More “living in the Philippines” for Australian Filipina couples

  The Harvie family have been living in the Philippines full-time just over 7 years now. Right from the start it was intended to be a full-time move, and it remains so. Most people I spoke to who had lived here as Australians in the Philippines for a long time told me that the gloss would rub off and within 3 – 5 years I would hate the place and desperately want to come back, but we’re still here.    

Why do Australians stop living in the Philippines?

This would apply to most westerners (or “foreigners”, as we’re called here) living in the Philippines, but I’m an Aussie and so are most of the readers of FilipinaWives so I say “Australians”. Why would an Aussie say “had enough” and go back to Australia after a plan to settle here?  

Money issues in the Philippines

Yes, clearly I would think money would be the number one reason to stop living in the Philippines. You can live cheaply here, or you can live the high life. All extremes are possible. The issue is when someone has needs and wants which are more costly than their income. Many an Aussie comes here with rose-coloured glasses on, believing that life here will be an extension of their trips here. The reality is that many underestimate living costs and overestimate their financial capability. This applies both to those on fixed incomes like pensions, and to those who think they'll make a successful business here.  

Pressure from Filipino families

This would probably be the number two reason, although in some families it may be number one to cease living in the Philippines. And this will depend largely on where the priorities of you Filipina wife lie. I have a very loyal wife, and her relatives all know this. Our nuclear family, ie Mila and myself and our kids, they always come first. The wants and needs of the relatives come a clear second, and they know this too. They don’t even suggest that they get handouts or special favours under the table, and in fact I’m more generous toward them than Mila is. This is not the case in every Australian Filipina relationship here, though. Many a Filipino family regards the Australian husband as balato (a lucky windfall that they all get to share in, like a lottery win), and many a wife….especially a younger wife…..has difficulty in saying NO. If you can’t be confident that you won’t be abused by mooching relatives, you are better off not coming here in the first place. If you’re not sure, this should be something you and your wife discuss long before you come here. When I first met my inlaws many years ago and there were some clashes of expectation, I told her she needed to choose where her loyalty would lie because she couldn’t expect to please everybody. Fortunately she chose well. Not all ladies do.  

The ”dignified poor” Filipinos versus the “beggars”

I discussed this issue with Mila yesterday. She grew up in a nipa hut. Mum and dad and nine kids. Mila at 7 years old with one of her sisters used to walk around the town selling food that her mother had cooked, and she did this before she went to school. She washed clothes by hand for the neighbours when she was only a few years older. This was her life. I asked her if her parents or older siblings had ever encouraged her to beg? Ever send her to win favour with wealthier relatives or neighbours in order to get a handout? Never! We have relatives and relatives-of-relatives as well as those very keen on being friendly with us, and it’s been for the sole purpose of begging favours, handouts, gifts and support. You could just about cut the insincerity with a knife. I don’t blame the kids. They’re just doing what they’re told to do. I feel sorry for them being trained to be beggars, and I have nothing but contempt for the parents using the kids in such a way. This can certainly make life here very difficult for Australian expats. Best advice? If you think you may want to live in Philippines, then great. You may be one of the successful ones, and I hope you are. I think this is a wonderful place to live. But do yourselves a favour and try living here for a year before you make a full commitment. Don’t burn your bridges.  

The following article More “living in the Philippines” for Australian Filipina couples wasis republished from Filipina Wives Blog

The Filipino Comfort Room – The great oxymoron

 

The Filipino Comfort Room (CR)

Australian slang has so many words for that room with a toilet in it. The dunny. The loo. The bog. The thunder box. Most of us Aussies could prattle off about another 10 - 15 without even straining the brain. In the Philippines they call it the "Comfort Room" (or CR). Maybe it's just me, but I can think of many places more comfortable! Read and learn if you are in an Australian Filipina relationship, as you will need to face this several times a day when you visit anywhere other than a flash hotel in the Philippines.      

Some Comfort Room peculiarities

Goodness me! Where does one start? I wasn't too shocked when I first came across one of these little rooms. I had traveled in Asia in my youth before I came here, and after a public dunny under the streets in what was then Bombay that contained beggars, it takes a bit to shock me. I think one in an Auntie's house in Pasig where there was no light and where everything was as wet as a limestone cave was probably one of the worst. It's the lack of dryness which probably bothers me the most, so I can start there. Yes, Philippines CR's are a damp affair. Water everywhere! And trying to emerge without looking like you still 2 years old with a lack of bladder control, this can be difficult. I detest it when my shorts become a blotter for toilet floor water. I don't know why it is that a trip to the bog for a Filipino necessitates getting water a metre-and-a-half up four walls as well as creating a swimming pool on the floor. They usually have small bottoms. How much water is actually needed?  

