Retirement-Questions-Answers

        Q. How about typhoons and floods?
         A. Flooding is not a problem because we are located in a high mountain valley with plenty of drainage away from our community. Typhoons only cause elevated levels of rain for a few days. Negros Island is the most protected island in the Philippines from typhoons because it is the fourth largest island in the Philippines and it is located inside a close circle of other large islands which sometimes get heavier typhoon impact, compared to Negros Island. Our large Mabinay municipality is also protected from severe windstorms by being entirely encircled by a ring of high mountains.

        Q. How do we contact or visit the Village?
        A. Email:   mountainvalleyvillage@yahoo.com Cell phone no. [inside Philippines]: 0920-421-9608 [from outside of Philippines, dial
63-920-421-9608], in conjunction with your nation's international dial procedure. If you are visiting us in person, please visit the office of the Mountain Valley Guest Inn, National Highway, Botong, Lumbangan, Mabinay 6207, Oriental Negros, Philippines [which is also our mailing address]. For travel instructions from Bacolod, whether you are at the Bacolod Airport [south side of city and which is on the national highway going directly to Mabinay] or from the south Bacolod Ceres bus terminal, you will want to get on a Ceres [yellow or green] bus going to either Kabankalan [only a half hour from Mabinay, but you will need to change to a Dumaguete bus at the new Kabankalan bus terminal], or, better yet, directly to Dumaguete City [via Mabinay]. Make sure that your bus is going to Dumaguete via Mabinay and NOT via San Carlos, a route that does not pass through Mabinay which takes twice as long to travel from Bacolod to Dumaguete because it goes around the large island, rather than diagonally across the island.

        Q. Is English widely spoken in the Philippines or does one need to know the local Cebuano and Tagalog languages?
        A. English is widely-spoken throughout the Philippines. Mountain Valley Village has English-speaking management and maintenance associates. The Philippines is the fourth largest English-speaking nation [in number of English speakers] in the world [after USA, UK, and India]. Almost all signs and advertisements are in English. The newspapers and magazines are published in English. All legal contracts must be in English All court papers, court proceedings, and government forms are in English. City, provincial, and the national government operate using English. English is also spoken to a much lesser degree but definitely in use in many radio and TV shows. Filipinos often combine English with a local language when talking with one another. You can watch on your home or apartment dream satellite dish: CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, HBO, Cinemax, ESPN, AXN, and many other American satellite cable programs, plus other foreign satellite services such as BBC, France's Channel 5, Germany's DW, Australian channels, and channels from India, Taiwan, China, and Japan.. Satellite services costs you less than US$18 per month [890 P-pesos]!

        Q. How big are the Mountain Valley Guest Inn retirement apartments in square feet?
        A. Relationship of square meter to square feet: Each square meter is 10.763910 square feet. Five of the furnished, 80 square meter Mountain Valley Guest Inn Hotel Apartments [available for your rental daily, weekly, or monthly] are 861 square feet each. Another five furnished apartments are 90 square meters [969 square feet] each.

        Q. How can we as an American married couple live year-round in the Philippines?
        A. You can initially enter the Philippines as a visitor on a FREE 21 day automatic visa [for visitors from first world countries such as Canada, USA, Germany, UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.], which can then be renewed with small fees for up to one year [about US$30 total in a year]. Many foreign residents of the Philippines stay in the Philippines year after year by getting a new series of visitor visa each 12 months [requiring that they leave the country for a few hours, days, etc., once every 12 months, such as flying for a low-cost vacation to Hong Kong which is only 2 hours away and costs about $300 for airfare and hotel room for 2-3 days You can live in the Philippines year-round in at least two other different ways as an American couple. The easiest, low-cost way is to acquire permanent resident alien status [about $300 with all related-expenses]. More complicated and much more expensive [and very rarely used by foreigners] is to obtain a Retirement Visa [one per married couple], or an Investor Visa. Spouses married to a Filipina or Filipino have even more opportunities for permanent year-round living, such as a free balikbayan visa. For more information, visit: Philippines-Retirement-Visa.

