After we go home and relax a little and then shower and head out to Gaisano Mall, the nicer mall that is close to our home. Well because of the Kadayawan Festivities as decided to go to SM City mall in Ecoland. SM City is the newest mall in the city with the most modern look to it.

After we had lunch, we headed into the Market. Elena was to start shopping and I was going to buy my cigarettes. As they scanned the carton (ream as called here) a price showed that made me gasp. It was 360 pesos. Prices do vary somewhat and I do not mind a few peso difference but Gaisano charges 313 pesos. Other prices are 314 at Victoria and 316 at the new Robinsons Cybergate.

After I walked out of the liquor and cigarette area and met up with Elena, she was seeing the same problem with food items. A lot of the items are 5 pesos or more higher then we pay at Gaisano. You might be saying, what is the big deal 5 pesos is only approximately $00.10 USD.

Yes, I remember when I first visited here and compared prices in America and thought everything was so cheap, I had no problems buying anything I wanted.  But, when I visited the Philippines, I was still employed and making a decent salary. Then when I moved here, at first I continued that thought about the prices.  Well, after you have lived here for a while and on a fixed income, a peso here and a peso there add up.

Even with restaurants, when you first move here, and have not gotten used to a more Filipino style of eating, you go to the more continental style of restaurants and have no problem spending 400 to 500 pesos for an entrée. To you, 500 pesos is only about $10 and you will think about how the same plate of food would cost so much more back in your home country. This is true, but for me, at those times I had a job and was making a lot more money too.

Now, if you were smart in the old life and invested, saved and built up a nice investment portfolio and your receiving you’re Social Security and maybe other pensions, that is great. But most foreigners who have moved here did not do that and have a smaller monthly income. Many move here without visiting before and had heard or read from others that you can live here on $1000. Yes, you probably can, but you will not have a large home, or even a 2 story townhouse. With that income you will be living in a small apartment with the basic needs.

One of the best ways and hardest thing to do is change your mind set to a peso mentality. What I do, since I still at times convert the amount into dollars is I think about what I pay for lunch here or there. What I spent before at another place or what else I need to do that week. If I spent a large amount on the weekend, I eat home or eat at an inexpensive place if out lunchtime.  For instance, lunch for 2 at McDonalds it will cost close to 300 pesos. There is a Chinese style Filipino restaurant around town named Mandarin. There 2 people can have a nice lunch for 200 pesos or less.

Just as I talked in the beginning about going to the Palengke to do our shopping for meats, fish, vegetables and fruits. There prices are less than the Mall markets and I notice the quality of the fruits and vegetables are much fresher too.

Some will also think, well I will spend more now and reduce my lifestyle as time goes on. You need to consider costs of things that will pop up; medical, family emergencies especially if you’re married or living with a Filipina, her family tree extends in many branches and they all will come to you for help. Then there is always the change of the peso conversion. When I visited here the rate was 50 pesos to the dollar but when I moved here it was down to around 40. Now it has been staying in the high 47 to lower 48 ranges. You need to put money aside for those times the rate drops and we can just hope it never drops and stays down, then we will all be living on a diet of rice and dried fish.

I know, as reading this, you might wonder how this affected all of us. Well, when investors and perspective homeowners stopped buying, the housing developers stopped building. When they stopped building, the employees were not needed. Then the subcontractors that did the construct, the plumbing, the electrical and the rest of the trades had no work. So the contracting companies had to lay off their workers. Also at that time, the suppliers were not selling to the contractors, so they needed to lower staff or at the worse close up their businesses. With all these workers being laid off, they have less money to spend at the malls and markets to these businesses had to lower staff too.

Now you might ask, what has this have to do with the Philippines. Many Filipinos work abroad. The term here is OFW’s or Overseas Foreign Workers. Many of these Filipino are contract workers with only a work visa. These workers send money home to help support their families in the Philippines. When employment was high and employers could not find Americans to fill the positions, the Government allows hiring through the work visa programs.  Eventually, if the layoffs and unemployment grows there will be more Americans available to fill these positions, many contracts will not be renewed and these OFW’s can lose their jobs and status to stay. If this happens, these Filipinos will return to the Philippines and the support for their families will be gone.

There is another problem how this economy crisis can affect Americans and the Philippines. As we get older, companies hiring look for the younger generations to fill the positions and less to the older applicants. There is a term “un-hirable.” This sometimes means you are too old to be desirable to be hired. If you’re in your 50’s or early 60’s companies will look at longevity. Why hire someone who is not going to stay and grow with a company in the long term. Many of these people, who know about the Philippines and the lower cost of living, will start thinking of moving here. This is not a bad thing by any means except many people who move here do not realize how live might be better and how it can be worse. In previous articles I have written about many of the differences living here. I hope they do not just pack up without visiting, seeing how life is living here as a resident and not relaxing in a hotel.

With this site and many others online, I hope people considering a move here will take the time to read and research to better understand.

