Hello

[pinaylover]

to make picture workMy name is Mike and I'm married to a Filipina. Her name is Haidee, and she is from Leyte. We just had our 7th anniversary yesterday.For those who are curious, I am 49 and she is 31. I am from the US, Michigan, and was an archaeologist there. Currently we have been living in Taiwan for the past 7 years, but it has been almost 9 years for me. I teach English to kids from the ages of 4 to 14. We are hoping to move to the Philippines permanently with in 6 or 7 years. Currently we have a 5 HA rubber plantation in Bukidnon, and 5 head of cattle with more on the way, so we are looking for more land. Hope to hear from others.

[Frank Woolf]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the site. It sounds like you are already doing OK in the Philippines.

If you already own 5 hectares then you will need to put any new land in someone else's name. They don't allow anyone to own more than 5 hectares and can take it from you if you do then they give it away to people who have none. Of course, typical Philippines there are all sorts of loop holes to get around it.

[pinaylover]

Thanks for the welcome Frank,

There are ways around the CARP law of 5 HA. If you have cattle, goats, chicken, or pig you can own more than 5 HA. My wife knows all the laws because she is a licensed forestry and has connections with other forestry officials in DENR in Bukidnon. When we bought our land my wife went to DENR to get some paper work done for our and she asked then about how much land could we buy. They told her as much as she wanted. Well so much for the law.

[Frank Woolf]

That sounds good. When people quote the law in the Philippines I often say "What the 'ell has the law got to do with it" :)

What you know and who you know is more important. You will probably have a lot less problems with land than most expats.

[Guzzinuts]

Hi Frank & Mike, interesting conversation! Yes, I agree. It really is a case of WHO you know & not so much WHAT you know in the Phil's? As I mentioned in my Intro' - my wife & I are currently negotiating the purchase of 6 hr of land - with mature coconuts in Quezon province. Subject to the usual headaches of paperwork & "absolute proof" of the sellers legitimacy in ownership & the right to actually sell the land! ('nugh said?)
However - I digress. It is fully our intention to "add value" to our land once bought by adding those "extras" such as animals (see photo of masarap Lechon from our neice!) & other in-between crops etc. Thus taking advantage of a few of those little "loop-holes" already mentioned? One other course we may consider in acquiring more land (short term perhaps?) is the "loan system" whereby the owner of say - 2 Hr of rice fields borrows money from you & you take the land as collateral & you effectively "own" the land & crops until such time as the loan is repaid? Thoughts?
(Other photos are of the proposed coconuts plantation & The Mrs outside our "beach hut"). :cool:

[Frank Woolf]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Just be sure to get a very good lawyer.

In my experience most people here consider repaying loans as something to forget about so it could be a good way to get the land but if the land value rises they could sell the land at a higher price and pay back the loan so you lose any investment you have made in the land.