You Are Who They Think You Are

One thing I have found fascinating about life here n the Philippines is my heightened sense of family.  My own family back in the US is, well shall we say a bit on the dysfunctional side … and when I married the first time, my ex’s family made mine look like paradise by contrast.

When I first visited the Philippines to meet Mita, she almost immediately took me to a birthday party for her mom … mom’s 70th … and I don’t mind saying I was a bit nervous.  the fact there must have been a hundred people packed in their modest home and outside lanai didn’t help any.  Everything was Tito this and Cousin that and I really couldn’t keep much straight, to tell the truth.

But Mita’s family, especially her mom and dad were particularly nice to me and they were very down-to-earth and easy going.  Fortunately I didn’t fall into the situation so many expats seem to, where they can’t stomach the wife’s family and/or vice-versa.  We got off to a good start and momma and daddy are still a big part of my life.  I’ve enjoyed having a “second lap” at the family thing, and I really regret my own dad couldn’t have met Mita’s father, they are both of the World war II generation and one hates Douglas MacArthur like the devil himself and the other thinks the sun rises and sets around “Dugout Doug”.  (If you know Filipinos at all, you’ll know which one holds which view

One thing that hasn’t ever been easy for me, though, is the aunts and uncles (titas and titos) and a bewildering assortment of cousins of various descriptions.  Some have been here in the Philippines all their lives, others are in the USA, Australia, Canada and other countries, and some shift back an forth with bewildering speed.

Another thing which has taken me quite a while to get used to … indeed I likely never will get used to … is that nearly everyone here is someone’s cousin.  It’s actually a rare event that someone comes on TV, famous or infamous, and I don’t hear that they are some distant cousin, related, usually, to the mother-in-law’s families, which are both large and somewhat prominent on both sides.

Mother Bessie does not like these families brought up … I think this makes her a relatively rare bird here, where family name dropping is a highly developed art … no matter how tenuous the connection back in history.  But the aversion to publicity and ‘name worship’ is one of those personal decisions that is so far out of Philippine cultural norms that few respect it or even take notice.  I really became aware of this a few months ago when we visited a provincial town where my wife spent her high school years and where mother’s fathers family has long been a fixture.  (they aren’t one of the rich families, they are one of the political families … and yes there’s a president of the Philippines wrapped up in the mix .. and that’s as far as I am going down that road, sorry).

My wife and I went into the Municipio (town hall) looking for some information on property we thought was in the family and the municipal accountant, a long time family friend, insisted on dropping everything. shoeing people out of their seats, literally, and taking us to meet the mayor and deputy mayor.  “Ma’am, you must meet a xxxxxx (using the prominent family name)”

Wow!  I didn’t know we were here to run for office, I figured just pay some taxes and be on our way ;-)  But ‘”the Great man” is actually Mita’s cousin, and thus mine too, by marriage, and when someone that ‘close to greatness’ shows up, you must make a fuss. And you mustn’t deny those who want to make the fuss their small pleasures.

Takes some getting used to.  But that’s all part of living in the Philippines.

Planting the Seeds

My daddy always told me to avoid discussing religion and politics and in general I hold to that principle pretty tightly.  But I am going to dance around the edges a little bit right now and mention a verse from the King James Bible that seems to shape the lives of a lot of people, especially here in the Philippines.  Please bear with me, even if you aren’t Christian, because I’m not really trying to open a can of worms … but instead trying to get a “handle” on what it is that continues to make certain people prosper, year after year and century after century while others, who have every single advantage that the prosperous folks do, languish and flounder, dedicating themselves to the principle of “if only” … if only my ship will come in, if only I had been born rich, if only …. (fill in your own banks).

I’m talking of course about 1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrow.

A majority of Americans I have talked to shorten this phrase to “Money is the root of all evil”, and certainly it seems to me as I start my third year here living in the Philippines that a number of Filipinos also seem to have taken it as the whole core of their being.  If you read the actual words, it doesn’t say money is the root of evil at all, it says that coveting of money over and above the principles of your faith is wrong, but certainly not that money itself has any inherit good or evil.

By far one of the most common questions or complaints I get from fellow expats … or wanna-be expats is, “there’s no way to make money in the Philippines”, or “If only I had money, I’d move to the Philippines tomorrow.”  I can never figure this out.  Money is to be made wherever you are, and today there have never been better opportunities.  Virtually none of those opportunities have anything to do with where you live in today’s world, only with your mindset.  yet many of my fellow Americans seem to hold a belief that it’s ok to have a job and make as much money as you can from it, (while making three times as much for your employer) but to go into business for one’s self and make money for yourself is inherently wrong.