I have spent many hours at different times on this philosophy. In America I have lived well at times and there have been times I have lived in a much cheaper life. At 39, while attending night classes for my drafting degree, I lost my job to downsizing. As my savings decreased and my only income was unemployment insurance, I had to share a small apartment with one of my classmates. I remember times, after paying rent and bills counting my money and trying to figure out how to eat that month.

Now, I know there are people in America and many other first world nations that lived better than me and many who need less to be comfortable in their needs.

For me, to retire and live comfortable in America would be having a decent home or condo, a car and enough money to have the basic needs with some advantages. These would include being able to go to a restaurant a few times a week, see a movie of one of the small theater plays. Of course this would also include cable TV, high speed internet and air conditioning for warm weather.

I do understand the cost of living in America has been increasing and if your retirement is in investments, the rate of return has gone down to the point you are not building your savings but hopefully you have a balance where you can live on the interest and not decrease the principle.

Now I will discuss retiring here in Davao or somewhere else in the Philippines. It is true; many things are much cheaper in the Philippines than in America or other countries. At the high end, I know someone who had built a large 3 story house with 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a powder room, in a high end sub-division with a great view of the ocean for about $400,000 USD. There are many other nice high end homes in good sub-divisions for much less.

There are foreigners here that enjoy all aspects of living here and some that have become acclimated to life here. I can only talk for myself and my thoughts.

To me, someone saying luxury I think of a larger house with as many of the amenities he is used to in America. Large bedrooms with closets, CR’s with hot and cold water, tubs and showers. Nice kitchens with large ranges, laundry facilities with modern washer and dryer and probably cable TV, internet and either central air conditioning or at least a unit in most rooms. It will be in a higher end gated sub-division with a nice clubhouse with pool and restaurant and maybe even an exercise facility. This person will probably have maids and cooks on staff. He will probably buy a large SUV vehicle and belong to one of the golf courses here too.
That is wonderful and I know his home life will be as comfortable as or more so than in the States. But, there are times he will have to or want to go out. He will need groceries, clothes, items from a hardware store and many other items. There will be times; some item he is used to buying at a certain store for months will be out of stock. When he asks when it will be back in stock get the usual answer, “I do not know” or “Maybe next month.” He also needs to realize he is in a country where many people he will come across will not understand English or only part of what he is asking.

He is probably used to nice smooth paved roads and here will find potholes, paved roads that end and becomes a bumpy dirt road that gets flooded. He is used to drivers that are courteous and considerate and see here drivers cutting you off and not letting you into their lanes. He will see drivers changing lanes without even looking to see if there is a car coming.

If money is no object, sure he can eat in the expensive restaurants that cater to foreigners but there are times your hungry and you are not near one of these places. If he is going to eat at home, is he going to spend the high cost to buy imported meats and the other products he is used to that is not regular available here from the US?

As I had in an article a while ago, there are many foreigners that come here to visit, stay in the better hotels, eat in their restaurants and use a taxi or a driver to take them around. After they go back to their home country tell others and feel that life here is so comfortable and cheaper then back home. Many things are cheaper, but things like imported items, gasoline and electricity are more expensive.

By now you must be thinking, Bruce must hate it there. No, I enjoy it here. Yes I get frustrated at times and there are things I miss from my life in the US but I look at the job market and the economy and realize my life would be so much worse if I did not move here. I enjoy going out and meeting people. I enjoy learning about the culture here and the differences. Even with the differences I love my family and how we relate to each other. I have learned to eat well and enjoy most of the foods here. I also enjoy being able to write my feelings, thoughts and views on this site. I get many comments from people that disagree with me and many that do agree. One thing I find interesting, most agreements are from Filipinos and most disagreements are from foreigners.

As always, I am giving this disclaimer; what I write is thoughts, observations and experiences. Not everyone will feel as I do, live as I do or think as I do. I am just relating how I think about things from my view.

If you agree or disagree, your comments are welcome. I just do not want a long heated debate or accusations.

If your new to my site, let me explain in a short synopsis:

I moved here to Davao about a year and a half ago. I had lost my job in America and with the beginning of the financial crises there were not many opportunities for re-employment.

At the time I was waiting for an approval for a Fiancee Visa for my dear Elena.  With the situation in America and with Elena and her nieces here in Davao, I felt it would be best for all if I moved here.

I am about 6 years short of being able to collect my Social Security Pension from the US and I am relying on my small investments and some support from my Filipino family.

I had worked for a short time with an Architect in Davao, but for a few reasons I am not at liberty to mention, I am no longer involved with their firm.

I have ads and affiliate advertising on this site but they earn so little, I have not even reached a level to collect them. I was also banned from Google AdSense. This is probably because of some visitors, probably only wanting to help by clicking AdSense, cause me to banned for “Invalid Clicking”

As you might know, I try to give the best information and research for the articles and spend many hours a week. I also try to answer all comments and help with any situation for my readers either in content, or by private emails.

Because of this, if you are so inclined, you now can donate to help keep this site continue. There are monthly hosting fees, yearly domain registration not to mention the electricity and time spent keeping this site open.

