After enjoying months of having tap water flowing on their faucets, BF Paranaque homeowners staged a rally to protest and air their grievance over a decision of the village developer to stop Maynilad Water Services, Inc. from laying down water pipelines inside the subdivision.
BF Homes, where we also live, is the largest private subdivision in Asia with some 12,000 residential homes that encompass three Southern Metro Manila cities - Paranaque, Las Pinas and Muntinlupa.
When the subdivision opened sometime in the '50s, the residents were provided with a continious supply of potable water operated by a subsidiary, Philippine Waterworks and Construction Corp. (PWCC).
The regular supply continued till the late '70s when its underground water source (deep wells) began to dry up one after the other. By the '80s, water supply was rationed until only a few households were getting water from their taps.
Just hope, after the rally, people from both ends will come together and work together for a good outcome, so that they eventually continue laying the underground waterpipes, so everyone can get centralized water to their homes.
First picture:
Rally stopping on a corner and then marching further to the United BF Homeowners Association Park.
Second pictures:
Marching to the UBHAI Park.
Third picture:
In the Park listening to members who are defending to get waterpipes for each homeowner.
Since we sold a property a few weeks ago, I came to the realization that you really can learn a great deal about the documentation that is needed to transfer a property title. I have never really spent a great deal of time looking over these documents, but they say a lot when you do study them. It gives you an overview of what these lawyers/brokers/notaries really do when they transfer over a Title over to your name.
They usually give you all the necessary signed doc's and papers when you have acquired your Title, so you can go over it. To begin with, if you own a house and lot, you need to have of each a Declaration of Real Property document of the house and lot (same as with condominiums). On the document of the lot, it states the Assessor's findings with the Area size, price per sq/m (Unit Value) and the Market Value. They calculate this by multiplying the Unit Value with the Area of the lot.
On the house (not the lot), you find the description of the Building and Other Improvements, and that is where they go from when you have a house on the lot. That is at the back of the Declaration of Real Property document for the house.
Also at the back of the Declaration of Real Property document states the Assessment by Board of Assessment Appeals where you will find the Market Value, the Assessment Level and the Assessed Value for both your house and lot. The Assessment LEVEL, which is stipulated in percentage (%), is the most important to see how much you have to pay for your yearly Property (Real Estate) Tax, as many municipalities have different percentage levels. It can be as high as 60% or maybe more, all depends in what city or town you live in the Philippines. Most of them are in the range of 20% to 35%.
The Market Value seems also important, as you then can see how much your house or lot is actually worth. One should actually want to see the Declaration of Real Property first "before" one buys a house and lot, as you can see on the document what the Market Value of your future property is, as many salespeople or sellers will have a much higher asking price for their property than actually the market value states on this document. So, buyers, be aware.
I assume also that many lots have not been re-assessed for many, many years, and that is why you sometimes see a very low Unit Value (price per sq/m) on the document. Some may go back as in the sixties or even earlier. New subdivisions are more updated, as they are usually surveyed at a recent time, so a higher Unit Value for the lot.
As we go from the Assessed Value, one can calculate how much you will have to pay for your yearly Property Tax at the Treasure's Office of the city where the property is located. For one city, they calculate 1% of your property's Assessed Value, which you have to pay for your Basic property tax payment. In another city, it's 1.5% for Basic (and 1% for a Special Education Fund) payment in many cases of condominiums for example.
It can really make a big difference in what city in Metro Manila you live, as some really charge a lot in property taxes and others really very little, and the area of your property can be even in a more desirable neighborhood in the city where you pay very little tax as opposed to the one where you pay over your head. Depends who is sitting at City Council and the Mayor, where they decide how high the percentage is of the Assessment Level.
We decided today to take a drive to Tagaytay City, Cavite, the second summer capital of the Philippines. It was a sunny day and a nice drive from our place in Las Pinas via the Daang Hari road and via Silang along Aguinaldo Highway. Went through the rice fields, over little bridges, crossing several intersections, and no toll. If we would have taken the South Expressway, we would have paid toll, although very little.
Once in Tagaytay, you encounter lots of restaurants and hotels left and right along the road. You also find a new Robinsons Supermarket there and they are planning to build an SM Mall, too. When this will happen, nobody knows.
On the way back, we drove through fog in Tagaytay. That is one thing you don't see in Metro Manila, but this reminded me of driving in Belgium, two worlds apart, but still in the Philippines. During this time of year, you have many days that it rains in Tagaytay, I think a little bit more than in Metro Manila during the rainy season. It's normal, as Tagaytay is on a higher altitude than Manila, and it's cooler, too, pretty much the whole year in that aspect. Some folks like that.
