Toronto resident shares how the high cost of living led him to move to the Philippines

One Canadian content creator is sharing his experience of what it’s like to move to the Philippines permanently. His reason: Canada’s high cost of living.

“With both of us working remotely and the cost of living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) growing exponentially, it just made more logical sense for us to make the move,” John Victorino explained in an interview.

The 33-year-old was born and raised in Toronto and works in technology and as a social media consultant. But he has also found success online, creating funny clips about Filipino culture.

“I create Filipino nostalgic content as a side hustle,” he said.

Viewers were surprised when, on February 13, he posted a video announcing that he and his wife, KC, had moved to the Philippines for good.

@funbunch

We left Canada. Here is what happened 👇 Since 2017 I knew that the Philippines was where my heart was. It wasn’t until Kc and I found ourselves on a 16 hour layover in Manila (2019) that we decided to take the leap of faith. We are both born and raised in Toronto, Canada with both families being 1st Gen immigrants. Phase 1: testing the waters – we flew to the Philippines as soon as lockdown finished in Toronto. We travelled around the islands for 2 months, visiting a lot of tourist spots. Phase 2: we got married, alongside our family and friends. Then lived like locals in Metro Manila for 6 months – no traveling, no beaches – just living – to see if this was really for us. Phase 3 – the present. We said goodbye to our family and friends and have recently landed in our new home. I know we’re super priviledged to be in this position and that many people in the Philippines wish to leave. Leave your opnions in the comments.

♬ original sound – John | Leaving 🇨🇦 for 🇵🇭

Not everyone was on board with the couple’s decision.

“You’ll 100% regret it,” wrote one viewer. “It’s fun for vacations… but it’s not worth throwing your lives away.”

But for Victorino, it was “both a logical and emotional decision.”

“The Philippines has always held a special place in my heart — the culture, my family, and the people,” he said.

He acknowledges that they’re “extremely privileged” to be able to move from Canada to the Philippines when, for many Filipinos, it’s a dream to move to the US or Canada. But aside from wanting to be closer to family, he said that life in Canada has become too expensive.

“The cost of living in Toronto, from groceries and rent to the distant dream of homeownership, is a huge factor,” he explained. “Toronto is not the same, cost to salary-wise, as it was for my parents’ generation. My wife and I could not see a realistic way to save money and create wealth for our future generation.”

Planning the big move

It wasn’t a decision they made lightly.

Victorino said they took a three-step approach to see “if this was something we wanted.”

In the first phase, he said they visited the Philippines as tourists, island hopping and going on food tours. In the second phase, he and his wife stayed in the Philippines for six months and lived in Valenzuela City and Ortigas, where they worked remotely and “experienced it like locals.”

“No travelling, no beaches, just living to see if this was really for us,” he wrote in the caption of a video posted on TikTok.

After deciding that this was something they wanted, they finally packed up their home and moved to the Philippines at the end of January this year.

His advice: “Do your research and don’t make the jump cold turkey.”

The pros and cons

While the grass might seem greener on the other side, the decision to move for Victorino is genuinely personal.

“To each their own,” he said. “Things that I like about the Philippines may be the very things that people dislike. So, please take my list with a grain of salt.”

Victorino said he likes being closer to his heritage and culture, practicing Tagalog, and the ability to raise kids in a “stricter educational system.”

And there’s also the lower cost of living.

According to NomadList, the average cost of living in Manila is US$1,535 a month per person for expats (C$2,084). Meanwhile, Toronto’s average cost of living is US$4,799 (C$6,514.47) a month.

Of course, there are also several downsides to living in the Philippines.

“In general, things move a lot slower, and tasks take longer to get done here due to infrastructure, and there’s crazy traffic in Manila,” he said.

Despite the challenges, they consider the Philippines their forever home. For now, at least.

“But we don’t want to close off any opportunities to either return to Canada or live elsewhere,” he said. “Many of our friends are also moving to Southeast Asia in the next few years, so we may go where they go — who knows!”