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!
A wanderer who thinks Middle East is the new heaven.
515 followers
153 following
Hard-core introvert, fierce but compassionate, partly IP, a self-proclaimed advocate for Indigenous People, a proud Cordilleran.
I love to pour my heart out through writings, in it I can laugh, I can cry, I can scream my heart out.
I didn’t intend to offend, but I’m not inspired to flatter either. Genuine friendship is rare.
I value people who respect people no matter how they differ physically, intellectually, who doesn't see social status as a hindrance for genuine friendship.
I'm not offended, rather I found this question amusing.
Yes. We do lip-pointing like this.
Or this:
To point at something using our index fingers, is sometimes mistaken as being rude.
Like this:
I remember asking my mother where did she put my keys, and without a word moved her body towards the direction she's pointing to, pointing with her puckered lips.
“Over there!”
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Disclaimer:
I'm receiving negative feedback from some people claiming they’re Filipinos. IMO, lip pointing isn't meant to degrade Filipinos, on the contrary, this is to show that we do see funny positive things in every day to day situation. I want to reiterate that lip pointing is an informal way ofpointing at something. Specially if someone is busy at the moment(most mothers), most scenario are if both of her hands are occupied/doing something. But common sense, we don’t do it like this if we are in a formal event, or if we need to point at something to strangers/ formal people.
“When the World Met Miss Probinsiyana” brings hope, inspiration, and dreams coming true in cinemas starting Aug. 7.
Rhian Ramos (Facebook)
Actress Rhian Ramos unveiled her unwavering determination, emphasizing that being told she cannot do something only fuels her drive and willpower.
During a recent media conference at Robinsons Galleria for her upcoming movie, "When The World Met Miss Probinsyana," Rhian said that she shares a similar quality with Marjorie Aviso, who is the CEO of Telework PH and President of Global Impact Production, the character she portrays in the advocacy film. Rhian emphasized that determination is one of the qualities she has in common with Marjorie.
"If I have something in common with Marge, kapag sinasabihan ako ng hindi kaya, hindi bagay or hindi niya mapu-pull off yan, mas lalo akong ginaganahan. Mas lalo akong na-cha-challenge.
"I give myself a pep talk. Of course may mga time na naniniwala ako sa sinasabi nila but it's about overcoming that. It's like saying, 'Be scared, but do it anyway,'" said Rhian.
Marge also served as producer of the film, which is based on her life story.
"As a first time producer sabi ko wow ganito pala ang mundo (ng showbiz). Bakit ko ba pinasok ito? On the flip side, I realized bayanihan pala rito, and people put in effort because they believe in the cause. I think that's where the power is," the business process outsourcing (BPO) executive said.
Director Jenny Pearl Ninalga hopes "Miss Probinsyana" will serve as a voice to the voiceless. "We want to be the voice for the voiceless. Yun ang sinasabi namin sa film."
FROM LEFT: Marjorie Aviso, who is the CEO of Telework PH and President of Global Impact Production; Rhian Ramos, Lance Raymundo, and Director Jenny Pearl Ninalga
Marge was impressed by Rhian's acting abilities and unwavering professionalism.
"Nagulat ako how she portrayed my character. Everyone I knew would say Rhian captured your personality. Ikaw na ikaw yung nakita namin. She also supports causes like women's empowerment. So yun ang dalawang factors for choosing Rhian. She's a star," she also said.
Rhian said she's honored to have portrayed the character of Marge.
"I'm very flattered para mabigyan ka ng tiwala ng isang tao especially playing a character na isinulat para sa akin. But it's her life, feelings and experiences na kailangan kong gawing klaro. Just the fact na pinagkatiwalaan nila ako at kaya kong gawin yun, it feeds me as an actor," the actress said.
"When The World Met Miss Probinsyana" tells the story of Marge, a determined woman from the province, who ventures into the competitive arena of the BPO industry, a world dominated by men, where she emerges as a beacon of innovation and empowerment.
