My wife Lydia had quite an adventure a few days ago. While she was en route home from  a mall,  the taxi in which she was riding broke down on a street where empty cabs rarely pass, and the driver was unable to summon a replacement. So she decided to get out and walk to the next intersection about a kilometer down the road while carrying her load and in the pouring rain, hoping to get another ..read more

​Yesterday, I made my ​yearly trek to the Bureau of Immigration​​​ to file the annual report.​  This is a requirement that all permanent residents in the Philippines must ​put up with.  ​Admittedly, it's not a complicated procedure. You  go to the BI branch of your choice where you submit your passport and I-card at the designated window to the officer who then gives  you a voucher which you ..read more

This past week marks 16 years since I expatriated from the U.S. to the Philippines  (almost 17 years for my dear wife Lydia who as native of this country preceded me here to pave the way and set things up for us)   Since then, naturally much has changed in our lives.  For one  thing, we are  now  fully-fledged seniors.  But despite that and a couple of serious  health issues we are still alert ..read more

Since I wrote "Will Expats In The  Philippines Get a Shot at Vaccination?" , quite a lot has taken place personally in relation to the topic.  First, my wife Lydia and I were both infected by COVID in early April, As seniors we are fortunate that it was only a mild case, and we were able to self-isolate at home which is a condominium  unit. The building security was very supportive in seeing to ..read more

At this writing, a vaccine (or vaccines if more than one pharmaceutical  company will furnish them) for COVID-19 may soon arrive the Philippines.  When the inoculation program here begins, it will be administered  to  the citizens on a priority basis  which is to be expected.  However, note that the key word here is "citizens." Are we foreigners who live in this country omitted from coverage?As a ..read more

Like everywhere else in the world that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,  when the virus struck the Philippines, it was a frightening experience not only  due to the disease itself and the resulting casualties, but also the severe impact that it's had on society as a whole. As for the latter, there was a two month  period beginning mid-March  of a  government-ordered "enhanced community ..read more