# Noise & Other Annoyances



## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey M.C.A.

I am thinking about moving into a condo this time. They are safe and have a lot of amenities. I would make sure I moved into one that the building is kept up and very clean. Also, one that they control the noise of renters. The last time there I lived in a single story apartment and my neighbor behind me had 40 chickens and roosters. Then in front of the apartment across the street they had 2 dogs that never stopped barking. I mean 24 hrs a day. Drove me nuts.

When I got back to the states I had to go have treatments with a psychiatrist. hahahaha


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey M.C.A.
> 
> I am thinking about moving into a condo this time. They are safe and have a lot of amenities. I would make sure I moved into one that the building is kept up and very clean. Also, one that they control the noise of renters. The last time there I lived in a single story apartment and my neighbor behind me had 40 chickens and roosters. Then in front of the apartment across the street they had 2 dogs that never stopped barking. I mean 24 hrs a day. Drove me nuts.


I have a hunch you'll have that same issue everywhere unless in a high rise condo in Manila. After a bit over 14 years I just kind of accept what I can I cover the other odd noises with soft music

Jet


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey Jet,

I know what you mean by drowning out noises. I am going to invest into earplugs this time. haha If I did stay in the Manila area I was thinking about the high rise condo buildings like you mentioned. The last time there I ran air in my bedroom and played music all night so I wouldn't hear the dogs barking at every mosquito.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey M.C.A.
> 
> I am thinking about moving into a condo this time. They are safe and have a lot of amenities. I would make sure I moved into one that the building is kept up and very clean. Also, one that they control the noise of renters. The last time there I lived in a single story apartment and my neighbor behind me had 40 chickens and roosters. Then in front of the apartment across the street they had 2 dogs that never stopped barking. I mean 24 hrs a day. Drove me nuts.
> 
> When I got back to the states I had to go have treatments with a psychiatrist. hahahaha


I think renting or buying in Philippines, the same rule holds true as it does everywhere else in the world.........location, location, location.

I don't think it matters so much whether you rent or buy, house, apartment or condo, if you want a peaceful environment, then you are gonna have to find the right location. I found my place of peace and tranquility in Davao. We built on a subdivision which is 180 hectare, 70 hectacres of which are a golf course. Our house has open views of the 9th fairway and all of our neighbors are quiet peace loving folk.


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey Hogrider,

I understand what you are saying but I find the noise in the philippines more wide spread. There seems to be no law on noise no matter what hour of night. It is the normal way of life there. Here in the usa we have noise laws and the police will do something about it. The noise is everywhere unless the expat can afford a gated community off of the main roads. For the most part I can live with it since I run aircon at night and a fan. That drowns out most of the noise unless it gets to loud. 

Art


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Greenstreak It's a wake up call and all I can relate is that I observe how citizens here react to such annoyances, usually it just facial expressions... LOL mild swearing that cannot be heard or when beggars ask for money the slight twisting of both palms face out because to talk would be futile and to raise your voice only draws attention onto you and it's not good. 

You might also want to read up on the customs here, they are very different when comes to situations, facial expressions and head bobbing sort of replace talking.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey Hogrider,
> 
> I understand what you are saying but I find the noise in the philippines more wide spread. There seems to be no law on noise no matter what hour of night. It is the normal way of life there. Here in the usa we have noise laws and the police will do something about it. The noise is everywhere unless the expat can afford a gated community off of the main roads. For the most part I can live with it since I run aircon at night and a fan. That drowns out most of the noise unless it gets to loud.
> 
> Art


Actually there are noise laws here, but like most laws here they are not enforced.

Chuck


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey Chuck,

Yeah I know what you mean. Once we called the police in Tagum for a large party going on across the street from our apartment at 4am and they never did come out to do anything about it. It was so loud that we had to stay up all night. Our bedroom was in front of apartment facing the party going on.

art


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey Chuck,
> 
> Yeah I know what you mean. Once we called the police in Tagum for a large party going on across the street from our apartment at 4am and they never did come out to do anything about it. It was so loud that we had to stay up all night. Our bedroom was in front of apartment facing the party going on.
> 
> art


Police won't show up for a noise complaint, only the Barangay village type representative, it's hard to really call them the police, the police would show up if someone was killed or shot something like that but drunken bolo knife chasing incidents or waving bolo knifes may only bring out the barangay and not always and loud music probably not.  It's a process if you are threatened with death you still go first to the barangay and then if it's determined an issue then you go to the police.

