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!
MIFF showed that the whole country, including BingoPlus, is behind our movie makers.
Maine Mendoza
BingoPlus, the country’s most comprehensive digital entertainment platform, successfully united some of the biggest names in Philippine cinema at the 2nd Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California, held on March 7, 2025.
As a major sponsor for the Manila International Film Festival 2025, BingoPlus is privileged to support Filipino filmmakers showcase their talent in the international scene. This partnership garnered opportunities that will help Filipinos explore increased opportunities through filmmaking.
Piolo Pascual
BingoPlus brand ambassador Maine Mendoza Atayde is also joyful about this collaboration, saying that Filipino movie makers are capable of doing more.
“It means so much you know because we never really get the chance to do this worldwide and I think it’s about time for Filipinos to be known globally, I mean we have so much to offer and I think this is just the beginning.”
A stage like the MIFF is a perfect medium to present the expertise of Philippine cinema to different parts of the world.
In addition, bringing entertainment to the people is among the valued missions of BingoPlus. By sponsoring the MIFF, it has given them a chance to give pleasure and reach wider audiences through film. Four-time Emmy award winner and author of the Manila International Film Festival, Lisa Lew, says that bringing leisure is the common ground between BingoPlus and MIFF.
Seth Fedelin and Francine Diaz
“We would love to make sure people enjoy their lives and have a good time. And I think that’s where we really come together. BingoPlus is making an effort to be a part of a broader world.” Moreover, Song of the Fireflies, directed by King Palisoc, a movie inspired by the Loboc Children’s Choir, won the ‘best picture’ during the awards night. The film also won ‘best actress,’ ‘best supporting actor,’ and ‘best supporting actress.’
First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos was also awarded the ‘visionary award.’ She admired Filipino art when it came to visual creative media. In a statement she said last year during a meeting with famed Filipino directors, she highlighted that it’s time for the Philippine film industry to been recognized on the international stage.
Morissette Amon
“The best way to help the movie industry is to tell the world that Filipinos are good, we’re talented.”
MIFF showed that the whole country, including BingoPlus, is behind our movie makers. This success marked a significant milestone for the industry. As Filipino films continue to gain international recognition, the future of Philippine cinema looks brighter than ever.
The star-studded music video included cameos from Sassa Gurl, Zae, Arkin Magalona, and Jonas Belgica.
Illest Morena
From her humble beginnings in the streets of Mandaluyong City to her unwavering success as a female emcee, Illest Morena has proved that authenticity is necessary when making art, evident in her newly released visual for "Stinkalink," a crowd-favorite track from her debut album "Morenita."
2024 was an interesting year for Illest Morena—she released her full-length album, headlined several shows, including Billboard'sMainstage Concert. She received the Top Kalye Song Award for "Faded (Raw)" at the 2024 Spotify Wrapped Party.
Despite being the illest in the game, the 23-year-old artist has no plans to stop. Like everyone else, her priority is to live life to the fullest.
In an exclusive interview, she shared her daily routine to get in the mood for her errands. "I light incense because it makes me feel relaxed. Then, I would make my coffee, journal my feelings, and work," she highlighted.
Love for community
The rapper shared that her upbringing in Mandaluyong City played a pivotal role in her music taste, citing her community as an inspiration for her artistry.
"I used to live in Addition Hills, the city's most congested, most populated area. So, the houses are very close to each other. My neighbors would often play songs from Pinoy hip-hop artists such as Ron Henley, which I'm a huge fan of," she reminisced.
She also mentioned her household as the catalyst for her love of R&B songs, such as Jay-R's "Bakit Pa Ba?" which stuck with her as a little girl.
"Although I'm a rap artist, I love exploring R&B when it comes to my music because it really takes me back to a time when things were simpler and life felt lighter," the artist explained.
It was only a matter of time before she started honing her music with the help of her fellow Mandaleño artists, which enabled her to embrace a unique yet authentic style.