          Q. What is the population of Mabinay?
          A. Mabinay is one of the largest municipalities in land area in the Philippines, but because it is a rural, agriculturally-oriented area, its population is about 150,000 and very fast-growing like the rest of the Philippines.. The population of the metropolitan Dumaguete City area is over 300,000. The population of Oriental Negros Province is over 1.2 million. The population of nearby Kabankalan [Negros Occidental] is about 300,000. Kabankalan is only a 30 minute drive on an absolutely top-knotch road with park-like scenery all along the way. Bacolod has 700,000 residents and its is the fourth largest city in the Philippines.

          Q. Where does one go for shopping?
          A. A ten minute walk along the national highway or a 2 minute, five peso tricycle ride is the new [Dec. 11, 2005] Fry Mini Mart with its large grocery, pharmacy, games cafe, snack bar, and wedding dress rental boutique. The largest shopping community in Negros Oriental is Dumaguete City, a two minute car trip from Mountain Valley Village. It has several hundred retail stores, including the large Hypermart [like a smaller version of Wal-Mart] and the large Super Lee Department Store. Only two and one-half hours by car from Mountain Valley is the the fourth biggest city in the Philippines---Bacolod, in the adjoining province of Negros Occidental, which has 2 very large, modern, American-style shopping malls [Gaesano Mall and Robinson Mall]. The new Gaesano Mall in nearby [45 minutes] Kabankalan opens in mid-2006. A huge new SM Mall opens in Bacolod sometime in 2006. A large Robinson's Mall opens in Dumaguete in 2007.

          Q. Do I need to own a car or pickup truck for living at Mountain Valley Village and in the Philippines?
          A. You don't need to own a car or pickup truck when you live at Mountain Valley Village which is on the national highway connecting Dumaguete City and Bacolod City [4th largest city in the Philippines], and thus has 24 hour, 7 day, high-quality bus services, low-cost [$1 to $1.50 per one-way trip] to both cities. Both the Dumaguete Airport and the Bacolod Airport are on the national highway. There are also low-cost local jeepneys and tricycles to take you anywhere in greater Mabinay [about US ten cents per trip].

           Q. Is it economical for me to ship my recreational vehicle and car from the States to the Philippines?
           A. No. Bringing a motor home, car, or pickup truck, or any vehicle [other than a motorcycle you already own] to the Philippines would probably cost in transportation and import duties more than the vehicle is probably worth. It is much better for you to sell your vehicles where live, whether in North America, Europe, or Australia/New Zealand, and then buy new or used replacement vehicles in the Philippines. The Philippines government just substantially reduced the tax on small, new pickup trucks. I know many foreigners who live year round in the Philippines, and none I know have ever being willing to spend the huge transportation cost and import taxes involved in bringing a vehicle to the Philippines. New vehicles [same or similar brands and models] in the Philippines usually cost less than new vehicles in the USA and Europe.

           Q. On my first visit to Negros Island, is it possible to rent a car to explore Dumaguete, Mabinay, Bacolod, and Negros?
           A. Yes. You can easily rent a car at the Dumaguete Airport or the Bacolod Airport if you have a major credit card with which to secure and pay for your car rental. Car rental in the Philippines usually requires that you have the rental vehicle be driven by a rental car company driver because you [as a new visitor to Philippines] would find it both difficult and unsafe to drive yourself among the undisciplined and untrained Filipino drivers. The cost of having a company driver is low and the benefits to you are wonderful, especially since the driver will know how to find all of your desired destinations and get you there safely.

           Q. When I live year-round in the Philippines, what would be the cost to own my own car, utility vehicle, or motorcycle?
           A. If you are living in the Philippines year-round, you can buy a good condition, pre-owned Japanese utility truck ["easy-ride"] for less than US$3,000. A new Japanese motorcycle will cost you less than $1,000. You can buy a smaller-size, NEW Japanese pickup truck or NEW small sedan car for about $10,000 to $12,000. A NEW luxury sports utility vehicle or full scale, full-featured pickup truck [such as Ford F150] will be in the $25,000 to $30,000 range or more. Americans and Canadians appreciate the important fact that Filipinos drive on the right hand side of the road, just like the USA and Canada. Car/truck steering wheels are on the left hand side, just like the USA and Canada.