My next door brother in-law came after me with a home made sword, I got after him for throwing rocks on our roof I guess his pride was hurt, so we took him to the barangay and it was determined we must then talk with the police, we met up inside the police station and he was told not to do that again and surrendered his sword, we found out later he got his sword back. 

Separate occasions me and my wife both been threatened and while waiting for the barangay meeting, many others there for the same issue or complaint, threatened with death and nearly always dealing with in-laws.


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## pronse (Apr 3, 2009)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey M.C.A.
> 
> I am thinking about moving into a condo this time. They are safe and have a lot of amenities. I would make sure I moved into one that the building is kept up and very clean. Also, one that they control the noise of renters. The last time there I lived in a single story apartment and my neighbor behind me had 40 chickens and roosters. Then in front of the apartment across the street they had 2 dogs that never stopped barking. I mean 24 hrs a day. Drove me nuts.
> 
> When I got back to the states I had to go have treatments with a psychiatrist. hahahaha


What? Just noise? What about smoke covering the whole barangay from garbage burning??
What if you had some laundry outside? What if you were allergic? Does it matter


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Smoke, burning plastic*



pronse said:


> What? Just noise? What about smoke covering the whole barangay from garbage burning??
> What if you had some laundry outside? What if you were allergic? Does it matter


Good point pronse, every single day it's charcoal, plastic and feather burning in our area, it's like a vacation if I don't smell smoke, my neighbor across the street has a duck processing mini business and he also sells fried duck (it's good) but in order to make a profit he will burn wood to process the ducks and then boil and fry them.

In-laws neighbors refuse to use gas or electric they have what appears to be modern homes but cook with charcoal or wood.

Animal smell is another huge concern, millions of ducks in our municipality and horses with carts delivering shells to feed them, so horse stuff all over road, shells rotting on the beach. In-laws also involved with processing ducks and they dump some parts of the insides and feathers in the open not more than 50 feet from our bedroom, the smell is agonizing, plus they pile up diapers outside not in a hole for burning but open ground and it just smolders for days and this is mainly a plastic smell.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

pronse said:


> What? Just noise? What about smoke covering the whole barangay from garbage burning??
> What if you had some laundry outside? What if you were allergic? Does it matter


This is the main reason Dr's prescribe and people use so much in the way or respiratory medications. Asthma, emphysema, COPD are very common here even if you are a non-smoker. The only place I know with these problems that are worse is China.
Does it matter? In the Philippines--Not one bit..


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## pronse (Apr 3, 2009)

The question becomes, why on earth does one spend his last few days in this dump?


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Poor expat with family*



pronse said:


> The question becomes, why on earth does one spend his last few days in this dump?


If you are poor like me and on a military pension you live as best you can with what you've got and my wife and kids and grand kids all in the same municipality so moving is not an option and good luck finding a spot that isn't a dump that spot will set you back some pesos, so I want to be with my family, we rebuilt the family home back in the middle 90's. 

If I was single I wouldn't live in this dump and I also wouldn't want to live in the Philippines, I'd want to live in the US, trouble is my wife prefers to live here, we met in WA state and married there back in 1988, it got lonely living in the US by myself so I made that move, I'm okay with it but it has it's bad days.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

pronse said:


> The question becomes, why on earth does one spend his last few days in this dump?


I'm with MCA to a large degree. Life back in the states is a lot different than it was say 30 or 40 years ago. It's also quite unaffordable in most places.
There are some places here that aren't bad. Our location in Central Luzon is rural and has clean air for the most part and even the noise isn't bad. Just depends on location and what an individual person is willing to put up with in life.


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey Mark,

Why would you want to live in the USA????? I was born and raised here in Ohio. I use to be so proud of this country back in the 60's and 70's but now I am a shamed of it. Our way of life has changed so much here throughout the years. Yes, we do have it better then a lot of other countries. but do you know what has destroyed our country here? LAWYERS! We are the sue capital of the world. It has gotten so bad that a person is afraid to even look at another person with a stare, because we can be sued. Millions of people are paranoid to even do anything because there will be a lawyer that will sue you. You might win the case but you will lose everything you own from your own lawyer expenses. So, in the Philippines I can walk down the street without fear of being sued. that is like it was here back in the early days. 