"There was a certain time in my early music days when I couldn't write, and they [Guddhist Gunatita and Ghetto Gecko] invited me to their studio so we could make some songs. I feel like it created this great foundation for me in terms of lyricism because I hung out with some of the greatest hip-hop artists from Mandaluyong," she highlighted.
As a result, her coming-of-age journey as an artist became the motif of her album, a story-driven project inspired by lust, love, and dreams.
From Sneaky Link To Stinkalink
When preparing for her album, Illest stumbled upon a beat given by her producers Radical and SEIS titled "Sneaky Link."
Following her musical intuition, she gravitated towards the beat but had to reframe its meaning. She clung to her life experience as the main inspiration for the song, alluding to how she and her boyfriend started dating.
"During this time, I wrote 'Slow Burn,' a song about my boyfriend and our romance. So, when the beat [for Stinkalink] was given to me, I was already in a relationship and didn't feel like writing something about sneaky links. And it sort of pushed me to instead reminisce about the early stages of our relationship since we started as friends, and I wasn't so sure if he liked me back at the time," she expressed.
This story also became the blueprint of the music video's storyline, referencing 2000s chick flicks such as Mean Girls and White Chicks.
"We had two weeks to prepare for the music video. I've always wanted to fulfill my early 2000s chick flick fantasy and I tried doing that for ‘Pick Up' but we didn't have the budget at the time. As for the storyline, it was inspired by the period when my boyfriend and I used to party and we weren't honest about our feelings. But we would get clingy with each other only when we're drunk," she said.
The star-studded music video included cameos from Sassa Gurl, Zae, Arkin Magalona, and Jonas Belgica.
She shared that one of the reasons behind Sassa's appearance is their supposed resemblance, according to netizens. Meanwhile, her dance battle with Zae is an homage to the female artists who came before her.
"We decided that Sassa would play the old version of me since I get a lot of comments about how we look alike. Then, my dance battle with Zae was so fun to shoot since I was doing it with the artist who made me feel like it was possible to be a female rapper in this country," she shared.
As for the love interest, she wanted someone that resembled his partner.
"Jonas is a good friend of mine and we go way back in 2019 — when we used to dance together in a group called Aces. I thought he could play the role well," the artist recalled.
Arkin Magalona's cameo is the cherry on top, continuing his late father's legacy in the local hip-hop scene. "He [Arkin] is one of the few people I always meet during parties and I knew that he would kill the role of a party boy," she said.
But for Illest, the presence of her long-time fans made the experience memorable and special. "My relationship with my fans is very tight. They inspire me as much as I inspire them. It started off as a small group and I made a group chat for us to directly talk to each other. Then, I invited them to my secret session where they listened to the album way before its release. And they all loved 'Stinkalink,' so I knew I had to include them in the shoot," she shared.
The past and the future
While she is mostly known for her top hits "Pick Up," and "Faded (Raw)," Illest expressed her gratitude for the success that the songs have given her.
"You know, it's really validating. It made me realize that if I did it once, then I could do it again. And it just keeps me motivated to push harder into creating what I want without thinking about the 'formula,' or what other people would say. When I made those two songs, I was only expressing myself and I feel like if I keep doing that, nothing else really matters. I don't have to try to create a hit song. I just make a song and then I let it have its moment," she said.
This unapologetic demeanor resonates with the current landscape of the Filipino music industry, where artists can now freely express themselves without immense pressure from the public eye. However, for Illest, there is a price to pay.
"In exchange for that freedom, you will experience a lot of hardships and sacrifices. But what matters the most is that you should never lose your authenticity, as it would affect your relationship with your craft. I'm just very grateful because people's tastes are more open to genres that were once frowned upon by the masses, especially hip-hop," she mentioned.
The rapper assured that she is constantly making new music and plans to collaborate more with her peers.
"I'm always working on new music because I don't want the feeling of being stagnant. Hopefully, I'll get to do a concert soon, but as of now, I'm just really focusing on creating more music and living life to get more inspiration to write good music," she shared.
