Will Expats In The Philippines Get a Shot at Vaccination?

 (Formerly titled "What About Us Expats")

At this writing, a vaccine (or vaccines if more than one pharmaceutical  company will furnish them) for COVID-19 may soon arrive the Philippines.  When the inoculation program here begins, it will be administered  to  the citizens on a priority basis  which is to be expected.  However, note that the key word here is "citizens." Are we foreigners who live in this country omitted from coverage?

As a long time permanent resident  and a senior, I find the possibility of  such an exclusion very disturbing. And until recently I didn't know where to turn for recourse. Moreover, there are thousands of us non-citizens who make the Philippines our home, and it would be unconscionable for the authorities to shut us out from the vaccination program. So I'm not alone in this concern.

Fortunately, newspaper columnist, Cito Beltran of the "Philippine Star" recently graciously devoted a couple columns to this topic, and he came up with an answer:  According to  an  undersecretary of the Department  of Health, foreign residents have not been overlooked or excluded from the national vaccination  coverage after all. It's just a matter of coordinating with other government agencies as to where to fit us into the mix of categories who will be receiving the jab.

Mr. Beltran also pointed out the absurdity of the notion held by some Filipinos that foreigners who live here  ought to just return to their home countries for their vaccinations. But that would make as much (or as little) sense as expecting Filipinos living abroad to return here for their inoculations. After all, isn't turn about fair play?

As I mentioned, I think it would be inhumane for the Philippine government--or for that matter, for any host country--to deny access to the COVID vaccination to its non-citizen residents. For those who can't think beyond the idea that if such a refusal were implemented, aliens would only infect each other, they'd better think again,  Unvaccinated  non-citizens would also spread the disease to  Filipinos with whom they come in contact as well. And as it turns out the latter is a large number. Almost  half the population refuses to get the injections. (So forget about herd immunity). If anything, these "skeptics" are the ones who pose a health threat to everyone--native or permanent resident--who wants to be vaccinated but is denied that protection.

That said, all COVID vaccines are not created equal. Some makes offer better protection than others.  And I for one would not  want Sinovac for example, which has an efficacy rate of only about 50.4%'.  But this is not the same as rejecting COVID vaccines as a whole.  Quezon CiIty where I reside may be utilizing AstraZeneca instead.    

In short, for  those of us fortunate enough to have not caught the coronavirus,  the pandemic has still brought about  a great deal of mental and emotional distress.. Now that there's a vaccine which will eventually reach this country--possibly tomorrow, better days may be ahead for the people, including us expats. 

Not So Fine Dining

On Saturday night for the first time since the local COVID-19 quarantine was eased in Metro-Manila, my wife and I went out to dinner, our first such outing since March. . We went to a nearby middle-range Italian restaurant which had been one of our favorite spots B.C. (before corona).  Unfortunately, however,even though the food was good, the occasion was still a disappointment.

The first problem is the now-required restaurant seating protocol, which for two people is either alongside each other but  with an empty chair in between them or one party on each side of the table but positioned diagonally. This  resulted in awkwardness in our communicating with each other.   Next, the menus we were given  no longer included descriptions and in some places even pictures of the food and beverage choices printed on special laminated stock  Instead, they were disposable sheets of paper with little more than laundry lists of the available selections and their prices. Then after the meal they are discarded so that they are  not touched by more than one customer.

There was also the matter of the bar's confusion with my wife's cocktail order. But that was a function of service, not the result of post lockdown operational changes.

In addition, there was a problem with the ventilation. There was  no  air conditioning and little air circulation at all  throughout the dining area. Maybe the this was done purposely in order to minimize aerosolization of customers' respiratory droplets, considering that eating requires masklessness. To that end there was even a sign posted  requesting patrons to minimize unnecessary talking. This is because speaking also spreads microbes. Yet dinner without an  opportunity for lively conversation  makes for a very dull  occasion.  Still another possible purpose in  management's creation of such an airless environment  is to discourage customers, any one  of whom might be a COVID-19 carrier, from lingering over their meals and to clear out when they're done.