IT WAS SO GREAT THEN! Just me venting on how American has changed for the worse. 

art


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

greenstreak1946 said:


> Hey Mark,
> 
> Why would you want to live in the USA????? I was born and raised here in Ohio. I use to be so proud of this country back in the 60's and 70's but now I am a shamed of it. Our way of life has changed so much here throughout the years. Yes, we do have it better then a lot of other countries. but do you know what has destroyed our country here? LAWYERS! We are the sue capital of the world. It has gotten so bad that a person is afraid to even look at another person with a stare, because we can be sued. Millions of people are paranoid to even do anything because there will be a lawyer that will sue you. You might win the case but you will lose everything you own from your own lawyer expenses. So, in the Philippines I can walk down the street without fear of being sued. that is like it was here back in the early days.
> 
> ...


Tend to agree. Too many lawyers getting filthy rich, encouraging everyone to sue for anything. It is a huge cost for healthcare and almost everything, built into prices through insurance premiums.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

Most of the comments that have been written since my earlier post only add to my assessment that the location that you are living in is the biggest factor on noise and other types of nuisance. Of course I do understand that may people live where they do, not necessarily from completely free choice, need to live with or close to in-laws etc., but if you can chose your locations, there are peaceful, quiet places.


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## Nickleback99 (Aug 6, 2011)

M.C.A. said:


> Good point pronse, every single day it's charcoal, plastic and feather burning in our area, it's like a vacation if I don't smell smoke, my neighbor across the street has a duck processing mini business and he also sells fried duck (it's good) but in order to make a profit he will burn wood to process the ducks and then boil and fry them.
> 
> In-laws neighbors refuse to use gas or electric they have what appears to be modern homes but cook with charcoal or wood.
> 
> Animal smell is another huge concern, millions of ducks in our municipality and horses with carts delivering shells to feed them, so horse stuff all over road, shells rotting on the beach. In-laws also involved with processing ducks and they dump some parts of the insides and feathers in the open not more than 50 feet from our bedroom, the smell is agonizing, plus they pile up diapers outside not in a hole for burning but open ground and it just smolders for days and this is mainly a plastic smell.


Well, suffice it to say I Won't be living There! It's making Subic sound better all the time as I never noted burning before when living there back when, or since then when visiting. Wow. ...what you describe as "agonizing"?...that says it all.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*General population*



Nickleback99 said:


> Well, suffice it to say I Won't be living There! It's making Subic sound better all the time as I never noted burning before when living there back when, or since then when visiting. Wow. ...what you describe as "agonizing"?...that says it all.


Agonizing because you either have to get out of the house or close the windows and see if you can block it. 

If you live within the general population, this is just a guess but 70% you will smell smoke, burning diapers plastic, wood and charcoal every single day, they can't afford to cook with electricity or use electrical appliances, wood is free so they chop down tree's, take home rotten or old lumber and burn it, note if the in-laws are cooking with gas or electricity they aren't poor.

Change was recently my neighbor across the street decided to start a full time (fried duck) business and yes it's agonizing, every single night I smell smoke, sometimes all day long I do get breaks it all depends on the wind and also if the in-laws are not burning but they always burn charcoal.

I can't live without my grand kids they mean the world to me, my 1 year old granddaughter and my 6 year old grandson and they are only 7 blocks from me and I've invested too much to move, it wasn't this bad before but? things change especially when you live in a Municipality that raises ducks, millions of ducks business's come and go, my neighbor seems to be successful and I wish him no ill feelings he has to survive. 

Fix in the works, I'm going to work on reinstalling our ceiling it was damaged in a typhoon 3 years ago, if I do this and close the windows I should be okay, it's budget thing and never enough money.


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## pronse (Apr 3, 2009)

The bottom line is, if you chose to live in the Philippines, get ready.
It's cheap in cost but for those reasons.

What bugs me most is, almost all of the Filipino people back stab you and just say anything they want at the moment! They fully know that there will not be any law being enforced hence, it's OK to do anything!
It gets worse if you happened to have a different skin ?


