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I've lived here since early 2016.
We have travelled to the Netherlands (together) to visit family and to get married in 2018 and again in 2022, mostly to visit family and to do some touristy stuff.
I travelled back on my own in 2017 on the occasion of the birth of my 2nd grandchild, and again in 2019 because my mother's health was in serious decline. Sadly I missed the birth of my 3rd grandchild because of covid travel restrictions.
In the opposite direction, my eldest daughter visited us here in 2018 and 2023, and my youngest visited in 2017, 2019, 2022 and we met them in Bali early this year.

Obviously I have pretty strong ties with my kids, and yes of course they would prefer papa/opa (granddad) to live nearby instead of a 16 hour flight away, but they do recognize that a happy father in the Philippines is better than a lonely father nearby, and they understand and accept my reasons for living here rather than there. Obviously Whatsapp helps to stay in touch with family also.

I also recognize that if my daughters would have been just starting out in their adult life when I left, it would have been a harder decision to move to the Philippines. As it is they are both in their mid/end thirties, have a stable life with a good partner, nice house and excellent jobs, so doing really well.

 

I have enjoyed recreational activities in the cold and the heat. Snowmobiling the trails of Wisconsin's north woods was a whole lot of fun. Noodling the Washita river in Oklahoma summer is quite enjoyable too.

When working outside in the cold gloves are like a women. Can't work with them, can't work without them. Working in an non A/C barely heated truck shop I've dropped tools from my hands being too cold to hang on, not from sweat making them slippery.

I'd rather drive during a summer downpour than a winter blizzard.

Retirement? If I had to choose between sweating or shivering I'd choose sweating.

 

Quarantine in Neg Or is 14 days.

More details below.

For arrival in the Philippines there's a whole rigmarole but it just needs co-ordinating from the Philippine end.

If you want to quarantine at home (which I recommend) then your wife/partner will need to talk to the local IATF co-ordinator, otherwise quarantine will be in a government facility with other LSIs who may or may not have Covid.

You will need a “Letter of Acceptance” from the LGO and to get this you’ll need to provide your flight details (i.e. arrival in MNL along with the flight from MNL to DGT – I booked my MNL-DGT flight for 3 days after arrival of my flight from UK (i.e. arrived MNL pm Sunday, flight to DGT was a.m. Wednesday) Note: PAL fly MNL-DGT Tuesday and Friday, CP fly Wednesday & Thursday.

Details

1. Before departure from UK book your hotel in MNL. Book the PCR test for the date you arrive MNL through Philippine Red Cross and pay online (P4000)

https://e-cif.redcross.org.ph/

2. On arrival NAIA T3 proceed to Red Cross PCR Test desk (Some people may try to direct you to other PCR test areas but tell them you’ve pre-booked through Philippine Red Cross) and show your proof of payment and e-cif code – they will register you, give you the bar-code stickers and direct you to the test booth - this route is far quicker.

3. Complete test and proceed downstairs to register with another desk – show your hotel booking and they will give you yet another “chit” to prove you’ve been tested – you’ll need to show this at the taxi rank and hotel check-in.

4. Collect luggage and proceed to taxi rank co-ordinator. My Flight Arrived 16:00 – I departed the airport 16:50

5. I stayed in Pasay (Newport City) for ease of getting to the airport.

6. PCR test result, along with Med Cert will be sent to the email address you provided when you registered with Red Cross and confirmed at test. (I had mine within 11 hours)

7. Send copies of med cert and test result to wife/partner for submitting to LGO. LGO should then send Letter of Acceptance, or draft. (Print at least 2 copies of each at hotel) – We did all the transfer of docs by picture and WhatsApp

8. On receipt of 7 above go to Villamora Police Station (on roundabout at entry to Newport City – opposite Savoy Hotel). Upstairs and ask for travel authorisation. Need to show test result, med cert and LOA. They will then co-ordinate with LGO. Collect travel authorisation pm or next a.m. If your LGO are on the ball they will have already authorised you on the flight (added your name to the manifest)

9. I was advised that - If your name’s not on the manifest they will not issue a boarding pass – even if you have a ticket.

10. On arrival DGT – collect luggage and proceed to car park opposite where you’ll find a load of desks under canvas. Each desk is allocated a set of Barangay. e.g. Bacong, Sibulan, Valencia etc. Find the relevant desk and register where you’ll then be directed to your transport – my wife arranged home quarantine so at this point I was allowed into our car.

It was all, unexpectedly, quite painless and straightforward but I can imagine it being a right ball-ache if your LGO don’t co-operate.

FYI – I've heard that Negros Oriental are not accepting any new LSIs from now until mid January 2021 but you'll need to check this or the local IATF will advise you.

Best of Luck!

 

Being obese here is generally not considered unhealthy at least not until someone has a heart attack or stroke. Then all a sudden everyone saw it coming.
There was a comercial on TV for cheese showing a morbidly obese 10 year old stuffing his chubby little cheeks. They were trying to put forward cheese as a healthy life style. If that were my kid he would be on a diet of air and water.
Personally I think I could lose about 10 kilos. My wife says if I if I drop the weight she will be embarrassed because people will start saying she doesn't know how to cook for me.
It's mostly perception here as to what is considered over weight.

 

I always imagined that the Philippines depended to a fairly large degree on tourism. They are killing that entire source of foreign money and eliminating hundreds of thousands of Filipino jobs in the process. They claim the high ground by justifying high taxes and restrictions on items that are detrimental to health, yet in a country with rampant diabetes, there are no restrictions on high-sugar soft drinks and the adding of sugar to almost every goddam thing sold.

Why do governments of so-called "free countries" never learn the lesson that prohibition in any of its many forms does not work. Never did. Never will. Even the reality of getting murdered without trial has not really done a thing to slow the proliferation of illicit drugs in this country, or any other.

 

The requirement today were,
ACR card plus clear copy of front and back
Passport plus clear copy of BIO page plus last entry page;
Last years O.R plus clear copy
Fee 310 peso
They then checked the computer to establish correct registration.

Returned all original documents and given a claim slip to return after 5 days to get O.R for 2019. took about 10 minutes plus around 25 minutes in the que