Guest Blog

Today’s Guest Column is from Dave Starr.  Dave addresses a subject that is quite important, US Military Retirees living in the Philippines.  Let’s read more and see what Dave has to say: 

Hi, for those who haven’t met me yet I’m Dave Starr, and American citizen residing in Marilao, Bulacan in central Luzon, very close to Metro Manila. I’ve been living substantially in Asian countries for a big part of the past 20 years and have been a regular visitor to the Philippines for nearly 8 years now. My wife, Mita (who holds both US and Philippine citizenship) was born in Quezon City and has made her home in several other Asian countries as well is being with me in the US for 6 years or so. I’ve also lived in the UK and in Germany, so we are pretty much an international couple. One thing you might be figuring out from that travelogue is that to have lived in all those places I must be old … and I am, a little bit, I’m 62 this year, a bit older than Bob and many of the regular readers here.

One of the things that also sets me apart from many of the Live in the Philippines blog ‘crowd’ is, I’m a US military retiree and also am also retired from the US Civil Service, so I have some unique benefits and even an out and out privilege or two that makes the Philippines a great place to live, for my wife and I.

Several of hose “good things” have come about and are in place today because of the efforts of several unique and dedicated volunteer organizations here in the Philippines known as the RAO (Retired Activities Office). In general these are organizations “of military retirees, for military retirees” but if you aren’t a retiree don’t stop reading just yet … the several RAO’s here in the Philippines offer a number of resources of interest to anyone, even non-US folks, and they also offer some services to non-military US citizens.

The RAO’s were formed years ago, long before the US bases closed, to provide a central point for military retirees who were no longer living on or even near the bases, and who were not directly supported by the US military. Military retirees in general can live anywhere they choose, but even in countries that still host US forces the “official” US military seldom offers much support … in many countries it’s not even allowed by the host country.

When the US bases went away in 1991, several gentlemen grabbed the bull by the horns and moved existing RAO’s off the former US installation (all now Philippine government property) and into rented quarters in surrounding towns. The two largest groups, the Subic bay RAO and the Clark Field (Angeles City) RAO were part of this effort. Both today exist in private rented offices and are supported entirely by membership dues and contributions (The US government does not fund them). There is also an active Manila RAO with offices near the US Embassy (no web site) and there may be others I have missed … is so, let me know and I’ll make note).

One of the greatest assets these groups offer is right there in the links I just mentioned … there is a wealth of information and answers about living here in the Philippines on both web sites. Rental property, homes, schools, medical care, taxes and a lot of other day to day “how it is here” information.

For US citizens and their spouses, the Angeles RAO is the only place I know of in the Philippines where an alien spouse of a US citizen can get an IRS ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). If you marry in the Philippines and your new wife doesn’t have a Social Security number yet (and won’t ever get one, unless she legally travels to the US) you’ll need an ITIN for her if you wish to file jointly. In the past couples could just file with the spouse showing “applied for” but it’s not that way any more. Little things like that are the sorts of services your RAO’s can help with … for any US citizen.

Another thing I feel is very useful to anyone on these websites are lists of medical facilities that are already certified under the military retiree health care program, TRICARE. Of course TRICARE is only for retirees, but a clinic that already deals regularly with US government billing and reporting standards may be a good place to deal with for your own medical care … of course, YMMV.

And of course I gave to mention the RAO’s number one service … this one is restricted to US military and civil service retirees… US mail service. The US government moves mail to the embassy in Manila as part of the embassy mission. Several RAO’s pick up and drop off mail at the embassy and distribute it throughout the Philippines as a service (for a small fee) to retirees. Frankly I have sued my US mail privilege a lot less than I thought I would, (snail mail is dying a pretty rapid death) but it’s still a nice little touch of home to have the messenger drop off a packet of genuine US mail at my door. And at the rate I send “snail mail” back to the US, the roll of stamps I brought with me here ought to last the next 150 years or so … wonder how much a US First class letter will cost by then?

There are quite a few satellite offices of the RAO in the Philippines … and a lot of folks at the main offices who have always been very helpful to me … so if you have a specific question you don’t know the answer to, or wonder if you might be entitled to a particular service, feel free to email either Chief Jim Boyd at the Angles RAO or Chief Chester Gross at Subic (after you’ve looked for the answer on their sites, of coursed) … or I’ll be happy to take questions as well at davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or on my blog where I cover many of these subjects myself, www.philfaqs.com

What do you think is the thing you have to do before your child is born only when you live in a foreign country?

