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I have decided I will no longer live here for the long term and packing up to get ready to return home, building a house here has been much more costly than I ever imagined it to be? I have gone way over budget to build this, used up all my savings and have started to dip into my emergency fund to get the house ship shape before going home.

Building a bespoke house and expecting Pinoy workers to adapt to something other than which they know has been a big problem during the course of this build, having said that I'm not so sure they can be depended on to really know what they are doing building here with the standard CHB method, on the face of it labour here is cheap P350 to 450 a day depending on skill level, but in reality you are paying 3 times that much for the amount of work they do, they are just so inefficient at their jobs in just about everything they take 3 times longer than a tradesman in the western world would, then there is mistakes to be corrected of which there is many, which leads to added costs for labour and extra material.

I am selling up most of my construction tools which includes a cement mixer and a host of other tools, many related to carpentry.

I have a young son here of 4yrs and I will provide support for him and his mother, but now I can only come back for short term visits only, perhaps with holiday insurance? having had some minor health problems in recent times has made me realise living here without a reasonable emergency fund is out of the question, fortunately I still have a hoose back in Bonnie Scotland, I have always known that at some point I must return home to live out the rest of my years and make use of the free health care there ( not free exactly I worked and paid into the system for 47yrs) only I did not expect to have to do this so soon?

I have enjoyed my time here and building this house has given me a lot of pleasure, especially when I consider this very practical house fully insulated house, which is affordable for my wife and son to live in, come out of my own head, the carpentry work was all done with my own hands, never having built a house before this gives me so much satisfaction that I was able to do this for the family here, parting with my young son will be difficult for me, but circumstances are such that I have no option.

It is highly likely that I will be on DI from time to time and if ever anyone wants some advice on Building here in the Philippines I may be able to give them some useful very sound well researched information, so I will not be offended if I get a PM regarding this.

 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1486797/bi-allows-overstaying-foreigners-to-extend-stay-in-ph

"MANILA, Philippines — Orders to leave given to foreigners who have overstayed their temporary visitor’s visas amid the COVID-19 pandemic have been temporarily suspended, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced Sunday.

“Pursuant to various resolutions from the IATF directing the public to exercise social distancing and minimize travel, and in the interest of public safety and welfare, we will be implementing this order as a form of regulatory relief for foreigners,” Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente explained in a statement.

The directive will cover holders of temporary visitor’s visas who have reached the 24-month period maximum stay for visa-required nationals and a 36-month period maximum stay for non-visa required nationals as of March 1, 2020.

The relief shall also apply to holders of temporary visitor’s visas who have overstayed in the country starting March 1 regardless of the maximum allowance period.

However, concerned foreigners will still be assessed and will be required to pay immigration fees and penalties in lieu of the order.

Morente likewise said the order reciprocates the leniency of other countries for Filipinos who may also be experiencing a similar situation overseas."

 

For those interested. If you have funds in Philippines banks, if you do not provide the bank with a copy of your last will and testament, the bank is not allowed to let anyone access your funds and the government will lock up your funds while whatever survivor research is done. Took over a year for a friend’s (former forum member) wife to get access to the funds, even though they had a joint account. This was about 9-10 yrs ago.

 

Recently I bought a Flux Cored Mig Welder, it is a Lotus brand and quite cheap P5,250 it comes with a free 250grm spool of welding wire and the company I bought it from gives a free 1kg spool worth P500 (Shopee) Co name, Far eastern hardware based in Iloilo 4 day delivery.
For anyone that wanted to have a go at welding this is the way to go, it is just that easy by the time you have used up the free 250grm spool you will be producing very good strong welds, unlike Arc welding you do not need to strike and Arc, just point and shoot.
Up till now we have used up 30kg spools of welding wire on this machine and it is still going strong replaced around 4 tips again very cheap and available everywhere. Other tools will be required; Welding helmet it does come with a free basic one, but a self darkening one is the best P1500, Grinder around P1500, various G clamps, cheap in Tops and Bottoms, source of metal Zenith Hardware they store all under cover, First project has to be? build a Table to weld on, at a later date you may want to add a Chop Saw, again I used the Lotus brand P6000 On Line, P10,000 in the DGTE hardware stores for the same model. So a basic set up is less than P10K and around 15K total to add a chop saw. If anyone does have an interest in this PM me and we can talk a bit more on the subject, I don't claim to be an expect and was given some tuition by a DIY welder that helped me a lot. Dave

 

When it rains it pours. From so-so southeast asian (other than Philippine) to several greats. The newest is Soowan Asian, with food built around several southeast Asian cuisines.

It's hard to do "fusion" cuisines, because you either do one thing well or none at all. Soowan has managed this difficulty quite nicely. Thanks to the young woman chef, whose background includes working at Atmosphere and Salaya resorts, she has confected a convincingly authentic menu of Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese food. Parking in front of cozy/comfortable, clean dining room. Excellent food priced competitively with restos on the Blvd. Must eat to believe!

Up from Silliman Med Cntr, Soowan is 100 meters west of the Hi-Point Vehicle Emission Test Center at National Hwy and Aldecoa, at the Blue Horizon Hotel. One theory is that the shrinkage of staffs at closed restaurants has encouraged a few good chefs to break out on their own, joining the couple dozen great restaurants in and around Dumaguete. SUPPORT LOCAL / TIP WELL

 

Do you have books or learning materials that you no longer need or want? We have a loving home for your old books!

