Let me start by saying that, obviously there are some significant differences in the culture here to what I had become accustomed to in the United Kingdom and Europe, but even knowing this and preparing for it as best I could was to prove inadequate. To be quite frank, the Philippines is a funny country, funny in a weird sense; but I love it and love being here and am enjoying the challenges even though I am sure some of these will drive me to insanity or an early grave, let’s hope not the latter…..
The language barrier: I am still struggling to learn Tagalog, this is partly due to being lazy and not having devoted sufficient effort to studying the language and partly due to the fact that nearly everyone I interact with speaks very good, or at least passable English. Adding to the mix is the phenomenon of TagLish a kind of hybrid language where the Filipino people intersperse a Tagalog sentence with English words for when there is no equivalent Tagalog phrase, or when the English is better understood. The French could learn a lot from this and not get so snooty about the purity of La Français. But honestly, I do need to apply myself more to my language lessons and to try not to pick up colloquial phrases such as “ano ba yan, ay naku!” as an expression of surprise or disappointment.
Clothing: Europeans tend to be larger than Filipinos, this is a given. Because of this I no longer find myself to be in the lower half of height at 1.71m tall and in fact am not only taller than average now, but being caucasian, quite noticeable in a crowd. Also Europeans are more robustly built than Filipinos, leading to problems when buying underpants or trousers/pants as there is not quite enough room for my well upholstered bottom to fit. Better get back on the Stairmaster!!!
Weather: it is hot here almost all of the time, in the 11 months since I arrived, I have worn a sweatshirt on less than 4 occasions, the temperature staying above 20℃ most of the time. The Filipinos however are more used to this than I am and suffer when the temperature drops. That being said a winter starting in December and ending at the end of February is not something I am going to complain about, as I was never a fan of ice and snow except on Christmas cards anyway.
There is of course a downside to all this warmth, it is often humid in the region of 60% most days which is debilitating to work in. Also the moisture can turn into rain, and we are talking of Biblical proportions when it decides to really go for it. We are also quite vulnerable here to typhoons and associate damage as was illustrated last year with Hayan (aka Yolanda) which devastated swathes of the country in the south and that was not something I want to experience personally.
Sunglasses: associated to the weather is the quantity of sunlight we get here; although the days are something like 12 to 14 hours long throughout the year with a lot less change than at the higher latitudes I am used to, the sunlight is a lot stronger, therefore many people wear sunglasses, here are some thoughts on this
Aviator style sunglasses went out of fashion around the same time CHiPs was cancelled on TV
Mirror lenses look good on cool people, especially on the beach, but not so much walking down the high street.
Politicians should avoid over use of sunglasses when appearing in photos or on TV unless on holiday and in all cases should avoid dark or mirror lens aviators as this looks decidedly sinister, especially on the old politicos with a bad dye jobs!
Trust and empowerment: these seem to be sadly missing here, I am not sure whether there is a serious trust issue between employer and employee, but the bosses boss and everyone else seems to do what they are told. I have on occasion seen situations where a bit of lateral thinking and initiative would have saved a lot of time and effort, but it seems not to be encouraged. It is also very easy to loose one’s job here if you displease the boss, which probably doesn't help matters. I know I react well to empowerment, I prefer to understand what is needed and then be left to make it happen, within certain strictures of course.
Shopping malls: the country, at least the bits I have been to, is awash in shopping malls, these vary from large purpose built structures housing many shops, restaurants, bars and cinemas to more spread out developments with an open air set up, examples of the former are managed by SM, Robinson’s amongst others, the latter can be seen at Paseo de Santa Rosa, Nuvali or Solenad in Santa Rosa. These are a great attraction for families who often just go there to hang out (in the case of the large indoor malls, to keep cool or out of the rain) with very little actual purchasing going on.
I have noticed that many of the malls also have some highly aspirational shops or items for sale, including the latest gadgets at prices similar or higher to those I am familiar with from Europe e.g. 86” TVs and larger selling for considerably more than the average Filipino earns in a year; still, it’s nice to dream..
Receipts: these are very important pieces of paper, rather than discard them as I am accustomed to, I have been told to keep all of them and only weed out the trivial ones later. Receipts are used by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to keep tabs on who owes what tax, especially from businesses like shops, restaurants and professional services, more of which later.