Dining out used to be one of our few and infrequent indulgences. Whether the discomfort that we encountered  was confined to this particular establishment or is really par for the course  under the "new normal" for restaurant patrons remains to be seen. Obviously, it will be just too bad if the latter is what we and other diners will now have to deal with.

An Expat's Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like everywhere else in the world that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,  when the virus struck the Philippines, it was a frightening experience not only  due to the disease itself and the resulting casualties, but also the severe impact that it's had on society as a whole.

As for the latter, there was a two month  period beginning mid-March  of a  government-ordered "enhanced community quarantine" that was imposed in Metro-Manila, and for a while on the entire island of Luzon, in order to fight this disease. It was a very difficult time for almost all of the area's 12 million inhabitants who  experienced the lockdown. This was especially  the case not only for victims of the disease and their families but also  for besieged hospitals and the frontliners who heroically manned them.

Then there was the economic repercussions for  the millions of workers and employers who were forced to stay home and so were  a deprived of their income (and many still are).  For almost everyone there was a also psychological upheaval in addition to the confinement such as dealing  with such unsettling phenomena  as looking out on formerly busy but now deserted streets that  looked  like something out of "The Walking Dead" (minus the  zombies), and initially the panic buying of the dwindling  essentials in the few businesses that weren't already shuttered.  Also through now throughout the area there are vehicle and pedestrian checkpoints,  police enforcement of  frontier-like bounderies between cities and even barangays (districts),  quarantine passes, curfews(!), social distancing, and  the mandatory face masks to be worn when out in public. And to  create even more anxiety, the establishments whose operations were suspended included  such basic services as medical clinics, laundries, and hardware stores  And for the poor there was a delay in furnishing much needed aid  All this upended millions of lives in Metro-Manila..  Overall, it was a nightmare from which there was no awakening.  But despite all these difficulties, it was important to keep in mind  that the alternative was even worse: a likely runaway number of new coronavirus cases and deaths here like that in Italy and America.

So it was a great relief in mid-May when the authorities deemed conditions were safe enough to  relax the ECQ to  a modified status, under which specified  business and industrial sectors  that had been prohibited to operate could finally do so. That order  included certain types of stores in shopping  malls, which themselves  had been completely shut down.  When I visited the mall here in Eastwood City a few days after it re-opened, I expected to see a surge of customers eager to seize the long awaited opportunity to address their pent up  shopping needs.  But to my surprise the place was nearly empty.  In fact it seemed that there were more security personnel  than the mallgoers..  Now, if the reason that there  was so little business is the result of  the financial impact from  the lockdown, then that's a sign that the local economy is in deep trouble. . .

Then there's the challenge of the new but not improved mall experience itself. As part of the new normal, in addition to the obligatory face masks, arriving mall customers are now also required to  present their quarantine passes, and undergo a thermal scan.  Once inside they are  discouraged  from lingering on the premises by the new policy of quick turnover. This is enforced by a warmer air tempetature and the discontinuance of free wi-fi.  What a change this is from just a few months ago when these centers were places where folks could leisurely shop or just hang out. Now customers are prompted to  enter, hurry up and do their  thing, and leave.

So this is the brave new world in these  COVID-19 times  and after, at least for the foreseeable future. Many of the customs  and traditions that Filipinos and foreigners alike took for granted have been upended.  So we will  all  have to cope with adjustments and radical changes to our lives that we had never even dreamed of. vs. the alternative of becoming another pandemic statistic. . And for the elderly, the risk of contracting the disease along with a fatal outcome is even greater.

Hopefully, if the number of new coronavirus cases here doesn't spike within the next few weeks , the current modified ECQ will be relaxed even further. But as I mentioned it's unlikely that the Philippines or the world for that matter will ever be the same as it was. Plus there's always the possibility of further waves of the virus making a return.  And even if a vaccine is eventually discovered.it will  probably not be available for public use for several months or even  a couple years afterwards. By that time, restoration of life  BCE. (before coronavirus existed ) will no longer be an option. The new normal will  have  taken hold of society,  and a future that we never would have imagined will be upon us.

