Visayas businessmen have called on the Philippine Retirement Authority to establish an office in Dumaguete City to cater to the needs of the growing community of retirees in Negros Oriental.
The call was made at the close of the two-day Visayas Area Business Conference Friday at Bethel Guest House.
Jose Ng, vice president of the Visayas of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry, received the resolution from the delegates from four Visayas regions, namely Eastern, Central and Western Visayas, and the newly-created Negros Island Region.
The Resolution was passed after Negros Oriental businessmen urged the PRA to do more to promote Dumaguete City as a retirement destination.
In a forum on retirement with a representative of the Philippine Retirement Authority, Francisco Martinez, head of the Negros Oriental Investment Promotions Center, said retirees want to retire in a community with a peaceful environment, access to quality health care and affordable cost of living.
Tyrone Ramas Uypitching, a trustee of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said while Dumaguete was named by Forbes Magazine last year as the fifth top retirement destination in the world, he has yet to hear of a similar statement from the Philippine Retirement Authority.
Mervin Magbuhat, head of the client relations and program development division of the PRA, said Dumaguete has the requirements found in the bucket list of a retiree.
Magbuhat said that one retiree from a cold country described Dumaguete’s weather as balmy. He said it is a well-used place but you get to like it as you stay longer.
Another reason foreign retirees like about Dumaguete is that it is rich in history, and is also known for its academic environment.
Mangbuhat said other advantages of Dumaguete are that you can get good value housing for $500, it is easy to integrate with the community because of the locals’ fluency in the English language, and it has good hospitals. It’s also very near Cebu, where they have an internationally-accredited hospital.
“The idea of a retiree living by a beach sipping a beer with one leg up is a fantasy. They want to be part of the community and integrate with people,” Magbuhat said.
Other factors mentioned by retirees about why they like Dumaguete are the convenience of shopping, the ease of transportation, and that they feel safe and secure.
The foreigners also noted the friendliness of the City with the gay population, people with disabilities and pets.
Google has also come out with a list on Fixr.com of the most searched-about topic for countries around the world, which revealed that the most searched topic about the Philippines is retirement.
People, meanwhile, searched Korea for nose jobs, Russia for the opportunity to fly a MIG, China for electronics, and India for cows.
Frank Monera, former VP of the PCCI-Visayas, said Dumaguete is able to outmaneuver cities like Istanbul and Panama because retirees don’t come here just because they read all the write ups about the place. “They also want to experience the place first, then they make a decision,” Monera said.
The factors that determine a retiree’s choice of a place is local lifestyle (73 percent), low cost of living (71 percent), warm climate (40 percent), culture of the place (34 percent), dislike for their home country (24 percent), and availability of sex partners (50 percent).
Monera said this is not just confined to retirees who choose Dumaguete — this is a global trend.
Foreign retirees in the Philippines come from China (32 percent), Korea (22 percent), Taiwan (11 percent), Japan (8 percent), India (5 percent), USA (5 percent), Hong Kong (3 percent), England (3 percent), Germany (2 percent), and Australia (1 percent).
