mati_steve

@Lotus EaterThat's kind of why I said I didn't want to get into details as discussing politics in any capacity on message boards tends to lead to a downward spiral effect. I know you have a lot more years and experience in the PI than I, but I'm ... Read More

I would like to add that one of the things that concerns me as an expat here is the current political climate. Living in Mindanao is very different than say Luzon when it comes to politics. I won't go into details for obvious reasons, but suffice ... Read More

@PalawOneIt's not just table manners but manners in general.  Traffic behavior is probably 100x worse.  Just this week I was in Davao getting my tourist visa extended (along with ACR application).  My GF and I decided to go to a nice ... Read More

I just attended a friend's wedding in Mati and it reminded me of how many people here have no concept of manners. They had an outside buffet with plates/utensils at the head of the table and the food items laid out as you go down the table. When ... Read More

I flew on Philippine Airlines (PAL)  two months ago from Los Angeles to Manila to Davao.  I had previously flew PAL going from Manila to Davao and Davao to Cebu (economy seats).  Nice airline, but in my latest flight I booked business ... Read More

@Cherryann01Good points. One thing I've noticed is that crime doesn't seem to be that rampant here - at least not in Mati City. People routinely leave their motorbikes, vehicles, personal items, etc. out in the open seemingly without a care that ... Read More

@Enzyte BobI tried to do that (online) but each of them would only prefill with the street address that they obviously looked up from a database somewhere.  If I tried to enter any additional info, like PMB, etc, it would not accept it.  ... Read More

@Enzyte BobI'm curious if anyone has sold their US home before moving to the Philippines and still use it as a physical address for financial institutions only?  I know this is technically not legal, but I'm not sure how they will find out as ... Read More

@Moon DogThat's nuts, but during my limited time in the Philippines I shouldn't be too surprised. We have 1-2 family events at our place in Mati every month and people come out of the woodwork to enjoy the food. It usually lasts long enough that ... Read More

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but thought I'd add my own experience on this recently.  After learning about needing an onward/"throw away" ticket I decided to get one for my recent flight to the Philippines.  I am traveling from ... Read More

From what I've heard from my Filipina GF, a few members of her family, and a bank manager in Mati City, many foreigners can be very rude individuals - especially to the native people.  I suppose a major reason is they feel they are "above" them ... Read More

You must be joking P1, you are talking about the drill baby drill king and probably how he helps to line his pockets and his buddies.To be fair, I'd say that 90-95% of politicians across all continents do the same. The running joke in the states ... Read More

Great advise above. I'll just say for a 7-8 day trip skip the Mindanao region (i.e., southern region of the Philippines). That's not to say there aren't good places, like Davao, but 7-8 days isn't really a lot of time and Cebu, Manila, and all the ... Read More

@mati_steveWelcome aboard Ken. I'm Steve from the USA as well. I'm on the other side of Mindanao from you (Mati City). The OP is planning on moving to BGC. Last time I looked it was in the NCR region of Luzon 🤔 - @Lotus EaterHmmm.  ... Read More

Welcome aboard Ken. I'm Steve from the USA as well. I'm on the other side of Mindanao from you (Mati City). I'm not too familiar with your area, although, there is a British expat that lives outside of Dipilog who vlogs a lot (his channel is ... Read More

@Moon DogSorry to hear about your loss (and your ordeal).  I didn't realize you were back in the Philippines, but it sounds like things have started off rather rocky.  I'm still trying to get used to a lot of the culture here as it can be ... Read More

The Philippines is now buying Russian oil in an attempt to mitigate the Trump war mess.Trump keeps declaring victory and, if his goal is to bust his own sanctions, he's a winner.The Philippines is also begging the US to allow it to buy Iranian and ... Read More

I have found there is little to no customer service here, employees are not paid enough to care. Customer care creates issues that they are not paid for, then they have no interest. - @GoDeesIt certainly doesn't help that the government is so ... Read More

@Lotus EaterYea, I try not to get too involved in the politics in the PI (I get enough already watching the daily news in the US). Just relaying how I see changing mindsets as it relates to the various regions in the PI. I saw an article on ... Read More

