⌛ owning land and property as a foreigner

Site your source please?

May I ask which hideously ugly structure is associated with that Korean needing to take note?

I always thought it was the poor filipino squatters who built hideously ugly structures right on top of areas of natural beauty. And I also thought that it was artistically-retarded filipinos who build "jail" houses that are so hideously ugly where the area should be naturally beautiful.

I am joking. Well, with some exceptions.

 

Come to Boracay and you'll see that the ugliest of hotels seem to be those Korean ones, especially the new one (something "Vistas", can't remember the name) on top of the hill at BalingHai which sticks out like a sore thumb and is a clear violation of building regulations.
They seem to like lots of concrete, plastic and ugly neon lights. Not really Boracay-style.

 

Don't point finger. Point it at yourself if you must.

I don't know what your background is, but do your research carefully before you generalize things. Most of the so-called foreign "owned" are in fact owned by your own countrymen. Mostly chinese filipinos. They then form a consortium with foreign operators from countries like Korea to market the hotel in those countries. The seemingly Korean/Japanese "owners" are nothing more than the hired frontmen to make it appear that the hotels are Korean/Japanese, so that the Korean/Japanese guests feel at-home. So, that means your own countrymen, yes, the filipinos and filipinas, are responsible for the ugliness you point out. I really don't recall the last time Philippines won an award for architecturally pleasing works. And what you mean, exactly, by "Boracay-style"? Boracay does not have a style, and never really had one. Again, its due to the filipino short-sightedness, cash in the pocket right now mentality of Filipinos. By the way, before you rant about ugly physical structures, rant about the incredibly distasteful habit of throwing trash everywhere by Filipinos. Is that your beautiful island style?

 

Do your own research, you arrogant man. Who are you to assume things about me? As you say, you know nothing of my background.
I am not Filipina, but have lived in Boracay for many years and feel quite confident I know more about what is going on here than yourself. I would not try to tell a resident of Dumaguete what is happening in his home town, so please reserve your comments till you know what you are talking about.
And as someone who regularly organises beach clean ups and participates in environmental projects, accusing me of throwing trash is a joke. Who do you think you are? Get your facts straight.

 

Enlighten us please.

Well, you are not filipina, so you are obviously not throwing trash. So that's settled. So, would you care to enlighten us as to which hotels are "owned" by Koreans that you find so ugly? Give us specific names. Not "something like vista". You live there, so you would know the names of all the hotels, no? And it really must be painful to live in an island where the 40% of the permanent/transient polpulation is the ugly building constructing Koreans, no? It's good you are organizing beach cleanups. Keep it up!
BTW, why do you assume things about me? How do you know that I am an arrogant MAN? Are you sure I am not a woman? Or are you generalizing again about men in general being arrogant?

 

wow!
and I am just another foreinger with the same questions about owning land....

can't we all just get along?

let the sunshine....let the sunshine....
smed

 

Ugly New Houses are the Norm in Dumaguete

I guess I will jump in the fray and side with ugliness is the norm of new house design here. In fact I don't think I have ever seen such ugly NEW houses in my life as here in the Philippines (and Dumaguete) considering the many places of the world I have been fortunate to travel. Now I am going to become a real snob and suggest that no matter how much money any foreigner might have here (and there are many very rich ones) they are far from sophisticated in the sense of culture and class. I have actually talked to numerous well off foreigners many who own these design challenged houses. They are mostly of a blue collar background or lived in smaller communities where taste and labels was not the order of the day. I guess you could relate it to an American Mid-West mentality. Sad to say, with that comes poor taste in houses as well. Much of the new houses going up are from these white (Middle American, German, Dutch, Danis, Swiss, etc....) foreigners and most of it is hideously ugly with huge roofs that dwarf the houses themselves with colors that are far from tropical, block glass, small windows, tiles patterns that are undescribable, on and on and on. The houses are so chinese looking. Many of these houses going up are because one foreigner saw anothers house and decided to build one in a similar style. Most other seriously ugly ones are being built by Koreans who have even a worse concept of taste than whites. And finally this leaves the last group of taste challenged...the chinese filipino where this all started from. Hey this is what makes the world go around but, wouldn't it be great if someone broke the mold and actually built a house with some class and taste. I might suggest looking at some design boooks for ideas. Now I am not prejudice or a racist. I am simply making statements based on what I see overall. Of course there are many exceptions to this with the groups I have sited. On that subject could someone actually point one exception (house built with taste) out to me LOL

 

Point taken....I think a lot of it is a rather simplistic breadth of architectural skill when it comes to presenting home designs to prospective clients. A lot of them will come with their worn out standard inventory....the client will bite on one of them...change a couple details to be 'different' and it's done....That said I've seen some stunning homes in the Philippines...as good as anywhere else.

 

This is getting a bit repetitious and boring. But you are right. Buildings are so ugly here. It's not money either. And yes, the material selection is limited, but creative minds can do wonders with the limited selection. It's the follow what has been done for generations mentality. If you ask a filipino architect or contractor to do something special, their eyes glaze over like a 2 week old tilapia on your porch.
Regarding who has worst taste, the Chinese filipinos has the worst? I agree. White bluecollar? Yeah their taste suck just as much as their filipina wives' tastes. Wouldn't it be great if their taste in architecture is as good as their taste in women (i.e. filipinas)? Koreans? Dont really know much about their taste, but I don't think they marry filipinas. They keep to themselves, and they don't build because can't own the land. They just rent/lease. But the houses they live in sure are ugly.
So what's the bottomline here? Architecture sucks. It sucks big time compared to other SE Asian countries. Too bad it was the Spainards, not the French. Look at all the former Spanish colonies. The mess of a legacy they left is amazingly ugly. Food sucks and architecture sucks.

 

I would venture to guess the "stunning" homes you have seen are the gaudy, tasteless, corrupt politician/businessmen's homes. Reminiscent of grotesque Trump architectures. Sorry, they have no taste whatsoever. If they did, they would not be building such lavish homes when so many of fellow countrymen are hungry everynight.