Thanks for the replies, guys.

I should have pointed out that my wife and I were loosely (very loosely) thinking/talking about moving to live there. But Christ, from what's typed above it sounds like Liberia might be a better choice. My wife and I were thinking of Manila (she hates small cities, so no other city would be an option).

Anyway, we'll keep looking. Perhaps Vietnam or Indonesia would be better choices. The Philippines was attractive to me mainly because everyone speaks English and the Filipinos we've met here are very gentle and very kind.