New Forbes List, "Best Places to Retire Abroad in 2024"

I was talking to my Filipina GF back in Mati and she said a lot of Filipinos are not too happy with the current administration, including the President.  Evidently he takes a "laissez faire" approach when it comes to natural disasters (and other issues with the citizens).  She mentioned the previous President had some issues, but was a lot better when it came looking after the citizens there.  Again, her words.

I was talking to my Filipina GF back in Mati and she said a lot of Filipinos are not too happy with the current administration, including the President. Evidently he takes a "laissez faire" approach when it comes to natural disasters (and other issues with the citizens). She mentioned the previous President had some issues, but was a lot better when it came looking after the citizens there. Again, her words. - @mati_steve

A laissez Faire attitude towards natural disasters? So what would she expect Marcos to do, take a more active role in opposing natural disasters? Lol. And what did duterte do that was more acceptable to natural disasters? Did he support legislation to prevent natural disasters?  This opinion makes no sense, it is just meaningless banter from a person who doesn't like Marcos for whatever reason and does like duterte. But duterte was no friend of western foreigners, especially not Americans though he was friendly to Trump on a personal basis  for some reason.

But the actual topic is foreigners retiring here, not Filipino opinions of their president. In that regard, for Westerners the current president is much more friendly to us. No more threats to cancel visa on arrival etc..

I think most people factor natural disasters into consideration when considering retiring abroad but I would not just rely on one list. There are many similar lists and safety, cost of living, favourable visa requirements, English being widely spoken and many other things to consider. I think part of the reason The Philippines has slipped down the list is because other countries have advanced at a quicker rate and recognise the benefits that Ex Pats bring to their economy. Word of mouth is also another factor and joining groups like this one.

I really dislike crap like Forbes list for a number of reasons

The Philippines topped the list of the World’s Riskiest Countries for the 13th straight year with a score of 46.86. Other countries considered “risky” include Indonesia (WRI score of 43.50) and India (41.52). By comparison, the United States placed 20th in 2023.

I can't say too much about safety in the fills, but I can speak with some authority on the same subject here.

Apart from tourist places where prostitution is rife and rat drug dealers operate on the streets, you can walk at night in most places without the slightest worry.

If they are epically wrong about one country, there's just too big a chance they are equally rubbish in their view of others.

Next up. These things never take personal taste into account.

Any given country might be hell for one expat, but absolute heaven for another.

My vote is Forbes is high on the list of crappy magazines that print any old rubbish to get advertising dollars.

Not often I agree with you Fred, not that it matters but to lower a countries status because of natural disasters???? They have always been part of this region and now they throw that crap into the mix for their evaluation? While I didn't bother to read their review we all know that there are natural disasters world wide and appear to be more frequent but it's a world wide phenomenon,,,,, as is crime etc.

If you are looking to retire in a cheap country for budgetary reasons then the Philippines is down the list but still cheaper than most western countries, as Cherryann mentioned above, this country has a lot going for it.

Many retire here for their partner and family and usually money as well as adverse conditions are the least consideration, happiness is.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

I think most people factor natural disasters into consideration when considering retiring abroad but I would not just rely on one list.

For sure they do but that is not what the person said. The woman said Marcos takes a laissez faire attitude towards natural disasters. That of makes no sense because it implies that if he got more involved, he could prevent natural disasters. Was duterte more effective st syopping them? IMO the person is only looking for fancy words to criticize  Marcos for whatever reason.  It might be more logicsl to say Marcos takes a laissez faire attitude towards response to natural disasters (if true) but I see zero difference but Marcos and duterte in their responses to natural disasters. It is a fair consideration for expats although for most people here, not a showstopper.

There are many similar lists and safety, cost of living, favourable visa requirements,

Absolutely.

English being widely spoken and many other things to consider. I think part of the reason The Philippines has slipped down the list is because other countries have advanced at a quicker rate and recognise the benefits that Ex Pats bring to their economy.

Wow, you said it! I couldn't agree more. My own theory is that duterte inspired a somewhat anti-foreigner mindset amongst younger people and it never left. They could care less about foreigners benefitting the economy.

Word of mouth is also another factor and joining groups like this one. -

YouTube is also a big factor. It is mostly positive but there are a few that are highly negative about living here.

@Cherryann01

@Fred

My vote is Forbes is high on the list of crappy magazines that print any old rubbish to get advertising dollars.

Don't forget your regular bette noir the Daily ( why do you think I'm a DM reader? 🤔) Mail.