Among my Filipino brethren this seems to be even more the normal way of thinking rather than an exception.  Unless it’s something like a misinterpretation of the Biblical passage above, I am at a loss to figure this out.  A few examples:

• A dentist that I know does not practice here in the Philippines.  I showed here, perhaps thinking to spark a little interests, a web site Bob created for a dentist friend of his.  You can see it here.  My dentist friend’s reaction?  “Oh the prices she charges are terrible, how can she live with that.”   Well the prices in question are way, way under what equal work would cost in the US, and there are a real dearth of dentists and other professionals here who seem to even want business from foreigners.  Why?  I‘m at a loss to know, unless it is a fear of being a success.
• I was chatting one evening with a number of my neighbors.  Several are men retired from responsible jobs (one used to be on President Arroyo’s Palace staff).  Several others are degreed engineers who aren’t working and doing little to find work.  As part of the conversation I mentioned Henry Sy (the founder and CEO of the huge SM business conglomerate), a man with stores from one end of the Philippines to the other, who provides honest jobs for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos here, so they don’t have to leave home, and a man who started it all as a poor, near-illiterate immigrant.  No family money, no connections, no ‘silver spoon’, and yet he’s one of the most successful retailers in the world.  One would think he would at least be tolerated by most Filipinos, if not revered as an example of “Filipino ingenuity”.  Instead, the senior man in the group, the one who used to work on the president’s staff, literally spat out his evaluation.  “He’s no good, no good at all, Those stores weren’t built with his own money, he borrowed money to build. Flabbergasted me.  A business that hasn’t borrowed money … via bank loans, by selling stock, issuing bonds, etc. is essentially no business at all.  Henry Sy and others who borrow money to seize an opportunity are “no good”?
• Some months ago I published an article to illustrate how one local Filipino was making money and investing in real property to leave a legacy for his family, while at the same time providing decent homes at a fair price to working-class Filipinos.  This gentleman is now building another apartment project literally around the corner from me, and I have on my “to do” list to meet the man and maybe blog about his new project periodically as it gets built.  I asked an older, well respected man in the neighborhood … an educated man, retired from a responsible government job, if he new the apartment entrepreneur, with the thought of perhaps getting introduced.  The answer blew me away.  “Him?  He’s no good, no good at all.  He’s a terrible person.”  When I asked why, expecting to hear this guy was some sort of drug lord, white slaver or another form of “scalawag” the answer was a complete surprise.  “If he was a decent person he wouldn’t be building apartment buildings left and right”!

In my last article I used the term “lack of hope” about the Filipino mentality and several readers disagreed.  I concur that was a poor choice of words … but I am at a loss to figure out a better term.  I’ve never lived some place where there was more opportunity to fill needs (feed a starving crowd) and at the same time more people unwilling and even contemptuous of taking advantage of the opportunity.

Goodness knows what people think of folks like me who earn money online while living here in the Philippines … we must be a step or two down the food chain from drug dealers and whore meisters.  I dunno.

Again, it was never my intention to insult or inflame anyone by starting this out with a Bible quote, but if the aversion and even abhorrence of success I see so often is not scriptural in origin, can someone set me straight?  I do know this.  It’s an ingrained attitude of many I’ve met that you need to factor in any time you have thoughts about helping family members or others who you think just need a little “boost’ to help them succeed.  Better make sure that those you are thinking of helping actually want to succeed before you jump in with an offer.

I’d like to steer those who have read along this far to an excellent post Bob made on his Virtual Earner blog: Deciding to be wealthy is the first step toward becoming wealthy. You absolutely can plant your seed corn and watch it grow here in the Philippines, no matter what you nationality, religion or current bank account balance … but you won’t do it if you feel making money is somehow a sin.

photo credit: Stevie Rocco

Why Not Eat the Seed Corn?

Seed Corn:

Seed that is saved from one year’s harvest for the subsequent year’s planting, rather than being used to make flour etc.

Doesn’t make any sense for me to actually define “seed corn”?  After all, most readers of this Philippine Living  magazine will be familiar with the term, won’t they?

Such was the thought running through my mind as I started this article.  Then, I thought a little longer and realized that even though I ran the risk of insulting the intelligence of some readers there still may be quite a few unclear on the concept.  After all, to read the papers and watch the talking bobble-heads on TV you would think that America’s wealth seems to come mysteriously from Wall Street.  Excuse me, but America’s wealth comes from the corn fields of Iowa and the wheat fields of Kansas and the feed lots of New Mexico to name just a few places.

Less than 2% of the US population feeds not only the other 98% but much of the world as well.  It’s one thing for folks to be crying over the crash of their 401K plan, it’s quite another thing to be in the same boat and also starving.

Here in the Philippines the situation isn’t much different.  While the Philippines, which used to feed much of Asia forgets where it’s true wealth is … in people and a lot of fertile farmlands … happy to now be a net food importer an live from one World Bank handout to the next, agriculture and other small business is virtually ignored.

One reason behind this trend may be a problem I have noticed frequently among my Filipino brethren.  Filipinos are smart, much better educated than the abysmal public school system can take credit for and known all over the world as being diligent workers.

But one thing that as a culture is missing here (to my viewpoint only, of course) is hope for the future, or even simple patience.  Filipinos are justly noted for their good cheer and ability to endure adversity.  Foreigners come here and are amazed at how even very, very poor people are happy in their lives.  This is indeed a valuable outlook.  We Americans worry all the time, and if we aren’t really sure about what we should be worrying about, or offended about, then by gosh we’ll invent something.  It’s the part of culture s\hock that the books about eating duck embryos or fried pig’s face don’t really address very well.

