Presently i am living in Taglibran, but will be visiting dumaguete in august, considering renting there. However my problems center on mail service in the philippines. When i lived in usa, i could mail to citizens and friends here and it only took 3 weeks and they never had problems with customs or the post office. Now, every month i get supplies sent from usa. i pay a very steep price to have things mailed here. It takes 4-5 weeks before i am notified a package has arrived, and it always gets flagged by customs requiring me to make an appointment with them, which they are always late or unavailable for, so that they can ask me what is in the package, even though it clearly states the contents on the customs forms that arrive with the package. They open the package and look through it, then they charge me 265 pesos before they will give it to me. Complicating things, no one speaks english or seems to have much understanding of it. So i cant ask questions such as, why dont you deliver this to my address. why do you charge me to collect my prepaid for mail? Why does customs always flag my mail for inspection? Also, i need medications supplied to my by the government in usa. Does anyone know if they can be mailed to me here, or is it illegal to mail medicine internationally, even though you can order it online from different countries and i have permanent prescriptions for the medicine. i met a man at tgi fridays in cebu. he is a permanent resident living in dumageute and he said he does not have such problems and has containers from usa shipped to him easily. What can i do, with only an acr card at this point and no plan to marry soon and obtain residency via that route, to get my mail delivered to where i am staying and to get customs to leave my mail alone? I dont understand the postal system and problems here, and can not find anyone who can explain anything to me in a way that i CAN understand. What do expats in dumaguette do to get their mail in a timely manner and free of a corrupt postal system? Any input is helpful so i can gain some understanding about these problems. Please no cynicism needed here, i know i am still new to this country, but my medicine and mail are essential to me or i will relocate to another region of asia or the world. I tolerate and even to a point understand, even if i dont agree, the ways of this country. i do all that is asked of me and treat everyone patiently and respectfully. i like this country and the friends i have here and would like to stay, but the mail problem may be a deal breaker if i can not find a way to get my mail without so many problems.
Depending on the point of entry into the country, mail will be screened at the various distribution centres. The Philippines postal system is notoriously corrupt and mail is frequently opened. But it sounds like your problem is not with the postal system, but with customs. There is no need for them to open any package unless it is flagged up as suspicious, because it will previously have been x-rayed anyway. The first time you coughed up 265 pesos was your downfall. Now it is just repeat business and you are a soft target. Do you get a receipt for your 265 pesos ? If not, why not ? Whether you get your mail or not is a bit hit and miss. Ideally, you could get it sent by registered or recorded delivery, so that it needs a signature from you, and can also be tracked. But mail can also sit in the post office here for weeks before they can actually be bothered to try and deliver it. Not surprising really, when puroks have no name and houses have no number. In Dumaguete, I have found that mail from UK can take about 3-4 weeks to get here, although I know for sure that some has gone missing. Mail from the UK tax office took 3 1/2 months to finally get to me, and they wanted to fine me 100 pounds for late submission until I explained the situation. You could try getting your mail sent to a P.O. Box number at the post office. That way, at least it would be delivered to the same place and you could check on a daily basis whether you had anything to collect or not, but it wouldn't solve the problem of mail being intercepted and opened. Perhaps you should consider using one of the international courier firms, more secure but expensive.
Having mail sent to a P.O. box can help make sure it doesnt get 'lost'. Sending things to PI via EMS shipping usually gets around customs office.
thanks thanks for your responses. what is EMS. i will get a po box. Now if i could just figure out if i can have my us medical prescriptions, which cost me nothing due to my military service, sent to me.
Be very careful on this one. There are strict rules on imports of Prescription Drugs. some of yours may even be on the banned list. There is a web page on google that will tell you about this. Consulate General of the Philippines - Chicago