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:36 AM March 19, 2025
The Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) formed to support the government’s economic programs recently sounded the alarm over the shortage of registered pharmacists across the country, just another symptom of the sorry state of the country’s public health-care system.
The situation is dire indeed.
PSAC data showed that the Philippines needs some 57,500 pharmacists but there are only 30,000 as of the latest count, thus the gap of 27,500. And with the country producing just around 4,000 board certified pharmacists every year, and assuming that the demand will stay at current levels, it will take seven years to fill that gap, the advisory council said.
More realistically, it will take even more time than that considering that not all licensed pharmacists actually get to practice their profession, with a number going into the private sector, academe, or fields other than the pharmaceutical sector.
Republic Act No. 5921 or the pharmacy law mandates at least one pharmacist per shift per drugstore or pharmacy, a particularly daunting challenge in the Philippines. Not only are there not enough pharmacists to go around, they are also unevenly spread.
Not surprisingly, the majority of pharmacists end up in the urban centers or in larger hospitals and drugstores, forcing patients in the rural, remote areas of the country to travel far and wide just to get life-saving medicines.
Ideally, there should be one pharmacist per 2,000 people based on the standard of the World Health Organization.
But in the Philippines, the ratio is a paltry 0.57 per 2,000 people, about the same level as in Indonesia and Vietnam, but lagging behind Thailand where the ratio is 0.8 per 2,000, according to PSAC data.
Given that it will take years before the supply can catch up with the demand for pharmacists, the PSAC health cluster led by AC Health chief executive officer Paolo Borromeo proposed that licensed pharmacists be allowed to oversee multiple pharmacies remotely.
This will hasten the expansion of community pharmacies, particularly in underserved regions, thus immediately improving access to essential medicines.
Another suggestion from PSAC was to make the most of telepharmacy services and enhance the role of pharmacy assistants to bring public services closer to those who need them most.
“We are working toward a more equitable and sustainable health-care system,” said Borromeo during the group’s meeting last March 6.
This was not the first time that the worrying lack of pharmacists had been raised.
Back in 2014, the Drugstores Association of the Philippines already warned about the implication of the waning number of students taking up pharmacy, which they said would then pose a significant threat to the future of the country’s pharmaceutical industry.
Among the reasons behind the low number is the lack of appreciation for their role, thus not enough Filipinos are encouraged to enter the field.
“Most often, people would view pharmacists as just salespersons, but they don’t realize that we are health-care professionals behind that counter,” said Ma. Gilda Saljay, then president of the Philippine Pharmacists Association.
The Department of Health also said in 2021 that the Philippines was facing a shortage of 14,000 pharmacists, on top of the shortages in other health-care professionals, from doctors and nurses and even radiologists.
Sen. Pia Cayetano echoed this finding in 2023, when she noted that : “Everything that makes a health system sustainable, we have a shortage (of).”
Clearly, there is no lack of knowledge of how serious the problem with the shortage of medical professionals is, but what is missing is the commitment to go beyond just wringing hands and take decisive action to solve the problem.The Marcos administration can take up the suggestion of PSAC to take the “regulatory sandbox” approach and consider loosening the current requirement so that pharmacists can oversee several pharmacies and drugstores at the same time to multiply their impact.
While that is being considered, the government can think more long term by, for example, providing financial assistance to those who are keen on entering the health-care field but do not have the financial resources to do so. Another way is to introduce a stepladder approach so that those who are already working in the field such as pharmacy assistants can get credits to work their way into becoming registered pharmacists.
Finally, greater appreciation for health-care professionals must be demonstrated by giving them the commensurate salaries and benefits they deserve, including those who risked their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and who are still waiting for their long-delayed allowances.
K-pop star Jisoo, a member of girl group BLACKPINK, kicked off her solo Asia fan tour in Manila.