Musings on Leaving Home

Today marks 54 years since I left home for California at the age of 19. When I think back on that trip and the early days after my arrival in L.A., so many changes have taken place in my life since then, it's as though that early me was someone else.

Of course I suppose almost all adults experience that kind of realization.  Yet, in my wildest dreams back then  I never thought I'd wind up spending my twilight years living abroad, let alone in the Philippines,  a place which at that time  I knew very little about. Naturally, I had even less of an inkling that I would eventually meet and marry someone from there and that we would wind up   leaving the U.S. to live in that country. 

Contrast all that with some of my high school classmates with whom I've reconnected on Facebook who've  never left my home town, except maybe for college but which was also in the same state. I sometimes reflect on what life must be like to stay in the same city from childhood through  old age. And I have to wonder whether those who do so ever fully mature for not having engaged in the real world outside their comfort zone. 

How about you, fellow expats? Do you ever ask yourself how you would have turned out if you hadn't left the place where you spent your childhood years, and for that matter your country of origin?

Digging In For the Long Haul

When my wife Lydia and I retired  and relocated from the U.S.  to the Philippines, in 2005  it was mainly for financial considerations. I didn't expect that we would ever return to the States. Yet despite my eagerness for us to start a new life In Lydia's native country I  was sorry to have to leave America and wished that it weren't necessary to take that step..

Now It so happened that at that time George W. Bush had recently begun his second term as  POTUS, and I really considered  him a dumb incompetent and that  his political and economic policies, especially the ones  that eventually  resulted in the Great Recession in 2007 were abhorrent. Then there was his mishandling  of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Yet as bumbling and inept as Bush was through all his missteps, one thing I never considered him to  be was malicious and demagogic. Donald Trump of course is these and more. He has  unleashed a climate of bigotry among his base of supporters that has turned the U.S. into an ideological cesspool by among other recent actions lending support including  a pardon for a federal conviction to right wing extremist and ant-Semite  Dinesh D'Souza.   Further, Trump has disgraced  the office of the presidency with his narcissistic erratic behavior and destructive discourse. He lies like a rug almost daily and should have already impeached based on his violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause .  I shudder at the prospect of ever having  to  repatriate to a country with this sad excuse of a human being as its leader.  

Life  in the Philippines is often frustrating. But  the difficulties that we've  encountered in living here for the past 13 years pale in comparison to the hardships we would likely face if we were to repatriate. And those in turn would be compounded by the constant awareness  that it's Trump and his fellow Republicans who are largely responsible  for growing economic difficulties that elderly and other Americans of modest means are experiencing. 

So Lydia and I are content with the life that we've made here. In fact when people often ask whether I ever wish I could go home, my reply is that I'm already there. And with the state of affairs  in the U.S.as they are now, that's more  the case than ever.

Philippine Poverty and Overpopulation: Dire But Not Hopeless

In a given society where the majority of its members live in poverty, this condition is usually structural. And you can really see that  in the Philippines where there's not much upward mobility from the lower ranks because the odds are stacked against them. What rigs the game of course is their sheer numbers and their percentage of the total population. So under these circumstances in a supply and demand setting, naturally the lowest bidder will get the job. This is despite a national minimum wage law which is not very effective because it's base is too low, has many exemptions, and it's is not well enforced anyway, especially outside of Metro-Manila.

So it's no wonder that members of the middle class and above here are often too lazy to wash their own dishes or raise their own children. They can--and do--get live-in domestic help for a song. Recent legislation has required that these employers pay into SSS (the counterpart  of U.S.social security) for their helpers. But it's questionable as to how many will really comply with this law .

On the other hand, Filipinos on the whole do value higher education (or at least the prestige in having a degree) Formerly,  primary and secondary public schooling was limited to a combined total of 10 years. With  with the recent addition of seventh and eighth grades it's  now 12 years. And starting next year tuition-free college education at public colleges and universities will become available.