I have a female Japanese friend who visited me in Davao City. She has a beautiful name that means a beautiful girl in Japanese language. Actually, she is beautiful. In addition to her inner beauty, she is good-looking, too.

There was once, around five years ago, that she came to Davao and we visited together at an orphanage in Samal Island, which is located in the opposite side of Davao bay. I don’t remember the exact reason why she wanted to visit there but in some reason she knew the name of the orphanage and asked me to bring her there. I think it might have been related to the fact that she was at that time working as a social worker in Japan. Anyway, it was on December we went there.

When we visited there, fortunately, there was a small Christmas party at the orphanage. We asked the orphanage director to allow us to observe the party. He said it was natural to visit the children in Christmas days and we naturally joined the party. In the party, of course, we had to introduce ourselves to the children and we did. I mentioned my name and age in English. And now, my beautiful friend introduced herself to them. She mentioned her beautiful name, and suddenly, children burst into laughter. I didn’t understand what was happening. Everybody was shaking with laughter. I couldn’t help asking the reason. “What is wrong with her name?” peevishly I asked. And one of the social workers answered, “She said— ‘I AM A SHIT’ in our language.”

As you are aware, her name is Tae-ko. Tae-ko is a common female name and means a beautiful girl in Japanese. But in Visayan language, it means, “I am a shit.”

This is the thing you have to do. I recommend you to check if the name you are planning to bestow your child has a different meaning in other languages before you name her.

Now, don’t you give a shit?

  Dengue hemorrhagic fever is one of the most dreadful diseases in tropical countries, which is caused by a virus carried via mosquito bites. Dengue brings about hemorrhaging of the internal organs to a point that it causes death. Western medicine or common hospitals do not have any cure for Dengue. Doctors even say that their treatment is just supportive and all you need is to pray that the victim is strong enough.

As I wrote in my last article, I was suffering for Dengue fever for a couple of weeks. I first thought it was only a simple cold. Even when I first went to see a doctor, the doctor diagnosed my sickness as flu.

However, the fever did not go down for 7 days and I had a medical check up, including a blood test. At that time when I arrived at the hospital, my fever had already become low. But the most dangerous period of Dengue hemorrhagic fever will come after body temperature becomes normal. I got a rash on my both arms, which showed me outward sign of internal hemorrhage.

The blood test indicated that the platelet count in my blood was abnormally low. It was around 100 and the doctor said that I need a blood transfusion if it goes below 30. And I was admitted to the hospital. The normal platelet count is above 150, according to the internist. My platelets were keeping on decreasing slowly but surely at that time.

Few days after, my platelet count reads 60 and I started thinking of blood transfusion. I was so depressed that I even thought about the risk of getting HIV or Hepatitis C by blood transfusion. (I found out later depression is one of the common symptoms of Dengue fever.)

So, I had almost prepared myself for blood transfusion by the time my Filipino friend visited me. She showed up in the evening and gave me some tea called “Tawa Tawa”. She said Tawa Tawa is the best cure for Dengue fever. I did not believe the traditional therapy first. Nevertheless I decided to drink the tea because I did not have anything to do, and I knew even doctors would give me nothing but intravenous glucose.

And a miracle happened. When I had the same blood test in the following day, I was really surprised that my platelet count had increased!

So, all you need is this - When in the Philippines, do as the Filipinos do.

********************************************************************

Recipe for curing Dengue Fever using Tawa Tawa weeds is as follows:

·            Take 5 to 6 full whole Tawa Tawa plants.

·            Cut off the roots

·            Wash and clean

·            Fill your boiling pot with clean water.

·            Boil the Tawa Tawa for 1 (one) minute in a slow rolling boil.

·            Pour the tawa tawa water and let cool.

·            Let the dengue fever victim drink only the tawa tawa water for 24 hours.

·            Sip 1 to 1.5 glasses of tawa tawa water every 1 hour

************************************************************************

                               (TAWA TAWA) 

By the way, you have to have a blood test every 6 hours if you get Dengue. In my case, I got more than 15 holes in my arms. Hey, doctor. Don’t sting me more than mosquitoes do!

Today’s Guest Column is again from Vicki Indiati.  Thanks, Vicki for your continuing support of the site through your interesting articles.

I was sitting in the local Barangay office today and noticed one of the secretaries was pregnant. In fact she is due in about two weeks. We got to talking about expenses involving having a baby here. I was very surprised at how inexpensive it is. Perhaps this is one of the best and perhaps last bargains in the Philippines along with other medical services.