Send Christmas gifts in November so they arrive in time for Christmas?  Good luck with pictures on Christmas morning … they’ll already be well–used by November 30th.  Who knows if Christmas will even come this year, the gifts are here now, and after all, a ‘gift’ means you are giving it to someone. doesn’t it?  Once you give, you can’t control conditions … unless you are a false giver.

Want to finance a house or a car?  Be prepared to be asked to write and sign all the checks to make repayments in advance and hand them over to the lender, because the concept of keeping money in their bank to pay bills months down the road is just not (in general) even thought about.  Not having money in your account is not a crime, but  issuing a worthless check knowing funds aren’t available is, so the bank can be pretty sure the check will (eventually) be covered.

Overall I am not totally happy with my tone here, it sounds like I am making judgments I am in no way qualified to make … or I sound like one of those arrogant ‘We Americans are so much smarter’ characters whom I absolutely hate.  I’m ‘smarter’ than a vanishingly small number of people in this world … but I do think differently to some.

But I am neither a Pollyanna nor a Philippine apologist.  Things are what they are and my purpose is to inform, not judge, it is just the way things are.  It isn’t that things are necessarily “bad” nor are the necessarily “good” … they just are.

• Been asked to help someone through school?  Pay only for the shortest time you can … because if you send money for the year ahead, as an example,the chances of next semester’s tuition being available?  Slim.
• Someone out of work and their roof is literally falling in?  Help them pay for a patchwork repair job to keep the family dry?  Of course, I would.  But if times are good, don’t expect to see them investing money in a new roof instead of a new car or computer.  Hey, the patch is still holding, isn’t it?  Pwede na … good enough.
• Someone wants you to loan money to start and stock a little store?  Recipe for frustration in the majority of cases.  better to decide how much money you would be prepared to just give every month and let it go if you feel it’s justified, because if you finance the store the money to buy the next supply of inventory … the “seed corn” if you will?  Guess what? Wala ng pera .. there’s no money.

Does this mean I think there’s no chance that Filipinos can succeed?  Hardly.  Of course they can.

Does this mean I think there are many Filipinos out there trying to cheat or scam money?  Absolutely not.  I recently loaned a local guy PhP 500 for some medical work his grand daughter needed badly.  He’s a very nice man, industrious as anyone could be, yet desperately poor himself by any Western standards.  My expectations on handing over the money were, it was gone forever … but hey if a man as rich as I am can’t help a little girl in need, of what real value is my relative wealth?

But the money is coming back, like clockwork, 60 pesos each and every week.  He works hard for every one of those Pesos and to deny him the honor of repaying me would be to destroy his hiya … pride.  He’s much too nice a man to insult in that way.

Just remember that everything ‘here’ is not the same as everything ‘there’, no matter where ‘there’ may be for you right now …and while some have implied that Mexico, for example, is the land of “ma ana” … tomorrow, remember that here in the Philippines, for many, bukas … tomorrow … never comes.

Can You Make a Soft Landing?

I actually started a completely different article several times in the past few days, but instead shoved in into the draft folder in preference to doing something much more timely.  We now take two Philippine papers on Sundays to get more real estate ads … we’re planning on doing a little investment and the Manila Times has way more ads on Sundays …and there is virtually nothing “above the fold” on the front page except the financial crisis in the US … it eclipses all Philippine news for sure.

We get a reasonable quantity of US TV and International CNN, Bloomberg, BBC News and several good news programs on  Australian Broadcasting as well … and there is nothing but doom and gloom, breathless finger-pointing expose’s, name calling, and of course blame.  Hey the blame part is easy, the root of the problem is greed and lack of caution … trying to continually buy more than one could afford from the personal to the corporate level.  But that’s not my point.

Whatever the reasons and even allowing for some over reacting on the part of news media, it would seem many of my “Western world” readers are hurting.  If you are in the “really hurting” category … like facing eviction from your home … not being able to charge season tickets for next years football season is only “mildly hurting” in my book, sorry … then perhaps one life preserver could be a move here.  It’s certainly worth a thought.

Now please read this before you send me all your ‘be careful’ comments.  I say, Be Careful! Dave is not advocating someone pull up stakes and move just because of some minor ‘glitches’ in the family investment profits graph.  One of the things I see people panicking about, waving their arms and declaring the sky is falling are real estate values.

If you bought you house for $100,00 and a year ago similar houses were selling for $300,000 you did not make $200,000.  And if today the house won’t sell for $100,000 you did not lose $200,000.  None of that profit or loss is real unless you actually are forced to sell.  If you can still make your monthly payments then the sales price of your house is purely academic.  You have a roof over your head, don’t you?  Millions and millions of people do not … so count your blessing instead of your ‘paper’ losses.  A couple years from now it will likely be selling for $400,000, because new housing starts are way down and the drastic glut of unsold home will gradually dwindle.