The Kalma Bukid neighborhood in Ajong, Sibulan is setting up a library for the children (and adults) in the nearby community. PhilX generously donated a room for the "Community Library" which the children will be able to come in to read or 'check out' books.

Our belief is reading is the key to a child’s success in school and in life, so our goal is to provide access to books for those who are not financially able to buy books for themselves, and to assist with their reading in our children class on the same site. We hope to provide a diverse library with many books encompassing a large array of knowledge and perspectives. We hope you will consider donating your extra books to our library and know they will be well cared for and greatly loved by the children.

For more information about how you can donate books or help, please call or text Margriet: 0956-588-3398

 

The final sentence of this article is of great interest, bearing in mind the proven ability of the virus to mutate.

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/202...-philippines-procurement-clinical-trials.html

COVID-19 vaccines: Where is PH in the procurement, clinical trials? By Eimor Santos, CNN Philippines, Jan 9, 2021

A few points from this article:

Authorities are in talks with around seven vaccine makers to secure 148 million doses, enough to inoculate up to 70 million people.

Officially, no vaccine has been delivered yet to the country to date, but the World Health Organization said in a January 6 media briefing, the country is “on track” in preparing for the rollout.

There are two ways vaccines could reach Filipinos. One is through procurement, which is being handled exclusively by the national government, although tripartite agreements can be entered into by the private sector and local government officials. The other is through phase 3 clinical trials.

Here’s a rundown of where the Philippines now stands on the road to vaccination:

In November 2020, the country sealed the deal for 2.6 million doses from UK's AstraZeneca through a private sector donation. These are expected to be delivered in June of this year, benefiting more than a million Filipinos, with healthcare workers and vulnerable sectors given priority. Half of the purchase will go to the government, while the other half will be used by the private sector, also for their frontliners.

Over 200 companies are expected to pitch in for a second batch, which would complete the targeted 5 million vaccine doses.

In another tripartite agreement, the Quezon City government purchased in advance 750,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccines for its constituents.

Bacolod City said it has signed a "confidential" agreement with AstraZeneca - it has earmarked ₱300 million for the purchase of the vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration is still reviewing AstraZeneca’s application for emergency use authorization, which would fast track the rollout of its vaccine in the country. US firm Pfizer and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute are also seeking EUA.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. recently said the government is in the “advanced stages of negotiations” with Pfizer, Gamaleya, American pharmaceutical companies Novavax and Johnson and Johnson, and Chinese drugmaker Sinovac.

The Duterte administration believes Sinovac would be the first to supply the Philippines with up to 25 million doses by March or April 2021. It has a pending application for clinical trials.

The country will also receive "fully subsidized" COVID-19 vaccines for 22 million Filipinos through the COVAX facility, a global initiative led by the WHO along with the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to ensure equitable access to safe and effective coronavirus vaccines.

An allegedly bungled deal with Pfizer, which boasts of a vaccine efficacy rate of 95%, would have ushered the arrival of 10 million doses this month - officials now estimate the supply to come in by mid-year.

Two other US firms, Moderna and Arcturus expressed willingness to send 4 million to 25 million vaccine doses beginning the third quarter, but this has not been put in paper.

Meanwhile, Filipinos could volunteer for clinical trials soon, after the FDA approved the applications of Janssen Pharmaceuticals Company, a US-based vaccine maker owned by Johnson & Johnson, and Clover Biopharmaceutical of China. These may start in the next few weeks after the vaccine experts panel identifies trial sites and participants are recruited.

Aside from these independent initiatives, the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial is slated for this month, but it remains unclear which vaccines it would test for efficacy. Galvez said it would enroll up to 15,000 volunteers, preferably from Metro Manila.

The country remains under varying levels of community quarantine – all face-to-face classes suspended, business operations limited, and work-from-home setup encouraged. It is banking on the vaccination program to further open the economy, but health protocols should still be followed as it may take three to five years to inoculate enough people to achieve herd immunity.

 

When tourism finally comes back (if ever) i would suggest that the company's that rent them motorbikes should really stress to the hirer how vigilant they need to be of the dangers caused by dogs, chickens, goats, drunks wandering into the road.
I know the subject of stray / unleashed dogs has been well covered before in the forum but i felt the need to bring it up as over the last 3 days 2 filipino men i know who were both experienced riders and knew the dangers have both been in accidents caused by dogs.
Fortunately their injuries were not fatal but 1 is in hospital awaiting an operation for his injury, what is probably more important to them is that they now cannot work until they heal up so no money coming to feed the family and of course the medical bills.
Will the dog owners compensate them for this...
My suggestion is that all the people that are sitting around at the covid checkpoints but not even stopping anybody should be put to work rounding up these dogs and fining the owners.
YES i know i am flogging a dead horse but one more lash won't make it any more dead

 

On October 15, Ceres Liner will be starting a new route from Dumaguete - Valencia - Bacong.

First trip is 5:45am from Valencia and 6am from Dumaguete.

Last trip is 6:45pm from Valencia and 6:30pm from Dumaguete.

Sent from my SM-A207F using Tapatalk

 

I guess most forums probably have 10% who get off criticising posts. Is it an envy vs. jealousy issue? Is it their own lives are so miserable and their pasts were no better? Are they stuck alone here with Rosy? Are they without assets? Are they perfect and can’t handle those they feel don’t meet their standards? Are they weaklings who hide behind their laptops? Maybe they are just complete ********.