Davao Blogspace

Corruption, corruption!  Corruption is terrible in the Philippines, didn’t you know that?  I mean, you can hardly go an hour in your life without facing some terrible kind of corruption. Or at least, that is what people say. In my life, I simply have not experienced such terrible things, though.  Maybe I am different than [...]

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You hear it all the time – One person can’t really make a difference. When it is election time, a lot of people don’t vote, and when you ask why they say… One vote can’t change anything.  Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good habit to get into having that kind of attitude. How does [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Mindanao, travel | Comments Off

Often times here on LiP, I like to share e-mails that I get, along with my answers.  I get a lot of e-mail every day from readers, and I am happy to answer them as best I can.  It’s part of having a popular website to get such inquiries, so I am always happy to [...]

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I’m not sure if there is such a word as “denguephobic” but if there is not there should be.  I’m sure that most of you know what I mean when I use the “word” – I have a fear of dengue. Dengue Fever is a tropical disease that is caused by mosquito bites.  It takes [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Health, Schools | Comments Off

I believe that John Miele and I have entered in to some kind of mutual zone of conscientiousness.  A couple of weeks ago, John wrote about body hair, and I followed him when I wrote about shaving in the Philippines.  Lately, I’ve been wanting to write an article about being an expat and that causing [...]

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On Monday, I wrote an article entitled Round Two, in which I told about our seemingly endless battle with our idiotic neighbors.  It seems that for almost the entirety of 2010, we have had continual problems with one of our neighbors, and I promised in the article that I would be writing a follow up.  [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao | Comments Off

I’ve been told many times that the stuff that is made in the Philippines is nothing but cheap junk.  I usually agreed with that, but I did so without giving it too much thought.  As I think it over, though, next time somebody tells me that, my response will certainly be… Are you sure about [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Mindanao | Comments Off

I had a situation last week, and particularly on Friday which absolutely infuriated me.  I kept my mouth shut for the most part, though, and simply avoided the confrontation.  That situation, though, caused both Feyma and I to make some re-evaluations about our future.  I will explain how this will affect our future in a [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao | Comments Off

I just did something, which ordinarily I would not consider a good thing, but this time, well, I think that what I did, and the way I did it was just right. What did I do?  I got mad at our maid.  I did it in a sort of different way, though. Lately, we have [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, language | Comments Off

One of the nice things about living in the Philippines, combined with working from my house is that I sometimes go a couple of days between shaving.  Just yesterday, John Miele wrote an article about body hair, and this article was not planned to be in competition with that, nor in conjunction with it.  I [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, shopping | Comments Off

Happy Fourth of July to all Americans!  Including myself!  Yes, as I write this article for LiP, today is July the fourth, Independence Day in the United States of America.  When you read this article, it will already be July 5th here in the Philippines, but still July 4th in the United States, though. Although [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, holidays | Comments Off

As anybody reading this likely knows, the Philippines has a new President, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.  Today, June 30, Noynoy will take the Oath of Office and officially become the new President of the Philippines.   One of President Aquino’s big campaign promises was that he was going to put an end to corruption in the Philippine [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, business, corruption | Comments Off

In a country like the Philippines where many languages are spoken, there are often interesting issues in relation to language.  Often times, when we are talking with a Filipino, we will learn that they have some experience in spending time in a different region.  For example, you are talking with Carlo and he mentions that [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, language | Comments Off

Feyma and I have been sharing a lot of passion recently.  In fact, I have to admit, even though we have lived in the Philippines for 10 years, we really did not share real passion until just the past week or so.  We have, admittedly, enjoyed it immensely. Wait… hold on.  What is that you’re [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Food | Comments Off

Do you think that the Philippines is a dangerous place?  A lot of foreigners think it is.  If you look at the news from overseas, about the only time you ever hear mention of the Philippines is when something bad happens.  A bombing.  A kidnapping.  Some kind of massacre like what happened last year in [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Safety, travel | Comments Off

How much would you pay for a Filipina? What?  Is Bob smoking crack now? No, I am not on drugs, and to be honest, the title is more to grab attention than anything else.  But, today, I want to make you aware of, and talk about a new law that is being debated in Indonesia.  [...]

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One of the most frequent e-mails I get from people is one that asks me how they can get a job in the Philippines.  People want to move here, but they don’t have any money, and they write to me and ask me how hard it would be to find a job here in the [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, business | Comments Off

Last week one day, I decided to make a visit to the public market in Bankerohan, Davao City.  Bankerohan is the biggest public market in the City, and it’s not too far from our house.  Probably between 5 to 10 minutes on a tricycle from the house, and we are at the market.  I have [...]

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Well, it’s already mid-June, and that means that the new school year here in the Philippines is in full swing!  We have three kids in school, and between the three kids, they attend two different schools.  Jean, our daughter, is now in second year High School and she  attends Davao Wisdom Academy, which is not [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Family, Transportation | Comments Off

As any of you regular LiP readers will recall, just a few weeks ago, I introduced a new design here on the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine.  Overall, I think that the changes were for the good, and the feedback from readers has been nearly 100% positive, which makes me very happy.  I am [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, business | Comments Off

My name is Bob Martin, aka MindanaoBob.  I am the Editor in Chief and Publisher of the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine that you are reading now.
I have lived in the Philippines since 2000.  Two years was spent in General Santos City, and since 2002 I have lived in Davao with my wife and [...]

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Oops, I did it again?  Hmm… wasn’t that a Britney Spears’ song?  Yep, I guess it was.  Amazing, with that title, I believe that I have successfully worked Britney Spears into the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine for the very first time!  I never would have thought that was remotely possible.
But, wait… what did [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Family, Food, entertainment | Comments Off

A little over a week ago, I wrote an article asking if Outsourcing is exploitation.  In the end, I do not believe it is exploitation, and it seems that most, nearly all, readers felt the same way as I did.  Of course, we want to always treat our employees in a fair way, and with [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, business | Comments Off

Have you ever done something and it didn’t turn out exactly the way you wanted it to? Have you done something that you wish you hadn’t have done?  For one reason or another, as humans who are not perfect, in our lives we often wish we could have a “do-over” or be able to relive [...]

Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Food, entertainment | Comments Off

Lately, for the last few weeks or so, I’ve been going to the circus every day, and watching attentively.  It’s been an interesting experience.  You see, I didn’t have to even leave the house to watch the circus, I get to watch every day, all day long while sitting at my desk working!
That’s right, there [...]

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