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MONEY AND COSTS |
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The Philippine currency is the piso, although it is almost always
spelt "peso". It is divided into 100 centavos, with bills in
denominations of P10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Coins come in 25
centavos and P1 and P5. Apart from the peso , the only currency that's
likely to get you anywhere in the Philippines is the US dollar . Most
banks will not change pounds sterling, euros or anything else. Many
hotels will, but you'll get a low rate. In rural areas you may have
trouble changing travellers' cheques , so it's best to bring a ready
supply of cash, both dollars and pesos. The current exchange rate is P40
to US$1 and P60 to £1.
Visa , MasterCard and, to a lesser extent, American Express are widely
accepted throughout Manila and other major cities, and also in popular
tourist destinations such as Boracay. You can withdraw cash from 24-hr
ATMs (in the Visa, Plus, Mastercard and Cirrus networks) in all cities
and even many smaller towns. Most banks will advance cash against cards
(generally Visa and MasterCard) for a commission. If you use credit
cards to pay for airline tickets and hotels, there is sometimes an extra
charge of around 2.5 percent.
If you need to get money wired to you in the Philippines it's best to go
to one of the banks in the business district of Makati, such as Cocobank
or Bank of the Philippine Islands. They will ask you to open an account,
which can be done over the counter in a matter of minutes, as long as
you have two forms of identification, each with your photo. A transfer
will take at least five working days. Overseas banks with branches in
Manila are limited. Citibank and Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank are both in
Makati.
The Philippines is said to be about thirty percent more expensive than
Thailand for travel, but depending on where you go and what you do this
is not true. Getting around by bus is cheap, with the longest bone-crunching
journeys costing less than P150, and an air ticket from Manila to Davao
and back can cost considerably less than P4000 depending on who you fly
with and how far in advance you book. You should be able to get by on
P600 a day if you are willing to shop around and bargain hard. In out-of-the-way
places you can live like a king for well under P1000 a day, eating fresh
fish and washing it down with San Miguel beer bought from a local
sari-sari store for P12 a bottle. When it comes to accommodation it's
always worth haggling. If a beach hut is P300 a night, you could try and
get them to let you stay for five days for P200 a night.
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