Bum-washing rather than dunny paper

I've long thought this was a more hygienic practice than the western practice of using a roll of semi-absorbent paper to clean such a grubby area. I won't go into graphic detail, but obviously a good dousing with water will be cleaner and more effective. The inventor of the dunny roll makes me think of the inventor of the chopstick. Who ever agreed with them that these were fantastic ideas?? Water was already invented, for goodness sakes! In the Philippines, they have a bucket and a tabo. This is a little plastic dipper with a handle, which normally sits in a bucket of water under the single solitary tap. The idea is to tip or toss water onto the icky regions and to give a good wash with the hand. Pretty straight forward.

The 4 CR essentials!

The Filipino Toilet Bowl

An Aussie will notice a lack of what we consider essentials, namely a cistern and a seat! There's also a complete lack of design flair. We purchased one for a local school once. Cost P500.00, so I suppose you get what you pay for. This is part of why I say that the word "comfort" in "Philippines Comfort Room" makes it a serious oxymoron. So you can either sit on this charming little bowl, or you can do what most of the locals do and squat on it. Ever used one and wondered why it looked like there were dirty footprints on the two side edges? Probably because that WAS dirty footprints on the two side edges! So you do what you need to do....give a good wash of your nether-regions with the tabo.....and you hoick the rest of the bucket contents down the bowl with sufficient enthusiasm to send your contribution down the pipes and out of site! This may take a few goes, and don't be surprised when it never looks Harpic-fresh!  

Comfort issues in the Philippines CR

Can you use toilet paper? I told my two sons on their first visit to the Philippines that the plumbing here only used 50mm piping, so that use of dunny paper would block up the toilet. Should have seen the look of horror on their faces! Fortunately I was only making it up so as to make them panic! Sewer piping here is 100mm just as it is in Australia. It can normally cope with paper, just as it can back home. I suppose you just need to be aware that flinging a bucket of water down there doesn't create the same force as a damned good flush of an Aussie cistern. So copious amounts of paper coupled with minimal water pressure may cause some issues. There is a strange custom particularly in public CR's of asking CR-patrons to toss their used paper into a waste bin there. Why? I have NO idea! YUCK!! I repeat, YUCK!!!!! There is no practical reason for this, though. How do you keep your clothes dry? Not always easy! I have a mop permanently in our downstairs bathroom at home here. Some dunnies, especially service station dunnies when traveling, I walk in......and walk straight out of. Some literally have an inch of water on the floor. As a general rule, the art seems to be to lower the pants with one hand, and hold them up with the other. And to use, say, left hand to hold up the clothing away from the soggy floor and to never let it go. Or if you DO happen to find a dry patch, you can always remove them and leave them there until you're ready to put them back on again. But dry patches are rare in the ocean that is the Philippines comfort room! The bum sprayer, bum washer, or "hand bidet" If you are in a more luxurious Philippines bathroom, you may well find one of these handy little items. Consider buying some at the hardware and taking them back to Australia, as they are brilliant! Don't buy extra-cheap flimsy ones, or you will regret it. I think you can figure it out!

Showering, or "taking a bath"

The Filipino CR is also a place of bathing.....showering......"taking a bath", as Filipinos call washing yourself. No bathtubs. Rarely a shower. Even more rare to have hot water. See that single tap, the bucket and the tabo? THAT is generally the shower. The instruments of comfort! This is what is sometimes known in other parts of the world as a "bucket bath". How? You squat down on the floor. You tabo the water from the bucket over yourself. You soap yourself up. You use the tabo to rinse the soap off. You're done! And yes, the water is nice and cold! Some may add some boiling water to it to take the freezing edge off it, but most simply tough it out. And before you scream like a schoolgirl, remember that your delicate little Filipina lady did the same thing today probably just before you did without making a sound. Don't embarrass yourself, man!   By the way. A little funny story. Here you will often see a roll of toilet paper in someones house. They will refer to it as "tissue", because a tissue, a dunny roll and a serviette here are all called "tissue". This is therefore "tissue". But here the bog roll is used for nose-wiping, hand-wiping, polishing things and general cleaning. One of my daughters was shocked to see it hanging up on a holder in our CR when she first arrived from the province. Silliest thing she'd seen in a long time, she thought. Why would you put it in the CR? Had no concept of it being used to wipe the bum with. So as usual in the Philippines, keep your sense of humour. You're going to need it!            