These are so important that the process of buying something can be significantly complicated and time consuming by the generation of the necessary paperwork, interpretation of the requirements varying from vendor to vendor, but till generated receipts are not sufficient according to some.
The Notary Public: I am not sure whether it is a function of most politicians being lawyers or former lawyers or something brought by either the Spanish or Americans, but you can’t do anything official here without having some documents notarised, which involves embossing with a stamp and the signature of a lawyer, for a small fee around ₷300 depending on the number of documents or pages to be notarised. Now I don’t resent this for important transactions, but I often cannot see the value add in this step, it seems a needless expense, but a good earner for the notaries.
Staples and adhesive tape: If the need for receipts makes shopping a trial, the sheer number of staples and sticky tape used to affix said receipts or close bags and seal wrapped items boggles the mind. I am convinced there is a business opportunity in being the supplier of these to the shops. The whole is exacerbated by the banning of plastic carrier bags and the lack of trust / level of shoplifting that is endemic requiring purchases to be sealed before leaving the shop, it is a bit like the good old days shopping in duty free.
Queuing: not a popular concept, which goes right against my British sensibilities, we may not have invented the queue, but the Brits turned it into a national institution. Filipinos seem to be very impatient and hate waiting, this is especially noticeable when driving and in any situation where waiting one’s turn would seem the norm. The problem is perceived to be so important that a politician has recently proposed legislation to make cutting in line an offence, punishable by a stiff fine……
Interestingly, the dislike of queueing has been somewhat institutionalised, with an express lane being provided at many government agencies for those of us in a hurry, of course there is a charge for use of this lane, which at the Bureau of Immigration is P500 and it is even listed on the receipt, however despite many visits and being charged this fee each time, I have yet to locate this mythical lane that speeds my progress.
Taxes: nobody likes paying tax, especially when the money the government takes from the hard working public is wasted or stolen (see corruption). The BIR mentioned above in the receipts paragraph, is actively trying to get people and companies to pay the correct amount by naming and shaming those that have a discrepancy between earnings and tax payments publicly in newspapers.
The BIR is also enforcing the rules very strictly an example of this is that for a doctor to provide a free consult or treatment to a patient, they need to get a notarised (see above) affidavit to confirm the fact that the treatment was given ‘pro bono’; the flaw in this is that a normal consult would be charged at ₷400 any treatment obviously significantly more, somebody then has to pay the lawyer ₷300 for the notarised statement of free treatment, it won’t be the patient (who has no money and hence the free consult etc.), but the doctor, who then looses their professional fee and is saddled with a bill at the lawyer’s office. Who wins from this, apart from the BIR (and even that is debatable) you guessed it, the lawyers!!
Driving: Now, in common with many men, I consider myself to be a fairly good driver with not just a car licence, but also a truck licence for many years (36 to be exact), and I have banged on about this on previous occasions, however I have now concluded that the problem is that I am working to a different set of rules developed from all those years of experience and the other guys haven’t even seen the rule book!
Bureaucracy: loved by all governments, the Filipino one above all, on a later blog I shall relate the fun and games we have had at the Bureau of Immigration, but since my application is pending, I am not prepared to go on record just yet. Needless to say, between the notaries, lawyers, receipts and overall suspicion of everyone even a seemingly simple task can take a long time. Kat’s professional medical licence, in common with all doctors requires periodic renewal, making sure that all professional requirements have been complied with, however it baffles me how it can take 3 months just to change her name after we got married. Likewise renewing her accreditation with a medical insurance provider is likely to take 2 months or more, and there are lots of forms to complete too.
Photocopies: as a part of the bureaucracy etc. all applications require supporting documentation, this takes the form of copies of licences, passports, receipts and at least 2 copies of the application form, it doesn’t matter what the size of the original is even a small slip of paper, it is copied onto an A4 or legal size sheet then stapled together (see, I told you staple are a booming industry) and in some cases each copy needs notarising rather than taking a copy of a notarised document just to make life more difficult. What all this means is that there are a load of trees being chopped down to feed the every hungry bureaucracy machine, I wish something could be done about this.
