⌛ Website of Gentle People...

I'm a new member here. Am glad I read the various restaurants within Dumaguete. I'm intending to marry a lovely lady from Bacong. I might have to visit the 'gentle city' of dumaguete soon. I plan to take a direct flight to Cebu Intl. airport, instead of NAIA, and spend a night in cebu. I haven't been to any other part of the Philippines other my birthplace Luzon eons ago. Am getting excited to see this part of visayas for the first time, my future province to-be. I hope dumaguete will become my second hometown in my waning years. Can anyone orient me, or enlighten me. Is it still a gentle city as advertised? Thanks folks.

 

Dingding (funny name for a guy ) welcome on our forum.
If you read all the pages of this thread you will be able to answer your own question. Even some of the last and most recent pages will fairly tell you the situation.
Have fun reading :D

 

hi jellyfish, thanks for your tip. I'll try to read as much page of thread as I can. It's just actually Ding. But during my registration at yahoo it said that ding had been taken already, so dingding was suggested. Either it rings a xmass bell now, or just simply a doorbell to remember me by. Regards.

 

Hoi, kumusta!

Hi everyone,

Stumbled upon this website and it's forum while doing some research on my birthplace (Dumaguete of course!) ... and what a pleasant surprise! Hello, hello!

I've been working elsewhere since 1985, and am planning to come back and develop some farmland our family owns near Dumaguete. Have been to Dumaguete at least once a year since I graduated here, and I wish I could say it has changed a lot, but somehow it really hasn't. In some ways good, in other respects downright disappointing. But that will be for other threads in the future

But am sure I'm not aware of all that's going on back home, and am looking forward to doing some catchup in this forum. I will TRY not to get myself into too much trouble

 

Hello everybody, I am new here, but not exactly new at the Philippines. i think i have something to say.Because i live at Dumaguete right now i place it here:

Like every country the Philipines strives , without any reasonable doubt, to stimulate the coming ( and residing) of expats and (longterm)tourists and expats, would it just be for the inflow of foreign currency and stimulation of the economy. After all they contribute by their spending ( food, housing etc. etc. ) a large multiple to the economy compared to the average Filipino.
Strangely enough at this moment the Philipino government in close cooperation with the banks does everything to discourage foreigners to come and stay and, on the contrary, stimulate the foreigners to look around for more fair and cheaper locations in the region as their there are for example Thailand , Cambodia and Indonesia .
The latest " highlight" of sucking and draining the foreigner is the so-called "terminal-fee" ( how creative) for taking money from an ATM : 200 p for each amount till 10.000 P .
This means for an average longterm stayer here extra costs ( by a spending amount of 60.000p a month) of nearly 14.200 (!) pesos a year . All this for just using the ATM, which is of course a crazy legalized robbery compared to the situation in every civilized country right now in the modern word.
Add to this the newest invention of the goverment to drain the expat : the registration card ( to be renewed every year and already in fact existing of course by means of visa and passport) ) of about 2700 p.
and the existing visa "costs" of about 4000 p every two months. The above mentioned combined costs the expat about 40.000 p (!) a year without getting anything in return.
Furthermore we have the terminal fee at the airport 750p for each international flight.
At last we have the more expensive peso ( one year ago 70 pesos for one euro, now 59). In itself not to blame the Ph government for this but an alert for the expat who considers to reside in the Philipines.
All by all , as i stated before , time to look around for better and more fair options in the region.
Concluding one can say that economic laws are apparently unknown to the Ph government and banks because these laws will soon teach them that short term profits can turn out to be very expensive in the near future because winning back the gone expats and tourists will be a very hard thing. A small excursion to some Western countries who tried the same trics in the recent past could be an eye-opener for them but this is probably a bridge too far.
So right now i would indeed say to people who are considering to stay longterm in The Philipines : look before you leap.

 

Harald, welcome here, although it sounds like it won't take long before you leave again, reading your post :D
We (living here some time) all know that on the part of 'long term economical thinking' this is not the ideal country to stay as a foreigner and as a local.
I only can agree with most of your points and I don't expect it to change soon.
If corruption is not 'solved' the other ones (quite related to greedyness) will not change as well.
But I hope on a situation like in Brasil where a new gouvernment is able to change the country into a better one for their people.
But if the Philippines can do what Brasil is doing ????? I realy doubt.
But it proves that things ARE possible with a strong and long term thinking gouvernment.
Miracles happen sometimes
Good luck wherever you are moving.

 

Load of Bowmnsdjmherdfskjfsdlkjks!

I totally agree with Jellyfish, I have been here over 20 years and never, NEVER heard such a load of Hog wash. We came here for a reason, Do you really think ANYWHERE else in the world is different? NO way My friend. Where ever, whatever you do I wish you well. You make your bed you must lie on it.

However, Welcome to DI and your point is well taken, Shame it cant be as you wish here.


Jack P.

 

Harold, I hope you feel better after dumping on us with your initial posting. If you take the time to read through many of the threads on DI, you will realize you are unnecessarily preaching to the choir. I believe the majority of expats who live here, many with wonderful local wives, fully realize and accept the good, bad, and ugly of living in this region, and we choose to do so. Not sure where you are from, but to suggest living in Thailand, Cambodia, or Indonesia as a better alternative is questionable at best. Life is too short to focus on the negatives. Take a stroll through Robinson's Mall and you will see contented expats with smiling faces, as you would in Makati, Cebu, Angeles, and other PI cities. I sincerely hope you find peace and enjoy your days here.

 

Hi Everyone!

Just joined the site so I can further gain some local knowledge of Dumaguete.

My boyfriend and I moved to the Philippines "officially" in June of this year, but we've technically have been here since February. We are currently living in Cebu City, but are planning to make a move to Dumaguete soon. After a visit just a few days ago we were immediately drawn to make the leap forward, but maybe after a few more months.

Dumaguete has everything I wanted that Cebu didn't have, parks, nice beach boulavard, and less people/traffic. Hope to see how this turns out! I'm excited.

Btw, my boyfriend and I are a pretty young couple (in our 20's). Maybe someone can direct us to some people in this forum around our age?

 

Hi guys I am Shalanni, and I am newbie here. I've searched a forum sites to participate and contribute my opinion as well and I found this websites. I am happy to be part of this community..