@danfinn

"But Duterte was no friend of western foreigners, especially not Americans though he was friendly to Trump on a personal basis for some reason."

Two 'peas in a pod' Dan. Surely you of all people could have figured that out.

In principle I was against Marcos being elected President if only due to the abominable legacy his father left the country (Yes Fred with a little help from our friends at the CIA but lets face it better than a marxist regime right?). Set the country back years in growth & human rights. However hitherto I have been pleasantly surprised by his term in office. Unlike Trump & Duterte (both cerebrally challenged) he is not a hothead but more of a measured diplomat who has 'reset' relations with Uncle Sam. Like me he was educated at an English public school - not many people know that but you do now; (thats really pissed Fred off)

Back on topic. There are two vloggers that I have a great deal of respect for, one is Paul 'Old dog new tricks' and the other is Chad Foster.

I have included a link to one of his (Chad's) sobering vlogs of a few months ago outlining the shortfalls of living in the Philippines. Many of these were apparent before when Forbes magazine gave the country a high score which is somewhat perplexing. How do you define quality of life? Each to their own I suppose.

In the vlog Chad states what I stated in an earlier post alluding to low cost of living and beautiful chicks. Take those 2 big factors (and guys they are BIG ) away, and other pluses such as beautiful beaches and a warm climate, can be found elsewhere.

I wonder how many potential expats after viewing the candid video link below would even consider the Philippines to emigrate to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QZTVGimcjU

I liked Duterte's stance on drug dealers - I told you I'm pretty right wing.

I say the above because I was witness to the dammed mess lefty thinking on drugs did to the UK.

That stupidity ruined what was an amazing country.

@Fred I agree this totally subjective. Who even reads Forbes?

@Fred that “lefty” attitude has also ruined America! Just take a look at SF Philly LA and Chicago.

@Fred

“I liked Duterte's stance on drug dealers - I told you I'm pretty right wing.”

Shoot first and ask questions later. Many innocent Filipinos were killed.

A respected Philippine Senator Leila De Lima was jailed for her opposition to this cack handed, ill thought out Trump like policy, of shoot to kill. Throw in one of the most corrupt police forces in Asia and inevitably human rights are going to be abused.

The senator has been recognized for her excellent work on human rights not least by amnesty international.

Duterte was/ is a thug. The Philippines is a better country without him.

@Fred I agree this totally subjective. Who even reads Forbes? - @Morgacj200424

The ‘echo’ is back

Morgacj2000424 said to Fred . . . . Who even reads Forbes?

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Palaw One reads Forbes.

and

Lotus Eater reads Morgacj2000424 posts.

@Lotus Eater

In fairness, Trump was said to be friends with duterte on a personal basis, not political. That is not to say Trump approved the duterte EJK, it's more like they could enjoy karaoke at the palace during Trump's visit and that's about it. On the political level and in spite of Trump, Duterte tried to make fundament advances in China relations while the US was opposing China's WPS and Taiwan claims. Duterte threatened to remove all US military presence that would counter China's claims and even threatened to revoke the visa waiver travel for Americans and others. Trump did not care, he just said if the Philippines makes it harder to enforce oir defense treaty that's on the Philippines. So yes, they got along personally but that in no way translated into warm political relations between our countries. It turns out China did not pursue duterte's advances towards warmer relations despite his personally traveling to Beijing and groveling to Xi; the Chinese typically are very practical and clearly saw no advantage in assisting duterte who was looking for more investments such as china moble internet and perhaps inclusion into belt and road. They knew the Philippines and the USA were ultimately tied together as military allies, duterte had a fixed term and when the going got tough would fight China together so why bother wasting the time and money? I suspect Trump calculated as much so did not interfere with whatever duterte was trying to pull with china.

@Lotus Eater “ill thought out Trump like policy”

You  lost me right there. Why do persons such as yourself find the need do to always bring up Trump, especially regarding issues that have no relevance to his presidency? 

Harris was Trumped by Trump. What a perfect name for the winner.

GUYS? Just an observation as I thought this thread was about "best places to retire" And while the Philippines is not up every ones ally some of us like the place,,,,,, Bringing political crap and mud slinging belongs on some other site, not here.

Cheers, Steve.

Folks, this current Asia Times article explains some things, would you agree?

Philippines: Marcos-Duterte feud puts China in the heated middle

Vice President Sara Duterte threatens to kill President Marcos Jr and clan amid suspicion China behind campaign to undermine US-leaning leader

by Richard Javad Heydarian November 26, 2024

https://asiatimes.com/2024/11/philippines-marcos-duterte-feud-puts-china-in-the-heated-middle/

MANILA – Heading into a new year, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has plenty of reasons to be confident about his political prospects.

