This might not be the typical expat blog, written by a German expat, living in the Philippines since 1999. It's different. In English and in German. Check it out! Enjoy reading!
Dies mag' nun wirklich nicht der typische Auswandererblog eines Deutschen auf den Philippinen sein. Er soll etwas anders sein. In Englisch und in Deutsch! Viel Spass beim Lesen!
You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?
There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!
Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!
Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!
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Showing posts with label Klaus Döring Living in The Philippines Jetziges Leben auf den Philippinen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Klaus Döring Living in The Philippines Jetziges Leben auf den Philippinen. Show all posts
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The provincial government of Bukidnon is set to implement stricter regulations for highway travel within its jurisdiction during major race events.
"I will issue an executive order that any form of race, or something that has become a form of race, be prohibited in our province," he said.
Roque noted that he received reports of accidents on the road during the BMW Owners Society of Saferiders (BOSS) event period, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, with one death reported on one of the circuits in Bukidnon.
Before the event period, the provincial government of Davao del Sur imposed an 80-kilometer per hour speed limit for riders participating in the event, warning that violators would be penalized.
In previous statements, BOSS organizers said they will abide by the laws and ordinances of every local government unit and that the event promotes safety and awareness for the motoring community.
In Mindanao, participants aim to complete 1,200 kilometers in 24 hours. The Land Transportation Office was reported to have summoned event organizers. (PNA)
Philippine stocks suffered their steepest decline in months, tracking a selloff that erased more than two percent of the benchmark index’s value after government data showed economic growth stumbled to a near five-year low.
The disappointing gross domestic product (GDP) figures triggered a broad retreat across most sectors as investors reassessed the country’s recovery trajectory amid high interest rates and sluggish state spending.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 132.42 points, or 2.08 percent, to finish at 6,223.36 on Thursday, Jan. 29. While mining companies found a foothold on the back of rising bullion prices, the rally was insufficient to offset heavy losses in heavyweight banking and property stocks.
Market turnover was active, with 1.34 billion shares valued at ₱7.55 billion changing hands. Decliners dominated the session, outnumbering gainers 124 to 75, while 56 issues remained unchanged.
The selloff intensified after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the economy expanded by just three percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, a deceleration from the 3.9 percent growth recorded in the preceding three-month period. For the full year, GDP growth averaged 4.4 percent.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., noted that the PSEi ended lower amid strong, broad-based selling pressure after the figures failed to meet market consensus.
He added that the softer growth data raised immediate concerns over the near-term economic outlook, prompting a shift toward risk-off positioning.
The equity market also faced headwinds from a weakening local currency as Japhet Tantiangco, research manager at Philstocks Financial, said the market was weighed down by the depreciation of the peso following the United States Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain its current policy rates.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., meanwhile, characterized the three percent fourth-quarter growth as the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2021.
Ricafort attributed the slowdown to a combination of internal and external pressures, ranging from reduced government infrastructure spending amid heightened scrutiny of flood-control projects to adverse weather and geopolitical risks that have dampened global trade.
This powerful image reminds us of a simple but profound truth: nature doesn’t need people, but people certainly need nature. The natural world thrives without our intervention, yet our survival depends on the health of the ecosystems around us.
We must understand that we are not separate from nature but deeply connected to it. Our gardens, forests, rivers, and oceans provide us with the resources we need to live—from food and clean water to oxygen and beauty. By protecting nature, we are also protecting ourselves.
Let’s take this lesson to heart and remember that every effort to preserve the natural world benefits both nature and humanity.
Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala excites her fans after she boarded a plane bound for Manila, which hints at her possible participation in the inaugural Philippine Women's Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center from Jan. 24 to 31.
By CHRISTAN SALVAÑA
Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala excites her fans after she boarded a plane bound for Manila, which hints at her possible participation in the inaugural Philippine Women's Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center from Jan. 24 to 31.
In an Instagram story on Wednesday, Jan. 21, the 20-year-old Eala shared a photo of herself on a plane with the text "Next-> MNL" after her run in the Australian Open.
The WTA No. 49 will have ample time to recover in a busy month highlighted by her main draw debut in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
She lost to American Alycia Parks, 6-0, 3-6, 2-6 in the first round of the singles event, and dropped a 6(3)-7, 6-2, 3-6 result with her brazilian partner Brazilian Ingrid Martins against Japan's Shuko Aoyama and Poland's Magda Linette in doubles.
