I'm thinking of moving to the Philippines very soon, around the end of February. I'm looking at Makati, BGC, or Cebu…

Okay, a heads-up for those who are coming and for visitors. The Philippines is a developing country, so don't expect it to be like Singapore, Thailand, or Mexico. Unlike countries with land borders, the Philippines is an island nation surrounded by sea, so infrastructure development and transportation can be harder. So manage your expectations, be patient, and above all, be humble and polite toward the local people. To answer your question, I've never been to Cebu. BGC is upscale and the most expensive place in the Philippines. Makati is moderately expensive and is a city in Metro Manila. As a local Filipino who is in the US now, I like Quezon City, where I was born. Along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City there are lots of condos and apartments inside subdivisions. In a subdivision like Don Antonio, apartments start at 26K pesos a month (1 unit, 3 floors, 1-car garage, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms), and if you go 15 minutes by car from Don Antonio to Fairview near SM, you can find even cheaper apartments. Also, MRT 7 is being finished and will be running by 2028. Then you can ride from the Fairview MRT 7 station and go to Makati or south, or north to Caloocan or west to Manila. Remember that Metro Manila is a crowded place and has no suburbs. The provinces are our suburbs. Good luck.

Friend — you need a passport, regular passive income coming from the West, an emergency fund in an account you can access right away, and a bit of street smarts. The rest is easy to figure out once you're here. There's a mountain of information on YouTube and ChatGPT. Before the internet you'd just have figured it out on the fly with a sense of adventure, and I honestly wonder how everyone got by!

Stay away from the big cities and tourist spots... then you'll really love the Philippines! You'll save money and be safer too! It's fine to check those places out while you're here, but I wouldn't stay long! I've lived here 10 years and learned from experience!