The singer and actress, who is currently starring in Prime Video’s zombie series “Newtopia,” held her “Lights, Love, Action!” fan meeting in Manila on March 14 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The fun-filled night saw Jisoo performing before Filipino fans, decorating a gift, playing games, and going to the audience area.
Manila was the first stop in her “Lights, Love, Action!” Asia fan tour. For the whole March, she will be in Bangkok, Tokyo, Macau, Taipei, Hong Kong and Hanoi.
K-pop star and actress Jisoo at her fan meeting in Manila on March 14 (Photos provided by Collective Touring Philippines)
K-pop star and actress Jisoo at her fan meeting in Manila on March 14 (Instagram)
Before the Asia fan tour, Jisoo released his first solo mini-album “Amortage” on Feb. 14, a fusion of the words “amor” (love) and "montage."
“Amortage” sold 523,971 copies by the end of March, based on Hanteo Chart data.
In Manila, Jisoo started the fan meeting by performing “Earthquake,” the main track from “Amortage” followed by “Your Love,” “Tears,” “Hugs & Kisses,” “Flower” and “All Eyes on Me.”
“Long time no see,” Jisoo greeted the crowd. “At first I was very nervous but as I came up the stage and I saw all my Blinks, it felt like a really good sign and I really gained strength.
Jisoo came back to the Philippines after two years since BLACKPINK’s “Born Pink” world tour held in the country in March 2023.
“Even though it's been a long time since I've been here, they hung up banners like this outside and welcomed me so warmly and cheered me on so I really gained strength. It was good from the very beginning,” she said.
Outside the Araneta Coliseum, banners featuring Jisoo were put up in different areas.
When asked which is the most meaningful song for her, Jisoo chose “Your Love,” saying, “The lyrics of this is actually my message to Blinks so every time I see this, I feel like I show all my love.”
On Korean food that she would like to recommend to her Filipino fans, she said, “I really like Korean pancakes like ‘pajeon’ or ‘kimchijeon.’”
Jisoo also picked the words "tough," "cool" and "cute" to describe her personality.
If she could relive one moment in her career, Jisoo said, “The memories of performing are really precious to me so I think this moment of our first fan concert today will be memorable for a long time.”
In one segment, Jisoo decorated an album that was given to a lucky fan and signed it with “mahal kita (I love you).” She also gave away a Polaroid photo with the words “mahal kita.”
In another segment, Jisoo learned Filipino phrases including “mahal ko kayo” (I love you), “masaya ba kayo? (Are you happy?) and “charot” (a Fiipino slang which means “just kidding”).
Jisoo also played charades with fans acting the keywords, including “The Matrix,” “Aladdin,” “Harry Potter,” pencil, computer, bag, clock, cell phone, sticker, glasses, tie, calendar, soccer, doctor and singer.
During her performance of “All Eyes on Me,” Jisoo roamed around the audience area to be close to her fans.
As she wrapped up her fan meeting, Jisoo said she is happy to spend time with fans.
K-pop star and actress Jisoo in Manila on March 14 (Instagram)
K-pop star and actress Jisoo's photo outside the Araneta Coliseum on March 14 (Jonathan Hicap)
“This is my first time doing my first solo tour fan meet. I was actually very much looking forward to it but also worried. But right now even having this time, I guess, it was so much fun that the time just flew and spending time with my Blinks, I really want to just tell you how much happier I am,” said Jisoo.
She added, “And also, of course, I really want to extend my gratitude to everyone, all the staff who have really worked hard to make this performance, to make this happen.”
In an Instagram post, Jisoo wrote, “Thank you for be part of my very first solo fan meeting! Happy to started with big cheers of BLINK Manila. So grateful you made me lovely AMORTAGE. Can‘t wait to see you again! MAHAL KO KAYO, XOXO.”
Jisoo’s “Lights, Love, Action!” Asia fan tour was produced by Paradise E&A, Monday Morning Creative Lab, Askara Nation, and Collective Touring Philippines.
