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!
Thirteen countries will be represented when Camiguin hosts an Ironman 5150 event for the first time on May 3, as the island with the highest concentration of volcanoes per square kilometer in the world—and also home to the best lanzones this part of the globe—becomes the center of endurance racing.
Preparations are in full swing, with the organizing Sunrise Events, Inc. (SEI) working closely with the provincial government to ensure the delivery of a world-class racing experience.
SEI president and managing director Princess Galura emphasized the importance of aligning operations with global standards while ensuring athlete safety, efficiency and overall race quality.
The event forms part of the inaugural 5150 Triathlon Islands of the Philippines Series, a four-leg circuit designed to showcase some of the country’s most scenic island destinations through Olympic-distance racing.
The series successfully kicked off in Guimaras last month, with Bohol hosting the third leg on July 12, which also marks the 10th staging of its Olympic-distance race, before culminating on Sept. 20 at Samal Island in Davao City.
The initiative is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, in partnership with the National Sports Tourism Inter-Agency Council and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, all aiming to position the Philippines as a premier destination for endurance sports.
Cast and Directors from the Prime Video New Philippine Originals Class Photo | Photo by Artu Nepomuceno
If you have been keeping up with Philippine television in recent years, you have probably noticed that content has skewed toward action, mystery, and suspense—or a combination of all three. And it all makes sense when you look at how streaming has changed the game in terms of production and distribution.
While you will still see traditional melodramas or love stories on free-to-air television, the more high-profile titles created by networks in collaboration with global streaming platforms must translate easily and travel quickly across borders.
A tense cat-and-mouse game or a whodunit—coupled with good ol’ Filipino emotional storytelling—typically does the trick, sustaining curiosity and engagement, especially in this post-“Squid Game” era. And with local producers no longer beholden to those year-long sagas, they can devote bigger budgets, not to fillers, but to higher production values that meet global standards.
Offbeat roles
If the streaming giants’ upcoming shows are any indication, the push for adrenaline-fueled content continues in 2026. Netflix got the ball rolling last February by unveiling the dystopian action series “BuyBust: The Undesirables,” the folklore-tinged horror mystery “Balaraw,” and the action drama “The Master Cutter.”
Now, Prime Video is doubling down with a lineup of originals spanning political thriller, crime, drama, and psychological suspense.
“Behind Closed Doors” (coming soon) stars Marian Rivera as a sharp-tongued journalist who has an illicit affair with the Philippine President (special participation by Dingdong Dantes). When their relationship is exposed after the President’s assassination, she becomes the main suspect and is put at odds with the late politician’s daughter (Jillian Ward).
“Playing a mistress is a very offbeat role for me, but why not try something new for a change?” Rivera says at the recent Prime Video Presents: Philippines, the platform’s first local slate announcement.
Streaming since March 20, “The Silent Noise”—featuring Angelica Panganiban and Zanjoe Marudo—follows a deaf boy who witnesses his teacher’s mysterious death, leading to an investigation that uncovers family secrets and shakes their entire community.
Set for July 2026, “The Loyalty Game” stars Janine Gutierrez, Jericho Rosales, and Sofia Andres. Based on the viral “loyalty test” concept, the story revolves around two women who discover that the man they’re both involved with is hiding a dangerous secret.
“This is a mysterious story perfect for thrillseekers and those who love plot twists,” Gutierrez says. “The script is exciting in a sense that even we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Romance with a side of danger
The roster also includes romance and family drama, but you still expect them to be served with a side of danger—or, who knows, maybe even a body count.
A powerhouse collaboration between ABS-CBN and GMA Network, “Honor Thy Mother” (September 2026) pairs Sharon Cuneta and Barbie Forteza as a CEO and estranged daughter who must unite and reconcile if they are to weather corporate intrigue and survive a deadly conspiracy.
“Love Is Never Gone” | Photo from Prime Video
Shot in Morocco, the romance-thriller “Love Is Never Gone” (May 8) starring Joshua Garcia and Ivana Alawi is a story of second chances: An ex-convict who discovers his “dead” lover is actually alive and has assumed a new identity as a socialite.
Of course, not everything has to involve psychological warfare or a life-or-death investigation.
For some straight-up laughter, the reality comedy competition “LOL” returns for a second season. Hosted by Vice Ganda, the show pits 10 comedians against each other as they try to make each other laugh while trying to stay serious. The one who keeps a straight face until the end wins.
“Bar Boys: After School” | Photo from @primevideoph/Instagram
Universal, but uniquely Filipino
But while these shows were green-lit with “multimarket appeal and potential” in mind—to better maximize Prime Video’s 200 million subscribers across 240 territories—they shouldn’t come at the expense of “local authenticity.”
Take, for instance, Kim Chiu and Paulo Avelino’s cross-cultural romance “Kopino” (November 2026). With scenes planned for filming in Korea, the series sheds light on the experiences of Korean Filipino children, or “Kopinos,” who are often left behind by their foreign fathers.
While uniquely Filipino, its themes of family, abandonment, and accountability resonate universally.
“First and foremost, local is what’s important—we won’t do something Filipinos don’t want to see,” says Caitlin Parkinson, Prime Video head of programming strategy for Asia-Pacific. She adds that while they’re confident Filipino content is bound to find audiences around the world because of the diaspora, they also believe its appeal can go beyond that.
“We can bring these narratives to individuals everywhere. We try to hone in on universal themes like family, love, ambition, or justice. People don’t care where those characters live; they want to be entertained with high-quality shows. Those can come from the Philippines.”
