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The boy on the right in this photo is my son,J.P.. The other boy is my son's cousin, Phillip. This photo was taken recently at their grandparents' home in Sibulan.

This is a typical situation for J.P.. He is always trying to get to the PC at home. He sees my wife and I spending so much time on the computer.....he's simply imitating his parents.

My wife's mother was once employed by an entity in Sibulan.....not quite sure if it was government run or private....that loaned money to the folks in the area. The entity was unable to collect the money it had loaned out and so, subsequently, went out of business. As way of paying off the unemployed workers, the company allowed them to take whatever furniture or equipment was left in the office. This PC (and another) were among the items that my wife's mother brought home. Neither PC works. My wife and I tried to get them working while we were visiting, but to no avail.

The point of this little story is to bring up the question of foreign investments in Philippines. The entity for which my mother -in -law worked had no way of legally obtaining the money defaulted by the borrowers. What foreigner is willing to invest if there is no guarantee they will ever see a return? Another obstacle to progress in Philippines is the law that prevents foreigners from buying property in the country. I am not an expert on Philippine law, by any means. But, it seems to me that laws such as these, which were intended to prevent exploitation of the local population have stifled progress by discouraging investment.