Living And Working In Cebu

Many people that visit the Philippines dream of being able to live there. The major factor that stops most of them is concern about income. The Philippines is a great place to live if you have money but far from being the best choice if you don’t.

If the only thing stopping you is finding a source of income then the book below written by my friend Perry is a great starting point. The book does not pretend it is easy to make money in the Philippines but it does explain how it is possible. He has done it all and the book is full of basic information on day to day living that you will not find in the Travel guides.

Cebu has enjoyed something of an improvement in the traffic situation in recent years that old hands often remark on. The new coastal expressway to Talisay and Minglanilla is really taking a lot of the heat off the old main south highway. when the tunnel connecting it to the reclamation area on the other side of Plaza Independenzia it will mean a very speedy trip from the south, across the city and either north or across the bridge to Lapu Lapu City and Mactan International Airport.

There are some new developments growing up along the road and it now has more entry and exit points making it even more versatile than before. With new connections heading north that bypass a lot of the traffic through Mandaue to Consolacion and beyond, it really is a lot faster and less stressful to get from one end of Cebu City to the other.

It might be advice you have heard before but it is still very good advice. Only the other day two motorcycle borne assassins ambushed a political candidate for LapuLapu City Mayor and murdered him. This happened right here in Cebu, in Lapu Lapu City on Mactan Island.

There are major elections due for May 2010 and there will be more cleansing of opposition by incumbents and aspirants desperate enough for office to pay for contract hits. The usual modus operandi are two men on a motorcycle, stolen or obscured plates, helmets and dark glasses. They ride alongside the victim’s vehicles and then open fire, usually when the vehicle is stopped in traffic.

Politics is in every level of Filipino life, even having elections for P&C officers at the local kindegarten  (I was voted Press Relations Officer)! They take it seriously enough to kill over these matters, so stay out of it. Even keep your opinions to yourself as people have been overheard by supporters of the other side and have been incensed enough to start fights, even kill the person offering their opinion. Even foreigners.

Startup costs for a new business can be much lower in Cebu than elsewhere, enabling you to do things that may have seemed beyond your reach back home. As with any new business do your market research. A business model and service that works well at home may not be viable in the Philippines environment.

Be warned that while at first there does not seem to be any regulation or registration requirements, this is not the case. Generally very small ventures are left alone but as soon as your business starts to be successful or has a high profile it will come to the attention of the authorities. At which time you will need to have all the required permits and accounting practices in place. Getting these can be more challenging than back home.

The eBook ‘Making A Living In The Philippines’ has been written by someone that has actually done it and covers all these aspects. Purchasing ‘Making A Living In The Philippines’ gives you access to a network of people that are thinking about or already have made the move so you can benefit from their experience and ideas.

Anyone planning to invest their savings into a business opportunity in the Philippines should be extremely cautious. There are many opportunities but there are also many scams and risks for the novice. I would advise you to leave a substantial amount of your capital back home in secure investments and live off the interest from these if possible. If investing in the Philippines, start off small and keep your investments well dispersed.

For those looking to play the Stock Exchange, the actual trading floor is in Manila but of course nowadays you can be online anywhere in the world and trade, including Cebu. The Philippines Stock Exchange has a great web site and you can play an investing game and see how well you might do with imaginary money. This will give you great insights into the stocks being traded and the local companies to watch or to avoid.

More direct investment in Cebu based enterprises really should be something you approach with great caution and only after having lived here for a year or so. That will let you get oriented and settled in. It is during the first few months that most people lose the most of their money as they leap at opportunities that are not very solid and would have been identified clearly as such had they been here longer.

The Philippines already has a very high unemployment rate and the last thing they want is foreigners coming over and competing for jobs.  The local wages are such that many foreigners would find it a challenge to survive on them anyway. For those who are fortunate enough to score an ‘expat’ job (expatriate) they will enjoy a good salary, housing, education and often paid vacation travel.

Those jobs are not easy to come by if only because the Philippines has a very well educated and qualified professional pool to draw from. Those jobs are also almost always recruited for overseas. Any job openings that occur domestically that are aimed at a foreigner filling the position will also attract a much lower salary. I have worked at firms where the local expat hires are paid a quarter or less than the imported expat hires. Of course the local expat hires are still paid about the same more than the local hires so what goes around, comes around!

There will always be more jobs for expats in Manila than in Cebu, if only because Manila is over ten times the size in population and area. This doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to be had there. I know several long term expat employees of There will always be more jobs for expats in Manila than in Cebu, if only because Manila is over ten times the size in population and area. This doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to be had there. I know several long term expat employees of furniture manufacturers and other businesses as well as owners of restaurants, clubs and so on who have lived and worked in Cebu for decades.