“Open Endings” | Photo from @primevideoph/Instagram“Quezon” | Photo frmo @primevideoph/Instagram
Aside from the seven original titles, Prime Video also announced exclusive licensed Filipino films joining its 2026 lineup: “Samahan ng mga Makasalanan,” “Gabi ng Lagim,” the Bayaniverse trilogy (“Heneral Luna,” “Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral,” “Quezon”), “Bar Boys: After School,” and “Open Endings.”
Together, these new additions to the platform’s growing catalog “represent the depth of our collaboration with Filipino creators and studios,” says head of content acquisition Chaitanya Divan. “We’re supporting local storytellers to help bring their vision to life—stories that speak to our local Filipino audience and showcase incredible Filipino talent.”
Philippine stocks may remain range-bound this week, with the main index struggling to sustain gains amid lingering geopolitical risks and elevated oil prices, according to brokerage 2TradeAsia.
Immediate support for the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) is seen at 5,800. Resistance is pegged at 6,050, with a secondary ceiling at 6,300.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said that a key catalyst for global and local markets includes the end of the two-week US-Iran truce on April 21.
“Upcoming local data include the April 20 balance of payments and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ meeting—with a possible rate hike—and the April 23 budget balance report,” Ricafort added.
The PSEi slipped 99 points or 1.62 percent last week to close at 5,999.13. Early optimism from an easing of the conflict in the Middle East faded due to renewed selling pressure.
Investors continued to grapple with uncertainty surrounding the war between Israel and the United States against Iran. They are particularly concerned about the risks of disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, which has kept a “war premium” embedded in crude oil prices.
“Diplomatic negotiations remain fundamentally stalled and this impasse has created a ceiling for global market sentiment,” 2TradeAsia said. It noted that markets may move sideways until clearer developments emerge.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative. Holding firms dropped 2.93 percent, financials slid 1.22 percent and services lost 1.58 percent.
Industrials slipped 0.67 percent. Property fell 1.67 percent. Mining and oil bucked the trend, up 0.24 percent.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) is costing you your brain power.” This is the finding of a preliminary MIT research led by Nataliya Kosmyna.
Their study shows that using AI has been found to hurt brain connectivity and memory recall.
The emergence of smartphones and its multiple notifications, social media posts and stories that reel us in, AI to outsource thinking—all these have been causing our minds to lose focus, have ADHD brains and become lazy thinkers.
In school, we learn what to think, not how to think.
There has been a shortage of critical thinking pre-AI. With the barrage of information coming at us from social media, many opinions are formulated using fake information.
Without our consciousness of how our brains work, we are easy prey. The emergence of AI just makes the scarcity of critical thinking even more pronounced. Without this critical skill, we become puppets to those who benefit from our gullibility.
The brain follows a simple principle; “Use it or Lose it.” What doesn’t get used gets deactivated.
Our brains are programmed to preserve energy. If we don’t challenge our brains to stretch and think, it will just lay docile and hibernate. Critical thinking is the skill that will make us more intelligent, shield us from tricks and future-proof ourselves.
To do critical thinking, we need to be aware first of what nonthinking is. L Michael Hall, PhD writes in his book Brain Camp talks about nonthinking stages.
Here are the most common ones.
Automatic Thinking. Learned and overlearned information that becomes part of our automatic thinking. No check of accuracy or ecology.
“Fast thinking without thought.” When we don’t pause to question our own thinking. For many, this is what feels like intuitive thinking. “My instinct tells me.”
And we’re usually wrong. When we take on this process, we’re not thinking, we’re just following a pattern we’ve been programmed to do.
Borrowed Thinking. In adult life, most of our thinking belongs to the nonthinking pattern. These are things we learned, we heard, we read and absorbed without questioning.
When we just repeat and quote other people mindlessly, we become guilty of this nonthinking stage. Most things in our culture are designed so that we don’t have to think.
Someone has already decided ahead what we should do, how we should think, what’s acceptable and what’s not.
This kind of thinking is helpful when we are learning, but when we just take things as a whole without breaking them down to question, we are not thinking. We are taking on someone’s thinking.
Superficial thinking–lazy and easy thinking. This is an escape from thinking.
We learn this when we were taught that thinking for ourselves is tabooed and dangerous. When we don’t ask for details and just let ourselves get absorbed in vague, deceptive language.
Many things we hear from people who preach certain ideologies could fall under superficial thinking. Questioning it is threatened and wrong. When we do this, we don’t protect ourselves from cognitive errors. We become victims of scams and deceptions.
While we may have errors in thinking, we don’t have to get stuck there. Real thinking is being able to see reality as it is, then choose how to best interpret and respond to it to enable best decision and best everyday experiences.
Considering
The first step in active thinking is trying on an idea that’s different from ours. Take on a neutral perspective, get curious and wonder about other people’s thoughts.
The one thing that gets in the way of this is knowing that I’m absolutely right, and they’re absolutely wrong. Knowing and accepting that we are all fallible reduces this barrier.
“What if they have a point? What can I learn from them? Where must they be coming from?” These are good frames to take on.
Good questions expose errors in our thinking and force us to think differently. If the question is something we’ve never thought about, it drives us to explore into deep thinking.
Our brains get activated to search for information. This is what real thinking is about.
Pause and ask, “What am I assuming to be true when I say this?” “How do I know that what I know is true?”
Doubting is being skeptical about our what we think is true. Skepticism is how we suspend judgment. Challenge “facts” and play devil’s advocate. Look for evidence for the opposite statement.
These are the initial steps of doing critical thinking. Being critical about how we think, what we think and what our references are.
True freedom is having a choice on how to manage our minds.
If there are too many thoughts and thinking patterns that are inculcated in us without our awareness, we become prisoners of someone else’s brain.
Learning to think for ourselves is a skill that liberates us to have a life we choose.
