Living as a local in the Philippines.

[Terpe]

I'd often had such romantic dreams as living the simple life in Paradise, just living like a local.
Watching an inspirational sunset over the ocean whilst gwaffing an ice cold beer.

But is that really representative of a simple life? Is it even living like a local?

I wonder how many of us can genuinely understand what daily life is like for the huge majority of Filipino's?

I'm not talking about the life of the elite uber rich who seem to own and run every key orgamisation, including government.
I'm also not talking about the 1% with average annual household incomes of P1.8m, nor those 9% with average annual household incomes of P600k

I'm thinking about the 90% of population with average annual income somewhere between P60k - P200k
That's still a pretty big spread of between 30% at average P5000 per month to 60% at average P15000 per month.

We have a nephew working at SM. His monthly income is P7500. His wife also works at SM for P6500 per month.
From what we've been told, as with most SM sales assistants, they are both on temporary 6 month contracts. They are not considered as permanent and considered expendable. No job security. No benefits.
For all sorts of reasons the guy's work record is not perfect. I know that he is already on his 3rd assignment since I arrived here. Each time he needs to meet a cost of application/paperwork and also pay something for his uniform.
His wife has a better work record and has managed to renew her 6 month contract for the past 2 years.

They rent a double room in a shared house at P8000 per month. Shared CR and bathroom with other renters. Yes, I know it's possible to rent a house for slightly less but they just can't afford it. They can't put together the needed 1 month advance rent and 2 month security deposit(even though 1 month is consumable) as they have no job security. Also their water and electricity is included in their current rent whereas a house rental means setting up monthly payable accounts for utilities. Daily transportation from their current downtown address is manageable at around P30 each per day.
They will both soon be reaching the 25 years old milestone and could well face a difficult time in an employment market still targeted at "age between 18-25 with pleasing personality". They'll face some stiff competition from younger better qualified job seekers.

Out of their combined income of P14k they have fixed costs of rent at P8000 and transportation costs at P1550
leaving P4450 for food, housekeeping/toiletries/laundry and clothing etc
About P85 each per day.

Here in Davao we pay around P45 per kilo for rice.
Our nephew and his wife eat fish and rice pretty much everyday. Just eating is a major chunk of their budget.

They don't have what most of us call 'disposable income' to spend on whatever they want and they don't have much free time either. Which I suppose is a blessing in a way.

It's hard for me to imagine a life like that and still find a smile. For them every single day is struggle to get by.

It's not surprising then that there are so many OFW's who sacrifce so much in the hope of improving the lives of their loved ones.

Life at home for the family of the OFW is another story though. May not be exactly as you imagine.
Same applies to the life of the OFW who also struggles each and every day to meet the demands of the family members who rely far too much on the blood, sweat, tears and remittances of the OFW.

[Dedworth]

Thought provoking Terpe

[stevewool]

Is it what you get used to?

Growing up in a family of 15 and being one of the youngest I did not see what hardship my older sisters and brothers and my mum and dad went through, and yes its nothing like the people in the Philippines too, but it still must have been very hard here.

The stories what my sisters and brothers tell me hard house work and being very very cold in winter, I was lucky not seeing any of that. I can remember hand me downs and having dinners with lots of veg and no meat because that was for my dad, but i was happy.

In fact I cannot remember being unhappy, yes not having a bike like others, but thats silly.

I do know mum and dad and my older siblings did their best for us young ones and I think thats the world over. You may not have much to live on, but if you have love that does go a big way to having a great family life

[Slip]

We had no money growing up, had no flash clothes and no fancy trainers. But my mum made sure that every summer we had a one week holiday at butlins. Still remember those holidays fondly.
That is why now I may not be poor, certainly not rich, but I value what I have and I don't spend for the sake of spending. We get by and so far if Harlene asks me for something I have always said yes. But she knows that one day we may not have the money so I won't always be able to be as generous as I am now

[Michael Parnham]

As a child only had two holidays, went to my grandma's sister in Douglas for a week when I was 8 years old also one day at Cleethorpes the year previous, the next holidays were when I was 33 and went to Cornwall, been going there almost every year since