If you have a 401K that’s stock market based, or other stock market investments you may be panicking a bit too much also.  You’ll notice that the richest man in America, Warren Buffett not only recently passed up Bill Gates for that title, but Gates in effect works for Warren now.  Warren just put $3 billion dollars into GE, a corporation that actually produces hard products that the world uses … Microsoft is steadily losing ground to the Open Source world, continuing to sell what will be ‘buggy whip’ software in 5 or 10 years.  Do you see the difference in focus?

If you are in your 40’s and your 401K’s are expected to fund your retirement in your 60’s, again don’t panic.  Your losses are paper.  take advantage of some great bargain that are out there today, if you are competent at evaluating the market, and sit back … a paper value loss is not the end of the world.

But here’s the guy or guy and gal this is really aimed at.  Suppose you are already in your 60’s, you have already pulled the retirement pin …or been eased out the door …  and your house can’t sell for enough to cover the mortgage, (see some suggestions on that issue here) and your expected income from your stock plans are way less than you expected … can the Philippines provide some sort of life raft to get you through the next couple years?  For some of you it very possibly can.

I’ve continually been one to preach that you should not make a move to the Philippines simply because of the low cost of living here.  But for those of you who are really in a bind, the fact is the cost of living here is still very low … if you plan wisely it can be way, way lower than most anywhere in the US.  If you and your spouse are Filipino, or at least one of you is, then it becomes a much better alternative … because there is no denying our standard of living here is based in a large percent upon my dear wife’s decision-making and bargaining skills.

But if I had to live here alone (or with a non-Filipino spouse), from a fiscal and practicality stand point we could still live much, much cheaper than likely anyone reading this in the US … if we wanted to or if we had to.  A non-Filipino can get along just fine here for a couple years and likely pay a lot of bills or make substantial increases in savings or investment if they have an income.

I recently posted our (couple, male US, female Filipina/US, no children) monthly budget on my PhilFAQS site.  We can live in the ‘shadow’ of Manila … we are just outside the borders of Metro Manila itself … on $1,200 USD per month.  You can look at this map of all the SM malls here and pick any location within easy commute of any of them and you can duplicate our budget pretty easily.

At the moment we could live for a lot less because the Peso has dropped a lot against the dollar … more pesos per dollar each time we exchange … gasoline and diesel fuel has gone down 8 or 10 pesos per liter since the artificially high oil prices have dropped, but things go up as well as down so sticking to the $1,200 is a minimal safety strategy.

We have covered in some detail in the past, and on my PhilFAQS site, there are very few if any suitable jobs here, and the few I occasionally see that typical US blog readers might be able to live with are IT and Call Center (BPO) related, and that part of the Philippines economy is already slowing significantly.

But for the person or family with no home, no regular job and a severely depleted retirement account, … but who can take advantage of the many, many ways you can earn a living here … you might want to think about a bailout move.

If you hate this thought or if you love it, do let me know, because we can discuss this a lot more here, or else move on to other subjects.

Ano Pasalubong Mo?

OK, it’s getting to be a real prime travel time up here in the Philippine Northland.  The rainy season is nearly gone, we’re moving into the cooler ‘Ber’ months and the Christmas carols are all playing merrily in the malls.  Indeed, its a great time to travel anywhere in the Philippines … just make sure to consider in your plans that the period 15 December through 15 January is a really peak travel time … availability goes way down and prices go way up … so plan accordingly.

You can consider my title today as a very important Tagalog lesson if you didn’t know what it meant, first had.  Don’t worry, there won’t be a test … Ano is “what”, Mo is “your” and Pasalubong?  You mean you really didn’t know?

Pasalubong pasal´ubong n. a present (usually given by one arriving from a trip

So quite simply the words are asking, what is your gift?  The text is on a huge sign over the main exit of our local SM mall, it’s actually an advert for a line of baked goods often purchased as gifts, reminding people as they leave that they really shouldn’t go visiting “empty handed”.

Pasalubong is a very Filipino thing, it’s really bad form to visit anyone except your closest family without bringing something along.  Really it’s a very strong custom all across Asia … in Japan or China, for example, you go on vacation, you bring back a gift for everyone else in your office … to do otherwise is really bad manners.

So how does that apply if you are visiting here in the Philippines from, say, the US?  basically, bring a gift for everyone you plan to meet.  And some extras.  There are always cousins and classmates and such who weren’t thought of in advance.  Now of course if you don’t know whom you are going to meet, well of course you can’t buy in advance, but those of you who are coming here to meet people should really pay attention.  I have seen a lot of unhappiness and at times even anger flare up over this very uncomplicated custom.  I am not a Filipino and not an expert, so use my advice with caution, but it’s pretty much worked for me.

Don’t Overspend: These sorts of travel gifts are expected to be inexpensive.  You do not have to buy every woman on your list a pearl necklace (which would be really dumb anyway since the pearls likely came from here, cheap).  Even more importantly, giving people an expensive gift is not a smart thing to do in most cases.  Remember that many folks you will meet are not well off.  Giving them an expensive gift may make them feel inadequate and insulted because they can’t “return the favor” in any way equally.