@mugtechNot sure about that incident, specifically, but there has been an uptick lately of loosely-held rebel groups carrying out ambushes on police, military, and even civilians in various regions in Mindanao - mainly around the Cotabato region. ... Read More

@PalawOneI certainly hope this is not the case, but having a GF there and having traveled several times to Davoa/Tagum/Mati regions in the last couple of years, I get the feeling the mindset of many people there can be different than the rest of the ... Read More

. At age 70, you HAVE to start taking retirement, if you haven't already done so - its called required minimum distributions (RMDs). At age 70 you are not required to start taking SSA distributions, but the amount you can get stops increasing after ... Read More

@Lotus EaterThat's very interesting.  In the US, the full retirement (FRA) age is 67, but you can take it as early as 62.  I can't recall the percentage, but for every MONTH you take it before age 67, they knock off a percentage from the ... Read More

I logged in today and noticed they finally updated the numbers for next year. Since I'll be eligible to start next July I've been itching to see what my disbursement will be (provided I elect to start at 62). Read More

I agree that Toyotas are virtually indestructible but most will do well if properly maintained, something often lacking here. That said we have had exceptional luck with 3 used (but low mile) vehicles over the past 12 years. Our most recent, a ... Read More

I was using WU when first sending money over, but I found Wise to be cheaper overall (fees + exchange rate).  I believe WU is able to offer $0 transfer fee as they get their money by offering a slightly lower exchange rate (at least, that has ... Read More

I had Google Voice (just deleted it a few days ago), but never tried calling while in the PI. Instead I signed up with Tello's US$7/mo plan. I used it several times on my last trip to the PI and it worked great. No surprise fees - only the per ... Read More

Another thing to consider is the cost of parts. My Filipina GF's family have a trusted mechanic in Tagum, who said the best trucks/SUVs to get are Toyota and Ford - not only for reliability, etc, but also because he said the parts are cheaper to ... Read More

@danfinn Thanks for the response @danfinn. Ever since I retired last year I've been slacking on all the AI tech that's come out. Haha. Looking over the requirements for FBAR, it sounds like the receiving account must either be owned by you and/or ... Read More

Sorry to rehash an old topic, but I'd rather search for answers first instead of posting a new topic.  That being said, most of my questions were answered in this thread (thanks!), but I did have something additional.  Being a US citizen ... Read More

@mati_steve Hi bud, Yeah the app is so glichy I wondered if it was a scam site; & it almost works properly with a Gmail email account. Tourism is down by a lot in the Philippines & it stands to reason that the e travel is a ... Read More

@mati_steveThe officer started asking me a lot of questions .Who will I be seeingNone of her goddamned business. But as we always say on this Forum ‘ When in Rome’Maybe she was jealous.. - @Lotus Eater The Philippines is not alone in ... Read More

@mati_steve The officer started asking me a lot of questions . Who will I be seeing None of her goddamned business. But as we always say on this Forum ‘ When in Rome’ Maybe she was jealous.. - @Lotus Eater"She" was actually a "he", but ... Read More

@Cherryann01 The eGov app is a bit strange for me.  I sometimes take the San Antonio>Dallas>Doha>Cebu>Davo route to the PI, but if I enter the American Airlines flight as the first leg (SA>Dallas), it won't let me enter a valid ... Read More

The times I have had to cross the road myself, I tend to cross near where other people are trying to cross and leave a space at the side so if a car fails to stop somebody will provide a small buffer between the car and me meaning some other poor ... Read More

@mati_steve An interesting observation and one has to disect and unpick variables that could be at play here. I have been visiting the Philippines since 2001 for business and pleasure and there are many more expats and overseas visitors now than ... Read More

@mati_steve The VAWA violence against women act is pretty ominous. Any woman you are having sex with could jail you on the basis of a serious argument. It applies to everybody, not just expats but that does not say it is "fair". Foreigners are more ... Read More

@mati_steve You are correct and I have noticed that this is happening more. A British vlogger brought this subject up in one of his videos because it happened to a friend of his then other Vloggers have jumped on the story and put out their own ... Read More

Not sure if anyone else has noticed an uptick in videos from expat(/other) vloggers in the PH lately (example: The Filipina Pea), regarding judicial treatment of expats there.  Maybe it’s just the “soup du jour” for them now, ... Read More