Eala is trying to win her second WTA title after ruling the 2025 Guadalajara Open.
The Philippine Sports Commission has been doing an extensive job of rehabilitating the tennis courts and the surrounding areas at the Rizal Memorial Complex.
Throng of fans are expected to watch the games should Eala participate in the tournament.
Early Wednesday, tickets in the semifinal and final were already sold out.
We should use this opportunity to educate people about the importance of the yearly flu shot in keeping everyone healthy.
After an early start to the flu season, various public health authorities, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have reported the detection of a new dominant flu strain. This strain, with the very technical-sounding name of influenza AH3N2 subclade K, is a variation of the usual seasonal flu strain AH3N2 with some new mutations. Unfortunately, based on anecdotal reports that some people felt much worse than usual, the new virus was quickly dubbed by the media as the “superflu.”
This had the effect of sensationalizing the news of a new strain. More than a few social media posts claiming this could be a new pandemic went viral (no pun intended). Even when scientists countered that it doesn’t seem to be very “super” at all, fake news continues to spread. What are the facts about influenza AH3N2 subclade K, and is there any reason to worry?
The influenza virus is a shapeshifter by nature. It comes in four antigenic variants: influenza A, B, C, and D. Two of these antigenic variants, specifically influenza A and B, cause most cases of flu in humans. Influenza A is responsible for previous pandemic outbreaks, including the notorious AH1N1 Spanish flu in 1918, which affected nearly 1/3 of the world’s population, and the more recent AH1N1 Swine flu pandemic in 2009.
The influenza virus genome consists of eight segments of single-stranded RNA. RNA viruses such as influenza, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2 are more prone to mutations compared to DNA viruses. Genetic changes in influenza A can happen through spontaneous mutations from these errors and also through another mechanism known as recombination.
Spontaneous mutations are usually introduced by errors in copying when viral RNA is duplicated. These mutations occur at random, and most of the mutations that occur are silent or might even be harmful to the virus. Occasionally, these mutations can affect the proteins on the viral surface and decrease the ability of our body to recognize the virus. This process is known as antigenic drift, and immune escape in this case is gradual.
Recombination occurs when two or more virus strains infect the same cell and end up mixing their different segments of RNA together. This can cause a more drastic genetic change, and the process is known as antigenic shift. Antigenic shift can occur between influenza A viruses from different host animals and give rise to a novel pandemic virus to which humans have little or no immunity.
For example, influenza A viruses that infect birds can cause more severe pneumonia in humans. It is, however, very difficult for humans to get infected with avian flu due to the less efficient binding of the virus with proteins in the upper airways of humans. If an avian influenza virus combines with a human influenza virus, it may result in a virus that causes more severe disease than regular human influenza and is more transmissible than avian flu. The 2009 AH1N1 swine flu was an antigenic shift phenomenon where genetic material from different swine influenza viruses got mixed together and resulted in a highly transmissible virus. While the 2009 AH1N1 influenza virus did not cause more severe disease, there was almost no immunity to it at the outset due to the radical change in its genetic signature, causing it to spread quickly.
The new influenza AH3N2 subclade K is believed to be the product of antigenic drift. It is a direct descendant of influenza AH3N2 subclade J.2.4 with added mutations, so it is technically also subclade J.2.4.1. The new mutations seem to decrease the effective immune response of the body against the virus based on animal serum studies. This may have given it a survival advantage that is consistent with the increasing numbers of influenza AH3N2 subclade K being detected as a proportion of the circulating influenza viruses. Based on early studies, these genetic changes don’t seem to have significantly affected the effectiveness of the current vaccines. The current flu season vaccine is still protecting against severe disease and hospitalization. There is also no evidence that influenza AH3N2 subclade K causes more severe disease when confirmed genotyped cases are compared to other circulating strains.
Just how much the new influenza AH3N2 subclade K mutations are enabling immune escape is not yet clear. There are a lot of confounding factors. Many parts of the world had an early start to the flu season. This means that the number of flu cases is peaking earlier. Therefore, when compared to the same time frame as previous years, the case counts for this year would be higher earlier in the season. Another major confounder is that, compared to other years, there has been very low flu vaccine uptake, which, as we would expect, results in more cases of flu and more severe symptoms in unvaccinated persons.