The following article The Filipino Comfort Room – The great oxymoron wasis republished from Filipina Wives

Loaning money in the Philippines – The pitfalls

  The Philippines is a poor country. To most Filipinos, you as an Australian will be…..or at least appear….to be very rich! So you will always have people wanting to borrow money from you. Sometimes they are sincere, and other times they are just taking advantage of your perceived huge Australian wallet. How to handle it? Important lessons here for anyone in an Australian Filipina relationship.  

The results of me trying to draw with a mouse-pointer!

   

Filipinos wanting to borrow money. What do you do?

The Philippines is a poor country. Many Filipinos live day to day, and sometimes even those who are professionals will tend to spend rather than save. They have money in their pocket, and they go to Starbucks. They land a job, and they get a motorbike with a loan to pay off. The neighbor buys a new car, so they go and get a new car…with a loan to pay off. Then the school feels come up. Or someone gets sick and ends up in hospital. There’s no money, so they end up on your doorstep trying to borrow money. And you find yourself in a position where you have a harsh decision to make, often at the last minute, whether to say yes or no. It occurred to me when I thought about this that there are six people in the Philippines who are alive today because of us. Three of them are children who now live with us. One is a child who spent a year living with us. Two are adults who are alive today 10 years afterwards. There are also two adults who didn’t make it, despite us providing money. So at least I know that those situations were real.  

Real need or scam? The quandary!

I’m happy to be generous. Part of the effect of being with my wonderful Filipina wife (plus my Christian faith, which I won’t bother anyone with today) is that I’m a fairly generous and caring dude, and my wife Mila is the most caring and generous person I’ve ever known. So we’re always happy to help where we can. But one thing I cannot stand is being played, scammed or conned! Cannot stand it at all. The quandary is that unless it’s someone you’ve had a good track record with, you don’t know if the need is genuine or if you are being fed a sad story. The cliché in the Philippines is the “sick carabao” story. Invariably it’s something either heart-wrenching, eg. someone sick in hospital and will die otherwise, or school fees and child will miss out on education, or possibly something that hits your inner-entrepreneur when they tell you of the great business they want to start so they can take care of their family properly. The problem is you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place! Do you take the risk and bear the possible tragic consequences? The Philippines doesn’t have the same welfare-state provisions as Australia does. How does your conscience cope if something bad happens and you didn’t help? Again, if you know them and believe them? Then the decision is yours, and your conscience plus the size of your bank balance will help you decide. Always exercise prudence though, especially if you live here in the Philippines and where ending up flat on your face due to over-generosity may be something very hard to recover from. Even if your intentions are as pure as freshly fallen snow, accept that you won’t be much help to your extended Filipino family in the future if you go broke this time. No one has a bottomless pit of money. I know we don’t!  

The scammers and the liars

You usually learn who they are the hard way. They con you. They get away with it. Hopefully you learn. The Jeff Harvie way? Loan them a small amount first time they ask. Then wait and see what happens. We have a niece who tried that out on us. Borrow a thousand pesos, and will pay it back next month? Sure! Next month? Can I borrow another P1,000.00? No! Then we had her sick kid with Tuberculosis (TB)! The conscience said “Maybe it’s true, and not prepared to take the risk”! Turns out child had been getting treatment already, and thought they could then get it for free via the rich white Australian uncle. And to me? A skinny Filipino kid with a fat mother means is not a real charity case! OK, it cost us a few thousand pesos. But we now know exactly what she is made of! It will never happen again. To me, I think it’s wrong to reward anyone for scamming and lying, as you only encourage them to do more of it. You’re standing in the way of them ever waking up to themselves or becoming responsible and self-reliant.  And I’m talking scammers here. Not those who work as hard as they can, but the reality of their lack of education etc. keeps them down. I’m talking about those who suck up to you and tell you the sad stories so they can manipulate your emotions. They smile sweetly. They sing your praises to your face. And the other things about loans to Filipino scammers? Not only won’t you see it again, you will become the scum of the earth when you finally say “No more loans!” We just had someone pay us back P100,000.00 that we loaned them……10 years before! Paid it back because they incorrectly thought we were talking about them behind their backs and they wanted to save face (hiya), and now they hate us with a passion. Yes, there’s always hiya issues when it comes to loans. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. You will definitely offend someone when you say no, but at least you get to keep your dignity intact, and you don’t reward someone for doing the wrong thing!    