It may also define you in some folk’s minds as a “bastos” (rude) or hambog (hamb´og adj. proud, overbearing, boastful, arrogant).  Many Americans in my experience fall into the trap of equating how much you care with how much you spend.  Caring and respect do not equate to cash value.  (Remember too, that even folks in the US who are moaning over gas prices and crying over how much their 401K portfolios have lost are rich compared to most Filipinos.  The lowest Social security retirement benefit in the US is equal to about what a cabinet secretary in the government gets here, so you are ‘rich’).  The mark of a truly rich person is, s/he can avoid making others feel conscious of his/her wealth.

It should Smell like America: If you have ever had the pleasure of watching a family here, especially one you are a part of open a balikbayan box from the US, you may very well hear the phrase, often spoken with squeals of delight by the children .. amoy Amerika … literally … “Smells like America”.  Usually this exclamation is heard just as the flaps of the box are opened.  Indeed, the inside of the box does smell like home to me, even as a short-term resident here.  Sp don’t deny people the simple pleasure of something from your home country.  I’ve heard a lot of Americans express ideas like, “Hey, you can buy the same things in a supermarket here, just bring a few bucks and go shopping when you get here.”

Well of course you can do that, but it then just resembles a commercial transaction, not something special.  I highly recommend you bring gifts from home … especially if there is something well known near where you live … “I love New York memorabilia or Disney World souvenirs or San Francisco tourist trap items.  The more it is unique to where you come from, the more it seems to be appreciated, in my view.

Suggestions:  Ball point pens, letter openers, refrigerator magnets or other “trinkets’’ from your home town.  T-shirts with local logos and slogans or (great idea for some of the special folks on the list) with their name imprinted.  ball caps, cheap purses or wallets (don’t forget if you chose this option you must put some money in it … else it’s bad luck for both the giver and the receiver). Maps of local attractions, those postcard album thingies,  Cheap toy cars o\r trucks with obvious US signs and logos, glitter nails or nail polish for the girls, souvenir scarves or other fashion accent items, brooches, badges, lapel pins, as long as they are home country identifiable.  Cheap stationery sets, especially if there is something “American”identifiable.  School supplies in general for school age kids.
Hard candy … avoid chocolates, especially filled ones, even if requested  They can make a huge mess (reported by one who brought cherry filled chocolate pudding in his suitcase that was cherry-filled chocolate candy when purchased

And books, did I mention books?  Many Filipinos are avid readers and this points to another place where we Americans are rich and so seldom notice.  There are virtually no public libraries in this entire country and what book stores there are have limited stock and are expensive .  Books, from children’s books, coloring books, teen story bocks, up to adult mysteries or even history (think WW-II) will always be appreciated.
Well that is likely enough on this subject for today.  If you are worried about carrying all this stuff?

Remember that airlines are tightening their baggage allowances in many cases, but most Americans pack way, way, way too many clothes.  Much better, in my view, to bring pasalubong and make children smile is a lot more important than extra socks, undershorts and hankies.  You can always find a place to get laundry done cheap while you’re here, you may never get another chance to make a first impression.

What does Canada Know?

I started out to write this article because of an article I saw in the Philippine tar newspaper a few days ago.  The Province of Alberta, Canada has a government team here in Manila this week briefing high-ranking Philippine government officials on Canada, Canada’s needs for skilled workers and to work with commercial employment agencies here in the Philippines to promote Canada as a ‘destination of choice’ for prospective Filipino OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Workers).  Three things that caught my attention right away:

• The team was looking for as many as 60,000 workers … small in the overall scope of nearly a million Filipinos going abroad for work in a year, but still a non-trivial group … about 8 or 9 times the size of Wasilla, Alaska, for example
• The workers they were looking for were not just nurses, and not domestic helpers … the list included many skilled and semi-skilled trades like construction laborers, welders and such … no four year degree required for many jobs.
• Unlike many OFW jobs, where labor contractors are involved and the worker often gets screwed badly … pay turns out to be way less than the OFW thought s/he was going to get, these were government folks with specific wage info.  Example. Welder.  In Canada, $13.5o CDN per hour,  In Saudi Arabia?  About one fifth that amount.

Then I was particularly interested by the fact that most of the other provinces and territories of Canada are mounting similar campaigns.  Overall the country says they are short several hundred thousand skilled workers.

In particular I noted a lot of openings for care givers … for the elderly and the handicapped.  There are trade schools right here in my province that prepare Filipinos for this career in as little as a month r so.  In the US most of these jobs are being filled by convicts or work release programs or illegal Mexicans or even overstaying Filipinos.  The US government allows easy work visas for, say, engineers from China, but for non-degree and vitally essential jobs like taking care of the sick, the door is closed.  Americans, in general don’t want these jobs, or they wouldn’t so often be filled by jailbirds and TnT’s.

In Canada, care givers are recognized as essential semi-skilled workers, and the government of Canada seems to care a heck of a lot more about what will happen to the elderly, so they make a legal pathway to provide for both the care to the patient and an honest career for the caregiver.

