Visa Question Duty and Tax Exemption

Yep you were meaning as per my *Edit...

That is exactly what I have noticed compared to Oz also, a $500AUD L300 Mitsubishi Van is equivalent to 2K+ AUD here, and I am not a fan boy of FWD Jap Cars which abound here. I did/do have my eye on a mid 60's Valiant Sedan (Tudor) but it is running a wheezy lil Toyota 4 cylinder motor in it, sacrilege! But then I would probably screw myself when it come time to buying parts for it, so it goes back to looking at later model Cars and again, FWD Jap Cars make up 99% of all advertised online... Probably easier to stick to the Jeepneys me thinks... (And Bikes are totally out due to my bung leg so that idea sucks the big one also!)

 

Isn't that the purpose of the Electoral College in the USA? The thought behind the Electoral College is that you have a special group of people to decide the President because the general populace can't be trusted to do it. The problem is educated people also have significant differences with respect to how to deal with an issue or whether the issue exists or not. Informed and educated doesn't equal right. Educated and informed people can also be corrupt. Just look at things like climate change and social engineering in the USA. I would suggest that many important issues are grey, and not black and white. Most of the uneducated just pick a horse and ride it to wherever it takes them. This is reflected in election results where the general populace typically is in line with the Electoral College. As long as long as things are grey, I think there is a 3rd part of the triangle along with informed and educated. Something like trustworthy/honest/good character/etc is the 3rd piece of the triangle.

 

Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. Cars are more expensive and drugs are cheaper compared to the the USA.

 

Prescription drugs bought not using insurance. Better? lol

 

Tried asking at several Pharmacies for 'Name Brand' Tramadol and each time have been shown the same 3x types available elsewhere, when I ask which one is the 'Name Brand' I am told; "They all are name brand Sir"...
Sort of reminds me of Wifey where anything from Ukay-Ukay that has a tag is 'Name Branded'...

 

While I was at the SF embassy last week I asked if they could help me to process my request for a certificate of tax and duty exemption for shipment of my personal items to Phil. They told me they could not, and that certificate must be applied for in person in Manila. Oh well, I guess I need to schedule a quick trip to Manila between when I arrive and DGT, and when my shipment arrives in the port of Cebu a few weeks later.

 

Update: We did manage to get our TEC. We planned to fly to Manila Monday morning and fly back to DGT Monday night with TEC in hand (LOL). It actually took us three days to complete the processing in Manila, so two nights unexpected hotel stay and twice rebooking our return flight -- and after all that we had to go back again a week later to pick up the certificate, none of this can be done online or with sending stuff, it has to be done in person. Just as small example of the fun; a person at the DOF office sent me a template for an "Affidavit of Ownership" - it was a completely un-formatted continuous line of text with blanks spaces to enter information. I use Word and typed this is as a nice looking formatted document, exactly word-for-word, but properly formatted to look like an actual legal document. When we got to her window I proudly presented to her my nice looking Affidavit, she scowled at me and said, "Sir, I sent you the required format". I politely said to her, look at what you sent and look at my form and read them they have exactly the same wording except that mine is nicely formatted. She said, NO, you must use the format that I sent to you. I tried to argue that they were identical, that I am standing here now with this in my hand and I don't have a computer and printer with me to redo it -- she said, "Sir, would you like me to process your application or not?". So, I said, Okay, what do I do. She sent me to a legal office that was over a half hour taxi ride away where they re-did the affidavit for me using her single continuous line of text with spaces in it and printed it out for me. So, two hours later I am in front of her window again and I present her my new affidavit, she says, "Okay Sir, this is fine, now you must have it notarized". I said, okay, where is the notary in this building, she said there is none, and the closest one would be the lawyers office who reprinted this for you .... I say excuse me for a minute while I step into the hallway and pull out some hair! Now take that scene from Monty Python and extend it over three days and that is what you will be dealing with both in Manila and ten times worse at the Cebu Port Authority.

Our cargo container arrived in Cebu at 11:59PM Saturday night, and even though just 1 minute before Sunday, they called that a Saturday arrival. You get just 5 days before they start charging you storage fees, so be ready to move fast when you get the notice. We got to Cebu by Wed, and again in our innocent ignorance just planned for one day to retrieve our container from the port. It took us until the end of the day Friday but we were able to manage to get our container released and brought to Sibulan Saturday morning so that it was back in port by Saturday night to avoid additional charges. The methods we used to "expedite" the release of our container should probably not be documented here, use your imagination.

I will say this, if I had known in advance the hassle and work and frustration and time and expense that would be involved in shipping a cargo container from the US to the Philippines I absolutely would not have chose that plan. It is better off BY FAR to just sell everything you own except for small irreplaceable personal items, and just ship those in a few Star Kargo boxes, and then come here and buy everything you need once you are here.