He hasn't been active on the forum for almost a year. That seems unusual for an admin ..read more

Was recently asked by my accountant what level my monthly income puts me in here. Did some research. Not commenting on how much it takes to live here, that depends on where / how,  just how expat income equates . To be in top 1% here need P140K / mo income  (tax is about 30% of reported income at this level) so - 140 X .70 = P98,000  If you don't pay any US taxes P98,000 mo / 57 = $1,720 / mo. Wealth is not income - some use it to gauge social levels. P5 million in wealth also puts you in top 1.1% 2019 Distribution of Pinoy adults (%) by wealth range in ₱ 0.1% or 1 out of 1,000 ..read more

I hope, like me, you're in a good relationship and basically everything's fine, but how often do you think about the fact that one day a horrible road accident could suddenly take this all away from you? I don't normally think about it when we're driving our car, my partner's a good careful driver and we've never even been close to having a real accident, but I do sometimes think about it when she rides her motorbike, and more so when she takes one or two of the children with her. It's only 10-15 minutes to Grandma's house and of course they wear helmets, but still... There are so many motorbi ..read more

I came across this by chance - it's from 2019, but no doubt it's a similar picture today. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/worst-safest-countries-travel-lgbtq-094427935.html Seems a good example of "how to lie with statistics" - the Philippines scores pretty low, lower than most European countries. Doesn't fit in with what I see here, most people seem to accept gays and lesbians, men can put on make-up and dress like women in public, etc. I don't know much about the "scene" but I remember once my partner and I were watching a film whether the father chased the son out of the house beca ..read more

My son needs to get his TIN and SSS soon before he goes abroad.   Any suggestions on the best way to get it done?  We are in Cebu City.     Thanks ..read more

The authoritarian chaos and indecision here is unbearable, imo. Other places decisions stick more then ten hours and people not being inconvenienced get a touch of consideration. Not angry or bitter but giving it a final six months to be sure then time for us to go.  I know the post could be a copy of many others. Thank you for allowing the vent ..read more

Today..  as I have many times in the past.. I drove past a foreigner working as a traffic tanod. How did this come to pass?  One of my good friends has taken the time to talk to this foreigner, and this is his story. This man is an American..  from Orlando Florida.  He was in some relationship here.. married or not I don't know.. and that relationship produced two kids.. a boy and a girl.. now aged 11 and 7.  The woman took off.. no idea why..  and worked in Saudi as OFW for a time. No idea if she sent money..  but she is now back in her home in Zamboanga, an ..read more

Hoy,   Has any member lived or have long term or numerous visitation experience on Mindoro? If so, how is the hospitals/medical care, shopping, traffic, restaurants, housing rentals, etc but most of all the annual weather ..read more

No mass grave in Pinamungajan For days, I ignored this headline in my Google News feed as I was sure it was the 'have you stopped beating your wife' headline that seems to be used in pretty much every piece of useless news here in the PH. But being a weak soul, I gave in.... and the revelations are worth the read. Did you know .... “The local government of Pinamungajan, Cebu strongly belies all claims that it maintains a mass grave for deaths related to COVID-19,” portions of the post read. The town’s new cemetery opened in 2020 and was divided into three sections – apartment type, ground ..read more

Knowing what you know now about living or retiring in the Phils, if you were to do it over again, what would you do differently? If you could go back in time to give yourself advice, what would that be ..read more