General Info

Here in the Philippines, the only country where carbon paper is considered state-of-the-art, I had two memetic, but amusing experiences in the course of a single day that I thought might illuminate (if such is needed) how completely antediluvian are the management practices here:

1. Though my MetroBank account was opened in Davao, I now spend most of the workweek in Manila. Today, I needed to deposit Php50,000 cash in my account, for which I was charged a "service fee" of Php100. Why? "Well sir, you're not in Davao, so we have to charge you Php50 for using a Metro Manila branch. Also sir, you're depositing more than Php49,000 so there's an extra fee of Php50," as if now that she explained, it would all make perfect sense.

2. I have a post-paid Smart number, and my wife has a post-paid Globe number. Her contract is at an end, and so I wanted to switch her over to Smart, since I think it's (very) marginally better than Globe. I called my Smart representative and she was nice enough to send someone to my house who got all the paperwork done there, took a copy of my credit card, gave us a new sim and told us that the new number would be active in 24 hours. Now, 72 hours or so later, it's not active. Wondering why, I called the rep who, it turns out, is in Cotabato and can't be reached. Undeterred, I called Smart in Manila, only to be told there's nothing they can do and seemed surprised when I seemed surprised. So today, I got a text from the rep saying that he had no Internet in Cotabato and couldn't activate the sim from there, but would stop by the house tomorrow to collect a Php1,800 deposit. When I asked him (a) why, if he needed cash he didn't collect it 3 days ago when he was at my house and (b) why, since everything gets charged to a credit card of which he has a copy, he needs any cash at all? That was an hour ago and I'm still awaiting the response that will never come. Finally, I got an email from Globe today, telling me my request was being "processed" and the rep would contact me within the next 24 hours with "the results. " So, 3-4 different stories in one day, many of them conflicting, and none of them resulting in an activated sim.

I've no idea what's going to happen to this place in 2015, when, in theory, all of the ASEAN economies will become more integrated, and in theory, any company or citizen from one ASEAN country will be able to work / compete in any other ASEAN country. If this actually occurs, the Philippines will be largely out of business as Singaporean and Malaysian banks and telcos wipe out the local business overnight.

GE.

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;1641469]

I've no idea what's going to happen to this place in 2015, when, in theory, all of the ASEAN economies will become more integrated, and in theory, any company or citizen from one ASEAN country will be able to work / compete in any other ASEAN country. If this actually occurs, the Philippines will be largely out of business as Singaporean and Malaysian banks and telcos wipe out the local business overnight.

GE.[/QUOTE]Your story doesn't surprise but loved the carbon paper state of the art line!

I saw a chart of comparative GDP figures recently and was suprised (others may not be) to realise that the GDP's of both Hong Kong and its equally tiny competitor, Singapore, basically match the GDP of the Philippines. Should the ASEAN integration proceed, and I'm really not sure what the current status of that is, then the Philippines will indeed only go further and further behind.

P.S. English spellings apply above.

My assessment of the proposed integration is that it will mirror that of the European Union.

In my opinion, formed many years ago, the difficulty with this kind of proposal is that there is an underlying assumption that behaviors and motivations of all of the countries are similar.

The reality is that they are very dissimilar. And this is what has caused the problems with the EU with respect to economies.

Every sovereign nation state has an economic safety valve with respect to its economy, which is the devaluation, or revaluation of its currency.

It was the removal of this safety valve in the EU which created the economic problems that exist now.

Similarly, the same problem will come into being if the Asian countries opt for a common currency. For as long as they each have independent currencies, the problem should not manifest itself.

One possibility is that if a central control agency and central court is created, to develop and maintain rules for interaction and behavior, then this may begin to eradicate some, or much, of the corruption that exists in the Philippines. Then watch the economy take off and fly.

Wow.

For example, the highly corrupted land titling system will be forced to renew itself, and average people will then be able to leverage property to create wealth. Wow.

G

[QUOTE=FreebieFan;1641475]Your story doesn't surprise but loved the carbon paper state of the art line!

I saw a chart of comparative GDP figures recently and was suprised (others may not be) to realise that the GDP's of both Hong Kong and its equally tiny competitor, Singapore, basically match the GDP of the Philippines. Should the ASEAN integration proceed, and I'm really not sure what the current status of that is, then the Philippines will indeed only go further and further behind.

P.S. English spellings apply above.[/QUOTE]

Does anybody know if foreigners can legally lease land in the Philippines?

If so, what are the limits and rules?

Happy mongering,

G

[QUOTE=Gangles;1641638]Does anybody know if foreigners can legally lease land in the Philippines?

If so, what are the limits and rules?

Happy mongering,

G[/QUOTE]Yes. Read this [URL]http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7652.htm#.VFuz6jTF9LC[/URL].

[QUOTE=Gangles;1641638]Does anybody know if foreigners can legally lease land in the Philippines?

If so, what are the limits and rules?

