Hi Rafic50,
When you say that you know some people in Iloilo, the question is, do you know them well enough to the point of being able to trust them to assist you if you encounter any problems in Iloilo?
There are a lot of good locals but being a foreigner, there is always the tendency of being made into a milking cow by people around you pretending to help.
You mentioned something like P1,000 (US$20) a day rental income - where did you get this info?
This in itself seems odd to me.
1. P1,000 out of a P250,000 investment = 250 days (8.5 months).
2. This amount is peanuts considering that you own the boat.
3. What happened to the fish your boat catches? Who makes the money there?
I used to work/help out a European guy before with his idea of owning a fleet of fishing boats in North Luzon (I will spare the exact nationality (very near you're from) and the Phil. location details to protect identities).
He has a girlfriend there whom he entrusted to run his fishing boat business for him.
Long story short, he was left with just his briefs on.
When you own the boat, you own whatever fish it catches.
The fishermen are just contractors getting a percentage of the catch (say 10-20%).
Once the boat comes back with a load of fish, the next step is the selling part.
There will be a whole bunch of "middle men" with cash on their hands.
The real money is made by these middle men wherein they buy the fish cheap, transports them, and make the big bucks.
You can immediately learn to be the middle man as well if you choose to.
Therefore, if you are being relegated to just P1,000 a day, then essentially, you are the investor and somebody else is running the business with your investment.
You will be able to survive with P1,000 a day in Iloilo but this is not a comfortable lifestyle.
If you are a retired guy and does not want to bother yourself with the day to day, and P250,000 (US$5,000) is peanuts to you, then by all means, sit back and relax and just wait for the rental money.
Some questions though,
- what happens if your boat does not go out for 3-5 days because of typhoon or weather disturbance? Do you still get your daily P1,000?
- what about maintenance of the boat, fuel, etc...?
- who are the people you are entrusting your boat to? Are they family i.e. related to wife/GF? (if so, this creates an entirely new story altogether).
- as what Mika posted in one of his replies - if it is that easy, why hasn't anyone done it before?
- and why Iloilo, why not Palawan, Dumaguete, Cebu, Surigao, or elsewhere in Luzon? I mean, almost every province in the Philippines is a fishing town. There has to be a reason why you choose Iloilo, right?
Hope this gives you some insights on this "fishing expedition" of yours.
Good luck.