If you do donate or not will not change my dedication to keeping you all as informed as I can with my articles of my life, my observations and my experiences here.

There are people that are called “Squatters” These people find a vacant piece of land and construct a shelter. There are also squatters that find a vacant home and just move in and take over.

Some are concrete and look like a normal, but poor housing. Then there are some made from coco lumber framing, either woven bamboo panels or even rusty corrugated panels for walls. The roofs will be corrugated metal thatched grass or even covered with canvas banners previously used for advertising. A lot of these houses have dirt floors, no electricity and no running water. If they have electricity, it might be stolen power taped into someone else’s power feed.

I was once in a neighborhood and there was a thin power line running down the street on the top of bamboo poles. At each residence there was a tap running to their home. The street was unpaved and it had ruts and muddy. Waste water ran down alone the site of the road in shallow trenches, not even the normal drainage canals.

I have seen wood framed structures with canvas banners for wall and roof coverings. Seating outside is wood boxes or rough nailed together benches. Cooking is over a wood fire burning on the ground with a pot above it.

In America and probably in many other countries waterfront property along a river or the ocean is prime real estate. You see large expensive homes or maybe nice fishing cabins. Here it is different, you see squatter areas. The rivers are brown with pollution and where does this go, but into the gulf. I remember driving to the airport in Manila and going over a bridge, along the river you saw squatter homes all pushed together and the garbage and think river scum probably 6 to 12 feet wide along the shore.

There are parts of Davao that has nice neighborhoods. These are subdivisions. They are usually gated with security. And there are neighborhoods that have nice modern homes mixed with very lower class homes.

Now, there is something interesting with squatters. I have not been able to find actual documentation but I have heard something about “Squatters Rights.” This is something about if squatters is on untitled land and someone buys that land to build they have to either relocate the squatters or pay them to move off the land. I heard about a big development planned in Manila. It was to be two large condo buildings with a shopping mall. The developer found the land and was getting ready to start the contracts with engineers and architects. Then they found there were over a thousand squatters living on the land. The cost of relocating all of them was too much so they stopped their plans and started looking for other land.

I have a Filipino friend. He is in his mid 50’s and had a good life, is married and has children. His wife and he had the opportunity with the help of a friend to open a jewelry store and pawn shop. Over time their business increased and they were able to buy a commercial lot and build their own building. There business flourished and life was good. Their children went to college and immigrated to the States. Then one day a problem with his wife. I do not know the details except he moved out. They filed for a legal separation. But here court cases can take years to go in front of a judge. It has been 5 years and it still has not been to court. His wife has control of the house and business and the man now looks for odd jobs or gets help from friends. One day he told me he was locked out of his boarding house for lack of rent payment. For a time he would spend his nights on a piece of cardboard in one of the parks.

This is the plight of many Filipinos. From all the years of this beaten down life, some just live in squatter homes, scrape for survival and have no idea how to move up from the life they have.

The photos are not necessarily squatter houses, just some types of lower cost housing.

Next I will discuss how these families are able to get their money for survival.

This morning I received a phone call from someone at Remit2Home telling me I needed to update my account info and then the deposit will work.

I just wonder why it took MANY EMAILS and my posting here and a few other sites to get the phone call. I would think an updated account info should warrant a call or an email. Not just continued emails from them telling me the deposit was made and the money was withdrawn from the recipient.

In most ways I love the internet and what you can do, but these lies and false promises do get old.

I will update again if and when the money actually is deposited.

My Fiancée lives in the Philippines and I live in America. I often send her money for some support, or to build up some savings for when I arrive there to live.

I have used a few of the money transfer companies available on the internet, which I will not mention except Remit2Home.

From the comments I will leave, you will have a good hint who they are. All work fine except little irritations, fight over fees and such EXCEPT Remit2Home.com

At first I had used a company that has been around for many years. They first started their business sending telegrams. I stopped using them since there fees were too high.

I then found a company that would send my fiancée an ATM debit card and all my money would be deposited into her account. The fees were less, but she would be charged a fee every month and each time she used her card. One day I get a notice that there is a problem with the state of Florida and they will not allow money send from here. I do not know if the problem was resolved yet since.

I then switched to another company. The new company worked great! I could send money from a credit card, a PayPal account or directly from my bank account. Then my fiancée could get it delivered to her home, pick up at a bank, or deposited directly into her personal bank account. I had never had any problems with them. For a hint; zoom to where “X” marks the spot is where I prefer to use.

Then Remit2Home started flooding the internet with their ads. They said their fee was less so I decided to try them out.

I signed up, and proceeded to send Elena some money. They did their test of my account sending me a small amount then taking it back. I then got a phone call from them wanting to know everything about me except maybe my blood type. One thing they did ask was the test transfer amount to prove I was the account holder. This all happened within 2 days after I signed up. Then we waited a week, nothing. Then 2 weeks, still nothing. They advertise 24/7 support. WHERE? Their phones are never answered and their Chat Live crashes or never works.