We took a different route when returning to Las Pinas, and we took the road north via the municipality of Amadeo, the "coffee capital of the Philippines". It's a very pictorial place with a nicely decorated Municipal Hall. Of course the coffee beans are part of it.
Picture 1: Fog in Tagaytay Picture 2: Amadeo Municipal Hall Picture 3: Coffee cup and can on Amadeo's Municipal Plaza Picture 4: Barako coffee, Philippine's most favoured coffee.
It's the first time we experience a sale in the Philippines. We happened to have had a little house in Cavite, namely in Barangay San Francisco, General Trias, and since we advertised it on the Internet, someone accidentally clicked on this page and contacted us to ask if we could show the house to them. They happen to live in Tagaytay City, the second summer capital of the Philippines, about 30 minute drive away from the house. So, we met and gladly showed them the house. They immediately fell in love with the house, as it resembled to where they live, but it's about twice as big. They live in a rented two storey 48 sq/m condo, and ours is 84 sq/m.
Anyways, we came to close the deal, and with a very good price, they could not go wrong with this. The house was built by Camella Homes, a reputable local developer and builder. But when you see the quality inside the house, it's not that good, compared to what we, as westerners, are used to in the west. They also built the house "bare", and what this means is just the house, but no kitchen cupboards, ceramic tiles, blinds, fence, landscaping, etc... That would be all on your account. But, it's still very cheap for a foreigner, just to buy a house here and get settled, but with this price, for a local, this price is 10 times his or her yearly salary, so it's out of their budget.
So, with that, the couple we sold it to has a 2.5 year old son who loves to play outside and just a few steps away from the house is a small playground, so it's perfect for this couple.
The husband is an Englishmen, married to a Filipina. He worked as an expat for 10 years in Hong Kong as an IT Specialist, and due to downsizing and the current financial crisis, he was laid off.
We promised them to do the transfer of Title, too, as in most cases lawyers manipulate papers here. Both us and the buyer agreed to it at first and we were on our way to complete all the steps, but in the Philippines, there's sooooo much paperwork involved to get a service done at each office, we decided at the second step of the way to give all documents to a qualified broker for them to complete the transfer of the Title. The buyer gave about 150 Euro for the broker's service and about 30 Euro as extra money to fasten the service at certain offices. It's a little bit of smear money, you can say, to boost the employee's salary, as they will hasten your transfer.
But we all were happy with how the sale went.
First picture: The house. Second picture: Subdivision clubhouse.
Last Saturday, in our subdivision, we had one special association meeting regarding installation of a water (tubig) distribution system. Every house on the block has now a water system that consists of an electric waterpump, a 500 gallon overhead water tank and a pressure tank. We all get our water from deep under the ground. The water usage is free when you use the pressure tank as a means to get your water into the house, but one must calculate more electricity usage when the electric pump starts to work. But many people call a water truck to deliver water to their 500 gal. overhead water tank. They pay a meager P200 (3 Euro) to fill up these tanks, and a family of about 4 can use this for about a week.
Now, we have a golden opportunity for all residents in the subdivision to have an underground water distribution system installed, with a price of course. In the long run, it will pay out itself, as the charge will be eventually be about P511 (7.75 Euro) for 25 per cubic meter (2.925m x 2.925m x 2.925m) of water used. The cost of the underground water installation throughout the subdivision will be about P43,000 (660 Euro) per house. Although, a resident can choose a deferred payment plan for 48 months, interest-free. That is why we had a meeting in the courtyard of one of our neighbors to see if people are in favour.
We were asked in the meeting if we are proposing or are opposed to the installation of the water system. All in the meeting said yes to the water installation, about 64 members, but half of the residents in the subdivision seem not to have come, so that's another 65 or so. We are half way, and so far 50% are in favour of the installation, so the work should go ahead and be finished in about 2 years.
The water will also be a lot cleaner as it now is. Deep underground is always dirty with sand and soil in it, and a person can do away with all the water tank structures at the back of their house, so one will have more space. Some people may want to keep their water pump if they still want to use it in case there is no underground water from the newly installed water pipes to their house.
They will soon start installation of the major roads around our subdivision, so we need to wait a little to see them coming into our area. The underground piping is already in place in our streets since the sixties, and I don't know why they never bothered to fully utilize it, probably, because in general Filipinos are very conservative in making major decisions.
First picture: the water truck that delivers water to residents. There are several that ply around here. They pump water into the overhead water tanks of people's homes.
