Philippines as a Tourist Paradise

Yeah I saw that in Manila too. Twice in 2 weeks. But a lot lot worse in many places. I saw photos taken by my wife's sister of Dumaguete a couple of years ago.

John..This is not a competition!!
The world is changing faster than we can cope as it is!!

Too right. And old age doesnt help.

Anyway, on the plus side its all good stuff really. It gives an exchange of ideas, which is mostly healthy as long as it doesnt get too out of hand.

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Er, yes. High School graduation, Molave, Zamboanga del Sur, March 2013. My niece Gelie is third from left.



Kay and her mother - it would be wrong to state a lady's age but Catalina is quite a few years older than I:



I would happily live in Zamboanga del Sur, IF Kay's family felt it safe to let me out of their sight, either in Molave or in the countryside or in the bundoks - but they don't.

Very true - and, by the way, there are around twenty islands in the Palawan archipelago currently on the market for between three-quarters of a million and twenty million Pounds. Some are prime for creating a beach resort and in a few cases some construction work has already been done. However that all stopped and these islands placed on the market for a reason. Palawan is almost certainly to be subsumed into the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Life in the Philippines is not for everyone and that is also true for everywhere else in the world. We who live here do so in full recognition of its defects and disadvantages, be they natural or man made. Importantly we understand that we are guests in this country even if we do have permission to remain here indefinitely. As guests, we have no control and certainly no say in how this country is run and even if aspects of life are frustrating, we learn to adapt and go with the flow.

It is its "third world-ness" that actually makes the Philippines an attractive place to live. Our lives are not ruled by political-correctness, risk assessments and all the late twentieth century incursions into personal liberties and freedoms that beset us back home. We're certainly not here for the beaches alone, there are far better beaches in the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam - and the UK! Nor the beer necessarily.

If you come here, whether for a visit or to live, do so with an open mind and an open heart, you will be rewarded by the riches this country has to offer. But please, do not talk this country down: you do it and its peoples a grave disservice by so doing.

It is important to highlight all facets of life in the Philippines and not just the immediately attractive ones. Someone contemplating a move there needs to know whats going on, on both sides of the coin. It does no one any favours ignoring the negatives and to that end they need to be aired. That is realism and is not talking the country or its people down.

It is also important to highlight issues in the Philippines. It is the only way, by education, bottom up and top down, that things will change for the better. Public awareness is crucial.

Burying heads in the sand and pretending the issues are not there does nobody any good.

This will change. There are signs of it already. The smoking ban in Davao is a good example.

There will be a levelling up on this. Its happening globally. HSE will get to you in time. HSE is there to protect people from the hazards presented by unscrupulous employers and to protect the public. That wouldnt be a bad thing in the Philippines, would it?

I fully understand your point about the third worldlyness being part of the charm and attraction but a slight balancing up in at least some of those nasties from the developed world would no doubt put the icing on the Philippine cake.

There is a flipside to this. Some Filipinas, from the Philippines of course, expressly prefer to remain in the UK. Because of the positive attributes that the UK has to offer. The UK isnt quite how some folk like to talk it down.

However, on the flipside of the thread and its opening posts, I actually felt post no 34 made a good start on talking the Philippines down.

http://www.british-filipino.com/showthread.php?7086-Philippines-as-a-Tourist-Paradise/page4

The core of the thread was particularly positive towards the Philippines. As I still believe the Philippines has a great future in tourism, providing it deals with all the issues that are, apparently, not supposed to be mentioned.

I agree that anyone contemplating moving and living here needs to be fully acquainted with the country but since there is nothing you can do to effect any changes, ignore them and just go with the flow. Live a little. You're looking at this with a western mindset, forget logic and look at things through oriental eyes and you'll see more advantages than disadvantages.

Contrary to what you may imagine, I do not view life here through rose-tinted glasses. But by the same token, I do not go out of my way to explore all the disadvantages. That's counter-productive and, since there's nothing I can do about them, is a fruitless exercise in negativity.

