BoI Info BI orders foreigners to report v2014

I would agree except on the *Senior Discounts*. They are really *Senior Citizen Discounts* keyword *Citizen* and not meant for just any old person. Now yes many business's have given in to just letting any old person get them citizen or not between either not wanting problems/confrontation or in rare cases actually believing in serving the customer. But this has always been a contentious topic with many on both sides.

I do like the idea though of having it in the international community that if one country treats guests badly that their people in turn will be treated badly when they are the ones who are guests. But of course that would never happen or go over well if any even suggested it seriously.

 

The expat community is pretty tight in the Phils. Through a series of chains and links, the word can spread pretty fast through the expat communities all over the islands. Start a grassroots boycott of all Filipino owned businesses until the attitude and policies are changed by the government. Think of just the Duma area. How many expats? How much money in total do you guys spend on the local economy every month? What impact would that have to local businesses and the local government coffers? Money talks!

 

All business's are owned by Filipino's, while some may have a small partner that is a foreigner or owned by a wife of a foreigner still we would be out of luck as no way we can get by day to day and they know it. Also Filipino owned business's never want to admit their failings or take hints so expecting them to start complaining over the governments issues would never happen.

 

Whether you like it or not you have to admit that the Philippine gov't's creativity in coming up with new ways to wring some more pesos out of foreigners is amazing. I'm just happy they didn't tack the "express line fee" on it .. oversight on their part.

 

I would like to remind all that the law under which this requirement falls was approved in 1950, so it's not a matter of a new scheme extorting a few measly pesos from foreigners wallets. The fact that we have not been confronted with this requirement before has apparently more to do with a sloppy attitude of previous OIC's / Directors of the BI than anything else. Moaning about the cost is a bit ridiculous as far as I'm concerned: We are talking about an annual cost of (maybe) 500 Peso (if you facture in the 100 Peso charge from the Notary Public to certify the document), so about 1 beer less per month and you're budget is saved.....
Vicmico

 

If you actually thought about it, you would have understood that I meant Filipino ONLY owned businesses. That "small partner" foreigner and foreigner husband and wife business...it's a pretty good bet that business wouldn't even exist without the foreigner's money, so those are the businesses I'm talking about supporting and let the Filipino businesses that don't/aren't willing to support our cause for better treatment from the government, they can fail and I'll do my part by not spending any money there.

Filipinos may not be big on complaining to the government about most things, but if the efforts of the government are putting a dent in their livelihood, they d*mn sure will complain and sooner or later those complaints will be heard by the government that is using expats as a ATM.

The biggest problem is the expats themselves. Most don't give a flip and will just whine and complain but actually do nothing to better their situation. Although the expat population is only about 1% of the population, our money is a much larger percentage and we can use that money to get closer to welcome status vs. the tolerated status we now have if we worked together.

 

Larry, I am very open to any suggestions from those that know more about the "local/forienger/pinoy" owners and what they sell/do - I have been here on and off nearly 3yrs.I find BI in duma to be very helpful,but I totally agree - the only thing I can do is spend my supporting those that support the welcome status,NOT THE ATM STATUS - ANY SUGGESTIONS FROM THIS FORUM IS APPRECIATED

 

There is much more that I don't know than what I do know....but I KNOW this....Money talks! BS walks! Everywhere is the world, society after society, this is a constant.

The BEST advice given to me by a high powered, influential lawyer/Senator: Get to know your Senator. Foreigner or local, get to know your Senator. Once you do know them, without emotion, state your case, state the proponents of your case, state the benefits and the drawbacks of your case and the suggest the ramifications of action as well as lack of action. Then, let them do their work. Senators in the Phils are only Senators because their family is influential. If they see the merits of helping (more money spend in the economy = happy constiuents = less votes they have to buy= cheaper campaign costs=keep being a Senator) they will do what they can to help. Now, imagine if all the Senators in all the areas of the Phils that has a high population of foreigners all started hearing the same case at the same time...?

Take Negros Oriental...just exactly how many foreigners are living there and spending money in that economy? What is the total value per year of having that population vs. losing it to some other area/country?

Everyone has equal value as a human being; however value as a stimulator of the economy is by no means equal for each person. We, as a group, not just the Duma crowd, but the entire expat national community of the Phils need to demonstrate just exactly what our value to their economy is. Perhaps we will find that we aren't as valuable as we might think we are, but perhaps they will learn that we are more valuable than they give us credit for. Who knows? But, it could be worth trying. I have no idea how to get the entire expat community to agree on or act upon anything. That will take a wiser mind than mine.

 

Well that makes it all better

I'm just growing a little weary of what seems to me to be the constant shakedown for money from foreigners. Like I said in a previous post, I wish they'd just decided what they want to extort from us, bundle it all up in one bill and let us write just one check a year and not waste an hour of our time on each and every little BS thing they can dream up I'm too lazy to do the math at the moment, but what are we paying now to live here, 2000p per month? And for me it's not the money, or "one beer less per month" it's the wasting of my time for just another BS "fee".