ITS NOT entirely more affordable to buy from Amazon main. For one, do remember that they have raised their shipping cost to the Philippines prohibitively. That every item, and thats every other item - comes out against you being charged P250.00 each. Therefore, if you bought five merchandise, you're being levied P1,250. for the entire shipment. Wala namang problema ito kung mababa talaga ang dollar, the affordability of these things hinges 99% on the currency exchange rate or the strength of the peso. But because our brilliant Central Bank routinely intervenes with the exchange, artificially and manipulatively keeping the dollar up - wala talagang chance that you could buy liberally more from US-based Amazon.
Therefore sinong kontrabido sa aspirations ng marami dito to shop more? Its mainly the Central Bank. idiot yang ni-reappoint ni P-Noy na si Armando Tetangco, its confounding why a tainted Arroyo man like him would be allowed to continue with their posts when they've contributed too in the criminal atrocities of Arroyo against the economy. Tetangco is the mastermind why the peso could not get raised to its realistic and true level. All regional banks who still minds the Philippine economic status (like HSBC and Citibank) has perennially declared that the peso's true exchange worth ought to be in the neighborhood of P38 to P40 - but it looks like to the keen observer that an invisible hand is always intruding to pull down the peso. Of course, Tetangco is not entirely the culprit. The weaker-peso policy is ferociously lobbied alongside by exporters and OCW-dependent sectors (pinakamaingay dito ay yung grupo ni Benson Dakay na seaweed grower, at ng grupo ng BDO-Henry Sy who wants to rapaciously corner the dollar-hoarding and the OCW remittance pipeline).
If you truly wanted to collect these things, the best alternative is to get from Amazon.UK - this is the clever fellows' "BEST-KEPT SECRET" now..