My lovely wife and I discussed this article as I was planning it out last night and she didn’t seem very ‘taken’ with my thesis.  Her though6t was roughly this … the Filipinos who go for the lower jobs don’t really look beyond traditional OFW locations like Saudi and Libya and Qatar, you won’t change their minds.

Well, I’m not trying to change their minds.  I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, actually.  But I am making a shout out to those who might be supporting family members here in the Philippines, or being asked to help friends or family members get OFW work or even my fellow writing colleagues to give a little thought here.

I’m an American.  Born and bred.  I’m not trying to start a US is better than Canada or a Canada outshines the US battle.  But if you look at the requirements for jobs (the US has the highest unemployment rate in years), if you look at the opportunities for immigration. If you look at the government supported health care for all in Canada versus the ‘hope you can pay, especially now that you are laid off’ situation in the US, if I were not already an American, and I was looking for a place with for a new life and an opportunity to put my family on a sound footing, I surely would take a very, very close look at Canada.

It’s worth a thought.

By the way, all comments are welcome but please  … I already said I’m an American and to be the US is better, please so try not to just echo the ‘America first’ rhetoric, I would really like to hear from anyone who has gone to Canada for work as a foreigner, anyone who has a family member there, etc., so I can correct any misconceptions I may have.

Age Is Just A State Of Mind?

Last week in this column we had a few comments regarding age.  That got me thinking a little about age and how it often relates to life here in the Philippines.  If you aren’t familiar with the culture and conventions of the Philippines, it’s no secret you will have some getting “used to” to do.

One area you’ll find very much different here are some distinct differences in attitudes and even rules about age … as well as some other human attributes.  Just as with the ongoing discussion on my own blog, PhilFAQS and Bob’s column recently on the “they all look alike to me” issue, there are a lot of other things here in the Philippines that will immediately fail the current US Politically Correct test.

I’m 63 years old, according to the calendar.  Most of the time, though, I feel about 16.  (this happens especially when I get to thinking about what I want to do when I grow up ;-)) Sometimes a little older, but God has blessed me with good health and I don’t feel old at all.  There is a current view held by some that 60 is the new 40.  Don’t know if I would buy into that completely but I certainly don’t feel any older than I did when I was 40 … except perhaps when climbing stairs.

In the US there are very few things I can’t do at 63 that I couldn’t do at 23.  Enlist in the armed services or join a police or fire department with legally mandated retirement ages are a few of a very small list.  In fact, Congress recently changed the law so that I could even be a scheduled airline pilot for a few more years … when I was in the Federal Service I had a number of workmates over the years in their 70’s  One fellow when I was working in Japan who was held in some reverence by his Japanese staff members because he had worked with General MacArthur in the Dai-Ichi Building in Tokyo back in1945 … he finally retired, of his own free will, at a ripe old age of 86.

It’s not that way here in the Philippines.  If, for example, I decided to buy a home and went for bank financing, guess what?  Too old.  Almost all long-term consumer credit requires the applicant to be under 60.  Follow up on a help-wanted job in the newspaper that looks interesting?  Might as well save my time and theirs … age limits, typically below 30 or 35 are attached to virtually every help wanted ad.

Not long ago I noted an ad in the window of a Jollibee at an NLEX rest stop.  “Entry level cleaning person needed.  Must have for year college degree, experience and preferably be female, attractive and under 24.”  This was a job, undoubtedly at about $10 USD per day. 6 days a week, swinging a mop and wielding a toilet brush in the rest rooms.  All you attractive younger ladies reading this are free to send me your contact details, I’ll put you in touch ;-)  But don’t forget that 4 year diploma you worked so hard to earn, you’ll need that too, in addition to the blessings of youth.

Most health insurance companies stop providing coverage here at 65 also … kind of one of those Catch 22’s in my book.  Unless you get ‘tagged’ by something serious at a young age you don’t really need health insurance all that much until you’re past 65 or so … exactly when you can’t have it here.

So indeed, there are some age difference things to get used to.  But there’s always a plus side.  No ne cares if you send a 10 or 12 year old to the store to buy ciggies or beer or get a prescription filled.  Very convenient in that way.  To paraphrase Tine Turner, “What’s age got to do with it”?

It’s a different life here, that gets proven nearly every day … at least to me … but after all, I’m old.

A Common Language?

This quote is attributed to Winston Churchill in comments he made regarding Great Britain and the United States.  While I’ve often found that Winston is a bit like Yogi Berra who is noted for his assertion that “I didn’t really say everything I said”, I believe that Winston would own up to this quotation.

One of the great things about living in the Philippines is that English is one of the official languages and it’s rare indeed that you can’t find someone who can help you out in English if you’re like me, a typically “monolingual” American.

