r/Philippines_Expats

The Wall Street Journal’s central argument is that the Philippines has become one of the most strategically important countries in America’s effort to deter China—arguably more important now than at any point since the U.S. bases closed in 1992.
Here’s the article boiled down:
Geography is everything. The Philippines sits along the “first island chain,” between the South China Sea and the western Pacific. Northern Luzon and the Batanes Islands are especially important because they sit just south of Taiwan. From Philippine territory, U.S. forces could potentially monitor and contest Chinese naval movements between the South China Sea and Pacific.
The U.S. is coming back—but without recreating Clark and Subic. Rather than huge permanent American bases, the strategy is to obtain access to numerous Philippine facilities, rotate forces through them and spread weapons, fuel, supplies and aircraft across many locations. The U.S. now has access to nine Philippine military sites under EDCA.
The weapons are getting much more serious. The U.S. has brought systems such as Typhon, capable of firing SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles, and is deploying sophisticated antiship and counterdrone capabilities. These aren’t simply conventional training exercises anymore; they’re rehearsing the kind of operations that could matter in a major regional war.
Subic Bay is becoming important again. The U.S. is developing logistics and pre-positioning capabilities around the former American naval hub. The goal is to have equipment and supplies already nearby rather than shipping everything across the Pacific after a crisis begins.
Taiwan is a major reason. If China attacked Taiwan, Philippine geography could give U.S. forces positions south of Taiwan while American and Japanese forces operate to the north and east. Dispersing U.S. forces among Philippine islands also gives China many more potential locations to worry about instead of a handful of giant American bases.
But the South China Sea matters just as much to Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.‘s government has moved much closer to Washington as confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels have intensified. For the Philippines, American military cooperation provides deterrence against China that Manila couldn’t realistically generate by itself.
There’s a significant downside for the Philippines: closer integration with U.S. forces could make Philippine military facilities targets during a U.S.-China conflict. Beijing argues that Washington is militarizing the country, and some Filipinos worry that the U.S. presence could drag the Philippines into a war.
The big takeaway: Washington increasingly sees the Philippines not simply as an ally it is obligated to defend, but as a geographic centerpiece of the U.S. military strategy for deterring China. The combination of Luzon, Batanes, Subic Bay and access to nine bases gives the U.S. something extremely difficult to replicate elsewhere.

Seems legit, I'm curious if you have sent them your itinerary to get your eSIM before? I don't enjoy having to figure out which carrier or network to use, so I'm looking into this one.

Flood tax - By Vernon Velasco (Read on the Daily Tribune)

They sell you a condo for P20 million. "Prime location." Luxury. Strategic.

Then it rained on Monday and, suddenly, "strategic" means you can see Makati from the window but you can't get to it.

You're 10 minutes from Makati CBD. On the brochure. By kayak, maybe 12 minutes.

And the developer still calls it "resort-style living." There's water everywhere. Venice with leptospirosis. That's the miracle of Metro Manila real estate. First-world prices sitting on top of fourth-world drainage.

"Exclusive community." Nobody can get in. Nobody can get out. Imagine spending P70 million on a penthouse and calling your business partner: "I can't come in today."

"Why?"

"My luxury has surrounded me."

Location, location, location. Everybody knows it. In Manila? Elevation, elevation. The truly rich guy is the bastard across the street whose driveway is eight inches higher. That guy is an oligarch.

"But, sir, technically, the flooded road is outside the property."

Outside the property? That's how I get to the property. Try selling a fancy restaurant and say, "The food is fantastic. Unfortunately, there's no door." Unless the penthouse comes with a helicopter. Then we're talking.

Everybody in Metro Manila has already solved the flood. Except the people whose job it was to solve the flood.

Raised sidewalks, entrances; elevated parking. Condo has pumps; mall, barriers. The poor raise their stuff because they can't afford to raise the floor. The commuter buys boots. People buy 4x4.

You live in Metro Manila long enough even the way you look at cars changes. You see a sedan, nice car. Then it rains.

Now you're looking at height. Tires. Ground clearance. Then you see the guy with the Ram and snorkel. A snorkel. In the city.

You used to look at the guy and say, what a lunatic. Where is he going? Africa? No. He's going to f*cking Landers. His office is in Ortigas.

People have started buying around the flood. Building around the flood. Driving around it. Living around it.

And, because people adapt, government gets away with it. You lose P800 because you can't get to work. Restaurant throws away food. A business loses a day. A delivery rider takes an P80,000 motorcycle into floodwater to deliver an order worth P39.

Thirty-nine pesos.

Who priced the motorcycle into the delivery? His factory just went underwater. Maybe P39 looked cheap because nobody charged you for the full risk of getting it to you?

We push the cost to the gutter until it reaches somebody too small to push it any farther. Nobody calls it tax. I will. The flood tax. Congress never passed it. BIR doesn't collect it. No receipt. But, every time it rains, you pay.

Unlike normal tax (which is at least supposed to build something useful), flood tax often pays to repair the thing you already paid to build.

It's like buying an umbrella then getting charged because you still got wet. Maybe that's the real flood scandal. And it's only one version of the problem.

Open a business in the Philippines and everybody tells you "You need a generator." Really? I thought I needed customers?

And nobody says this apologetically. "Generator?" Yessir. Like you're an idiot for expecting electricity from the electricity company.

Then you need backup Internet. Backup supplier. Backup route. Backup vehicle. Eventually you need a backup Philippines.

We hear the same pitch about the Philippines. Easy place to do business. English-speaking workers. Young workforce. Cheap labor. Very attractive.

But cheap labor isn't cheap if you can't reliably get the labor to the building.

You show investors Philippine wages against Singapore. Great. Now show them Monday morning when 18 percent of the shift is stranded because Magallanes tunnel disappeared.

You don't care that Filipinos are resilient. As an investor, that word might scare you. Why does everybody need to be so f*cking resilient? You want employees who arrive boringly, work boringly, go home boringly.

Resilience is what you need when reliability has already failed. | Vernon Velasco

It's nothing for me, and maybe i can bring some happiness for some kids!

The Philippines does a lot for me, mainly giving me the freedom I need so I can give some away.

each bag has like 500 PHP value, I guess so 15K php giveaway

Rain on a tin roof.