Returning to her roots with a mission to uplift her community, she faces the ultimate challenge: establishing her own BPO business amidst the skepticism of traditional norms.
Alongside her supportive partner Wil, Marge navigates the complexities of entrepreneurship and personal growth, striving to balance her aspirations with the realities of societal expectations.
Rhian Ramos and Sam Verzosa
"When the World Met Miss Probinsyana" is a story of resilience, empowerment, and the relentless pursuit of dreams, challenging viewers to rethink the boundaries of success and the power of returning home to make a difference.
Director Jenny recalled that the idea to make the film started when Marge was interviewed for the TV show World Changers. "When I learned about her story, deeper issues, and struggles, I told her I am an advocate myself, and your story is worth telling."
Reacting to Jenny's statement, Marge said: "I asked her if my story was worth telling. I feel like my story is not super extraordinary. For me, it's ordinary. Pero sabi nga nila yun nga yun eh. What's ordinary is very relatable to the masses. Working in the province is also not always available. But they knew there was an opportunity and let them know it was happening. Even if you are in the province, you know it's available and don't have to leave the country."
Sid Lucero, as Wil, Marjorie’s supportive partner, completes the cast, along with Lance Raymundo, James Marco, Joshua Zamora, Camille Rose, Jyra De Guzman, Kristin Abbey, Kristal Luistro, and Ayah Sarmiento at Rowie Cardona.
Drago Cruz Munoz, Mabel Reyes, Janina Lorelei, Julien Antonuccio, Sarah Ansari, Stephan Anderson, Aaron Hewson, and Hamsa Omar are also in the movie.
The artistic and production team of “Miss Probinsyana ” are screenplay writers Eligio Ninalga Jr and JP Ninalga. Director of Photography Logie Ninalga. Executive Producers: Marjorie Aviso, Lyn Baynosa/ Production by Impact Media Convergence Inc. Presented by: Global Impact Productions Inc. Music by Jonaf Del Fierro and M2arje.
“When the World Met Miss Probinsiyana” brings hope, inspiration, and dreams coming true in cinemas starting Aug. 7.
For service workers living on minimum wage, tipping is a welcome gesture that could spell the difference between making ends meet and falling into debt days before payday. Far from being mandatory in the country, handing out tips has become common in some establishments or circumstances.
Tourists regularly practice tipping in areas they frequent, such as hotels, restaurants, and casinos, and when they use services like transportation and health and wellness, among others. Filipinos are generally not expected to give tips, but they have adapted the practice from Western culture, which has become more widespread, especially in commercial and urban areas.
Cristina Santiago of Carmelo's Steakhouse
“In the US, tipping is mandatory. In Europe, some establishments have started to regard tips as mandatory. Here, it’s given out of consideration for a job well done,” shared Cristina Santiago, the restaurateur behind Carmelo’s Steakhouse. She suggests adopting the foreign practice of tipping “because our servers work so hard for their families. More than that, it’s to show that they are part of the business success; they should be able to get a portion of whatever amount the business earns for itself.”
Tipping Pinoy-style
While there are no hard and fast rules, Filipinos give tips to show appreciation for service well done, or products received beyond one’s expectations. Filipinos tip waiters, servers, taxi drivers, hotel and housekeeping staff, personal care technicians (barbers, hair stylists, masseuses), and even personal trainers or dance instructors.
“I give tips when I have extra money. I usually leave tips for the restaurant service crew, our neighborhood barber, and sometimes for a kind cab driver. I don’t see it as a requirement but as a form of gratitude for the great service. Of course, I wouldn’t feel obligated to leave a tip if I get served a soup with a fly,” said Mark Go, a long-time travel writer.
Mark Go, travel writer
From her experience, Santiago said, “Since it’s not mandatory, it acts like a motivator. Servers and waiters perform better because of the expectation of receiving a monetary reward for a job well done. On the guest side, it serves as a ‘quid pro quo’, you get what you deserve. But some guests are difficult to please, which is a disadvantage to our servers because their extra money is at the mercy of the customers.”