But do be careful before you rush into things … just because the words are in English doesn’t mean you and the person speaking them have actually engaged in true conversation.  One of the more subtle forms of “culture shock” involved with becoming comfortable living here in the Philippines is not only learning a new, native language, but relearning a bit of the English you thought you knew.  A few examples to illustrate my point:

Overpricing: In the past few months there has been a lot in the news here about several large government contracts where the term “overpricing” has been bandied about.  Now to me, “overpricing” means a supplier tries to charge a purchaser more than the market value for an item.  As a guy who worked in government procurement for many years I’m no stranger to the concept.  I always thought I got the best deal for the government I could … but I’m sure there were instances I could have done better … the term “Beltway Bandit” didn’t just arise out of thin air.  But here in the Philippines,”overpricing” is a “code word” for bribery … when a contract is alleged to be “overpriced” it is an accusation that the government was charged too much and in return government officials accepted money from the person who did the “overcharging”.  The real definition of that is “bribery”.  One act is, at worst, negligent, the other is criminal.  They are not synonyms at all.  Perhaps the practice has developed in response to the extremely restrictive libel and slander laws here.  Do not make the mistake of saying derogatory things like, “he’s a crook”, even in jest.  That might be an ‘actionable’ offense … an libel cases can drag on for years and years.

Brownout: This is a pet peeve of mine.  “Brownout” is a term that came from the US many years ago.  Electric utilities developed a technique for coping with excessive power demands by lowering the voltage being supplied to the user.  Since power changes by the square of the voltage in a circuit, small changes in voltage have a huge change in the power consumed.  But brownouts are disastrous for many motor powered devices (such as air conditioners) and have even caused fires by overheating line (mains) powered devices so the practice was (at least officially) done away with.  Today utilities cope with overwhelming demand by means of “rolling blackouts” … cutting all power to one area at a time while maintaining specified voltage in other service areas.  More inconvenient, but a heck of a lot safer.  In the Philippines, a power failure … the absence of power coming into your home … is called “Brownout” when in reality, it is a “blackout” or “power cut”.  Why do the terms mean such different things?  As my 2 yo nephew is fond of saying, “I dunno”.  Confusing one with the other could be a shocking experience.

Comprehensive: Lest one think this is about picking on the Filipinos for incorrectly using English, let’s look at this word which is simple English with a simple meaning … encompassing everything.  If you have car insurance in the US you very likely have a portion of your premium going to “Comprehensive coverage”.  But it is not “comprehensive at all … it is coverage for physical damage that is not caused by a collision with another vehicle or fixed object or “upset”.  Fell asleep and ran your car into a tree?  That’s a collision coverage issue.  Missed the tree and instead rolled the car in the grass beside the road?  Ah, don’t be upset, that should be covered by the “upset” portion of your collision coverage.  A vandal smashed your windshield … now that is likely covered by you “comprehensive”, which is, in actuality, anything but “comprehensive”.  Here in the Philippines, a “Comprehensive Policy” essentially means what the word actually does mean in the dictionary … coverage against perils such as collision, upset, fire, theft, vandalism and so on.  When I first saw my insurance policy quote before buying my car I almost jumped out of my skin … that mush for “Comprehensive”?    Then when I saw how the word is used in the Philippines I found my “full coverage” insurance was actually a pretty good bargain.

Tomboy sometimes TB: Even though purists may correctly point out that American use of “tomboy” to describe a girl more interested in sports than make-up is a bit insensitive and sexist, but it’s still a part of most people’s language … and usually that’s all it means.  A girl or woman who is interested in what are traditionally “male” things.  It certainly has seldom, if ever, is making a statement about the woman’s sexual orientation.  Here in the Philippines, you better be real careful about describing you niece or your wife’s cousin who happens to excel at sports or knows how to tune up an engine.  When you say  a girl is a “tomboy” it almost invariably means she is a lesbian and is sexually oriented toward other women.  Why would this rather innocuous expression be reshaped into something that is absolutely no one else’s business and could be very hurtful to the woman and her family?  Perhaps it’s a reflection of the goal of “delicadeza” at all costs, or perhaps it started long ago from some other meaning … but it is what it is and you’d be well advised to think twice, or even three or four times before ever uttering the phrase.

Okay, enough for now … what’s your favorite “separation by common language” issue?

Louis Schuschke Was Wrong

I often write about stories of my youth … or at least earlier times and some of the characters I’ve worked with.  Over the past 4 days I’ve had an interesting email exchange with a couple of Filipino business people that I thought it might be valuable to write about … and while casting about for a headline and a way to start things off, I thought about Louis and a lesson he taught me which I used to take as Gospel but now find i soften wrong here in the Philippines.

I worked for Louis for years back in my Cheyenne Mountain days.  I wouldn’t want to say that Lou was hard to get along with, or set in his ways much, but one of his favorite expressions was, “anyone with ’sch’ in their name is stubborn and hard headed”.  Of course, he had it in his family name twice, so maybe he was trying to tell us something. (it’s pronounced “shoe - ski”, BTW, much simpler pronunciation than the man himself).

One day Lou was preparing to leave on a business trip and he selected me to sit in for him and man his desk.  I knew the job pretty well, but of course I was a little nervous about taking the reins.  Louis sat me down and showed me all the reports that needed to be turned in, all the letters that needed answering, his list of meetings that needed attending and so on.  They he gave me what he called the one single piece of advice I needed to remember … “the shortest answer is ‘No’”.

