Comments on: Ready for an eye-opener?

By: Mindanao Bob

Mindanao Bob — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:07:16 +0000

Hi Michael – I couldn’t agree more about the tourism people!

By: Michael Green

Michael Green — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:09:59 +0000

Bob,

Good article & you can see it’s had a great many reponses.
Visited the Philippines for the 1st time last October & took away some pro’s & con’s.To me personal security & the filipino way off life mean the Philipines are a place I would recommend to anyone to visit. The tourist marketing people though need shot as the rest off Asia sells itself far better.
Even though I don’t think I will retire their I still enjoy your site very much.

Feel sorry for the people on local wages with that level off inflation.Hopefully prices will come back down, but historically that never seems to happen.
Will expats just retire somehwere else like central america?

Michael

By: Mindanao Bob

Mindanao Bob — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:15:07 +0000

Hi David – My desire to live in the Philippines is not about cost of living either.

By: David J

David J — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:07:35 +0000

Hello Bob, For me, my desire to live in the Philippines is not really about lower cost of living. I love the more laid back atmosphere and higher moral standards than in the States. Even though Dagupan is a city, the pace is slower. More friendly. And there is nothing like waking up with a rooster outside the window. Can’t have that here with zoning laws. With the cost of living rising we will just make sure we have a good secure business.

By: manny

manny — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:24:58 +0000

Rey, tough times indeed. No matter what, by December of this year, I will go on and retire from being an OFW for 13 yrs. Was able to save a substantial amount and carefully fishing for a good investment. Meanwhile, I was absorbed by my former multinational company operting in Davao and will start working with them again from January of next year. Life goes on… and its “always” sweet even in hard times.

By: Rey

Rey — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:07:13 +0000

Hi Stevo, definitely that’s where most of the money goes, food. I told my wife never ever to scrimp with foods on my kids, but then again, even she herself cannot live without all those in between snacks and yeah, jolibee.

By: Rey

Rey — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:59:53 +0000

Hi Manny, that’s the problem, there’s really nothing left even for saving. If only there was, i would have played with currency trading when the dollar took a nose dive last year and came out ahead today.

By: Mindanao Bob

Mindanao Bob — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:07:06 +0000

Exactly, Jody!

By: Jody

Jody — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:56:18 +0000

Interesting

No condition will remain the same forever.

From the late 1970’s to the early nineties hundreds of thousands of people moved to Spain from the UK. Many of these people were recently retired and were motivated to make the move by the abundant sunshine and more importantly, by the vastly cheaper way of living.

This situation has turned around completely and many of these people are now struggling to make ends meet in Spain with small state pensions from the UK. Sadly the vast majority are unable to move back to the UK as house prices have shot up in the last thirty years or so. This situation is currently getting a lot of media attention in the UK. It is safe to say that the vast majority of these people from the the UK were from the working class. It is also safe to say that most of them have a grim future.

Perhaps the advice I am giving here is “never say never”.

Best

Jody

By: Jim Hannah

Jim Hannah — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:16:50 +0000

Hi All,

Yes, it’s kind of scary for sure, and most of all for the local people earning local money. On the other hand, I’d sure love to be paying those kind of prices here in the UK. Our household food budget has changed from £70 to £100 per week in the last two years…and that’s for more or less exactly the same things.

The bottom line is that supply and demand plays a significant part in this equation too. As soon as the demand drops off the product either disappears from the shelves, or the retailer finds a way to buy/sell it cheaper. I think this kind of showed itself to an extent in your trip to Cebu a few months ago too, where you noticed that many things were available in the shops that you couldn’t see in Davao. That’s also what’s behind the “no shipment” thing frequently heard in shops too. To a degree that translates to “little customer pressure to order it”. (Those tinly little sachets of shampoo too…little demand for big bottles)! It will certainly be interesting to watch how things pan out over the long term, but I do feel for the people who can’t afford. And also for the people who never could afford, the Kalagan tribe for example, who live mainly from root vegetables, rice long since having been way out of their reach.