Hi All, I'm a new member here and living in the Philippines

[Gene and Viol]

Hi And Greetings Everyone,

I’m Gene and my Filipina wife Viol. I’m an American that is married and retired in the Philippines. We live close to Angeles city, a two hour bus ride or drive north of Manila.

I decided a long time ago that living and retiring in the States was something I just didn’t want to do. Quite by chance I found the Philippines and my beautiful wife while on my first trip here in 1996.

I have lived here since being married for seven (7) years. And almost three (3) years prior to that in a different part of the country.

I agree with Winston in that this is the best thing I’ve ever done! Living here is and can be challenging at times but the same can be said for anywhere else I know of.

Anyway, its great to be here and glad I found this site. If anyone has questions or concerns about the Philippines or about living in the Philippines I’ll do my best to answer any questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll say so or will find the answers but I wont guess.

[Winston]

Hi Gene,
Welcome! You must be from that other expat site I post on. Glad you came here. And it's good to hear from another in Angeles City.

I have a question for you though. If you are in a committed relationship, then your wife will not let you go to the bars, as my gf doesn't. So why would you remain in Angeles then since there are no other nice features of this town and nothing to do besides the bars? I mean, there's no fresh air, nature, scenery, clean streets, parks, etc. so why live here if you're not going to the bars? There are many expat/Filipina couples who live here in the same situation, committed and can't go to the bars, so I wonder why they remain here. I've been trying to leave here for a year now, but can't get organized enough cause I spend too much time on online activities and work.

But anyhow, it would be nice to meet up with you two sometime.

Regards,
Winston

[Gene and Viol]

Hi Winston,

Thanks for the reply and for the welcome here. I’m the guy that had the site that closed and you and I read Bruces site in Davao.

My wife is not the jealous type and I suppose she would understand if I wanted to go to bars. Fact is, I simply don’t drink and don’t like the lifestyle that the bars provide.
Besides, home and family activities with my wife and little girl keep me too busy to be wondering into Angeles very often.

Why do we stay in this area? Well, my wife’s family had an existing home in a Mt. Pinatubo resettlement. When I made the final move here it looked like an interesting place. Decided to give it a try and ended up falling in love with the people and the run down looking resettlement town.

For those that don’t know, a Philippines resettlement town was built by the government to relocate many people who lost homes and farms during the 1990 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
Resettlement towns are like a “Flintstones� version of condos. Each housing unit is a 12x30 cement box with a steel roof. Each unit is connected to the next one on every street.

We have another home close to Concepcion Tarlac for weekends and holidays. But our life is here in this resettlement.
We joined the Brgy Police and Philippine National Police anti-drug unit six years ago and volunteer many hours per week helping the PNP maintain law and order here and help the locals when and where we can.

The vast majority of people living in a resettlement are about the poorest of the poor. Most with little or no education. But time and again they have shown themselves to be warm, caring, and wonderful people. They just have a limited understanding of the world around them.

Crime in our town is not too bad when compared to Angeles and other areas. Most problems are of a family nature and misunderstandings or bad debt. Other areas of problems are weekend fights that are usually alcohol related. But aside from that, life is mostly uneventful.

Move from here? No, I don’t thinks so. Too much fun and interesting people right here. And we can always escape to our farm my Concepcion on weekends if we feel the urge…

[Winston]

Wow you live around the poorest of the poor? Aren't you afraid that they may rob you, especially if you're living in a nice house next to them?

I admire your guts and good heart.

Anyhow, I will PM you my cell phone so you can contact me if you're ever in Angeles sometime, so we can meet up?

[Gene and Viol]

Well, we have a large locking gate in front of our house to keep the "animals" out. Plus our house is a standard, unfinished resttlement home like the rest--complete with just a steel roof and no air conditioning. So its not much of a draw to the bad guys.
Plus, remember the baseball sized club the sherriff used in the movie Walking Tall? My club is about the same size. Also PNP is at our house day and night at different times too.

So sosmeone can try to come in and IF they survive their stay in the hospital, I am very happy to put them in jail .