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One way I get my dollars here to the Philippines is to have them sent via paypal to the Philippines. Paypal is available in the Philippines and I can send, receive, and withdraw funds from paypal depositing them into my bank account. Not all banks here are paypal friendly at the moment. I have heard that paypal works with Banco De Oro(BDO) Bank in the Philippines but I use Union Bank of the Philippines. I would recommend using Union Bank simply because I know it works there. When signing up with paypal in the Philippines they will require you to provide a bank code number. I am providing a list of bank code numbers for Philippines banks. It usually takes me about 3 days to make a withdrawal to my bank account. You will also have to verify your physical address. Click the picture to see a shot of the fees for paypal Philippines. Click the banner and sign up...


ASIA UNITED BANK - 011020011
BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS - 010030015
BANCO DE ORO (& EPCIB) - 010530667
BANK OF COMMERCE - 010440016
BANK OF THE PHIL ISLANDS - 010040018
CITIBANK N.A. - 010070017
DEVT BANK OF THE PHILS - 010590018
LANDBANK OF THE PHILS - 010350025
MAYBANK OF THE PHILS - 010220016
METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST CO - 010269996
PHIL BANK OF COMMUNICATION - 010110016
PHIL TRUST COMPANY - 010090039
PHIL NATIONAL BANK - 010080010
PRUDENTIAL BANK - 010150018
PHIL VETERANS BANK - 010330016
RIZAL COMML BANKING CORP - 010280014
SECURITY BANK & TRUST CO - 010140015
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK - 010050011
UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK - 010299995
UNION BANK OF THE PHILS - 010419995
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK - 010270189

I get the occasional email now and then from random people who want to know how much money they need to live here. It's not a question I can just throw a number out to answer. I have noticed an increase of visitor's to my blog who seem to be looking for a place to escape America due to the declining economy. So I decided to give a quick post about how much I spend on living in the Philippines. So I'll put it like this. Many Filipino's make $2.00 a day and live here. Could an American live off of $2.00 a day? That sounds great to the average American but you have to consider that most Filipino's live in large families and use the money to support everybody under one roof. The dollar as I'm writing this at the moment is worth 48 pesos. $100 would then convert to 4,800 pesos. Sounds like alot but what can 4,800 pesos buy? Well let me try to make this easier for the mind of an American. Last time I was in America I think a can of coca-cola costs about .75 cents. That same can would cost you about 21 pesos here which is .44 cents USD. A pack of cigarettes is around $5.00 in the US but here on my island you can get a whole carton of cigarettes for 300 pesos which is $6.23 USD.
My apartment I'm living in at the moment is a 2 bedroom 1 bath. Its two story and has all the space I need. I am paying 7000 pesos/$145 a month. I then have to pay for water and electric. My last water/electric bill was 3,500php/$72 and I run my air conditioner constantly because its hot here. I live in a gated community and its quite and I've never had any trouble with anyone living here. Eating here is another matter. Most of the foreigners I know living here seem to eat much like myself. I'm lucky enough to have a Pizza Hut and a McDonald's here and frequent them often.
How Much is a Pizza at Pizza hut?
My last meal there was a medium pepperoni pizza, 1 order of garlic bread, 1 personal pan, 2 Pepsi's and I paid about 550pesos/$11.43USD.
I spend about 150 pesos/$3.12 to fill up my motorcycle.
So as long as you can keep dollars coming in to the country you can live relatively cheap providing that the economy in the US doesn't collapse all together.

I hope this helps give you an idea of what your going to need...

I just recently had to upgrade my PC. I think the Philippines can be very hard on a computer due to the heat and the dust that collects. My PC was in need of an upgrade considering it was going on 5 years of ownership. I just ended up getting a new motherboard and processor which seemed to do the trick. I also decided to give this blog an upgrade. I know its a little buggy still but hopefully I can iron out the wrinkles here shortly.

I woke up early one morning to drive down to the fish market. You can get some really great deals on some very fresh fish if you can get out of bed. As I was driving I realized I took a wrong turn and stopped my motorcycle to go back from whence I came. As I was just about to head back I noticed there was a little puppy on the side of the road. My wife has been wanting a puppy for awhile now but I have been against the idea because I prefer to see a dog have more room than what I can provide at the moment. I always see these animals tied up with about 3 feet of available movement. So anyways, my wife gets off the motorcycle and grabs this puppy and get back on like nothing just happened. So I look at her and I say "what are you going to do with that?". She tells me she will take care of it. The puppy doesn't move or make a sound. It just sits there resting on her lap as she sits on the motorcycle. So against my better judgement I drove back home with little guy who is in poor health. I'm not sure where that puppy even came from. There were no homes along this highway and there were no other dogs that even resembled this one. I'm not sure if he would have lived through the day if we hadn't taken him.
We made sure to have the vet here check him out and we got him his shots. He had a nasty case of worms as well. I think he's all better now and he is like a completely different animal. He is full of energy and I spend alot of my time trying to train him to pee outside. I wish he wasn't so time consuming but he is. So here is a picture of my crazy dog "Barker".
More to come...

I haven't been to America in some time now but I do still look into what is happening in my home country. It seems as if Americans are becoming less free everyday all in the name of the war on terror. I find myself very concerned about this. It actually affects my sleep. I often wonder about whether or not the Jews saw it coming. I mean one day they were just living their lives in Germany and then the next thing they knew they were all living in prison camps. I've personally been through the airports and had been treated like I was some kind of terrorist just because I came from the Philippines. When I see videos such as this one, I am completely amazed with the scare tactics being used on anybody and everybody. I really wanted to post this video because this is a guy who understands that he does have rights and lives in a free country. I think most people would have given in and submitted to the will of the officers and let them search their property. Most Americans today are simply uneducated about what rights they do have and what the laws are in their own country. They have just been so absorbed with movies, football, and the night life that they have all become lazy on important issues in the world. Just letting the people at the top run the show while those people at the top work in the shadows to turn their world into some kind of Nazi Germany. This is the kind of video you won't see on mainstream news. These are the kinds of things that are happening everywhere all across America. I see on average at least one video a week of someone being harassed or beaten by officers of the law. Check it out and draw your own conclusion..