Again, I have to disagree having read and listened to those folk who are returning to the UK from the Philippines. To be objective it is sensible to listen to all viewpoints. A little caution is not a bad thing at all.

As Mark says..The R.P is not for everyone.
For me and my family though, a definite yes,but not for others perhaps.
My best suggestion is boots on the ground for at least 6 months to attain a real perspective of the life here..
I do not recommend too much research on the internet as most opinions there are either too subjective or biased.. (In either direction) and simply not valid for a free thinking individual.
Probably the most important thing to consider is hard cash savings and a regular income..
The most consistently successful group of expats here are in fact Pensioners.
Without income,there is no point even thinking about living here. Things can get very messy,very fast and I have witnessed this many times.. I suggest the odd holiday and thats all.
For me,the very thought of going back to the UK to live fills me with dread,and that why I have made arrangements for that not to happen..
Good luck wherever you decide to live..And good health!!
I`ll drink to that!

Part of the issue is that "the Philippines" is not a small place.

Take, for example, "living in Manila". Do we mean living in a nice subdivision in Makati - not Forbes Park but, say, Urdaneta - or do we mean living in Tondo.

I have lived in a house in Pasay and disliked it, I have lived in a one room flat in a block in Makati and liked it, mainly because in the latter case I could walk to shops, cinemas, restaurants, etc. whereas in the house in Pasay we needed a car for everything.

I know myself well enough to know that living in the countryside would drive me screaming up the wall in six months, but I would happily live in Subic and quite possibly in Davao; for some reason Cebu does not appeal much to me. Maybe because I've always been there on business.

As for "getting messy very quickly" they can get amazingly messy if you run out of money or if you are foolish enough to write a bouncing cheque (this is a form of "estafa" and is a criminal offence, because the legal system is essentially Spanish) or if you run afoul of a local interest.

Probably a wise move. But boots on the ground will not tell you all you need to know. But nonetheless an extended visit is a good idea, I am sure.

You may think the smoking ban is a good idea, several thousand Filipinos would disagree with you. There is a village (Woodridge Park) aimed at higher income earners where construction on two new multi-million Peso houses has stopped. The reason is that the village has an ordinance which forbids smoking anywhere within the village except within private houses. You can not even smoke in your own garden there! Most Filipino construction workers do smoke and since they can't, they've withdrawn their labour and gone to work on other sites which do not have this ordinance. I'm told that one of the houses now not being built is for one of the anti-smoking campaigners who managed to get the village's ordinances changed.

Who is going to pay for that? The government - not a chance!

Some do, no doubt about it. They can earn far more there - and therefore support their families far better - than if they remained in the Philippines. They're not there for the weather, that's for sure!

What I meant and said was that it was a good example, not a good idea.

Who said the government would or should pay for that? I didn't. Unless the government is the employer. Industry / businesses will pay for it, they do in other 3rd world countries.

Some don't earn anything at all here. My wife for one.

The weather is a factor in both scenarios. But in either case, one of many. The novelty of high ambient temperatures wore off for me, many years ago.

You can certainly include my wife as one who loves the snow! Mae spent a winter in the mountains of Japan and loved every minute of it - although she did say that she was pleased to be back in the Philippines at the end of it. Whilst she loved the snow, it was the cold biting wind that put her off. But she would never consider Baguio as somewhere to live whereas I would (apart from the fact that its air pollution is worse than Manila's).

Thats exactly right. Employers, obviously dont want to pay for a safe working environment and a safe natural environment. Evidently the same in Davao and district with the mining companies. But governements, the world over set the law and the busisness pay for implementation.

I think I read an opinion on here that life in the Philippines is cheap. That is partly because businesses aren't taking care of their workforce, the environment or the public, because they don't face the penalty of being sued or loss of business, like they do in other parts of the world.

Elsewhwere it is uneconomic not to act responsibly as an employer.