Your honest opinion on the Philippines

[scott&ligaya]

My family have been in Palawan north of the main city Puerto Princesa since 2012 with my visiting between contracts sometimes up to three months at a time.

It has been great with the kiddos very young and in the private Montessori kindergarten and yr 1 of elementary at Hope Christian (private and favoured by ex pats and better off locals) BUT now I am back here looking to secure a perm role so I can bring them back here for a broader eductation and a bigger world view.

Education is probably ok for the first year or two in elementary but a few of my mates here who have olderkids have complained and some have moved away back to Europe or other locations.

So we are selling up our main property and the small B&B we have onsite . having our farms and rubber plantation managed by a nephew and a brother of my wife (well monitored by her lol) and coming here for the next 10 to 12 years before retiring baack there.

I find living there (we have had the property since 2006 when we were based in HK) easy and very relaxing as long as you let your wife doing anything connected to officlaldom as I am sure others have said. Do not be a whinger, do not complain about all things Filipino, do find a few mates, take up scuba, or sailing or another hobby and just chill (whilst keeping the kiddos happy).

Get involved in your baranagy to an extent as having the Captain onside is useful, sponsor the village basketball tourny and the local beauty contests etc, and you are not likely to suffer any local hassles with pilfering or robbery etc.

My wife set up a mothers group at the kindergarten as she noticed it was always the maids or even minders dropping the kids, She is now well ensconced with the Mayors wife and the Chief of Police wife as there kiddos or grtamdkids go there.

Keep you your politics to yourselves and stay neutral as things change lol.... BE NICE NEIGHBOURS.... support the local orphanage etc. Non of these things cost much and you are almost guaranteed to be helped and not ripped off by local tradesmen, mechanics etc.

Health care is good but bloody expensive and finding great insurance is really difficult to keep emergency funds available ideally overseas but accessiible but if you bank locally be careful to use a national bank as rural banks can and do fail with no return of your savings. Even the majors have much lower indemnified limits so check it out.

Of course Dengue is around especially out of the municipality and you need to take preacautions especially if you have any form of auto immune condition as it can become deadly in that event ( my wife was severly ill last year and needed three platelet transfusiions and two weeks in the Adventis to even begin recovery (oh and over 300,000 pesos).

Overall I really like being in Palawan and prefer it to other regions we have visited and my wifes home area in Pangisinan but things also cost a little more and our electirc supply is not brilliant.

I am already looking forward to retiring back so that should say it all.

[stevewool]

My family have been in Palawan north of the main city Puerto Princesa since 2012 with my visiting between contracts sometimes up to three months at a time.

It has been great with the kiddos very young and in the private Montessori kindergarten and yr 1 of elementary at Hope Christian (private and favoured by ex pats and better off locals) BUT now I am back here looking to secure a perm role so I can bring them back here for a broader eductation and a bigger world view.

Education is probably ok for the first year or two in elementary but a few of my mates here who have olderkids have complained and some have moved away back to Europe or other locations.

So we are selling up our main property and the small B&B we have onsite . having our farms and rubber plantation managed by a nephew and a brother of my wife (well monitored by her lol) and coming here for the next 10 to 12 years before retiring baack there.

I find living there (we have had the property since 2006 when we were based in HK) easy and very relaxing as long as you let your wife doing anything connected to officlaldom as I am sure others have said. Do not be a whinger, do not complain about all things Filipino, do find a few mates, take up scuba, or sailing or another hobby and just chill (whilst keeping the kiddos happy).

Get involved in your baranagy to an extent as having the Captain onside is useful, sponsor the village basketball tourny and the local beauty contests etc, and you are not likely to suffer any local hassles with pilfering or robbery etc.

My wife set up a mothers group at the kindergarten as she noticed it was always the maids or even minders dropping the kids, She is now well ensconced with the Mayors wife and the Chief of Police wife as there kiddos or grtamdkids go there.

Keep you your politics to yourselves and stay neutral as things change lol.... BE NICE NEIGHBOURS.... support the local orphanage etc. Non of these things cost much and you are almost guaranteed to be helped and not ripped off by local tradesmen, mechanics etc.

Health care is good but bloody expensive and finding great insurance is really difficult to keep emergency funds available ideally overseas but accessiible but if you bank locally be careful to use a national bank as rural banks can and do fail with no return of your savings. Even the majors have much lower indemnified limits so check it out.

Of course Dengue is around especially out of the municipality and you need to take preacautions especially if you have any form of auto immune condition as it can become deadly in that event ( my wife was severly ill last year and needed three platelet transfusiions and two weeks in the Adventis to even begin recovery (oh and over 300,000 pesos).

Overall I really like being in Palawan and prefer it to other regions we have visited and my wifes home area in Pangisinan but things also cost a little more and our electirc supply is not brilliant.

I am already looking forward to retiring back so that should say it all.

A very nice read Scott, thank you