 100,000 - so similar to somewhere like Chesterfield or Worcester. She also seems to think that we will have a bottomless pot of money from which to draw. I'm not sure where she got that idea from, and I'm considering having her tested!

We spoke with the Lawyer this morning via a video call. He confirmed that we can get everything done on the 15th September, and that Mel will not need to be there when everything is exchanged, which saves us £1500 paying for her to go over there and stop in a hotel while it all gets done.

I'm not so sure you are correct when you say we get a lot of cheap made Chinese goods here in UK and even if we do? if it is not fit for purpose it is easy to do a return here and get a refund, actually it is also easy to do this in PH when buying from Lazada or Shopee more so than anything bought from a local store there, just the other day I bought an old fashioned foot pump for blowing up the tyres on my car, this was bought from B&M in UK the box had the full RAC logo on it, £9 it cost and I thought not bad, only when I got it home and had it out the box did I realise it was super light and would not last long, but it did have a strong return spring two or three pumps and it shot out from under my foot bursting the flimsy hose, I promptly returned this and had my refund after refusing a replacement.

Things I found useful to send over to PH were a good DeWalt batt drill these are the best in my opinion, I was to buy a couple of cheap ones from Lazada these are the same as the 18v Ferrex ones from Aldi but around half the price there and served us well but do not compare to the DeWalt, wood screws of various sizes, screws are not used all that often in PH they always use nails, when they are available they are in packs of 12, steel wool and Danish oil cannot be had in PH, don't rush to Screwfix for these items being a branch of B&Q they are not always the cheapest except they do good offers on DeWalt from time to time, I have done a lot of woodwork in my time and sent over a Planer thicknesser this I found very useful to me, I was to buy a table saw there from Lazada this was cheap at P10K later I was to find Aldi sell this same one at £89, with its 2KW motor and a good blade it cuts through anything although a good handheld circular is adequate for most people, recently here in UK I bought a DeWalt battery one, I bought this body only from B&Q for £100 and it has my approval I use the 2AH batts from my drill but this really needs a 4AH or above to give a longer running time.

With time on your side many tools can be had second hand here in UK from budding DIYers that never did use them, buy them up and ship them over even small hand tools like hammers and Pliers, I use a Phil/UK company called Alsomavic they do an offer when you send three boxes the third is half price 3 boxes for £150, I already mentioned Tolsen Tools only available on line there in PH, they have a range of HSS drill bits buying them in sets they are ultra cheap and were lasting as well as the Bosch ones available to us there.

Taps are very cheap in PH but they tarnish in a short period of time, I fitted a cheap Aldi one in my house 20yrs ago in my utility room and it still cleans up well, the half inch flexi hose coupling is the same there as it is here a three quarter inch Tap from here needs to be reduced to half inch.

If there was one really good top quality item I did buy there in PH it was a Hanging Toilet, it comes with a frame that is bolted to the wall and the bowl is pinned to this frame, this can take the weight of any Fat Bar Steward up to at least 150kg, I bought this from a hardware store in DGTE called Triumph Home Depot at P12K for the complete kit I though this to be very cheap, putting this in the Bathroom adds a touch of real class.

@HonestDave didn't mention it but the hanging toilet is especially useful for ground floor cr because the outlet is horizontal - avoids having the outlet down and through the concrete slab... you'll struggle to find a horizontal outlet cr here.

Anything electrical try to get in uk and ship out - I don't know what grade stock they sell here but I very much doubt it's A, probably b or c at best!

Yes John you are correct no perforation on my Monolithic slab, in plumbing terms this is the Horn looking oot as against the Horn looking doon, I did find another with the Horn looking oot this was just an ordinary close coupled bowl and cistern and they wanted over 22K for this, since I needed two this was out of the question 2 at 12K saved me 20K, perhaps these are not a good option in a CHB Hoose as how do you get access in event of a failure? in my Hardie Hoose if this happens I just remove a section of the exterior wall, however this is the best of quality I have ever seen there in PH and I cannot see this happening in my lifetime, incidentally the slimline cistern tank on this only holds 4ltrs and I did think it may struggle to flush a Big Turd, however everything goes away with a big whoosh, mind you my sanitary waste system is properly vented in 4inch just like UK, my neighbours is only done with a 1inch pipe stuck in the top of the 4inch drain and cemented on, if he had two bathrooms flushing into his system there would be problems.

I do wonder what you mean by anything electrical?

Internal door handles are p!ss poor but they are really cheap compared to here in UK, most are not like the internal workings of the ones in UK and often fail, but I did get a really good exterior set up for the front door this was from City Hardware Housseman or name like it, saw one on a house that had been there many years and it still worked and looked well, perhaps I could have had the same on line at half the price? as I mentioned before about CH they charge 300% on everything.

I managed to get deep shower trays of 150mm and these drain out the wall having a low profile trap, often I have heard the PVC cement there is rubbish, NOT TRUE, the fault is the cupid stunts applying it and this is there excuse for incompetence, just make sure the pipe is marked with a sharpie to show it is well inside the coupling, cleaned on both surfaces and also the glue applied to both and there will be no problem.

This is all fantastic information and exactly what I wished for. I can see there being a few balikbayan boxes making their way across the oceans over the next few years.

When you referred to anything electrical @JohnSurrey - do you mean the appliances or the first/second fix such as cables and switches?

The ideas for the sanitaryware are something of great interest because the bathrooms of the A-frame cabins are all on the back of the building, and passing them through the wall would be very easy compared to them having to be passing through the slab.

The De Walt catalogue or Makita/Metabo version will take a leading role in my Birthday/Christmas present list over the next few years. I have a few corded tools, but they're all DIY quality at best.