That piece of advice has kept me out of a lot of contretemps and undoubtedly saved me hours of work in the rest of my government career.  I was always grateful for it.  But here in the Philippines?  I’m not so sure.  Perhaps it has lost some of its usefulness.

Wednesday or Thursday of last week I received an email for a business person in a “blogging media” corporation.  Just why bloggers should join forces under the umbrella of some sort of agency which ads levels of corporate management to what otherwise is an independent calling, I don’t know, but for them who feel the need for an outside boss, more power to them.

The email invited me to attend a “media event” food extravaganza and then asked me how much I would charge to write an article about the show.  The event was in Makati or someplace else I don’t travel to at night (people think I live in Manila, but I am really a country mouse in a little provincial town here, and getting me into Manila is a major undertaking).

I just answered the invitation with a simple “no thanks” and also added, in response to the writing query, that I didn’t write articles for pay.  Seemed simple and polite enough to me.

Well, the one thing you can never say here in the Philippines is a simple “no” … even if you add “thanks” to it.  Since that simple response, the client of the firm that originally contacted me has apparently canceled the event (goodness knows how many other bloggers were planning on going … they must all hate me now). I also received a 378 word email (long enough to be a blog post in itself) from the parent company assuring me in excruciating detail that they were the most honest company on the face of the earth, had more editorial integrity than the New York Times and Katie Couric put together and that they had terminated their business relationship with the firm that sent me the original invitation.

So in one two-line email I have managed to ruin a night out for who knows how many fellow bloggers, perhaps cost them fees they were planning on being paid and apparently got an up and coming media firm fired from a lucrative job with a major corporation.  All with one “no thanks”.

What a way to start my week.  a fire storm of proportions I never would have imagined.  And don’t forget, I haven’t heard from my dear asawa yet, she reads this column and I am sure will have a thing or two to say about my delicadeza … or lack of same.

Sorry Louis, your advice served me well for many years, but I’m afraid here in the Philippines it just won’t work.  From now on, whenever I receive an invitation from anyone I don’t know, I’m going to take the even simpler approach and just hit “Delete” and move on to the next message.  Even I can’t get in trouble for waht I don’t say.  Live and learn.

Whoever Said Isaac was Fair Lied To You

Do you know my friend Isaac?  Fair Isaac that is.  When people talk about their "credit score" in the USA (and who doesn’t, it seems to me) they are normally talking abut their FICO score.  FICO is the industry abbreviation for the Fair Isaac Company, the most powerful corporation in the USA, bar none, in my view.

Fair Isaac is the partner/contractor of all three major credit reporting companies and their job is to develop a numerical score which, is in Wikipedia’s words:

… A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person’s credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person, which is the perceived likelihood that the person will pay debts in a timely manner. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically sourced from credit bureaus / credit reference agencies. …

Several other developed countries such as Austria, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, the UK and many others all have some sort of credit score system for their citizens or permanent residents who make financial transactions "in country". 

In the US, in particular, FICO seems a two-edged sword.  there’s no doubt your FICO "number" is important, but there are also a lot of people who seem obsessed with it lately … it’s really hard to say who is totally right about the overall importance of a person’s FICO on a day-to-day basis.

Well, I have what is either good news or bad news … depends on how important your FICO (or home country equivalent score) is to you.  If you decide to move to the Philippines you will never encounter Fair Isaac or any other their other country equivalents here.

Philippine banking privacy laws are among the most rigid on earth.  They rival or even exceed the level of privacy of Swiss banks, Cayman island banks and others.

A bank who issues a credit card to you here in the Philippines basically can not report your credit history to anyone.  Your credit here (or lack of same) is strictly between you and your bank.  Want to do business with another bank?  Fine, it’s always advisable in my view to have more than one, but you will start again from day one … like a high school kid getting his or her first car loan.  There is no sharing or reciprocity of reporting between banks … indeed any "leakage" of customer’s data can prove to be a very nasty criminal prosecution issue, as well as a civil court matter that can drag on for decades. 

The Philippine government has, for years now, had enabling legislation "on the table" that would allow credit reporting, but politically speaking it can only be done by a government agency, and no government agency has so far volunteered to do it, so the legislation is essentially dead.

So if you have a "prestigious" FICO score back in the USA, good for you … but don’t expect it to open doors or provide any discounts on loan rates and such here.

If you happen to have a low FICO score, that’s dandy too.  It doesn’t matter if you earned the low score by recklessness, misfortune or even mistakes on the part of the credit agencies … it just doesn’t matter.  No one in the Philippines really cares about your FICO score and it has nothing to do with daily life here.  Just a little aspect of "culture shock" you may not have considered.

A tip from a layperson … always consult professionals in financial matters … if you do care about your FICO score and you think there is any possibility at all you may return to the US to live, I recommend you don’t do anything that would "burn your bridges".  Keep at least one US credit card "alive" with a US billing address and use the card 9responsibly. of course) on an occasional basis so that you still have a credit score if you ever return.  You won’t lose or gain credit score points based on any Philippine financial transactions, they are not reportable anywhere (the US IRS may be an exception to the rule ;-))