Why
Why I came
The country is young and the population keeps growing. The services I need are a walk or a message away, at the price here. I pay for their work at the price here; they help me live; both sides gain. You do not know it until you are here, and that is why I keep a ledger instead of an opinion.
Hence the program: Restoration, rebuilding your life.
The four reasons
| Reason | For | Against | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| The population keeps growing | More people every year, and most of them younger than the buildings they live in. PSA, 2024 census | The growth lands in a few places, and those places are crowded. | Any census count is years old by the time I read it. |
| Filipinos go abroad to earn and come back to buy | Money earned outside the country lands back here, where the family already lives, and a good part of it goes into a unit near the water. | That is their money moving, not mine. I only see the effect of it. | I could read a trend that is about the country and not about me at all. |
| The new wealth wants the key places | The Mall of Asia complex and the district in front of it take the attention and the money. The land being built in the bay | The places that get built up are the places that get dear, and I am not the only one who noticed. | I am late to the same idea as everybody else. |
| Living among Filipinos in the towers | The one-bedroom units in the listings I saw are 26 and 27.67 square metres, and the services are offered neighbour to neighbour. The posts I saw, with their dates | Small rooms and shared walls; a unit that size holds one life, not two. | Small units in a busy complex can move in price faster than a long lease moves. |
This is why I came, not a reason for you to come. No population figure is printed above. You do not know it until you are here.
The economy, as published
| GDP growth | 5.7 percent in 2024 and 4.4 percent in 2025, at constant prices. BSP, selected Philippine economic indicators, read 7 October 2026 |
| The 2026 targets | Growth 3.5 to 4.5 percent for 2026; the inflation assumption 6.0 to 7.0 percent; the peso assumption 60 to 62 per US dollar. DBCC, 193rd statement, 8 July 2026 |
| Minimum wage, Metro Manila | PHP 755 a day from 26 September 2026, up from PHP 695. NWPC, Wage Order NCR-28 The second tranche is suspended pending court proceedings. BSP, table footnote |
| BSP reference rates, 30 April 2026 | PHP 61.5060 per US dollar and PHP 44.9539 per Canadian dollar. BSP, reference exchange rate bulletin, read 7 October 2026 |