On one hand, his allies continue to top pre-election surveys, indicating a potential landslide victory for pro-administration candidates in next year’s midterm elections, broadly seen as a referendum on Marcos Jr’s popularity and the broader political opposition’s viability.

Thanks to the administration’s vast resources and organizational machinery, pro-Marcos candidates are widely expected to dominate the next legislature as well as key local government positions.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is also generally optimistic about prospects of even stronger defense ties under a second Trump presidency.

Not only does the Philippines enjoy bipartisan support in the US Congress, but the incoming national security and foreign policy team in the White House is also filled with China hawks, who will likely prioritize frontline allies such as the Philippines.

But all is not well in Manila. Marcos Jr confronts existential risks at home from his former allies, the Duterte dynasty, as well as rising tensions with China in the South China Sea.

At once, the Philippines is grappling with both a New Cold War between the world’s rival superpowers and a hot political war at home between the Philippines’ two most powerful political families,

The situation could seemingly tilt toward instability. Not long after publicly fantasizing about beheading the president, Vice President Sara Duterte made yet another alarming threat against Marcos Jr amid a festering feud between the once-close allies.

“Don’t worry about my safety. I have talked to a person and I said, if I get killed, go kill [Marcos Jr], [First Lady] Liza Araneta, and [Speaker] Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke,” she warned during a dramatic livestream while hunkered down in her brother’s (Paolo) office at the Philippine House of Representatives.

In recent months, the Philippine legislature has been investigating alleged wrongdoings by her family, including during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war as well as current Vice-President Sara Duterte’s questionable practices as the head of the well-oiled Department of Education.

After cussing at the Speaker of the Congress, Martin Romualdez, and his relatives at the Malacañang Palace, namely First Lady Liza Araneta and President Marcos Jr, Sara Duterte warned that she had told her contracted assassin to “not stop until you kill them [all] and he said yes” without providing more details.

As former allies of the president, the Dutertes feel betrayed and are incensed by ongoing investigations into their alleged abuses and corrupt practices.

Facing public backlash, she later walked back her threats, but the damage was done.

The Malacañang  Palace immediately responded by characterizing the vice president’s statement as an “active threat” that is “clear and unequivocal.” Just over a day later, the usually mild-mannered Marcos Jr lashed back in a fireside speech to the nation.

“The statements we heard in the previous days were troubling,” the Filipino president said. “There is the reckless use of profanities and threats to kill some of us…If planning the assassination of the president is that easy, how much more for ordinary citizens?”, he added.

Recognizing the need to draw a hard line, Marcos vowed: “I will fight them.” Shortly later, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) made the unprecedented move of subpoenaing the second most powerful official in the Philippines.

It remains to be seen if the Marcos Jr administration will press ahead with filing criminal charges in coming weeks, while his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, will likely corral legislative support for potential impeachment proceedings against Sara Duterte.

With a sufficient number of loyalists and fence-sitters in the Philippine Senate, Sara Duterte is likely safe from impeachment for now, which requires super-majority support in both houses of the Congress.

But much will depend on the actions and calculus of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which played a key role in downfall of presidents Marcos Sr and Joseph Estrada in past.

Former president Duterte quickly came to his daughter’s rescue by unfurling personal attacks on his successor and calling on the military to withdraw support from Marcos Jr.

In a thinly-veiled call for a coup against Marcos Jr, the former president attacked his incumbent as a “drug addict” and argued, “there is a fracture in government, and only the military can see the solution.”

Earlier this year, he made a similar call in an incendiary speech against Marcos Jr and even threatened to oversee the separation of his home island of Mindanao from the rest of the Philippines.

Over the weekend, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr reiterated that the armed forces’ “loyal[ty] to the Constitution and Chain of Command” and their commitment to “remain non-partisan, with utmost respect for our democratic institutions and civilian authority.”

Almost exactly a year ago, the top general warned of potential coup plots within the armed forces, especially among former generals and security officials tied to the Dutertes.

Should the Philippine military and intelligence agencies unearth credible evidence of seditious acts and assassination plots by the Dutertes, the Marcos Jr administration will be in a strong position to impeach the vice president and press criminal charges.

For now, however, the Philippine military’s concern is potential exploitation of domestic upheavals by external actors, especially given the Dutertes’ known close ties with China. Earlier this year, Philippine authorities traced a deepfake video targeting Marcos Jr to pro-Beijing opposition elements.