There is currently limited flu vaccine availability since the flu season is already well underway. The Southern Hemisphere vaccine, however, should be available by around February. We get availability for both Northern and Southern Hemisphere vaccines in the Philippines six months apart. We only need to get one vaccine shot once a year, so if you haven't gotten it in the last year, you can get it soon when it becomes available.
In the meantime, you can protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, especially if you are in the vulnerable population or if you are living with someone who is elderly or immunocompromised. Stay home if you have flu symptoms and talk to your doctor if you get sick. Proceed to the ER if you have warning signs, like shortness of breath or low oxygen levels (
The bottom line is that the “superflu” does not seem to be very super at all, and there is no reason to believe it will cause another pandemic. The observation, however, that fewer people are taking the yearly influenza vaccine is very troubling, and this will result in more cases of severe influenza and deaths from the virus. It is important to treat the emergence of influenza AH3N2 subclade K as a warning that the virus continues to mutate. We should use this opportunity to educate people about the importance of the yearly flu shot in keeping everyone healthy. As a bonus, a higher vaccination rate means fewer cases and fewer chances for the virus to mutate, and it might just head off the next influenza pandemic.
Published Jan 18, 2026 12:05 am | Updated Jan 17, 2026 04:42 pm
THROUGH UNTRUE
Many images of the Santo Niño that we see in churches or carried in Ati-Atihan festivals portray him wearing a crown and a velvet cape, holding a scepter or a globe, and radiating power and authority. They resemble miniature images of Christ the King. Yet one may ask: Why not depict the Santo Niño as an ordinary child, embodying our fragile humanity?
God became a child because He wished to understand what it truly means to be human. From our catechism, we learn that Jesus is fully divine and fully human. His humanity belongs to the very core of His being. But becoming human was not an automatic process for Jesus. He had to begin with infancy and childhood, the stages of life in which all of us are most vulnerable.
As a child, He experienced dependence, sickness, and hardship, along with other painful yet formative dimensions of human life. Jesus learned that being human entails suffering. Scripture expresses this poignantly: “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Gospels portray Him as deeply affected by hunger, fatigue, grief, and sorrow. Through suffering, He learned that joy cannot be fully appreciated without pain.
Through struggle, obedience, and love, He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and others” (Luke 2:52). Part of that wisdom is the realization that love is given before it is deserved, and that forgiveness is more powerful than vengeance.
Jesus also learned why, despite our basic goodness, we are tempted to sin. But by rejecting temptation, He revealed the grandeur of our humanity. He showed that we are capable of choosing the good despite the seductiveness of sin. By His example, He taught us that excuses such as “I was born this way” or “I can’t help it. I just can’t say no” diminish, rather than honor, our human dignity.
The Santo Niño also reminds us of the childhood virtues we often lose in our haste to grow up. Like any ordinary child filled with wonder and reverence, the child Jesus must have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins calls “the dearest freshness deep down things.” He must have listened attentively to nature, to people, and to life itself, refusing to confine His gaze to what is merely practical, functional, or useful.
Above all, the child Jesus must have played often. His playfulness, was surely tested by the pains of growing up and the pressures of survival. Yet He resisted surrendering the thrill of discovery and the joy of a game played for its own sake.
Today, many children are drawn too early into the vortex of competitive sports, where victory and power are treated as the highest values. One troubling consequence is that children stop looking for playmates. They instead look for opponents to conquer or humiliate.
Worse, many parents nurture their children’s curiosity and sense of wonder by regularly rushing them to air-conditioned malls to ride plastic horses, pedal stationary bikes, and play video games. At home, children spend their days absorbed in endless television shows, livestreamed videos, and mindless texting and chatting, while consuming a steady diet of junk foods. No wonder, many of them are early candidates for obesity, diabetes, and stroke.
On this Feast of the Santo Niño, let us pray for children everywhere who are constantly exposed to screens, text messages, and videos, and are drawn into an endless rhythm of doing, solving, clicking, and responding. May their parents teach them the habit of turning their hearts toward God, and speaking to Him in prayer.
The Gospels show us Jesus stepping away from the noise to pray, sometimes through the night, sometimes with tears and deep longing for the Father’s guidance. From His earliest years, through the quiet faith and daily example of Mary and Joseph, He learned that prayer was the foundation of His life. May children discover that God is not distant or unreachable, but a loving Father who is closer to them than they could ever imagine.
Felice Prudente Sta. Maria is an award-winning author and a pioneer in Philippine food history. Through research and storytelling, she helps us understand where our food comes from, reminding us that everyday dishes are part of a long, deeply rooted past.