Happy mongering,

G[/QUOTE]So, yes, as shown by Hutsori, land can be leased by foreigners. No problem, right? Well, this is the Philippines, so there are Always Problems. A major one to consider is the archaic, corrupted, disorganized land title cesspool. How can one be sure that the leaser is the only one with title to the property? The general rule of thumb for businesses and land is that it can be yours until anyone better connected and more powerful, wants it. Welcome Alice, to Wonderland!

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;1641469]Here in the Philippines, the only country where carbon paper is considered state-of-the-art, I had two memetic, but amusing experiences in the course of a single day that I thought might illuminate (if such is needed) how completely antediluvian are the management practices here:

1. Though my MetroBank account was opened in Davao, I now spend most of the workweek in Manila. Today, I needed to deposit Php50,000 cash in my account, for which I was charged a "service fee" of Php100. Why? "Well sir, you're not in Davao, so we have to charge you Php50 for using a Metro Manila branch. Also sir, you're depositing more than Php49,000 so there's an extra fee of Php50," as if now that she explained, it would all make perfect sense.

2. I have a post-paid Smart number, and my wife has a post-paid Globe number. Her contract is at an end, and so I wanted to switch her over to Smart, since I think it's (very) marginally better than Globe. I called my Smart representative and she was nice enough to send someone to my house who got all the paperwork done there, took a copy of my credit card, gave us a new sim and told us that the new number would be active in 24 hours. Now, 72 hours or so later, it's not active. Wondering why, I called the rep who, it turns out, is in Cotabato and can't be reached. Undeterred, I called Smart in Manila, only to be told there's nothing they can do and seemed surprised when I seemed surprised. So today, I got a text from the rep saying that he had no Internet in Cotabato and couldn't activate the sim from there, but would stop by the house tomorrow to collect a Php1,800 deposit. When I asked him (a) why, if he needed cash he didn't collect it 3 days ago when he was at my house and (b) why, since everything gets charged to a credit card of which he has a copy, he needs any cash at all? That was an hour ago and I'm still awaiting the response that will never come. Finally, I got an email from Globe today, telling me my request was being "processed" and the rep would contact me within the next 24 hours with "the results. " So, 3-4 different stories in one day, many of them conflicting, and none of them resulting in an activated sim.

I've no idea what's going to happen to this place in 2015, when, in theory, all of the ASEAN economies will become more integrated, and in theory, any company or citizen from one ASEAN country will be able to work / compete in any other ASEAN country. If this actually occurs, the Philippines will be largely out of business as Singaporean and Malaysian banks and telcos wipe out the local business overnight.

GE.[/QUOTE]Things are not much better in my home country with regards to Banks & Telco's but I feel your pain GE, know it well from personal experience. When you develop connections with the 'right people' in the Philippines its amazing how all these problems fade away. No more standing queues, no more frustrating catch 22 bureaucracy. Everything is so easy with a txt / email / call to insiders. Gaining access to the privileged class here is like living in a different country.

With regard to the ASEAN FTA's, many are enthusiastically optimistic and many business people see it as not likely until maybe 2020. Even then it is going to cause a lot of pain.

AV.

[QUOTE=Questor55;1641698]. . . <SNIP> . . . A major one to consider is the archaic, corrupted, disorganized land title cesspool. How can one be sure that the leaser is the only one with title to the property? The general rule of thumb for businesses and land is that it can be yours until anyone better connected and more powerful, wants it [/QUOTE]Questor raises the appropriate flag of caution.

My wife and I sought to buy several parcels of rice farming land in Nthn Luzon 3 or 4 years ago.

We were lucky to have a diligent and well-qualified lawyer.

Out of around 20 titles that we were "offered", probably 15 of them were "invalid", even though they were being held by the current owner.

What transpires is that people sell land to one another simply by exchanging money for the title but then do not take it to the Government Authority for proper endorsement and payment of the transfer fees etc. These fees seem quite low to me but for a subsistence farmer I guess they are too much to contemplate.

When I come along and want to transfer the land into our names (meaning my wife's), the current holder of the title is rarely the owner listed on the title and on the official register, and there are usually several years worth of unpaid and overdue land tax debts due for payment. These can run into the tens of thousands.

If you buy or lease ANY land, be sure to establish the bona fides of the title and be sure that it is free of encumbrances (meaning that all rates and taxes have been paid). Once you do that, then you can obtain quite useful property at a very competitive rate. We do the due diligence, and we exclude the titles that are "shonky".

Even when purchasing the condo that I currently own in Manila, we discovered that there were 2 years of back taxes owing to the local barangay (which was more than 100,000 php). We insisted the seller pay the outstanding fees before purchase could go through, Again, having good, diligent legal support who knows what to look for is essential.

On a side note and as Questor says, leasing (as a foreigner) gives you very little power. If a bigger and stronger filipino decides he or she wants your land, they will find numerous ways to take it from you.

[QUOTE=Amavida;1641822]When you develop connections with the 'right people' in the Philippines its amazing how all these problems fade away. No more standing queues, no more frustrating catch 22 bureaucracy. Everything is so easy with a txt / email / call to insiders. Gaining access to the privileged class here is like living in a different country.

