Best Posts

Wow, such sad news. There is info on this all over FB of course.

It appears the vehicle rear-ended the motorcycle, which was stopped or slowing for a turn. One back-rider was killed. The mother and two other children survived. From other articles, it appears the cause of death was impact with the ground rather than being run over.

Motorcycles are dangerous. Most Filipino's don't know proper safety protocols for driving. A greater percentage of foreigners know the protocols but they aren't "motorcycle fluent" drivers. In an ideal world, only those who are highly competent driving motorcycles would be driving them. To put it grimly, motorcycles are a developing world sacrifice of the value of life in exchange for the value of quick transportation. Foreigners who come to the Philippines with no experience driving motorcycles don't realize this.

NOTE: No foreigners were involved in this accident.

 

B.G., My last wife (16 yrs married) was Thai, current Filipina wife (8+ yrs married). Some similarities but not many. Blood is thicker than water with both, maybe moreso here. I was treated nicely by both families although the Thai family was better educated and better English spoken. But
Filipino family poorer but nicer. My advice, avoid the girls who have had a few rodeos of their own.

 

Pompolino, thanks for your reply and your concern. The melanoom I have is on the sole of my foot and started as painful spot what later developed in a lump. I went to dr Munoz who gave me an ointment to soften it up. This resulted in an slight infection . Tru Dermatology opened this up , took a skin sample and burned it tight. This infected seriously so I had to take a very strong antibiotic subscribed by a surgeon in SUMC.
The diagnose of the biopsy of the skin sample
was malignant melanoma, a second opinion by Silliman the same. Additional tests done in Manila (P 14.500) the same. So now I'm looking for a specialist who can cut a part out and do this <To detect the sentinel glands, radioactive fluid is used, which is injected by the nuclear medicine physician at the site of the melanoma.> what I suppose is done by you too? Tomorrow I plan to visit Dr Labaco in SUMC who seems the be the cancer expert in Dumaguete. This mainly for advise on further treatment in Cebu or Manila.
I answer you on the forum to warn others to be aware and not neglect the early warning signs like I did. So far I spent about P 25,000 !!

 

And non-pedigrees are often so much tougher and longer-lived due to hybrid vigour. Some pedigrees are so in-bred they have a bad start from the moment of conception.

 

I consider Y-not an okay restaurant, food over the middle quality for the Philippines, at least for the dishes I like. I find the service good there, never had any reason to complain. I notice over the last year or so, more customers what you call low -class expats are increasing in number, same in Dumaguete in general IMHO. I'm not high society, but feel better when people have a nice behavior, by that I mean show respect to surroundings, staff and other customers, not all know how to behave in public space. That said, I still thought it's the few who have bad style

 

They do in deed but I am not sure if they will test private transformers especially older models but a call to customer services may help, whatever, it is going to cost as I said before I am convinced that Polaris should be consulted as this no doubt where it came from, I know on occasions that they will lend out Transformers if they undertake to help and do any work for the OP and his neighbours. One can only hope a solution can be found as I know that particular area has more than enough problems

 

I have a spyder helmet from the shop on the second floor at Robinson. The Chin guard flips up to become like an open face helmet that's a nice feature when the traffic is slow. I paid about 4000 pesos.

 

You know mine works, Mike. I admire her enthusiasm. At first I thought it was an excuse to get out of the house because I am boring to be with but now I see she wants to secure her future and her families future and not be dependent on me nor leech from me when her family needs something. She likes to feel independent and her business gives her that feeling. Also, when she gets home we enjoy each other's company more due to being apart. In addition, I like myself. I like the freedom to do what I want when I want and I enjoy that.

As a final statement on this, I have been told "if you really want me to stay home with you I will do that" and I realized I would rather have her working and happy than staying home and feeling like I have to entertain her because she doesn't really want to be there. So I told her to go to work if that is what she wants and I decided to myself that if it did not make me happy I'd just break it off and find a relationship that does make me happy. Pretty simple really, but after trying it I like it.

 

You should be able to take what you've drawn up to an architectural firm to get blue prints done that you would need for your building permits for a couple hundred dollars. I think you would find expats would be interested in renting a place the size you are looking at. Depends a lot on location as well.

I'm not sure about contractor prices or how much of that is for materials. We hired folks and oversaw the work as well as sourcing and purchasing all materials ourselves. If you have the time, patience, basic construction know how and able to read drawings (especially rebar plans) you could save money this way. One thing though is tools and equipment as most folks show up with little more than a hammer. I'm willing to bet you can rent concrete mixers, vibrator and compactors. I bought my own as I figure I will use them again.

I noticed you have a retaining wall going around the lot. That will add a good bit of cost to the overall build. Poured concrete would be the best way but if you decided to go with 6" block you will need to get a better quality block made than what is normally available and definitely fill the cells with concrete with vertical and horizontal rebar to tie things together. I used concrete filled block with grade and tie beams for the perimeter fence but when I bought the lot behind the original one I poured concrete, should have done that for the fence as well as I brought our lot up over 4' with fill.

I would recommend using EVG panels instead of 4" block (assuming the standard concrete beam and column build). The initial cost of the panels is more than block but you can throw them all up in a day once a crew understands how its done (youtube has a few videos on how it all comes together or I can go into more detail). Plus it is much easier/faster for roughing in your plumbing and electric. You will end up saving quite a bit on labor as well as cement/sand for the render.

Windows is another thing to consider...the common windows with the little glass panes that open and close with an aluminum lever are really cheap, but the quality is not great. There are a number of places I've seen in Dumaguete that custom make aluminum windows...not sure the cost as I used a shop in Tanjay but cheaper than what you would expect from back home.

Are you looking at metal or wood roof trusses? Wood is obviously cheaper and no welding, but eventually may have to be replaced/repaired. Hiring one of the local roofing companies would probably run around $1500 for a decent roof with metal trusses. Could be less as it does not look like you have much pitch and depends on the roofing material you use. We went and bought all the metal and did the trusses ourselves and then had the roofing supplier have their folks do the roofing.

For electric I would make sure that it is a properly grounded system (which you rarely see); it does not cost that much more to run a grounding wire. Make sure the service coming in is properly sized...undersized conductors will cause you many issues. I would recommend installing enough receptacles, the design firm will think Filipino style and next thing you know you will only have one in each room...every wall at a minimum, but go off of your furniture layout for exact locations. If you are looking at expats I would install the universal style receptacles. They cost about 5X more but folks will appreciate being able to plug their stuff in from home.

I would not recommend using the marine grade plywood for the ceilings...plywood is cheaper but I would use hardiflex or a similar product. It is tough to work with but easy to mud and tape and stands up better to moisture/humidity.

Those are a few things off the top of my head. Best of luck if you push forward with your project.

Shawn