China has allegedly deployed covert social media campaigns and influence operations to boost the Dutertes, reinforce political divisions and undermine confidence in the Marcos Jr administration.

For Manila, any Duterte-China axis could prove particularly potent in light of festering disputes in the South China Sea.

Alarmed by the trajectory of the disputes, the US, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has publicly acknowledged deploying a special “Task Force Ayungin” to assist Manila’s resupply missions to the hotly-contested Second Thomas Shoal, which was the site of multiple near-clashes between Philippine and Chinese maritime forces earlier this year.

“I visited the Command and Control Fusion Center in Palawan today. I also met with some American service members deployed to US Task Force Ayungin, and I thanked them for their hard work on behalf of the American people and our alliances and partnerships in this region,” the outgoing US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a social media post following his visit to the nearby province of Palawan last week.

Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano has stressed that the US-led Task Force Ayungin would have “no direct participation” in actual resupply missions to the contested shoal.

But the two allies are clearly keeping their options open should China up the ante in the near future as a new administration takes over the White House.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is also grappling with the expanded presence of Chinese militia forces, which have repeatedly pierced into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and surrounded Manila-claimed land features.

“[Beijing has] been more aggressive in denying us access to our exclusive economic zone in the western Philippines. They have really placed a lot of these pseudo-military vessels disguised as coastguard vessels and maritime militia vessels in the areas west of the Philippine Sea,” complained Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.

Perhaps unlike any Filipino leader in recent memory, Marcos Jr confronts the unenviable task of grappling with simultaneous challenges both at home (from the Dutertes) and from overseas (from China).

And it’s precisely the publicly known partnership of the Dutertes and China that makes the challenge even more profound for the Filipino president.

--

P1.

Start a new thread if you want to get into political crap as this has nothing to do with your OP even though others have wandered...... new thread or a site that might appreciate such rubbish and the debates that will follow.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

GUYS? Just an observation as I thought this thread was about "best places to retire" And while the Philippines is not up every ones ally some of us like the place,,,,,, Bringing political crap and mud slinging belongs on some other site, not here.Cheers, Steve. - @bigpearl

I know what you mean but during the duterte years. Americans were constantly in Duterte's sights as of suspect character. We could tell by the way his gen-z nationalist follwers dealt with us when they got the chance. That is a retirement issue. He did not like Americans and stopped just short of denying us visa waiver status. For him that goes back Many years when he was denied a transit visa in LA and it was a terrible insult to him as a government official (Davao mayor) so he must have resolved at the time to get back at America and he never let up. Then there was his problems with Obama disrespecting him so he returned the favor by referring to Obama as "the son of a whore" which had some basis of fact. Finally there were the problems with all Western democracies, EJK and the ICC. That is not to say Americans always treated the Philippines fairly either but in that regard, political sentiments relating to dutertes' anti-American sentiments and the cause of nationalism  may be fair game as a retirement issue because it can affect us but that is OMO. 

Yes Dan, Du30 had many colorful sprouts but as said the topic is about retirement and perhaps a now bias opinion of the Philippines by some twat and its many issues with natural calamities,,,,,,, they have always been a part of this country and the newbie on the block now considers the Philippines should be shoved down the list? One wonders where he/she lives in absolute safety from mother nature.

Mother nature has her way and we are just a speck in time and her schemes.

No need for political debate on what is a retirement thread,,,,, choices.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

Yes agreed it is off topic Steve but I actually found the link from PalawOne fascinating. Sometimes these discussion threads tend to meander but often result with revelatory useful information for the readers.

I was aware that there was no love lost between the Marcos & Duterte family 'Clans' but make no mistake the Philippines has 'form' when it comes to assassinations.

It might be all bluster and politicking to score points but you never know in the world of Philippine politics.

If the above became a vendetta it could well destabilise the country and make the Philippines not one of the "Best places to retire abroad."

What ever, Sounds like many countries and I am very happy here. I was intending to retire in the south of France,,,,,, Italy was my next pick,,,,,, I never considered Asia,,,,,, Life brings changes for better and sometimes bad but politics no matter country don't come into living a happy and fulfilling life that is far too short.

14 years with the same Filipino partner with all the ups and downs? Political views are the least to consider, simply something to batch about because some have little more in their life and love to stir the pot.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

PalawOne said. . . . Folks, this current Asia Times article explains some things, would you agree? Philippines: Marcos-Duterte feud puts China in the heated middle.

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Why not just post the URL instead of cut/paste the whole article?

https://asiatimes.com/2024/11/philippines-marcos-duterte-feud-puts-china-in-the-heated-middle/