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey M.C.A.

This noise and living conditions around you is why so many say don't buy there in the Philippines. You can't just pack up and move. When I was living in tagum in an apartment my neighbor's yard backed right up to my concrete wall on my patio. He had about 40 chickens and roosters. they never shut up. I was raised on a farm and our roosters only crowed in the mornings. His roosters crowed around the clock. I went to Ace hardware in Tagum and purchased what weather proofing material I could buy to put around the door to deaden the sound of the roosters and chickens. Then the rear window going to the patio I closed up with cardboard and tape also. there is a law against him having all the chickens in a residential neighborhood but they wouldn't do anything about it. LIKE I HAVE SAID NOISE IS THE WAY OF LIFE THERE. the only people that complains is foreigners like me. 

art


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## pronse (Apr 3, 2009)

Law? What does that mean, here? ?
The best remedy here is ear-plugs! I got loads of them ?


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Pronse

Yeah either earplugs or have a walkman with earplugs to listen to music all the time. hahaha 

art


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Or a chicken hawk.


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey Gary D

WOW! I forgot about chicken hawks. I wonder if I could ship a few over there. hahahaha

art


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Yep, none of the locals will take any responsibility or be law abiding unless they feel forced to. Case in point - We do not own any pets of any sort but all the local people keep dogs, Chickens, Ducks, Cats or whatever and let all roam free. For the last month or so there has been one of the local dogs who likes to sleep under my van and I have let it go as it caused no harm and his owner lives down the street. Monday morning the dog was laying on the street side dead in front of my lot. As of Tuesday afternoon it was still laying there, apparently expecting me to do something about it. My Asawa talked to one of her friends and mentioned about wondering who owned the dog and why they had not done something about it. She also mentioned about going to the Brngy Capt to complain. This morning there was no trace or smell of the dead animal so it somehow managed to leave after it got dark. Word of mouth advertising does actually work, amazing!!

Fred


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Dead animals or pets*



fmartin_gila said:


> Monday morning the dog was laying on the street side dead in front of my lot. As of Tuesday afternoon it was still laying there, apparently expecting me to do something about it. My Asawa talked to one of her friends and mentioned about wondering who owned the dog and why they had not done something about it. She also mentioned about going to the Brngy Capt to complain. This morning there was no trace or smell of the dead animal so it somehow managed to leave after it got dark. Word of mouth advertising does actually work, amazing!!
> 
> Fred


I've had to clear pets from my front gate area and these pets were either from my neighbor or in-laws, I guess the reasoning is if it's in front of your domain it's your responsibility but I pass their homes and animals are left till they turn to dust or blow away, I need to move the animals fast it's a real appetite destroyer, the barangay threatening no longer works for us they won't show up to the barangay for talks.

I have my 3 dogs tied up but once in a while I'll let them run around and get it out of their system and they'll come out the front gate and chase the neighbor dogs away, you should see the look on the faces if looks could kill.

Ear plugs don't work, everyone has roosters and the dogs are all over the streets barking all night long, at least 6 in front of our gate, these dogs also leave droppings it's a chore.


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

No way would I be able to deal with those situations that some of you have described. I live in a gated condominium complex with several hectares of land and we just don't have any of those issues. Basically no interactions with the locals except when we walk. Well of course you can hear the roosters and drunk karaoke on weekends from the nearby village. But overall a pretty nice experience, and a well educated bunch of expats neighbors. Of course this costs more but it is still ridiculously cheap compared to a similar place with an ocean view in the states would be. So everything is relative.


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## pronse (Apr 3, 2009)

You pay, you get ?


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

Hey JRB

I have found there is no way to get away from the noise there unless a person lives in a high rise condo like you said.Everybody has chickens, roosters, barking dogs and etc. It is just there normal way of life. Also there are the trucks, cars and motorcycle noises. I soundproofed my apartment the last time there as good as i could.

art


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## TheSwede (Oct 10, 2017)

Location is the key. We live up in Taytay in a village where people observe silence i general. A new neighbor that moved in a couple of months ago had a dog that was noise in the mornings. I discussed the issue with the home owner association and the dog is gone. The hard part is to find these places. Takes a lot of research and perhaps some luck.


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