Second picture: an example of a 500 gal. overhead water tank, usually at the back of the house.
Debt of gratitude is very big in the Philippines, more so here than in countries like Belgium or Canada, where one leaves each other usually alone when one does a favor for another. One just feels, it is up to the other person to show humanity and do a favor back. But in the Philippines, one is indebted till death, or even after, if he or she has any children, they'll even bother them.
Here it's called: Utang Na Loob, literally a "debt of the inner self".
In a Filipino family, every Filipino has utang na loob to someone. In the workplace, an employer will find that his employee, who is not so skilled or is not so secure in doing his job, but who has many family members and friends in government positions or in the circle of clients may be most effective because he has built up a bank of utang na loob.
This goes back to when the Americans where here after World War II, as the Philippines where in a debt of gratitude position when they did negotiations then. Filipino leaders felt a sense of utang na loob for the American "liberation" of the Philippines from Japan. That is why the Philippine government let the Americans have US military bases here.
Even though, the bases were here for many years, the then government was well getting nicely compensated on a yearly basis of about US$900 million for leasing these bases out, but if the US and their bases had a positive influence to the Filipino society, only a Filipino can tell you the answer.
The Philippines has a culture of people who are working full-time abroad, namely Overseas Filipino Workers. About 20% of the local workforce work abroad. They usually earn a better salary than the workforce here, about on average 5 times more per month. With so many Filipinos working abroad, you will have also occasions that a Filipino/a will marry a person from abroad, too. Usually, most of these cases are Filipino women who will marry a foreigner.
This has been a trend that many Filipinos work abroad and marry foreigners for more than 30 years, more so in the last 20 years when there was a world economic boom since the 90's.
With these numbers, housing developers and contractors alike are really targeting these Overseas Foreign Workers and foreign spouses to invest in buying a property in the Philippines. Many buy houses that are renovated in Metro Manila, in the event they have to go back to the Philippines when their job is not there anymore, or the foreign spouse wants to retire there later in life because of many reasons, like a better climate.
I can see, many of these homes are overpriced to reflect on the salary of the foreigner or OFW. They are not really the prices for locals. I find it very shameful on the part of the contractor who build a new house or renovate an existing house. The reason is that he can hire very cheap labor, as a carpenter or mason makes about 3.75 Euro a day, yes a day. Building materials are really cheap here. For example, a regular bag of cement costs about 2.50 Euro. One concrete block to build a wall costs about 10 cents US. All depends on the quality, but most of the contractors buy the lower quality, as the buyer never will see the concrete blocks anyways as they are already hidden with the plastering of the wall when the wall is finished. Ceramic tiles is another one. A nice 16" x 16" tile costs here about 75 cents Euro a piece. Labor to lay those tiles are very cheap, too. I've installed in the house in General Trias, a 900 sq/ft home, tiles and paid the contractor we hired 105 Euro, that is a contractor who hired the tile setter. I can not imagine of how little he paid the worker from the 105 Euro I gave the contractor.
The Spanish were here in the Philippines for about 300 years till the beginning of the 20th. century, and they exploited the Filipino people very much. Now it is happening from their own people.
So, one can build a nice two-storey house for about 20,000 Euro and sell it to a foreigner or OFW for about three times more, quite a nice profit. The local workmen are usually very qualified and do very nice cement work inside and outside the house. These workers usually did not get very much basic education, as their parents were mostly poor and the opportunities for them where not there when they were young, so the educated and the powerful are in a way still exploiting the weak and the lower class, and in turn make a huge profit from low wages and cheap available material on hand.
Market values of houses here in the Philippines are not regulated, so anyone can set their own price, but I have seen houses not being sold for many years. That is why many of the local people have never a chance to own a house, as many of the builders ask too much money and too many builders target the OFW or the foreigner, so to make maximum profit. Where is humanity in this?
In some parts of Canada, you can still find a house that is about 90,000 Euro (about C$145,000), and the wages in Canada are quite high, so most people can really afford a home in their own country.
On the picture, you see this house in Canada standing on a 4.7 acre land, for sale for C$145,000. Most of the homes are better equipped in Canada than most of the homes in the Philippines. Most homes there have already a fridge, stove and dishwasher included. Here, a dishwasher is still unheard of.
I was born in Belgium, moved to Canada when I was 19 years old, worked there for 29 years, married to a Filipina and have no children, then moved to the Philippines in 2006. Now, we are early retired and we enjoy the beautiful weather in the Philippines throughout the year.
