Finding heart and home in the Philippines

By Ramil Gulle

AMERICAN BOOK  author and writer Beth Day, Spanish master artist Juvenal Sanso, and balikbayan lawyer and entrepreneur Loida Nicolas Lewis are all well-renowned and respected internationally in their respective fields they had no doubt in their minds that they wanted to make the Philippines….their home.

The General’s wife

Beth Day first became endeared to Filipinos after she married Filipino military general, patriot, book author, journalist, educator, diplomat and former President of the United Nations General Assembly (the first Asian and the first and only Filipino to hold the post, when he was elected in 1949) Carlos P. Romulo. They first met in New York City 1958, when she was assigned to write a feature story on him for The Reader’s Digest. Back then, she was a freelance writer and he was serving his term as Philippine Ambassador to the United States.

Romance blossomed between Beth and Rommy, as the General was also called, in 1972, when their spouses had already passed away. They were married in 1978. At the time, he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under President Ferdinand Marcos.

Beth and the General were inseparable until the day he passed away in 1985. By that time, she had decided to stay in the Philippines for good. “I used to have an apartment in New York. I used to pay every month for it to be maintained even though I would only go there for a couple weeks every year. Eventually I put it on the market,” said Beth.

She has no regrets about choosing the Philippines as her home. “No doubt about it, I would definitely recommend the Philippines as a retirement haven. In fact, I think the Philippines is not being promoted enough,” she said.

She has no regrets about choosing the Philippines as her home. “No doubt about it, I would definitely recommend the Philippines as a retirement haven. In fact, I think the Philippines  is not being promoted enough,” she said.

According to Beth the best attribute of the Philippines as a retirement haven is the Filipinos themselves. “The friendliness of the Filipinos, especially towards visitors is without question. Even when I came here for the very first time in the 1950s, the Filipinos were very friendly, very warm. They are very helpful to visitors. If you need help with anything, Filipinos are glad to help. They’re very attentive and they love to talk,” she said.

Beth also noted that Filipinos speak English well enough for foreigners to enjoy good communication when they are here. “For anyone from an English-speaking country, the Philippines would really be a good place to choose for their retirement.”

Beth is registered under the Philippine Retirement Authority’s Retirement Program, where she is entitled to several benefits and privileges. Among these, she says that it’s the SSRV or Special Resident Retiree’s Visa, that she finds most useful. Foreigners with the SSRV have a much easier and quicker time going through Philippine immigration as part of their special privilege. “Believe me, when you travel alone like I do, it’s such a big deal when they make things easier for you at immigration. They practically wave you in,” said Beth.

Although Beth is now in her 80’s, she is not retired. She still writes columns and articles for a national newspaper, where she focuses on international relations; and she remains productive as a freelance writer. “There’s really no retirement when you’re a freelancer like me. I’ve always been able to work at home,” she said.

Master artist comes home

World-renowned painter Juvenal Sanso was born in Reus, Catalonia, Spain in 1929, moved to Manila four years later with his family, established himself as a painter in the 1950s, then travelled the world—making Paris his place of residence for 50 years. In 2008, he decided to return to the Philippines and what he calls his “beloved Manila.”

Now in his 80s, Sanso, as he is known the world over, is still very much the blond, blue-eyed young man—in heart and in spirit—who grew up in Paco, Manila, learned to swim in the Pasig River and spent family outings in Montalban, Rizal.

Sanso speaks Tagalog fluently, as well as Spanish, French, Italian and a few other languages. Having lived in Europe for decades, it is very interesting to know why, of all places—and yes, he could have stayed in Paris, of course—he decided to go back to Manila. Before he answered that question, however, he emphasized that he doesn’t consider himself retired.

“I am not retired. There is no retirement when it comes to what I do. Renoir, for example, continued painting into his old age, even when his hands were already twisted [by arthritis]. They had to tie the paintbrushes to his hands. But if you look at Renoir’s paintings during that period, you can see the delicacy of the strokes—no sign in his works that his hands were already crippled and in great pain,” Sanso said.

Nevertheless, he was gladly given his SSRV card by the Philippine Retirement Authority and enrolled in their program—granting him well-deserved privileges and benefits.

“The best thing about the SSRV is when I travel abroad and return here. It’s very easy to go through immigration at the airport,” said Sanso.

“The best thing about the SSRV is when I travel abroad and return here.
 It’s very easy to go through immigration at the airport,” said Sanso.

While he lived in France for 50 years, he never severed his ties with the Philippines, coming back to stay a few weeks at a time. In 2008, he finally settled here for good. Like Beth Day, Sanso loves the Philippines because of the Filipinos. He knows firsthand how friendly, hospitable, kind and compassionate Filipinos are.

Being a painter, Sanso also loves the natural beauty of the Philippines. “The Philippines is not the most beautiful place in the world. There are other beautiful places—but the Philippines certainly has a lot to offer when it comes to that. There are so many beautiful places in the Philippines. I remember one time, when we were invited to go to Calatagan in Batangas. On the way there, we couldn’t see much because of the fog, as there is fog at times through Tagaytay. But on the way back, wow. We could really see the view. Wow. Glorious,” he said.

Sanso also loves the food. “Well, the food here has a lot of influences, Spanish, Chinese, etcetera. It’s very good,” he said, adding that he loves the mangoes here, and considers them the best in the world.

Sanso may be Spanish by birth, but he spent his childhood in the Philippines and it was here that he learned the basics of painting from Filipino masters like Fernando Amorsolo and other teachers in the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas. It was also in the Philippines that he started what would become an international career in the arts. By now, he said, he has already become a Filipino at heart.