But all these reforms will be for naught if the people here, especially the poor,   don't start practicing birth control on a wide scale,  Now that the Reproductive Health act is in effect, it will be easier for them to do so despite  the Catholic Church's pressure to keep them barefoot and pregnant. But they need to be shown how limiting family size will work to their advantage. If this happens, a positive response may well  finally break the cycle of poverty that has stranded the Philippines in a third world economy and may also ameliorate the damaged culture that has accompanied it as well. 

Gimme (A Tax) Shelter

For various reasons including poor service I had planned to rollover my 401(k) account form my present custodian to a new financial institution. In  doing so, I have discovered a serious problem that potentially affects all American expatriates who also  have retirement accounts in U.S.based financial firms.  The door is closing or has already closed against American citizens living abroad who  hold such assets. And many of these companies are not only refusing to accept rollovers or other fund transfers, some are kicking existing account holders to the curb by unilaterally closing and paying off their accounts, possible  tax repercussions to these customers notwithstanding.

Why are they doing this? The reason is explained very well in an article in "International Advisor: us institutions to expats take your retirement''.  Briefly, since the early 2000's security has  become a paramount issue with banks and other financial  institutions. So they want to know whom they're dealing with in their  customer base, which they really can't for account holders who live abroad. But it's only recently that they've intensifying this campaign and at the expense of us expats. Further, partly thanks to FATCA, foreign governments have started reciprocally creating unnecessary red tape for U.S. financial custodians firms whose expat customers. reside in their jurisdictions. So these firms just don't feel that dealing with overseas Americans is worth all this hassle. They are taking the easy way out, and there are no federal regulations to stop them.

A few days ago I contacted a financial consultant who was mentioned in the above ''International Advisor''piece, He suggested Charles Schwab as a possible option for stranded expats, and according to their website  ''Explore Schwab’s services for U.S. Expats''  they do indeed accept accounts for Americans living abroad. However a responder in the ''International Advisor'' comment section said that's not so, Charles Schwab is also giving their expat customers the boot. Sure enough I found a site that confirms this policy  ''Charles Schwab Announces Account Closures For US Citizens In Five Countries, More Expected''.

The Trump administration favors deregulation of  the finance industry. Hence  it it's unlikely that  Americans residing outside the country will get any relief for our predicament in the near future from that government  branch. However the legislative branch may be a different story when it comes to recourse. So today I sent a message regarding this issue to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren who as a political and economic progressive and member  the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs may be of  assistance in correcting this state of affairs.  Whether that actually happens of course remains to be seen. So at least for the time being,  limited options may be a brick in the wall that we expats, despite our being American citizens, will just have to put up with.

Brewocracy

My wife Lydia recently had some matters to take care of at the Bureau of Immigration, but she arrived  early and the office was still closed. So she went to a nearby Starbucks to kill time and have a refreshment until the the doors opened.  This got me to thinking: What if Starbucks operated like the BI or for that matter like most government offices in the Philippines that serve the public. I suppose the procedure for,  say, getting a cup of coffee would go something like this:


Upon entering Starbucks, proceed to Window 1. Submit  two pieces of identification plus two  1x1 photos, and request Application Form SBA in duplicate.

Complete the original SBA and file it at  Window 6.

Present  the completed SBA duplicate copy at Window 4 and request order form SBO in triplicate. If you want cream and sugar, complete Form SBCS and attach it to the SBO.

Present the completed SBO forms A,B, and C to the Cashier and pay the required amount along with a P50  Express Lane fee. Retain the duplicate copies along with your payment receipt.

Present your SBO duplicate copies B and C and your payment receipt at Window 3 for approval and  validation of your order.

To complete your purchase return to Window 4 and submit your validated SBO duplicate copy B.  Retain Copy C.

Allow 7 working days for preparation and completion of your purchase.

To receive your order, present SBO Copy C plus two forms of identification at Window 2. Your purchase will then be released.

Now wouldn't it be great instead if  Government offices were run like Starbucks? To this  end here's what President-Elect had this to say as per an article  'No Queues Please'' in the Malaya Business Insight: ''I hate seeing people queueing (sic). My proposal is that clearances and business permits will be processed within 72 hours''.  If he can institute these kinds of reform when  he takes office, imagine walking up to the counter (no more windows) of a government agency and hearing the clerk  say "Good morning, may I take your order?''