           Q. We are flying to Dumaguete to stay at Mountain Valley Guest Inn. How do we get from Dumaguete to Mountain Valley?
           A. If you are going by bus from Dumaguete City to Mountain Valley Guest Inn 1 or 2, take a tricycle [5 pesos per passenger per ride] from anywhere in Dumaguete to the Ceres bus terminal [south side of city]. Get on a Ceres Bus that goes to Bacolod [4th biggest city in Philippines and located on the opposite corner of Negros Island from Dumaguete] VIA Mabinay. At least one or more buses leave Dumaguete every hour 24 hours for Bacolod via Mabinay [by far the shortest route to go between the two cities]. What you don't want to do is to take a bus to Bacolod VIA San Carlos [that route does not pass through Mabinay]. Bus fare per passenger one way Dumaguete to Mabinay is about 90 pesos [each US$1 equals approximately 50 pesos] The bus will take you through towns and cities on the national highway like San Jose, Amlan, Tanjay, and Bais City. About 5 kilometers north of Bais City, there is a a different national highway that the bus will turn left onto [at a T-intersection]. That national highway will take you up into the mountains and then into the huge Mabinay Valley. It takes about 45 minutes to one hour to go from Bias to Mabinay [after about 1.5 to 2 hours for the trip from Dumaguete to Bais]. After you leave Bais, please tell the bus conductor that you want to get off the bus BEFORE Lumbangan [a "barangay" or neighborhood of Mabinay] at the Mountain Valley Guest Inn 2 [on your left side as you travel from Bais]. If you happen to travel too far, just get off, and take a tricycle [motorcycle with attached cab to carry passengers] back to hotel. Local tricycle fare would be 5 pesos for you, plus extra if you have a large suitcase[s] with you.

          Q. What about insects, mold, rodents, and snakes?
           A. The primary insect problems you need to deal with are mosquitoes and ants. The mosquito problem is small---plus each home has screens on all windows, plus screen doors. From time to time, you will need to spray ants trying to enter your house. Major brand U.S. and European insect sprays will be for sale in Frymart. As to snakes, please note that Negros Island is NOT a home to poisonous snakes, just harmless snakes that feed on rodents and insects. As to rodents and insects, your condominium at Mountain Valley Village is rodent, insect, mold/mildew and dry rot resistant because the condominiums are built entirely of masonry and steel with the only wood being the high quality hardwood doors. All windows have screens. The front door is protected by a screen door. As to poisonous snakes elsewhere in the Philippines, the deadly cobra lives in the dense jungle areas on at least two islands: Mindinao and Leyte. People living in developed areas of those two islands do not confront cobras in their daily life. It is the cobras who live in fear because some Filipinos on those islands like to hunt and kill cobras for sport and food. If you want to know more about mold and health, mold inspection, mold remediation, and mold prevention, visit the internet's top mold websites: Mold Inspector, Mold Inspection, Mold, and Mold Martt.

          Q. What is the electric voltage in the Philippines?
          A. Like most of the non-US/Canadian world, the electric voltage is 220. If you are moving USA/Canadian 110 volt electronics, appliances, lamps, etc. to Mountain Valley Village, you can purchase at low cost in the Philippines small step-down transformers that convert 220 electricity into 110 at each electric outlet in which you wish to plug in a 110 volt item. You can also pay [low-cost] to have your appliances converted from 110 v to 220 v.

Q. Can you assist with customs issues and shipping for your clients?
A. Usually, there is no customs duty to pay on personal household items. Only when you import items for re-sale, or sometimes, capital equipment for a business, would there be a possible customs duty to pay [usually 5% of value of imported items, but check in advance with the Philippines Bureau of Customs before exporting such items to the Philippines]. Arrange to have your container delivered to the port of Dumaguete as a destination. Although your ocean container may travel through the port of Manila or Cebu, you want it to arrive in the port of Dumaguete [90 minute drive from the Village]. The Village owns a 20 ton truck which can be hired with a driver to bring your container contents to the Village. We can help with customs which is not a significant problem for household personal possessions. At a reasonable cost, the Village manager's family shipped several prized possessions such as sofa set, dining room table, framed pictures, small appliances, etc. in big boxes [custom made out of rolled corrugated material] for items like sofa and table] at a reasonable cost the past year via Atlas Shipping which has numerous California offices and several other nationwide USA locations to ship items to California. Atlas delivers to your home or other Philippines address [such as Mountain Valley Village]. A 40 ft. ocean container is about $5,000 for California to Manila [pay Philippines shipping company to go to Dumaguete]. Contact Jennifer Tucker of American Baggage jennifer@discount-shipping.net