Six Months Of Lockdown!

No More Lockdowns!

Lockdowns

Locked Down in The Philippines

We came back to the Philippines with the idea of being near my wife's family and spending time with them while our children and their cousins would play together.

Well it worked out pretty well until March this year when virtually all the islands of Philippines were locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Her sisters live in the metropolitan Manila area where the population numbers approximately 32,000 people per square kilometer. 

You can imagine how the government freaked out when it heard that there was a communicable disease in an area that densely populated.

The result has been that the Greater Manila area, including the adjacent province where we are living, have been on lockdown for almost six months! 

The tourist industry slogan says, "It's More Fun in The Philippines." On the contrary, it has been a time of

"No fun in the Philippines." Our fun now consists of watching Netflix and YouTube videos. Our young children watch their programs and to exercise they run around inside our two story rented house.

Locked Up at Home

My wife and her sisters have not able to get together due to travel restrictions. One may not travel between cities without a special permit. Her mother was living in a different province North of Manila so they could not visit together.

Me and our children are of ages which are not permitted to venture out of our closed Subdivision. My wife is the only one who is permitted to go to the mall and stores and that only for essential items like medicines and food. A driver takes her. Many times she gives the driver a shopping list and he will go buy groceries and other items for us and deliver them to our house.

If you have been wanting to visit the Philippines now is not the time to do so. I believe that all new arrivals must stay in quarantine for fourteen days upon arrival.

This time is hard for me especially after watching USA news programs and seeing people going to the beach, going to stores with and without masks on, driving and flying interstate.

It is very tempting to just pack our bags and take the next flight out of here and head back to the U. S.

We really liked living here in the Philippines. In fact, we had been considering buying land and having a house built on it. With enough land so our children would have room to play outdoors, and we could grow food in a large vegetable garden. If restrictions are lifted soon, we may still want to follow through with that plan. 

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This article will be expanded upon. Please check back for more information about lockdowns in the Philippines. This page last updated June 3, 2022.

COVID Quarantine Philippines

 

Quarantine in the Philippines

Hello, it's been a long time since my last post. Will fill you in a little about what we have been doing.

We have been living not far from Manila since arriving here in 2018.

After arriving in the Philippines we traveled around for a while looking for a place to live. We checked out Angeles City in Pampanga, north of Greater Manila. Found some houses there but 

decided against that area because there are many pig and chicken farms all over Pampanga and the smell can be really bad.

So, to make a long story short, we found a rental house in a "secure" subdivision which I had toured when it was new back in 2007. It is located in the province of Cavite. We are about two and a half hours by bus from Manila.

The house is a two story of about 1,200 square feet of indoor living area. It has a two car carport (called a garage over here), four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The subdivision features swimming pools, basketball courts and tennis courts, a gym and it is not far from a large mall. Security is provided by armed guard services and a good CCTV system. Gates into the subdivision are manned by armed guards and guards roam the streets day and night. Our rent is only $500 per month.

Well for the past 10 weeks the children and I have been on lockdown at our house. My wife is of an age which is allowed to go shopping for essentials. Netflix and Youtube have been our favorite pastimes.

We keep up with news from the USA via Youtube.

Had done some gardening at our home in Florida, USA. Now I am studying and learning about gardening in the Philippines.

So far have planted some Sitaw (produce pole beans which measure up to three feet in length!), Chinese spinach, tomatoes, basil, sweet potatoes, Calamansi (like a small lime but with a great unique taste) and Kangkong (called swamp cabbage in the USA).

We have been watching NBC, ABC and NPR as they have been covering the protests which have spread across the USA. What a dramatic difference from the Philippines! Virtually no demonstrations here. Most islands here have been on lockdown since about March 16th. And, considering that there are MANY people here who are REALLY living in poverty and have been for years, I am amazed how peaceful Filipinos are. No rioting, no looting, no destruction of property.

Will add to this post. Check back soon for more info.

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If you have found this article helpful, have suggestions, advice or insights please "comment" below.

The article on this page will be expanded. Come back to read more about COVID quarantine in the Philippines. Last updated June 3, 2022.