The following article Loaning money in the Philippines – The pitfalls wasRead more at: Jeff Harvie of Down Under Visa

Romantic, old-fashioned girls in the Philippines

  The times they are a’changing, of course. Facebook and access to the internet has exposed the Philippines to changing moral values, yet Filipina girls are mostly still old fashioned romantics at heart. Romantic Filipinas wherever you look.    

 

Filipina girls and morality

I wrote an article recently about the decline in morality in the Philippines amongst young people, and I stand by that. Please read HERE if you haven’t already done so. The Philippines used to be the bastion of innocence. If a girl wasn’t married, good chance she was still a virgin waiting on Mr Right to come and ask her parents if he may court her. She would go on dates with you if she had a chaperone with her, and as long as her parents knew when she would be home. Since then? Facebook and Nicki Minaj videos and Miley Cyrus “discovering who she is” through promiscuity. These are the new role models, instead of their virtuous mothers and grandmothers. Let me explain why I think this is sad, and also why I think there’s still hope.  

Filipina girls are romantic

A “tough” attitude toward morality may well work for some women. There are tough women out there in the world, no doubt. Nicki and Beyonce are probably pretty tough. But it is doomed to failure when the girl is soft-hearted and romantic by nature, and that’s what the average Filipina girl is. I’m realizing lately that Filipina girls, even the younger millennials (teens to maybe mid to late 20’s), haven’t actually changed much in essence. The very fact that they still use the word “courting” is a bit of a hint. In most cases? Most Filipinas give their hearts once! They fall for a chap, and they hang on for dear life. Bed-hopping and having sex as a “good way to pass the time”? Rarely! Most girls fall head over heels for a boy or man, and they can and will love him for the rest of their lives. How about the young men of the Philippines? Is the average Filipino male a soft-hearted romantic? No. No, sadly not. And this is especially so when he’s young and at his most virile. He’s much the same as any other teenage to mid 20’s young men. He’s on the hunt, and he wants to populate the world. The more the merrier. And what could be better for him in this quest than a large number of romantic females who have new-found sexual freedom and Miley in their ears singing “It’s our party we can love who we want”? And at the end of the day, are these girls actually getting what they want? Most of the ones I see are ending up miserable, because the boys are not in love at all. They want sex, and they get sex by claiming they’re in love. And the girls believe this. And if the boys cheat on the girl and get caught out? They tell the girl how sorry they are, and she forgives them! And it keeps on going until the girl joins the expanding (literally!) crowd of Filipina single mothers. Because these fine young men don’t like using condoms and the girls accept this!  

The good thing about romantic Filipinas

You were probably wondering where I was going with this. Yes, I was having a bit of a rant because I find the whole thing sad. Lovely girls trying out cool new ideas and making themselves miserable in the process. And young men acting like animals with no restraint because of this. Boys have conquest stories to tell, whilst girls get broken hearts. What’s the positive side? The positive side is that a romantic girl is a great catch for a decent man with a soft heart, and that describes most Australian men. The average Aussie male is a fairly straight-forward and often unrefined sort of bloke, but with a kind and honest nature. And decades of rampant feminism have made many of us really crave a good woman who will treat us with kindness and sweetness. And once we find her, we treasure her and will happily take care of her. Combine this with a romantic girl who wants a knight in shining armour to sweep her up, marry her and build a family with her, and you have a great combination. Keep treating her well, and that old-fashioned and romantic nature will remain. Always tell her you love her. Never stop “dating” with your wife. And never forget how incredibly lucky you are, and be sure to tell her regularly. Do this and you’ll have many happy years.    

The following blog post Romantic, old-fashioned girls in the Philippines was first published on Jeff Harvie of Down Under Visa

The dreaded TAMPO – How to deal with it effectively

  Tampo. Magtampo in full. If you are in an Australian Filipina relationship, you soon learn the meaning of tampo. This is the great sulk. Being in a huff. It’s a source of confusion and misery to many an unprepared Australian man.    

 

What is a tampo?

