Dean answers:

Yes you did spell it right.
I will try to set right a few of the answers that you have received.
Big P—All Filipino’s eat pork,dry fish and rice not just the poor. Yes Filipino cuisine is rather tasty my favourite is calderretta. Dog meat is eaten in the Phil’s–it is not a rumour. I have seen it being BBQ’D-it smells and gives off a yellowish smoke. It is not only the poor who eat it. Dog meat is eaten during many drinking sessions as is balot.
Elphaba if only a few people eat balot why is it that every street has its wandering balot sellers.
Leo de Grump you are spot on. I watched an expose’ on TFC about a dog abattoir–it was sickening.
Gameplan gives a good run down of some of the embarrassing foods but more about that further down.
Dong ai rui sorry my dear but dog meat is eaten in the Phils. Maybe you are so embarrassed that you are going into self denial.
Woah your friend should not be overly embarrassed about the food because:
eating beef or pork in certain cultures is taboo,
Europeans eat a sausage that is mainly made of intestine casing and congealed blood and fat (salami), and also ferment cabbage in water till it basically goes rotten,
the Poms eat their black pudding and the Scots eat their haggis both are basically offal and blood,
sheep is eaten but to a lot of people it stinks to high heaven.
This list could probably go on for a long time but what I am trying to say is not everybodies’ taste buds are the same and that one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Oh I better not leave out the Yanks after all they gave us the hot dog and McDonalds and the Aussies gave us the meat pie and only God knows what is in that.

Dean answers:

Go to the yahoo group Living in the Philippines 3. There are dozens of expats there that actually live all over the Philippines and can give you the cost of housing etc. And answer specific questions. We also have monthly budgets from the diffreant areas posted in the files section. If you want to know the “real deal” go there and ask questions from people like me that have lived here for years.

I can assure you unless you live in a high cost area like Manilla, Cebu, Baggio or Boracay your retirement is more than enough to take care of a family of 4. I actually live here and have 2 kids in college, a maid and driver. I make roughly the same amount of money as you do and it’s my sole source of income. I live comfortably and so can you.

Also check out www.livinginthephilippines.com

Dean answers:

HOME SWEET HOME!

Dean answers:

What?
What question?
The “PHILIPPINEs”?
Or the “komustuka”?
Or are you just trying to make a survey of your own on how many Filipinos here will read your posted question?
BTW, it’s not “komustuka”, it’s “kamusta ka” rather.
That means “how are you”.

Dean answers:

The Philippines acquired a huge national debt because of the Marcos regime borrowing from the world bank and the funneling of the monies to personal accounts. During the early 1980’s the Philippines was widely viewed as a potential economic world player. Then when Marcos fell and all the misappropriation of funds was realized, the Philippines economy crumbled. Every Philippine president since then has been faced with the daunting task of paying off the debt acquired by Marcos without the benefit of that debt being originally invested in the economy. In 2000, foreign debt interest payments alone account for 20% of the Philippines national budget.

Paying down debt, as an individual or a nation, requires either an increase of income (revenues) or a decrease in expenditures. For the Philippines, either are bitter pills to swallow. Increasing revenues requires taxing an already poor electorate. Decreasing expenditures means the poorest of the poor get left with no safety net. Doing either also means there is little left over for government investment in infrastructure, which is key to developing a strong economy.

The bright side, if you can call it that, is the Philippine GDP for the 1st qtr grew at its strongest rate in 17 years. The debt is being paid down. Foreigner investment (not loans) is starting to pick up from Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia. The Philippines has a very intelligent and economically savy president. But there is no quick fix to a situation that was years in the making, short of debt forgiveness from the World Bank, which is very unlikely. One can also not ignore the corruption that exists in the government. Although one can argue it has been lessened, it is still an epidemic, especially in the election process. The Filipino electorate must learn to use it’s voting power instead of participating in soft government overthrows when things are not going well.

But to blame a particular politician, to say it was because the US closed military bases there (which was actually much of the reason US President Carter pushed so hard for the World Bank loans and why Reagan was so oblivious to Marcos activities) or to blame it on the Filipino work ethic are not valid points. They only show the lack of understanding of the facts and the finger pointing that results from those who choose to ignore facts and look for the easy way out.