I sent a sent a Wise transfer just now, exchange rate of USD of 57.1825.I checked the official rate, it is 57.19 - @Enzyte BobI just signed up for Wise the other day (been using Western Union).  Unfortunately, they don't offer a way to connect ... Read More

@Moon Dog A similar thing happened to my Filipina GF last week.  She transferred P9000 to her GCash account in the morning and was going to go to pay her electric later that afternoon with it.  When she went to pay, the money was ... Read More

@swt90alum Great to hear. Thank you for your extended service as well. I might take you up on the offer after we are both settled in the PH. I've been there several times already in the last year to visit my Filipina GF, and plan to go again ... Read More

Hello Everyone, My name is Dave, I'm 58, originally from Texas, but I currently live in Fort Myers, Florida. I am retired from The U.S. Air force. My career field was Space Operations (satellites). I am engaged to a Filipina (Juvy) but she has been ... Read More

@Cherryann01Its funny you bring this up. I went through NAIA on my trip to the Philippines in Feb. The time before that, I flew to Cebu (stayed on plane) and then to Davao City. My Philippine GF told me not to go through NAIA anymore if I can ... Read More

My experience with Google Fi since October 2024 has been very good. I have the flexible plan and I have paused the data plan while here, rather than have them throttle me after 3 mo. In fact, the major reason I have it is for banking SMS codes since ... Read More

@danfinnJust curious your experience with GoogleFi in the Philippines? I’m thinking of getting the Flexible Plan (ie., $20/mo + $10/GB data) and turning data off while there. I doubt I’ll need international calling, except for the ... Read More

Yea, thats concerning - along with those Chinese robots going berzerk and slapping people. I know AI is supposed to formulate responses based on accumulated knowledge, but once it goes beyond that into perceived learning/consciousness we have a ... Read More

@Eanh58 Welcome aboard! I've been through Tagum several times on my way to/from Mati and Davao. Stopped at a mall and the Toyota dealership there. My Filipina GF's brother-in-law is from Carmen, which is not too far away. I plan to head back for ... Read More

Have you asked your financial institutions about this?I do not have a physical US address both my bank and Charles Schwab know I do not live in the US and it causes no issues ask your bank, get a straight answer - @gregparker6201That's very ... Read More

Just a follow-up ...I've asked several expats and even some stateside folks who might know if this is true, but no one seems to have a firm answer.  I really don't see much of a difference between doing this and having your US address with a ... Read More

Thinking of setting up an account with one of the above companies, any thoughts or recommendations?Cheers, Steve. - @bigpearlHi Steve ,I have only ever used the Western Union app and have only ever sent under $1k USD with a debit card.  Sending ... Read More

BTW, if you go to the main page of that web site (i.e., without entering any information anywhere) there is a dropdown with only those 4 same countries, which also leads me to believe its just something specific for countries that don't have an ... Read More

I'm not entirely sure this is what you want. As a USA citizen, you are automatically able to visit the country without a visa. I'm thinking that this process is for those countries where this is not the case (although, I admit I am not familiar ... Read More

I read this in other places, but is it actually true?The problem with the anti-Trump press is the same as the pro-Trump press.They both lie to suit the angle they want to spin.The report I read last said there was no evidence the outages were down ... Read More

So what's everyone's opinion about emotions escalating and something along the lines of martial law being enacted in the Philippines?I left there a week before the arrest(?) took place after a month-long visit to Davao and Mati Cities. I've spoken ... Read More

The ICC as well as the UN has become nothing more than a politicized farce. I'm glad the USA refused to re-sign. I hope they'll get out of the UN as well. Useful at one time, but they've turned into ideological hacks now. Read More

I started looking into this myself, and it's definitely a pain having to have a US address for financial institutions in order to continue doing business. I have an IRA and brokerage account with Fidelity as well as their Cash Management account. ... Read More

Just wanted to post on how it went for me in case anyone wants to know in the future …I landed right on time at NAIA airport (Terminal 1), coming from Taipei, Taiwan. The plane got to the gate relatively quickly and off-boarding was ... Read More

Good info folks. Appreciate you all adding context for those of us lurking. 😎 Read More