Balikbayan’s choice

Attorney Loida Nicolas Lewis is neither a typical balikbayan nor a typical retiree. Yet she has a love for the Philippines and the Filipinos that spurs her to share her blessings to them. She’s mostly out of the country every year, but she maintains her home and her businesses in the Philippines and always comes back for about two weeks, 4 times a year, to be with Filipino relatives and friends.

Loida is Chairman of TLC Group, Inc., a Delaware Corporation with private equity funds.  An attorney by profession—who is admitted to practice in both the Philippines and New York—she was the first Filipino woman to pass the New York bar without attending law school in the United States.

After her ten years stint as General Attorney in the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (currently U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services), and having won her discrimination case against INS in 1987, she co-authored “How to Get A Green Card”, now on its 8th edition, a best-seller in its genre.

Her husband, the late Reginald F. Lewis was the first and so far the only African American who engineered the purchase of a billion dollar company-Beatrice Foods International on a leverage buy-out. The company shareholders received a 35%internal rate of return on their investments.

“Now that I have retired from business I always come back here in the Philippines as I am more comfortable here rather than in Forida or any other country.  I am a Filipino; born in the Philippines. I love Filipino food and Filipino  traditions,” she said. 

Loida graduated in the top 10% of her class from the University of the Philippines and is a cum laude graduate of St. Theresa’s College, two of the Philippines’ premier educational institutions.

She currently resides in New York City and is a registered member of the St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church. She actively sits as Member of the Board of the National Catholic Reporter, USP4GG, Apollo Theatre and Regiland F. Lewis  Foundation. She speaks several languages:  English, French, Spanish and Filipino.

She went into the business of hog-raising in Bicol and closed it in 2007. She invested in a mall  (Fernando Mall) and a hotel  (Fernando Hotel) to do her part in revving up  the fledgling but promising tourism industry in Sorsogon.

She also founded The Lewis College in Sorsogon in 1999 in memory of her late husband--she doesn’t consider this as a business but rather as giving back her blessings to her fellow Bicolanos. (For other information about the college visit: www.thelewiscollege.com

As a balikbayan, she considers retiring in the Philippines very ideal because of the hospitality of the Filipinos, and, of course, because she is among her people. “Filipinos have all the virtues I like: kind, hospitable, helpful, sensitive and compassionate. For a retiree like me, these are the best qualities of people I want to be around me,” she said.

While the Philippines has many beautiful tourism destinations, she believes that a visit to Sorsogon is a wonderful introduction to travelers who go to the Philippines.

“When my daughter got married last year in Intramuros, I invited relatives and friends from the US to attend, I brought them to Sorsogon where we visited San  Binon Hot Spring, Bulusan Lake and the oldest church in Bicol also in Sorsogon- St. Joseph Church. We even swam with the butandings (whale sharks). It was an exhilarating experience and they promised to bring their friends and relatives,” she said.

Loida is also an advocate of medical tourism because she believes that the Philippines has world-class healthcare. This, she believes, is of benefit not only to balikbayans like her, but also to foreign travelers seeking medical care overseas.

“Anything related to health is priced lower in the Philippines. For example, a specific service may cost $1000 in the US but if you’ll do it here in the Philippines, it will just cost you $100. So far, the services I had here in the Philippines were Medical examinations, Dermatological services and Dental care services. The doctors, nurses and other medical staff have excellent skills. They are very competent and very caring,” she said.

 “Anything related to health is priced lower in the Philippines. For example, a specific service may cost $1000 in the US but if you’ll do it here in the Philippines, it will just cost you $100. So far, the services I had here in the Philippines were Physical Examinations, Dermatology Services and Dental care services. The doctors, nurses and other medical staff have excellent skills. They are very competent and very caring,” she said.

Loida is currently working with a group on ways to amend US legislation, so that more US senior citizens, including those of Filipino descent, will be able to use their Medicare card to cover their bills when they avail of medical treatments in the Philippines.

Loida added, “The U.S. Medicare does not cover expenses incurred outside the US. With Eric Lachica as our lobbyist, we want the US Congress to amend Medicare law to allow Medicare Insurance to be applicable in the Philippines. This is known as US Medicare Portability.”

PHOTOCAPTIONS RETIREES STORY

Spanish artist Juvenal Sanso began his career as a painter in the Philippines and learned the basics of his art from Filipino masters. He continued his arts studies in Europe and lived in Paris for fifty years, making trips to the Philippines at least once a year. Now a world-renowned artist and recipient of the highest honors from the governments of Spain, France and the Philippines, Sanso continues to paint and produce his works at his home in Manila.

SANSO IN BAGUIO. World-renowned Spanish artist Juvenal Sanso during one of the many trips he took to the Philippines.  Over the past 50 years, Sanso has been going back and forth to the Philippines even as he travelled through Europe from his residence in Paris. In 2008, he settled in the Philippines for good.

HAPPY WITH THE GENERAL. Beth Day with husband Carlos P. Romulo, also known as “The General.”  Romulo and Day were married in 1978 when he was the Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs. They were inseparable until his death in 1985.

AT HOME WITH FOXY  - American writer and author Beth Day with her beloved French poodle, Foxy.  She sold her apartment in New York and chose to stay in the Philippines, the homeland of her late husband, Carlos P. Romulo, soldier, general, Philippine patriot, writer and diplomat, and the first Filipino and Asian to be President of the United Nations General-Assembly.