US cash or Peso

[barry123]

I am spending 7 weeks in the Philippines diving. Should I pay with US dollars or peso at the dive shops ?

I will be arriving in Manilla with US cash and plan to exchange some for Pesos. Just looking to see what gives me the best bang for the buck

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

If your canadian, they will see you coming, cash or peso wont matter lol. Just going off your lo-cal, same goes for us Americans.

 

[Searcaigh]

Just looking to see what gives me the best bang for the buck

You might want to re-phrase that

 

[Karl_H]

Most places will except both, as you're in the Philippines you'll generally get a better rate on the Peso prices - although some operations have prices in USD which are then converted to Peso if required.

I'd suggest bringing USD and converting it to Peso through the trip, 7 weeks is a long time and there's plenty of location to chnage USD to Peso at resonable rates in most locations. If you want to change all at once I'd say go for Pesos.

 

[Centrals]

You will need a lot of cash to pay for 7 wks of diving. Be careful.
Paying with credit card will incur additional charge in most places but there is exceptional. Check it out in advance.
The best place to exchage peso is in Manila. SM Mall always give good exchange rate and they are everywhere.
I wish I can afford a 7 wks diving trip!!!!!!!

 

[RadarKing]

Why bring cash? ATMs are almost everywhere in the Philippines. Some of the more remote sites like Malapascua might not have one so you should check ahead but ATMs are the way to go. You can typically withdraw up to 10,000 pesos in one transaction and the local bank will charge you a 200 peso fee.
I've spent six months diving in the Phils and never had a problem. I carry two ATM cards in case one gets lost or damaged.

 

[Karl_H]

Why bring cash? ATMs are almost everywhere in the Philippines. Some of the more remote sites like Malapascua might not have one so you should check ahead but ATMs are the way to go.

Most big towns and cities have ATMs, however reliability can be an issue and I'd advise to have some cash handy, or pay in advance, if you can. Its true some locations have easy access to ATMs, sadly most of the better diving spots don't have easy access to an ATM.

 

[blue steal]

Good advice from those above. I might add that you bring clean non torn US 100 bills. these are accepted by the money changers who will often have a better rate than the malls. Be careful though, count you pesos in front of them.
We always use pesos only when in the PI.
I have used the ATM's at SM and MOA, but in the more remote area you probably are not going to find them.
Have fun for 7 weeks.

 

[limbo]

Also be aware that you can get only 10,000.-PHP at a time from n ATM with a limit of 20,000.-PHP per day. Sometimes ATM's have fairly limited availability and run out of cash to dispense rather quickly. Especially in smaller towns.

 

[Rogersea]

As far the "bang for the buck" I have found that 95% of the time you get a better deal paying in Peso's because the dollar conversion rate at many shops is not as generous as the money changers or ATMs...

I would also recommend relying more on ATM's than I would carrying 7 weeks worth of cash.... I have been able to get as much as 80K Pesos a day at various ATMs(it corresponds to the limit you have set at your bank) with 80K being the limit the Philippine government puts on it(I think)... The down side is that most ATMS cap each withdrawl at 5 or 10K pesos per withdrawl... and you are paying 200P or approx $5 per withdrawl to the local bank.....

I feel very safe using ATMs here in the Philippines and you should to, provided you follow the same safety guidelines you follow in North America...

Hope you enjoy your trip to the Philippines...

Cheers,
Roger