I detest the Filipina tampo. I really do. Fortunately after many years of being a great husband and teaching-by-example my Filipina wife the benefit of free and open communication it rarely rears its ugly head these days, although I did just have to deal with a bad outburst from one of our extended family over the last few days so it’s not ancient history to me. I also live in the Philippines fulltime, so it’s never that far away.

So what exactly is a tampo, to the uninitiated?

It’s a way of NOT dealing with a problem, and of ensuring whatever the problem is? That it will never go away! It’s the human-interaction version of sweeping dirt under the carpet. The dirt remains, and the lump in the carpet gets larger and people trip over it. It’s not the Filipino way to deal with problems and issues directly. It’s not usual for someone to react to something they don’t like, and less likely they will speak up and say “Hey, I don’t like that! Please stop doing it! It makes me feel bad, so please stop!” This is in fact the negative side to those perpetual Filipina smiles. Yes, definitely, Filipinos are generally happy and easy-going and pretty tolerant of imperfections and faults in others. However they are also human beings, and no one is that happy all the time. Please read my previous article on “onion skin” (being thin-skinned), which is a Filipino characteristic. And fellahs? Be aware of that certain special time of the month where skins are extra-thin and tempers may be on-edge because of hormones. Often a time to be especially careful not to push boundaries and to watch your tongue. So what happens is the pressure of un-fixed problems builds up, and it leads to an explosion. However it’s not a practical explosion. If it was an explosion of “Hey! You keep making fun of me in front of the neighbours, and it hurts my feelings. I want you to stop!” then it might even help! It might make that person see what they’re doing, and maybe things will get better. But that’s not how a tampo works. It’s never so practical and helpful. Tampo is characterized by appallingly bad communication. The Filipina having the tampo does some or all of these things:

• Won’t talk

• Definitely won’t tell you what the problem is, as you should already know. May utter a few unhelpful phrases.

• Resists all attempts to fix the problem

• Will appear perfectly normal to others if answering the phone or greeting someone at the door, but will soon return to tampo when dealing with you

• May run off somewhere, possibly for several days

• Bang cupboard doors and slam things around

• May do a great deal of cleaning, or may retreat to bedroom, sometimes for days

This will remain until she gets over it. May apologise, or may not. Definitely will not discuss it, and attempts to say “Let’s talk about it” may trigger a recurrence.  

How to deal with a tampo

How do you deal with a tampo when it happens? To be honest? Not a whole lot you can do when she’s in mid-tampo. At this point all logic is switched off, and if you push too hard you will probably make it worse. She may storm off in the middle of the night and put herself in danger. Dragging suitcases down the road and attempting to walk to the airport to fly back to the Philippines at 2:00am in the middle of winter? These things have happened! You may also end up both saying things that become hard to take back later. Think carefully before you attempt a proactive intervention at this point! Most of the time, you will need to weather the storm and try not to make it worse! Not saying to ignore it. Just saying to delay until a more effective time.  

Should you do malambing?

Malambing…..or lambing…..basically means “sucking up”. Being extraordinarily sweet and attentive. This is the usual advice given, and many a Filipina expects this. My belief? NEVER do this! NEVER “suck up”, and NEVER apologise for something you don’t even understand. This is just reinforcing and in fact rewarding some very negative and destructive behavior. Tampo is not the behavior of an adult who is committed to her marriage. It’s spoilt-child behavior, and shouldn’t be tolerated let alone rewarded. And unless you did something where you really should have known better about, (ie. unless you cheated on her or acted like a complete pig) then you deserved for this to have been handled in a mature way…..not this way! So yes, thinking about it, if she’s having tampo because you did something bad, then sure. Do all the malambing you can. And more importantly, apologise sincerely and try not to do it again. But not because you failed your mind-reading class at school!  

But otherwise, what should you actually do?

• You should talk about this when she’s calmed down and a few days have passed.

• You should let her know that you are sorry she felt that way, but confirm that you had no idea that anything that you or anybody did was causing her hurt. And that had she simply explained it to you when it happened the first or the second time, you would have stopped it or done what was in your power to stop it.

• And help her to understand that while that may have been her way before, that this is no way for a committed married couple to behave. Either the tampos stop, or the marriage is basically doomed. They are cruel, hurtful and very destructive.

• You should encourage her to tell you what she thinks and feels about things on a daily basis. If she say “No, really I’m fine” then you should push a bit harder. Let her know that you want to know because you care about her. Let her see that telling you is actually easy, and that it leads to positive outcomes, ie. that nice feeling that comes from realizing someone actually gets you, plus seeing some problems and concerns actually get fixed.