Food and eating: perhaps surprisingly for a south east Asian country with long association with China amongst other nations nearby, the Philippines does not have a cultural bias towards the chopstick. Also it would seem that despite being colonised by first the Spanish and then the Americans (the Brits had a go back in 1762 but only managed to occupy Manila and Cavite before being unceremoniously thrown out by the Filipino natives and the Spanish in 1764 but not before making a mess of Intramuros) the knife and fork are not the normal utensils used by Filipinos. In fact although forks are used, in place of the knife a spoon is used. I find this hard to work with as a cutting tool would be much more useful in many dishes, although the spoon is useful for those with a predominant sauce base or those with finely cut components such as Bulalo, Sisig, Bicol Express and the like.
Rice is a staple of the diet of many in South East Asia and as such a lot of time and effort has gone into developing the many varieties of rice that are found here. I arrived thinking there were only the 4 main types, long or short grain, Basmati and risotto, how wrong I was. It would seem that rice has a similar status to the humble potato back home, many varieties with many characteristics and tastes. Sadly for me, the potato is merely a source of starch here, and is not treated with the reverence it deserves, often left out in the open air, exposed to light and going green. No distinction is made of the soft and floury varieties or those better for making chips (French fries) or roasties!!
Noodles are also very much in favour here, but I was surprised to learn that a Filipino version of "Pot Noodle" was quite so popular, makes me feel like a student again!
Bicycles: It has been said that bicycles originated in the Philippines, I am not in a position to agree or disagree with this, but the common or garden bicycle has been put to very good use in this country with for some people having this as their only mode of transport. Bikes take many forms and modifications are widespread, this can be something as simple as the use of a small block of wood on the crossbar to make a seat for a passenger or the replacement of the handlebar with a steering wheel to the more extreme changes to the geometry of the headstock to fit a very extended set of front forks making a “chopper” or the welding on of a sidecar to make a pedicab or small cargo carrying vehicle. Oh and by the way, many of these modified bikes have no proper brakes!
What I have also noticed is the extremes in size of some bikes, I have seen adults (mostly male) riding something I would consider more appropriate for a small child, however it has been either specifically built or modified to take the larger size person with extended seat tube and wider handlebars. At the other extreme, mountain bikes are very popular and you often see people riding these around in all the gear, including baggy shorts and logo covered shirts; some of the bikes have unfeasibly large frames and wheels with no possibility of the rider being able to get either foot on the ground whilst stationary without dismounting. Of course, these bikes come with hydraulic disc brakes, just to look macho!!
Politics: this is a minefield for the unwary. Many politicians here are part of a dynasty with the whole family involved, seemingly passing the position down through generations or from one sibling to the next in those positions where a person may only serve a limited number of terms. For an outsider it is quite funny to see the father pass the mayorship to the son for a couple of terms whilst he is elected to congress then to take it back when the son becomes a congressman in his place. This can lead to some inter family tension as opposing factions line up for the next set of elections. Sometime the politicians are also movie, TV or musical stars, some of these have managed to combine this with being part of a dynasty, begging the question of “why vote for x?” to be answered with “he / she is my favourite movie star” party politics and policies don’t get much of a look in sometimes.
It would be unfair of me to suggest that Filipino politics is corrupt, but I think it is fair to say that there is corruption in Filipino politics. At the moment there is a lot of interest in what is known as ‘pork barrel politics’ where politicians are given large sums of money each year to allocate to various pet projects on the basis that they know what is needed in their constituencies. In the current case being played out, it is alleged that some senior politicians have been involved in diverting funds to interested parties and or bogus NGOs with the politicians receiving significant kickbacks of up to 50% of the total. Due to the Filipino love of bureaucracy there are receipts and money orders providing a lovely audit trail, but the implicated parties are claiming that their signatures were forged or had delegated authority to subordinates, who must have been acting outside the bounds of the politicians wishes, we shall have to wait and see whether any concrete evidence turns up.
The current president, President Aquino, has banned the use of what is called “Wang Wang” or the use of police out riders and sirens for politicians to get about in their normal daily business and, to be, fair has taken the time himself to apply for the renewal of his own driving and firearms licences in person, however this edict is not well liked and it is not uncommon to be blasted by the horn or siren of a police motor bike to make way for a large black SUV to come by, often Chevrolet Suburban or Toyota Landcruiser and always with dark tinted windows!
In conclusion, the Philippines is, as mentioned earlier, a weird and wonderful place, I am learning to modify my behaviours and expectations to take into account the differences between where I am now and where I have come from, I am not sure whether I shall ever fully fit in, but I am going to give it a damn good go and will certainly enjoy myself trying, with the help of my asawa and our family and friends.
