Not sure how this rates as 'Trollin' by a member who has suddenly appeared on the scene? Must be the most inoffensive post I've made.
And having one of the most beautiful boardwalks in Cebu, certainly puts Dumaguete Boulevard to shame. Sad how some people can just drive...ride through a city and slam it.
Whatever perks that city offers is completely offset by that nightmare of a highway running through it and the pollution for me. I have maybe walked a total of 100 meters on the boulevard in Dumaguete in over the last 10 years, it just doesn't interest me so having that just doesn't cut it for me. Also, I don't live in Dumaguete and would never want to. If a boardwalk is important to you (or whatever else it has that you haven't mentioned) and you can overlook one of the nastiest and most dangerous stretches of highway in the region running straight through the town then more power to ya. It is still a hard pass for me.
Would appear your expectation is have the city planned to your approval, sorry in time you may realize your particular approval is not relevant to city planners.
I don't know how long you have been here but the word plan and city planners and city planning approval is totally alien in this country.. If you love to breath the lovely smell of cement dust and clean it up every day depending which way the wind is blowing is your cup of tea go for it.. It is a dump, how many times have i seen idiots on motorcycles get pushed off the road and pile up on the stairs on the pedestrian over pass? More than once..
Have you really considered how this may affect your 12yr old Daughter, I'm so sure she will not like it here, in fact I will say this transition will be very traumatic for her? I guess she is unlikely to be fluent in the Visayan language considering her mother will likely speak Tagalog coming from Manila? Education here in the Philippines is so very bad, your Daughter at 12 will be better educated than a 16yr old here? the average IQ here in the Philippines is around 86 compare this to the average of 100 in UK, this low IQ figure is all down to the poor Education system here, for the most part even the Private Schools here are no better than the Government Schools back in UK. My Daughter back in UK from the age of 12 to 16yrs was a nightmare to her mother and I, before and after these years she was as good as they get. Think twice before you uproot yours from the stability she has at this present time?
You might consider staying in UK until your kid goes to college and you can then retire here, it being a great place to retire. Education here is ok, although the public schools tend to be very slim on things like history and geography. Even heard of one teacher who recommended teaching religion over geography (yikes)... Lots of other problems, depends on your tolerance for little things. Inventory control in many stores unheard of, you'll hear "out-of-stock" a dozen times a day, every day... Dumaguete is definitely growing, traffic very bad compared to 5 yrs ago, real estate is so bad that the city is getting "tear-downs," otherwise nice place to live, great people..
You picked up on an important point here, which was missed (but covered in previous threads). The education is really appalling and I agree that a 16 year old here is at the level of about a 10/11 year old in the UK. I know of a family with 3 children (not sure of their ages) who came to live here (Filipina and foreign husband) and returned to the UK within a few months - all because their children hated the schools they attended. Partly this was due to not understanding the language but I can only imagine how a motivated 12 year old would think being asked to stick two pieces of paper together as a homework project (I have seen this set for a 15 year old here!) or print an A4 picture of a Korean pop group as 'Korean Culture' (and, actually, it is a parent who does the printing!). The family I know of lost a lot of money in selling off furniture and flights back - so this is an important point. We adults just accept the dogs, karaoke, rubbish, out-of-stock as a swap for an easier life, better climate and mostly-friendly locals - the OP needs to think if they can risk putting their daughter's education back to the 'Stone Age'. Perhaps anyone who came here with children can share their comparative experiences.