• Make sure you do the same thing. Tell her your feelings too. The good AND the bad.

  Make the time to talk at the end of the day, and develop some positive habits. And hopefully problems will get nipped in the bud rather than building up and being a source of misery. And work hard to make this a thing of the past, or you may well see the love slip away.    

The following blog post The dreaded TAMPO – How to deal with it effectively wasis courtesy of www.filipinawives.com.au

Onion skin – Bruised Filipino pride

  Filipinos are the nicest and kindest people in the world, but they tend to have “onion skin”. Filipino pride is easily hurt, and the reaction is not always rational. And it’s really important that you understand this if you’re in an Australian Filipina relationship, and that you grasp this aspect of Filipino culture. (more…)

The following post Onion skin – Bruised Filipino pride wasis republished from www.filipinawives.com.au

Philippines – Hand in pocket

 

The Philippines - A cash society

Yes, the Philippines is most definitely a cash-society. EFTPOS terminals are rare, as are credit card facilities. Even at Down Under Visa, we don’t have a credit card terminal or even one of those swiping things which makes an imprint on a form. Down Under Visa, yes…..but can’t use your visa card in our office. We rely on direct EFT deposits into our account or the ever-convenient PayPal for payments.

 

   

In Australia, I could go for days without ever reaching for my wallet. And I could get away with a debit card (ATM card) for just about everything. Buy fuel…buy the groceries at the supermarket, etc? Use the card, put in the PIN, and you’re in business. Not so easy here. You really need to have cash with you, or you could find yourself caught short at an inconvenient time.

The other issue is that of security. Not sure I would want to wave a credit card around at every little place that accepted them. In SM or a major hotel? Sure. But in a local 7-11 or at the Petron? I’d be a bit concerned about where the numbers may end up.

 

ATM and credit card security

The Philippines is a third-world country. There are less “have’s” and more “have-not’s”. Plenty of people who live day to day, and lacking marketable and employable skills many turn to crime. And you are a white man….a rich foreigner….so that makes you a target. You will stand out regardless of how unobtrusive you try to be. So you need to watch your cash, and most importantly your credit cards and ATM cards. They could easily drain your account if they can access your ATM. And whilst you can generally get money back from fraudulent use of your credit card, you still need to prove it.

ATM cards? You want to make sure you only use them in safe places, and that means genuine ATM machines that have not been tampered with. Dodgy-looking solitary machines out the front of minor malls somewhere? Or in places that are not well-lit? If someone puts a card-skimmer onto the card slot, then you could have all your data as well as your PIN scanned and stolen. So use some commonsense.

 

Paying cash for everything in the Philippines

Nearly everything here is done for cash. Australia still has many free things, especially those small things which seem too petty to ask for money for. I’ve even had glasses (eye glasses….not drinking glasses) repaired by optometrists in Australia for free. You get air in the car tyres for free. You get a JP to witness documents for free. And whilst it may depend on the church, you can get baptised, married and buried all for free. Not so in the Philippines! Get the priest to bless your house, and the hand goes out! I have difficulty in adjusting to that, I can tell you.

I suppose much of this must come down to whether you generally have enough that (a) you don’t need to chase small amounts of money, plus (b) you have a bit of an abundance and are therefore reasonably happy to share. Here whilst the Filipino friend, neighbor or relative may have enough goodness in his heart to want to help you, he may not have the abundance to share or the cash to do that thing.

That means if they collect you from the airport, chances are the van needs to be paid for. If they have you around for dinner, maybe they can’t afford the lechon manok or the coca cola that they want to offer you. Have a headache? Chances are there’s no paracetamol in the house and someone needs to rush off and buy two.

And other issue is genuine poverty. The person who can only get a job collecting P5 for use of the public toilet, or for guiding you into traffic when you leave the mall, or for putting air in your tyres, that might be essential for feeding his kids. No one gives tips in Australia, because people are paid well. Not so in the Philippines. It’s pretty well accepted that those who can give, should give. It’s rarely very much. So be prepared to share some of the abundance that you have with those who do not.

 

Further Reading

Visiting the Philippines – Be Careful (Part Two) – Money Risks

That's how much in Aussie money?

 

The following post Philippines – Hand in pocket wasis republished from Filipina Wives