The summit is divided into four components, namely, 1) Festival Exhibition, 2) National and 3) International Competitions, and 4) International Choral Conference.
The largest gathering of choirs will happen right here in the Philippines.
All roads lead to the Palawan International Choral Summit, which will be held from Aug. 13 to 16, 2025, in various venues in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
The summit is divided into four components, namely, 1) Festival Exhibition, 2) National and 3) International Competitions, and 4) International Choral Conference.
The Festival Exhibition is a general event that will feature non-competing local and international choirs to perform and immerse themselves in the local unique and diverse cultures of Palawan, while the national Competition is a search for the best choirs to be participated in by choral groups from different regions in the Philippines. This is the best venue where local choirs can bring and represent their respective regional cultures through their music. This is also to render their knowledge and proficiency in choral singing. The first 20 participants who have settled their registration fees are provided free accommodations.
Meanwhile, the International Competition will give them a chance to foreign choirs to showcase their talents and experience as well as the warm hospitality of the Palawenos and to see their pride scenic spots for themselves. This is the best avenue for local choirs to acquire additional knowledge from international choral groups and vice versa. This is also the best opportunity to forge friendships among themselves.
Other components of the fest include the International Choral Conference, which will take choral knowledge to the next level by offering cutting-edge discussions, masterclasses, fiesta booths, festival kits, souvenir programs, and special tours of the islands.
Categories will be divided among the festival exhibition and national and international contests that will showcase the competition properly with its competition performance, repertoire, etc. The Jury will set the criteria, assess, deliberate, and proclaim the winners through scorecards.
Meanwhile, Philippine choirs can participate internationally in two ways: 1) if registered directly in the global competition. Just like the other international participating choirs, they will experience the best amenities that the festival organizers can provide 2) if they register for the national finals and obtain a grade of 85 percent or above in any given category. This automatically entitles them to participate internationally without paying additional registration and individual package fees prescribed to international participants. Nevertheless, local choirs can join both competitions at discounted costs.
Another featured event is the opening ceremony, which will take place on Aug. 14, 2025. A unique program featuring folkloric and traditional music and dances that showcase Palawan's culture will be performed.
Those interested in participating in the national competition and festival can log on to www.nafci.com. For the international choir festival, log on to www.ppicf.com. Registrations are now open. Before you submit research papers to join the international choral conference, please wait for more announcements. If you have any questions, please log on to www.nafci.com or email at filipinochoirs@gmail.com.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) will launch the Central Digos Fault Atlas on Monday, March 17 to provide detailed maps of the fault and identify areas at risk of group rupture to aid in earthquake preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
The atlas offers high-resolution maps of the Central Digos Fault (CDF) in Digos City, Davao del Sur, which highlights vulnerable infrastructure, including commercial, residential, and industrial areas.
“The release of this atlas will empower communities, particularly the local government units, residents, and stakeholders of Digos City, to prepare for earthquake hazards. The Central Digos Fault Atlas will serve as a guide for science-based land use planning, zoning ordinance formulation, and disaster risk reduction,” Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said.
Mapped as part of Phivolcs’ Sigma Project, the CDF spans 18 kilometers through several barangays, including Goma, Dulangan, and Ruparan.
The fault, identified in 2019, has the potential to generate a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, which could cause destructive ground shaking (Intensity VIII on the Phivolcs Earthquake Intensity Scale) in Digos City and surrounding areas.
The Sigma Project, a Department of Science and Technology Grants-in-Aid initiative under the Accelerated Earthquake Multihazards Mapping and Risk Assessment Program (ACER), aims to identify the location and subsurface features of active faults, assess potential earthquake magnitudes and recurrence intervals, and produce active fault maps and databases to support earthquake hazard mitigation efforts for various stakeholders, including the scientific community, engineers, urban planners, and government units.
Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto – these are considered the big four film festivals; and what’s important to note, is that the awarding, gala nights, and celebrity sightings are just the public face of these festivals. What truly drives these festivals are the deals, the negotiations, the distribution and/or co-producing agreements, that are threshed out in private meeting rooms, and at behind the scenes tableaus. These are the real lifeblood of any decent festival that’s out to make its mark, because the festival should be the medium to conduct and achieve business goals. If not, what are the metrics for deciding whether a film festival was worth mounting, or can be called an unqualified success?
I’ll be honest, these thoughts ran through my mind as I saw the social media feeds of the many who attended the recent Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles last week. It preyed on my mind because the photos were all glam and happy faces, and uniformly, they were shots of the Filipinos who had travelled to join our First Lady, and the “usual suspects” of Filipino-Americans and Canadians who call Hollywood home – from Tia Carrere (a blast from the past), to Apl.de.ap, Manny Jacinto, and JoKoy. It was “dinner hosted at the residence of…,” Gala dinner at the Beverly Hilton, and “the premiere screening of…” – in short, the shiny tinsel and glittery sequins that accompany these festivals.
MIFF BIG WINNER Song of the Fireflies, and I’m praying it has secured a global distribution deal, or is in the process of doing so.
And so, I was looking for the “meat and potatoes” photos that would point to how gears and wheels were grinding and turning, to address the business side of festivals. Photos of the bigwigs of the major Hollywood studios, executives of the new players like streaming giants Netflix, Disney, Apple, HBO Max, and Amazon, heads of the dominant talent agencies, of movie brokers who could forge distribution deals for our Filipino films. To prove to me that connecting with trade was happening.
Sure, one would have to caption each of these photos to identify these “players,” but at least I’d know that the effort was successfully made to bring these Hollywood movers to our Filipino celebration – the second year this particular festival is happening in Los Angeles. For me, it would be proof that we weren’t just turning the weekend into a giant Filipino party – which I know we would be great at mounting, but misses the point.
Who did I see on the MIFF social media posts that wasn’t Filipino (or Fil-Am), and could be relevant for these business metrics I’m harping on about? There’s David Shim, a Korean movie producer, who lists Oscar-winner Parasite among his credits. He spoke about current projects that he’s involved in here in Manila; and has been throwing his support to our First Lady Liza A. Marcos and our local film industry, since April of last year. So the current MIFF was not our introduction to David, and he’s not a new contact.
THE POSTER for the MIFF Gala Night. Wondering how many seats/tickets were purchased.
Author Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asians was in several of the feeds, and it’s nice to see he was around, showing his love for things Philippine. But does he qualify as “trade”? I don’t think so.
The Philippines as a film location site, signed co-productions, international distribution deals for our films, or global representation for some of our creative talents – in my estimation, these would be the low-hanging fruit that a legitimate and successful Festival should generate. Am I asking for too much? I really don’t think so, as we constantly turn green with envy watching what happens elsewhere and nearby, and then sour-graping.
Who is watching The White Lotus Season 3, as filmed in Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Samui; and isn’t internally wishing it was shot at Boracay, Coron, or Siargao? Thailand already leads ASEAN countries in foreign visitors, so you can imagine how this will only further boost their Tourism figures over the next two to three years, minimum.
And we’ll say our beaches are nicer, our people friendlier, plus we speak English – and I keep saying that last argument of speaking English should be thrown out the window forever. For several decades now, it’s something we keep bringing up when it’s obviously not the deciding factor for direct foreign investment, or for decisions like where to shoot The White Lotus.
Please don’t call me a party-pooper or killjoy for today’s column. I know money is being spent to make this festival happen, and I do want it to work – but I also want it to work along specific business parameters and goals; and not just making it a weekend of Hollywood happiness for the Filipino community of Los Angeles, and a La La Land adventure for those who flew in from Manila. Those should be the bonus values for mounting the festival.
Just saying… as it would be such a waste of time and effort to have our First Lady supporting this initiative, and not producing substantive results. Let me know “good” things were happening in LA, and I’ll be the first among those shouting it from the proverbial “top”!