Does anyone recommend air-powered tools? I've never used one, but I understand they can work all day, whereas a battery nailer would need recharging/battery swap at least once.

Your experience with the B&M tyre inflator is the exact same experience I had, except mine was bought from Halfords. My reference to cheap Chinese goods comes from my experience of shopping online. Amazon and the like are riddled with cheap stuff, although a lot of it stands up fairly well. I have a lot of solar lights in the garden, and they're as good as they ever were, even after facing the freezing temperatures and torrential downpours of a British summer.

No I'm referring to appliances white goods and stereo/music stuff tv tools etc etc.

You're other option here is to order from Japanese Suppliers on Lazada/Shoppee - not many of them but might have some of the things you want.

It's just a thought but maybe you could install/build your cabins etc. so as they can be removed-disassembled-assembled and installed elsewhere at a later date.

I worked in a factory once... building double glazed windows and doors and we used air tools all the time - worked great for me Suspect it's all a question of size/type of engine for the compressor/number of workers and how much power your tools will require and all that stuff I don't really understand

As your on a fixed site it's probably a goer...

I've

I've would not imagine using Air tools to be any great advantage there on a site, you would have to lug the compressor around then you always have an air hose attached to them this would be a nuisance to me just as well to go back to using corded tools? Nails are generally used on wood why would you want to be using much of this in termite country? Batt Tools and especially DeWalt last for ages and they are very quick to recharge, a 4AH batt can be used to drive screws all day on one charge, but if you are making them work to extreme like drilling holes in concrete then they soon tire, this is the time to use a corded drill if there is many to be done and then you want a good SDS one the drills for them seems to be top class and last a very long time. Air tools will be good in a factory but Sh!te for a building site.

You are probably not familiar with using Epoxy as a Glue/Filler, I mentioned this before for filling joints in the Hardie but this has so many uses and glues most things together like soles on shoes, wood to wood, wood to metal about the only thing is does not work on is plastic, the High Vis concrete Epoxy Island brand worked well for us it is just that bit more viscous than the rest and cheaper than most, also it dries to a tan colour and blends in better and I even used this for filling wood, Pinoy's use the pink stuff for this and it looks terrible.

I just saw a De Walt Combo Pack consisting of 14 separate tools with 5x18v batteries plus the torch and charger of course. And three ruddy great cases to fit everything into.

It could be mine for the paltry sum of a tad over three thousand pounds. It's not unreasonable really, as it works out to be around £200 per item for some pretty special power tools. But it's some commitment to shell out on them.

Hand them out around a Filipino site (as well as many others too btw), and it wouldn't look so much of a bargain. I suspect quite a few of the items would grow legs, and others be magically damaged beyond repair in a matter of days.

If I were to buy them, they would have to be for my own use. And then, in order to justify the expense, I would be sweating atop a bamboo scaffold, working like Billy-Oh with my De-Walt-du-choice when I'm supposed to be there in a supervisory capacity only.

I was thinking of a good mixer though, which seems to be available for the 30,000 mark. Such a labour saver, and such and improvement in the quality of the mix - it may be worth the cost.

@HONEST DAVE - All of the Hardie Board videos I see, have the Hardie Plank fixed on top of perpendicular-running treated battens, which sit on top of the vapour barrier, and that onto sheathing ply/OSB

This has a vented strip running along the bottom, and a capping strip along the top. There are W and box profiles for internal and external corners, and all in all, is designed to stop insect ingress. But termites are tiny.

I have been searching for another installation method that doesn't use any timber at all - treated or not but can't find any information on it. I've even downloaded the Hardie Installation folders, but they all seem to use timber battens. Seems a waste of effort if one is building in a termite prone area.

what am I missing here?

Likely you are watching Videos from the US and the methods they use there do not apply to the circumstances that exist in the Philippines? Myself and my German Carpenter friend Peter got together and worked out a pretty good system, I cannot say this is 100% correct only that it worked for us and about as simple as using Lego.

When we started fitting the steel channels to the monolithic slab, we laid down the bottom rail in its correct position (this has been pre-drilled to accept screws) taking a small masonry drill we drilled through these existing holes to mark the floor, later when we removed the rail we used an 8mm masonry bit to drill out the marked holes to then fit a plastic raw plug, at this stage all dust was removed and the bottom rail had a liberal amount of silicone applied the the underside done in a double bead near to the edge, I would imagine this to be not something termites would wish to go through? especially since the back and front doors are mostly open and they could just walk in unhindered, plus we left enough headroom for them to walk under the door if it was locked shut, no way was I getting keys cut for all these little Feckers??? Making my Kitchen Cabinets out of GI channel and thin Hardie board there was nothing for them to eat anyway so they soon Fecked off to my neighbours to eat his fine all Mahogany Cabinets.

Treated wood is available there in PH at the large hardware stores but only comes at a high price, it is highly unlikely you will find any Cement Mixers at P30K mine cost P54K for a full bag mixer with a Robin (Subaru) engine getting the Honda option was a good few thousand more, this mixer Fuji brand served us well and Later when the job was done we sold it for P34K.

I find my DeWalt Battery drill to be invaluable, there may have been as much as 10 to 15K Screws used in my build and half were fired in with the DW, the other half were done with an obscure cheap one bought from Shopee and here is a link to this very one; Cordless Impact Drill 36VF Electric Hammer Drill Percussion Drill With 2 Batteries Double-Speed | Shopee Philippines this was so good at the price we bought a second one with each being supplied with two batts and charger we then had 4 batts and two chargers, they do have a tendency for the keyless chuck to become loose but otherwise they served us well and never did fail us, having recently bought the 18V one from Aldi this is no different to the above cheap one apart from the price which is 40% more for the Aldi one.