For Jing Ordoñia, a travel writer and tour guide, tipping is a personal choice. Whether to tip big or small relies on the type and cost of products and services, and the number of years of good service. He also observed that just like him habitual tippers usually prepare loose change or bills in small denominations to be handed discreetly; slipped in a cash envelope, or dropped in a tip jar.
Jing Ordoñia, travel writer and tour guide
For public transport, Ordoñia feels “there is no need to give tips, in general. For taxi rides, I round off the bill since I don’t use my senior card. The same applies to delivery service and park attendants.”
Inside establishments “a 100 pesos may be sufficient for a bellboy and staff in a 2- or 3-star hotel, higher in a 4- or 5-star hotel. Sometimes I give a bigger tip if I am there for business,” he added.
Ordoñia's tips are based on 10 to 20 percent of his food bill, but if there is a service charge, he leaves no tips, "unless the service is extraordinary.”
Tips for equal sharing
Mc Wilson Corporation President and CEO Reagan Tan said that customers in his restaurants (Tatatito, Gringo, Honeybon, Tokyo Bubble Tea, and Kaokee) don’t feel obligated or pressured to give tips. “This makes them more appreciative which often results to giving generous tips. When there are no tips, it is not frowned upon since they know that good service is their duty and part of the day’s work.”
Tips or no tips, Tan believes that “Filipinos are hospitality-oriented people; we give our best service whether or not customers leave a tip. A good service rendered always fetches a good tip. A returning customer will always leave a good tip for a reliable service and consistently good experience.” In some cases, tips are pooled together by the management and distributed among the service staff at the end of each month.
In their establishments, Tan shared that they practice pooling the tips to ensure that both the dining and kitchen staff get their fair share. He also finds this procedure prevents management or staff from tip pocketing, or keeping the tips to themselves.
“The management and distribution of tips is discussed among the staff. The common practice is to divide it equally. Some ‘outliers’ though push tips to be personalized. Servers get what is inside the bill jackets. A percentage is given to the non-servers, though,” shared Raymund Magdaluyo of the Red Crab Group and the SumoSam Group of Restaurants.
Service charge as tips
Some restaurants and service establishments automatically include a five to ten percent service charge on their bills based on their discretion. Its distribution, however, is regulated by law.
The Republic Act 11360 or the Service Charge Law was enacted on August 7, 2019, and defines service charge as “the amount added to the bill for work or service rendered when one dines in a restaurant or checks out of a hotel.” This law also provides for the full and equal distribution of the service charge among workers of hotels, restaurants, and other establishments. However, managers and supervisors are not entitled to service charges.
The revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) contained in the Labor Department Order 242, issued on February 1, 2024, specify the full and equal payment of service charges to all covered employees of service charge-collecting establishments, improving the distribution of tips to include those not directly hired by employers such as contractual, non-regular or agency workers.
In Carmelo’s, “tips and service charges are shared equally by everyone, regardless of ranking. We are a team and as the saying goes ‘the success of one is the success of all’ and with that, everyone shares the blessings,” said Santiago. “Service charge somewhat works like a tip. It’s an extra amount they receive on top of their salaries which I feel they are also entitled to.”
Whatever the case, it is up to customers to tip, pay the bill with a service charge, or pay the bill and tip out of generosity, gratitude, and loyalty, and show sincere appreciation for the service workers’ hard work.
Anyone can draw a line from plastics to floods. In the recipe of murky urban floodwaters, plastic products are a staple ingredient. Labo or sando bags, bottles, food containers, and sachets—you name it, you can find them bobbing along rushing floodwaters during typhoon season.
Suffocating our drainage systems, plastic waste makes floods worse. A 2023 report commissioned by Tearfund confirms this: It found that plastic pollution increases the risk of severe and frequent flooding in poor communities.