The latest fruits of her labor are the newly published “When Mangoes & Olives Met at the Philippine Table” and its sequel, “What Recipes Don’t Tell.” The books reflect her belief that Filipino food cannot be understood through recipes alone, but through the changes it has undergone over time.
Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
A food trip down memory lane
Long before colonization, Filipinos were already cooking using ingredients and techniques drawn from their land and daily needs. The earliest recorded meat eaten in the Philippines was a prehistoric rhinoceros hunted in what is now Kalinga over 777,000 years ago. Thousands of years later, Filipino ancestors were domesticating pigs in Lal-lo, Cagayan, and sun-drying dolphin fish in Batanes more than 3,000 years ago—early signs of preservation, planning, and skill.
“Mangoes & Olives” traces this long food story using archaeology and historical records. It tells us that coconut vinegar was already recorded in writing in 1521. Dayap was the first cooking citrus of the islands, and calamansi, often assumed to be ancient, was developed only in the early 20th century by Filipino scientists.
“When Mangoes & Olives Met at the Philippine Table”
The book also invites us to take another look at familiar food. Pan de sal, for instance, was once a measure of salt shaped like a bread bun. Lumpiang sariwa was originally served with a simple tahuri sauce—without soy sauce or cornstarch. Tsokolateh was so popular that it was served several times a day on galleon voyages, often in small bowls made of polished coconut shell. Even paho mango was once pickled to replace olives that could not grow in the Philippines.
“Mangoes & Olives” also shows that Filipino food history is a story of choice. Filipinos chose coffee over black pepper because it was easier to harvest. Spanish women born in the Philippines grew up eating tapa, tinola, sinigang, and eating with their fingers—habits they learned from the Filipina women who raised them.
The origins of Filipino spaghetti
“Recipes Don’t Tell” continues the story by focusing on food words. Everyday terms like kilaw, guisa, and halo-halo are highlighted and put in proper perspective. One Visayan word, nayá-nayá, captures the very essence of Filipino meals—caring for others and sharing happiness with guests.
Together, these books are Sta. Maria’s lasting gift to Filipino food culture. They prove that our food has a long, well-documented history and is something we can truly be proud of.
A delightful story she tells in her book is that of Filipino spaghetti, a dish many of us grew up with. In “What Recipes Don’t Tell,” Sta. Maria traces how spaghetti first appeared at the Philippine table in the 1920s, served publicly in Manila at places like the Santa Ana Cabaret. “Spaghetti dinners” were advertised for large gatherings and celebrations, when pasta was still new and considered special-occasion food.
“What Recipes Don’t Tell”
By the 1930s, spaghetti slowly moved from dance halls into Filipino homes, pushed by the emergence of imported pasta, canned tomatoes, and American-style products. Early versions were savory, not sweet—closer to its Italian or American counterparts.
A clear example appears in the heirloom recipes chapter of “Mangoes & Olives”—a 1937 recipe for Spaghetti Italian from a Philippine Manufacturing Company booklet using Purico and Star Margarine. Made with bacon, tomato pulp, stock, mushrooms, and a simple roux, it shows how spaghetti was first prepared in Filipino kitchens.
There’s more to the food we eat
What I love about these two books is how they make you think more carefully about the food we eat every day. The shift from the 1937 Spaghetti Italian to today’s Filipino-style spaghetti happened gradually. Cooks substituted tomato pulp with banana ketchup, bacon for hot dogs. And somewhere along the way (perhaps as children became the stars of our celebrations), the sauce turned sweet.
Whether that last part is fact or fiction—is something I need to confirm with Sta Maria. But one thing is clear: Filipino sweet spaghetti, the staple of birthdays and family gatherings, shows that Filipino food is alive—always changing, always evolving.
1. Place chopped bacon in a saucepan. Once the bacon has released some oil, add onion and allow it to cook slightly in the fat.
2. Chop and add in the mushrooms, along with the stock, parsley, tomato, salt, and paprika.
3. Bring slowly to their boiling point and simmer until ingredients are cooked down into a thick sauce. Rub flour into Star Margarine to make a paste, similar to making a roux. Blend it into the sauce. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Pour sauce over cooked spaghetti. Using two forks, lift the spaghetti several times to evenly cover it with sauce. Sprinkle with a generous amount of grated cheese.