AV.[/QUOTE]Right you are AV. I don't, as a rule go anywhere near any government office, as, over the years I've learned as you have, how to get things done reasonably easily. Today, for example, after I sent a text message to someone I know, my wife's new sim was miraculously activated in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, no connections in the world will save you from occassionally having to cope with Manila's unnavigable traffic.

GE.

[QUOTE=Gangles;1641635]Every sovereign nation state has an economic safety valve with respect to its economy, which is the devaluation, or revaluation of its currency.

It was the removal of this safety valve in the EU which created the economic problems that exist now[/QUOTE]I beg to differ.

If it was not for the EURO and the included removal of this "safety valve" most of the smaller economies of the EU would have been wiped out by the chain of economic and banking crises. Even the larger EU economies would have been too small to withstand the stress. Now it is a matter of "united we stand - like it or not". The larger EURO economies cannot dump the smaller ones anymore.

What we need is more central economic and monetary authority, not less. If Europe had a better auditing authority in place, Greece would have been found out cooking their books much earlier and the problems would have been less.

The USA is a perfect example: does each of the States have their own currency? Can they devaluate / revaluate their currency? Of course not! The idea is preposterous. Then why should European (and in the future, ASEAN) countries still be able to do that? Unless and until the step to a common currency is taken, there will never be a "common" economy and free movement of people, goods and services between the Member states will remain a dream.

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;1641909]Right you are AV. I don't, as a rule go anywhere near any government office, as, over the years I've learned as you have, how to get things done reasonably easily. Today, for example, after I sent a text message to someone I know, my wife's new sim was miraculously activated in 30 minutes. [/QUOTE]GE.

I am not sure why you had such a problem with your SIM as mentioned above and in a previous post.

My wife and I both obtained new postpaid SIMS from Globe just last week.

Both were activated by a customer assistant as we sat in the Globe office in Podium in Ortigas.

The whole exercise took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.

It was handled most efficiently because we made a personal appearance.

[QUOTE=RedKilt;1641904]Questor raises the appropriate flag of caution.

My wife and I sought to buy several parcels of rice farming land in Nthn Luzon 3 or 4 years ago.

We were lucky to have a diligent and well-qualified lawyer.

Out of around 20 titles that we were "offered", probably 15 of them were "invalid", even though they were being held by the current owner.

What transpires is that people sell land to one another simply by exchanging money for the title but then do not take it to the Government Authority for proper endorsement and payment of the transfer fees etc. These fees seem quite low to me but for a subsistence farmer I guess they are too much to contemplate.

When I come along and want to transfer the land into our names (meaning my wife's), the current holder of the title is rarely the owner listed on the title and on the official register, and there are usually several years worth of unpaid and overdue land tax debts due for payment. These can run into the tens of thousands.

If you buy or lease ANY land, be sure to establish the bona fides of the title and be sure that it is free of encumbrances (meaning that all rates and taxes have been paid). Once you do that, then you can obtain quite useful property at a very competitive rate. We do the due diligence, and we exclude the titles that are "shonky".

Even when purchasing the condo that I currently own in Manila, we discovered that there were 2 years of back taxes owing to the local barangay (which was more than 100,000 php). We insisted the seller pay the outstanding fees before purchase could go through, Again, having good, diligent legal support who knows what to look for is essential.

On a side note and as Questor says, leasing (as a foreigner) gives you very little power. If a bigger and stronger filipino decides he or she wants your land, they will find numerous ways to take it from you.[/QUOTE]I might add that simply paying the due or over due land tax is enough to wrest control of the title from an owner. If you acquire land here via marriage make damn sure those dues are paid!

AV.

Thanks Hutsori. Very useful.

Reading the provisions and limitations would seem to preclude me from long term lease of land for the purpose of constructing a dwelling.

Too bad.

I am aware of the situation regarding land titling in the Philippines, and I have commented on this several times on this forum.

For several years I worked on a lant titling project in the Philippines. It was more than illuminating, I can tell you.

G

[QUOTE=Hutsori;1641664]Yes. Read this [URL]http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7652.htm#.VFuz6jTF9LC[/URL].[/QUOTE]

This is the first anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, one of the most devastating storms of all time. Tacloban was the center of the surge that destroyed the city and caused several thousand deaths. Huge international relief effort and many hundreds of millions of dollars collected. The world's focus on this disaster filled the news for the next several weeks. So, today, what's the result of all this grief and worldwide attention? Almost All of the refugees are still in temporary dwellings or cobbled together shacks. Most incredibly, President Acquino has never visited Tacloban! Only in the Philippines.

[QUOTE=RedKilt;1641955]GE.

I am not sure why you had such a problem with your SIM as mentioned above and in a previous post.

My wife and I both obtained new postpaid SIMS from Globe just last week.

Both were activated by a customer assistant as we sat in the Globe office in Podium in Ortigas.

The whole exercise took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.

It was handled most efficiently because we made a personal appearance.[/QUOTE]It can be a throw of the dice though. They can be courteous & efficient other times they can be infuriatingly vague & obstructive. No way to predict in advance. GE's experience is not unusual.

AV.