Funny you mention Taipei, Davao and Cebu because I am seriously thinking of spending some time in Davao in the next few months and if I can, I like to stop off somewhere on route to the Philippines. Taipei has been on my radar for some time and I ... Read More

@Lotus Eater@PalawOne@Cherryann01Thanks much for all of your input! I think I'll take my GF's advice and just spend 2-3 days in Cebu with her. I was there last year for an hour on a parked plane (haha), so didn't get to see much. My layover in ... Read More

@Lotus EaterThank you. Yea, I fly out of Davao into Cebu (terminal-1) and my international flight (Eva Airlines) out of terminal-2 is 2 hours later. I see that the two terminals are next to one another, but you still need to either walk (10-15 ... Read More

@Andy_1963Great info - thanks! I just turned 60 last year, so good timing (haha). I'll keep that in mind when I get to customs. I travel light and always hand-carry, so I should be set (unless for some reason the airline forces me to check in my ... Read More

@gregparker6201Awesome, thank you! Read More

I have to ask.,.,...If everything is so negativ......what are you doing in Philippines???If you start every day with this attitude...then you have destroyed that day.Is a very resonable question? - @anderslindeWarm, tropical temperatures pretty much ... Read More

@lakeman23Welcome! Hope you have a great time in Cebu. It seems like everyone is more favorable to the northern/central islands. I'm still looking for some expats in the Mati/Davao region, but perhaps I can travel up north once I get over to the ... Read More

Just keep your wits about you, if something seems too good to be true you can bet that it is. That holds true for everywhere, not just the Philippines. Also remember that for many women, love may be a beautiful thing but it doesn't pay the bills. - ... Read More

@peterahern1Only been conversing for several weeks with her and already the drama?  Hmmmm.  I know many Filipinas are very quick to fall "head over heels" with a foreigner they meet online, so that isn't too uncommon.  Like you, I've ... Read More

I was talking to my Filipina GF back in Mati and she said a lot of Filipinos are not too happy with the current administration, including the President. Evidently he takes a "laissez faire" approach when it comes to natural disasters (and other ... Read More

I was talking to my Filipina GF back in Mati and she said a lot of Filipinos are not too happy with the current administration, including the President.  Evidently he takes a "laissez faire" approach when it comes to natural disasters (and ... Read More

Ref US sources ... I have never imbibed in MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN or Fox. All of them offer infotainment, not news. I used to get Reuters daily blast until their Slavery series (aimed at "reparations") a year or so ago. No thank you. AP is in the same ... Read More

@Lotus EaterHave a great time there. I flew in to Hamad at 3am, but you wouldn't know it with all the people there. So many shops there, including many high-end fashion ones and they were all open/staffed at that time. Crazy to see. I heard ... Read More

It's sad that politics has divided the United States so much in recent times. While I don't embrace either of the candidates with open arms for different reasons, one side clearly aligns closer with my ideals and whose policies will be more ... Read More

@Lotus EaterHahaha. Thanks for the tips. My flight to Doha had a 6 hr layover and I slept on one of the lounge seats for a couple of hours. I must say, Hamad is one of the best airports I've ever been to. I'll have to check into the sleep pods ... Read More

I've only flown to the Philippines one time (last month), so I can't really compare. On that trip, I took Qatar and was very impressed with their service (in flight and at the airports), their meals (quantity and quality), cleanliness, free ... Read More

@mati_steveI felt the same way on my visits to the Philippines beginning in 2006. We bought property in 2009 and began building in 2020 and in 2021 we sold everything and moved to the new 2 story house in the Philippines. It is a beautiful property ... Read More

@Andy_1963 Cool - thanks! I am a bit hesitant on getting married - at least anytime soon, but will definitely keep that in mind. Read More

@AlbertaDonuts Thank you for that valuable information, Donald. Yea, one thing I need to get used to here (besides the traffic) is the change of pace. My Filipina keeps telling me to just be patient and not to get in a rush. At this point in my ... Read More

@Moon Dog Nice! Thank you very much for the prompt reply. Not sure where I got the 16 months from, but 3 years should be more than enough time. Still contemplating my path forward, but I was pleasantly surprised on my recent visit to the ... Read More