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Having lived in Dumaguete 10 years ago for over two years, I can attest Dumaguete has always,(since at least 2006) been a potentially dangerous place. young drug influenced gangs roaming the streets at night, Bloods and Crips, kinda a joke compared to the real ones though. The fraternities are far more dangerous Akro etc. Then you have the drug related ongoing criminal activity which usually does not affect foreigners much, unless you get caught in the crossfire. On top of that there is a very active Muslim mafia here. They run and control many criminal activities and are tied in to the local police, NBI, and the PNP. They have connections in the south and have been known to import "operatives" to Dumagete to pull of a hit or a "job". Then the police, NBI, and ex military guys are running all kinds of games, and criminal activity. This is the largely invisible bad stuff to most foreigners , especially ones who live in Valencia in a safe compound commute to McDonalds for breakfast them scoot home again, with perhaps a weekly foray to the Bvd. for dinner.
just know your surroundings, travel at reasonable times of the day, change your daily/weekly route to the bank, and remember you are the foreigner here, always will be, and the guest of the Philippine people.

 

As a child I was fortunate to be the youngest of four and the only boy. While I grew up my sister one by one left home.
However as their clothes were dresses I never had to wear the hand-me downs!
Climbing trees, fishing in the ditches with a net and jam jar catching tiddlers, my childhood was a happy one.
My schooling was basic but I managed to survive the authoriterian teachers and during my teenage years I never knew what it was like not to have employment.
In my twenty's my first marriage gave me the responsibility I needed to settle down and life has always been a learning curve.
Growing up in the 50/60's was the best time in my life and the memories remain.

 

I don't think anything in the Philippines regarding immigration (or most other official things requiring paperwork) needs to be made more complicated than it already is.
As the old saying goes be careful what you wish for....

 

While true that most foreigners are basically poor in their home countries I'll disagree with you. The reasoning is every dollar/peso a foreigner contributes to the economy has far greater weight for the country then the same amount contributed by a local. The reason is foreigners like OFWs are bringing in wealth from outside the Philippines which enriches the countries wealth exponentially. While there is no direct measurement one could still say one of my peso's that came from my US pension is worth 100 local peso's to the economy. Its simply that the locally economy can keep circulating on what it already has but it won't really grow because while one person may get richer another gets poorer maintaining a status quo. Bringing in outside money breaks that status quo and allows everyone that money circulates through to grow wealthier to some extent (except the originating country of course)

As far as land ownership to foreigners that is a very tricky situation. We do NOT want to make it possible for the Philippines or even a significant part of the Philippines to become foreign owned as the locals could end up being a foreigner in their own country in a way. However their is an argument to allow foreigners to own land in their name as well for minor purposes but how to manage this?

Now how to accomplish foreigners owning land even smaller amounts like 500sqm for residential purposes only? Any ways it goes there should be a way for the land to become owned again by the local government at a point be it when the foreigner dies w/o a local family member to inherit or doesn't meet certain residential requirements there anymore such as being absent for 1 or 2 years.

Now my suggestions:

1. Allow foreigners to become citizens with all of the same rights as a natural born Filipino citizen (besides President). Set conditions of course but said conditions should be somewhat lengthy but not ridiculously expensive. This would give the eventual ability for a foreigner to own land and a business. Maybe condition can only be met if married a Filipina and lived here for 5 years or whatever. However though a reasonable option should be there. It allows foreigners to have more skin in the game as well as rights.

2. Filipino's HATE taking advice from foreigners and we can understand this at times. However the truth is many of us have seen far more of the world as well as options for things that many locals even local government will ever see. As such I'd allow and actually have the governor and mayors put together a special sort of townhall or some sort of debate and suggestion structure to allow and look for suggestions from foreign nationals on how to deal with some of the common issues our communities face. After are many of us are community members but give us a voice in a positive way and be willing to listen to suggestions some of us can offer numerous positive points of view on issues they haven't thought of. Allow us to participate in this way as well making proposals and suggestions with an actual debate field.

3. Open a community public forum to mix foreigners and locals together and get us more connected. Plenty of Filipino's with some bright ideas out there and some foreigners as well. A community forum backed by the local government helping to put us together could do quite a bit. It could lead to new businesses as long as the foreigner feels protected on their investment as some Filipino's have bright ideas but no capital for even small things requiring only 20k peso's and a foreigner may be able to help as well as fine tune. It could lead to some sort of mixed group that helps out the poor community even. Many of us have done bits to help out the poor here and there even if just very local and I'm betting more of us would do more if we felt we could trust something and we do NOT trust things run by the government or a religious group but should it be local friends with a solid idea? Maybe. Anyways idea is to stop looking at us as foreigners and just brothers from another country and let us contribute and work with things.

4. Decide who are the friends of Filipino's and the Philippines and who is the enemy. 10 years ago it felt like the country was solidly pro American and while a weak ally still a staunch US ally. Today it feels like the US and Americans are kind of trash here and its all about China and selling out to China. The Philippines needs to make up its mind to provide some solidity and trust.

 

I assume the place to go is Grumpy's.
Several Expat - groups gather there due to the first class food and to socialize.

You always find nice people there. For breakfast, lunch or dinner. Saturday night they have life music.

If you look for top food for fair rates and like to have a chat with other guys, go to Grumpy's.

And the owner, Ralf, is always available for a chat and certainly he can give you a lot if advise about living in Dumaguete.

 

Interesting point. It does come down to the family / relationships needs and someone who could help but won't is a problem and this goes for men and women. Its not his responsibility to support her and its not her responsibility to support him but its their responsibility to support each other and whatever kids they have mutually.

Key point I see though is one needs to decide early what they want in a relationship as far as some basics and make that clear early on. If you want a GF who has all the time in the world for you then don't go chasing someone who's working especially a career thinking she will drop everything so she can sit at home to be at your beck and call. Also consider if you want a career minded gal who wants a real job and real career to look for someone working at that or someone with the drive for that and make it clear early on. There is nothing wrong with stating what you want and looking for someone who fits your needs and wants but don't expect them way down the road to change course for you.

 

As a side note, a disagree shouldn't be viewed as a negative. In terms of ratings, it's neutral, on the same level as "funny" or "not funny". It's a rating which probably should be more liberally. If it were more regularly used, then perhaps it would also become more useful and accepted.

 

From another completely unrelated situation. An American is being deported in part because as a result of a warrant the State Department withdrew his passport. The Philippine government then connected the dots, no valid passport = undocumented foreigner (even though he was here on a valid passport on arrival) = automatic deportation.

This seems to answer the question. Since your foreign passport is the underlying document for the ACR card, and an invalid (revoked or expired) passport is considered as undocumented, and undocumented foreigners will be deported, it is very important to ensure you always have a valid passport. (a non-attorney opinion)

 

So when you get caught by a checkpoint having an expired foreign license, better tell the cops you have no license, it will save you @least 3500 peso.