Retired But Not Retiring

Until the early 2000's when I was still living and working in California, I never would have dreamed that I would be spending my "golden years" in the Philippines. Yet as a result of my wife Lydia's persuasiveness and careful planning, it's been more than 10 years now since we retired and expatriated to this country.And as I have mentioned in previous posts, it was one of the smartest moves we ever made.In February I will celebrate my 71st birthday. This puts me well into the senior range, which in the Philippines officially begins at age 60.

As a foreigner,  with the exception  of  20% senior citizens discount on certain goods and services,  I still receive many of the perks and privileges that come with advanced age in this country, such as access to the senior checkout and lanes  in supermarkets and priority service at government offices. Another is the option to use the senior section on the MRT and LRT commuter trains here in Metro-Manila.That is a benefit which I very much appreciate. It's not much fun to have to ride in the other rail cars which are often jam packed with passengers, face to armpit and where I was pick-pocketed not just once but twice. 

But aside from  necessary excursions outside the home where they might avail of the above services, traditionally, the elderly in the Philippines often just  stay indoors where they are encouraged to spend their remaining years in a sedentary manner while family members and / or house help take care of them. And if they do go out, it's usually with  assistance.In that regard, as seniors my wife and I are anomalies. We don't live with family members and don't have hired help. For despite our ages,  we are fortunately able to maintain an independent lifestyle.  Lydia is a few years older than I am but still moves like a teenager and does extensive housework daily. And despite an acute and occasionally painful medical condition, I still have the stamina to run errands and manage personal affairs for both of us that occasionally require day trips outside local community. Lydia also does this as well, and in addition she travels to her home province at least once a month where she is following up on a complicated legal case, and which is one that requires the  energy and knowledge that would exhaust a person half her age. To that end, I spend much of my time acting as her "gofer" to ease her burden in this matter, which of course is  the least I can do.

However,  for us as seniors,  circumstances such as physical and mental fitness can turn on a dime for the worse. So  the question is whether there will come a time when our years catch up to us and we are no longer capable of conducting our present autonomous lifestyle. Lydia's response is not to pretend that scenario can't happen but rather to enjoy life in the present while taking appropriate precautions for the future.  I  think that's sage advice which is as reasonably optimistic as it sensible—at any age.

Jac Liner: Unsafe and Insincere?

I suppose that by now I should be used to the overall substandard quality of customer service that businesses in the Philippines provide. Still  it's really irritating when companies and government offices as well give the impression of concern  for consumer satisfaction by furnishing  a page in their website for receiving complaints but then ignore the comments or correspondence placed therein. Such were two experiences that I had with the bus company Jac Liner Inc.

In order to register one complaint (regarding lack of rest stops on a particular route)  I completed their "Contact Us" page but received no response. So in the matter of my second problem, which involved personal safety, this time I sent a letter via email attachment directly  to the Customer Service Manager. Here's what generated this correspondence: A few weeks ago, when I boarded a Jac Liner bus in Lucena City, Quezon, I arranged with both the driver and the conductor to let me off at the SM Megamall stop in Mandaulyong City, Metro-Mla. Instead  with no warning the driver passed up that location and dropped me further upon Edsa into the middle of the busy intersection with Ortigas that had no access to the curb, and it was only with great difficulty that I extricated myself out of that hazardous situation.

When I didn't get a reply to my letter, I then followed up by contacting a government regulatory agency that oversees the operations of public transportation companies, the LTFRB,  via their website contact page and (not surprisingly)  did not get a response.

In my letter to Jac Liner, I gave notice that if they chose to ignore my concern that I would take the matter public. So if nothing else, I hope that this post will alert those who utilize this transportation company's services or are otherwise  interested about this company's  apparent negligence and indifference to passenger safety.

In short there's no excuse for  such companies to disregard the concerns of the very public who after all keep them in business in the first place.