Not that Filipinos need any reminders.
Drawing a line between plastics and flooding
Many videos of the Typhoon Carina-enhanced "habagat" floods showcase the pollution problem—people wading through chest-high waters, with plastic bottles and bags floating around them. Days after the rain stopped, residents from affected areas still cleared trash off their streets. Water damage to their homes aside, residents’ health is also at risk from prolonged exposure to waste.
Much of this plastic is thrown into canals, clogging storm drains, and sewers. Last week, when the waters rose because of the non-stop downpour, the trash rose with it.
Photos courtesy of The Climate Reality Project Philippines
Dire as the situation is, it is not new—it did not appear overnight. In fact, the issue of plastic pollution and waste disposal has long been intertwined with flood management discussions.
No less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. himself expressed this when he conducted an on-ground inspection of the devastated communities, urging Filipinos to practice proper waste disposal so the installed flood pumps could work effectively.
The connection is clear: Plastic pollution exacerbates flooding, and in turn, increases the damages floods cause. But one line many Filipinos have yet to draw from plastics to floods runs through climate change.
Putting two and two together
In every step of their production and its eventual disposal, plastic products heat the planet in various ways.
For example, at the production stage, 99 percent of plastic products are made from petrochemicals. These are derived from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. To process these materials, more fossil fuels are consumed, which then adds to the already alarming amount of greenhouse gases across the planet.
Greenhouse gases, in turn, accumulate to trap heat in the atmosphere by absorbing and reradiating heat from the sun. This then leads to what the world now experiences as global warming.
Climate change is linked to extreme weather events like prolonged heat waves and super typhoons. The hotter the planet becomes, the stronger typhoons it produces. As typhoons get stronger, floodwaters grow higher—to the detriment of climate—vulnerable nations like the Philippines.
What at first might be largely attributed to pollution, worsening floods can also be traced back to plastic production and consumption.
The line that connects the two does seem blurry, long, and complex, but it is there. This line grows more apparent when considering that plastic production is estimated to be responsible for 3.3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
For comparison, the world emits around 54.6 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually; 1.8 billion of which is attributed to plastic production. A ton is equal to 1,000 kilograms, which then means that the plastic industry produces 1,800,000,000 kilograms worth of greenhouse gases.
With that much contribution to global warming, and in turn, to stronger typhoons and worse floods—is the line clearer now?
Seeing the big picture
The plastic industry is making floods worse two-fold: through pollution and its staggering greenhouse gases. It makes sense then that flood management solutions adopt a systemic approach to the problem.
Right now, two proposed bills exist in the Senate, both of which aim to tackle the plastic crisis through taxation. The goal is to deter consumers from buying single-use plastics by raising prices.
Recently, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority suggested waste incineration as another possible solution—a proposal that Climate Reality Philippines vehemently opposes. Incineration is a counterproductive approach to plastic waste management. Providing a seemingly easy solution, this proposal may inadvertently incentivize increased plastic production.
In terms of addressing the issue of pollution and flood control, these proposals are not enough. The plastic problem is deeply rooted in overproduction and consumption, far surpassing the realm of individual responsibility.
The real solution now lies in connecting the dots and retracing the lines. To solve the country’s plastic issue, policymakers need to step back and look at the big picture—determine the root cause of the crisis and start there.
Beyond holding consumers accountable, officials should get huge plastic-producing companies to take responsibility. And more than promoting proper waste disposal, authorities should implement bolder moves to combat the impacts of plastics on our environment, with a focus on eliminating single-use plastics.
About the author: Red Carao has worked in the communications field for more than five years. Starting out as a writer for local and foreign digital agencies, she eventually developed an interest in public relations and development work. In her first stint as a public relations officer, she had the opportunity to work with institutions such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, and the European Union. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2018. She is currently a Communications Officer at The Climate Reality Project Philippines.