Doctor Visits
$2.50 – $7.50

Ultrasound
Regular - $22.00
4D – $90.00

Baby Delivery

Government Hospital
Doctor and Deliver Room Fees – $97.00
Cesarean Delivery – $122.00
Private Room – $9.75

I started asking around and I found many foreigners whose wives and girl friends had deliveries in public hospitals and are were quite satisfied with the service and professionalism

Private Hospital
Doctor and Delivery Room Fees – $244.00 to $490.00
Cesarean – $1,951
Private Room – $46.00

Pretty amazing huh!!!

I then decided to check out the cost in the USA and here is what I came up with. Normal Delivery - $8,000. Cesarean - $10,000. I have purposely left out insurance issues as they pertain to these costing due to the fact that some people have it and some don’t.

While we are on the subject of health related expenses here is another example.

My brother-in-law just had a massive heart attack. He was admitted to Makati Medical which is one of the top hospitals in the Philippines. Imagine this. He was in a private ICU room hooked up to all sorts of monitoring machines 3 Cat Scans, 3 MRI’s; Angiogram; Double Angioplasty; Drugs/Medicines up the Wazoo; No less than 3 of the top US schooled Heart, Vascular, and Internal Medical doctors available in the Philippines; Food, Nurses; and more  This went on for 45 days. If you can imagine, his total bill was 2.7 million or $66,000 USD. This same scenario in the states and your guess is as good as mine but I would venture to say over $500,000. I think just a semi-private bed in an American hospital is $1,000 a day.

I also had a heart attack here back in 2005 and spent 8 days in Makati Medical Hospital 4 of them in ICU and my bill was only $7,000 and I was afforded pretty much the same soup to nuts benefits as my brother-in-law.

The moral of the story is the Philippines seems to be an okay place to have a baby, get sick in or seek out medical attention. I hear that Thailand is even better and cheaper.

For today’s Guest Column, we have another contribution from Vicki Indiati.  Thanks, Vicki for your contribution!

I know Bob touched in this a short while back but I thought I’d enumerate somewhat more with examples of just how expensive this country has gotten just in two years. This has caused tremendous financial pain to American expatriates in particular but also to OFW families as has been well documented in the papers as of late. Even Europeans are starting to complain. Seems the only group I can tell that are acting immune to it all are the Koreans who are buying up property to build their retirement villages in choice places around the country.

House Construction

In September 2005 the peso was about 56 to the dollar. At that time, the cost to build a quality turn key house here in Dumaguete by a very high quality builder was about P14,000 sqm. So a 350 sqm house would have been about 5,000,000 peso and at 55 pesos to the dollar about $89,000 USD.

Today, January 2008 the peso is 41.00 to the dollar and the cost to build that very same house using the same builder, given the labor and materials price increases over the past 2 years now puts the house at 20,000 per sqm. So the same 350sqm house would cost 7,000,000 pesos and at 41.00 to the dollar would be $171,000 USD. Can you imagine that ALMOST DOUBLE!!!

Now don’t get me wrong, My grandmother lives in a nothing spectacular 50 sqm condo in Aventura Florida that is valued at $220,000 so even if you factor in the land cost for the house you would build here for $171,000 it is probably about the same. So you are still getting a lot more here.

It is expected the peso will yet climb to 38 to the dollar within six months so I would suspect the building cost would be closer to perhaps 22,000 a sqm and that would put it at 7,700,000 or $202,000

US freakin Dollars. Are you hearing this. WOW an 18% percent increase in just 6 months using this scenario.

The thing that irritates me most is how in the world prices in the Philippines have gone up so much, especially on imported stuff from the states. Yes, I understand that prices have risen in the USA as well but, due to the 29% increase in the peso vs. the dollar those price increases should have been mostly neutralized and if anything prices here should have remained unchanged. Oh, get this….a kilo of boneless chicken breast was P120 two years ago and now it is P170 a 42% increase just in the peso price on a domestic product. So in dollars it went from 97 cents per pound to $1.86 a pound. Imagine that, almost two bucks for a pound of chicken a 91% price increase for me factoring in the dollar depreciation. They (and I)  may be switching to dog pretty soon ha ha ha. I never thought I’d be saying this for at least more 10 years from when I first moved here, but believe it or not it is already in two short years real expensive to live here now. Many American retirees trying to live on $1,000 a month now which was very doable before are now endangered and possibly an extinct species. In fact many of them are actually moving back to the states while many others are seeking other places to go. Some are looking at Argentina, Panama, Cost Rica and other parts of South and Central America. Problem there and everywhere else is the language which is still the biggest advantage of being here in the Philippines. English is widely spoken. BTW, gas here is $4.22 a gallon and diesel is $3.82. Oh well.