Which mobile carrier in the Philippines should I use to receive SMS messages from banks or card companies? Please…

I've looked into it for a while, and T-Mobile seems to be the cheapest and most reliable option. That said, I use AT&T prepaid and it works fine for me.

I use Verizon and have had no problems.

For a physical phone I use Tello. Some people pay $5 a month, but I pay $12.50 so I can use data when I go back to the US. In the US you can add more data. That's how I handle two-factor authentication texts. Wi-Fi calling is free. If you want data and calls usable across Asia, Popcorn is $69 a month.

My phone has an eSIM. I use a US Mint number alongside a local SMART number with data. Mint has a $5 monthly international calling and texting plan. It doesn't include data, but I bought data for the SMART number very cheaply, so it's fine. When I first set up the SMART number it was a real struggle. My information kept getting rejected on the registration portal. In the end my Filipino wife entered her own information and that finally worked.