| Filipina 101 – Making Mistakes Part 1 |
Kevin took early retirement and decided his pension would spread farther if they moved to the Philippines. He was 54 and a few years away from his Social Security. He had a reasonable redundancy package he called his "pension" and with the sale of the house, the money left after the remainder of the mortgage and other bills were taken care of, he would have about US$40K in a lump sum and US$700 a month until his Social Security kicked in.
His wife Maricel, 28, came from the provinces in Leyte and she knew they could buy a nice house and live comfortably on that income. Shipping their belongings took his nest egg down to just over thirty thousand. He would have been better off having a garage sale and moving very little as what wasn't lost or damaged during the move, quickly rotted in the tropical humidity. He made mistake after mistake, such as coming over on a tourist visa rather than applying for a 13A Permanent Resident visa before coming or asking for Balikbayan status.
When he arrived he found his wife's family had already promised they would buy a certain house and lot for way over the price a Filipino would have paid. His wife buckled to the family pressure to save “face” and before he knew it his nest egg was gone. Then came requests for college tuition for this sister, a motorbike for this brother, an operation for her father and so on.
Still, once they were settled in to the new house and Kevin did a few repairs, life seemed to be all he had dreamt of. He was making his US$700 stretch well and even managed to save a few dollars. Then he fell ill and spent it all trying to get into a decent hospital. By the time he came home the house was packed to the rafters with family members down from the mountain. He was now feeding twelve mouths plus his own!
Just as he felt things were returning to normal and the occupancy rate was into single digits, his father in law lost everything! The family home, the chickens, pigs and goats Kevin had paid for over the years, the Tricycle that was his living they had bought him only two years ago, and the little lot out the back where they grew bananas and vegetables. The man had a gambling problem.
Kevin lost his temper and threw everybody out of his house. But, it wasn't his house as it was in the name of his wife. She took sides with her family and he was told hanging around wasn't good for his health. His pension was paid into a joint account and thanks to a cousin at the local bank, he was frozen out of what remained there. Kevin's managed to get back to the States where he lives with a sister. He spends most of his time surfing the penpal sites on the internet looking for a new Filipina!
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