The early bird gets the worm, the late bird gets the cat

Davao City is renowned for its consistent
and realistic approaches to life

When their lifestyle and neighborhood perception are to be considered, the Martinez family should consider permanently relocating to Davao City, Davao del Sur. They may oppose or deny the pressure to relocate, but they won't stay for long in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, unless they significantly scale down their lifestyle and reconcile with their neighbors.

The lifestyle of the Martinez family is unsustainable for a residence in Prosperidad and the rest of Agusan del Sur. Household consumption of electricity reaches up to 400 kWh monthly, tantamount to the energy consumption profile of a commercial establishment. In fact, their mains switch frequently overloaded, their meter caught fire, and the wire between the meter and the pole had to be replaced with an indistrial-grade wire, all due to the overload. Across the compound, up to 5 air conditioners, including 1 split-type, are turned on at the same time. When an unused air conditioner is turned off, certain Martinez get angry and demand that the air conditioning remain turned on.

Since April 2023, the family's choice of essential and premium institutions is no longer in Butuan, Agusan del Norte, which is 60 km from the compound. Instead, their institutional choices are based in Davao City, which is 230 km. SM Lanang and Abreeza for premium goods, Metro Davao Medical and Research Center, Inc. for rapid access to reputable healthcare, Malayan Colleges Mindanao and previously Lyceum of the Philippines University for higher education. There was even decline in confidence in Butuan health institutions.

Their Internet service was originally served with DITO Home WoWiFi, I had to replace it with Converge FiberX Plan 1500 because, as many Martinez members have gaming computers and consume video, their collective data transmission rapidly used up whole DITO monthly subscriptions. The Martinez family consumes up to 60 m³ of water monthly, with car wash being the second-largest consumer of water.

The Martinez family has exotic cats and dogs. Aside from aspins and puspins, they have doberman, German shepherd, shihtzu–chowchow hybrid, Himalayan cat, Persian cat, and Scottish fold. The dogs are all outdoors. On the cats, the puspins are outdoors, while the exotic breeds are kept indoors. The dogs and cats are fed a mix of leftover food and dedicated cat food or dog food. The exotic cats are fed dedicated cat food.

The Martinez family has poor reputation in their immediate neighborhood, partly due to the family's difficult attitude. The installation of metal sheets across the perimeter indicates the worsening of relations with immediate neighbors. When you have poor reputation among your neighbors because you are difficult to deal with, you have to relocate in order to start over and maintain the peace. Listen to your environment.

There are times where the Martinez family orders up to ₱2,500 fast food for a daily meal. Comfort eating has become a cornerstone aspect of life there due to the stress which in turn originates from the difficult attitudes of the older generation. Virtually everyone in the family has serious health issues—asthma. The Martinez family appears to be sacrificing their health in the name of staying in a locality that cannot entertain their lifestyle.

Medical necessity

One aspect necessitates monthly trips to Davao since April 2023: the patriarch, in his 90s as of the writing of this post, has Alzheimer's, a history of mini-strokes, aspiration pneumonias, is bedridden, unable to swallow solid food, sometimes spits out liquid food, and is susceptible to pressure ulcers. MDMRCI doctors suggested hiring a private nurse or visiting a nursing home for better care, but the family utterly refused with the following patently unsupportable message: "A private nurse is not the same as a family member." I also told the Martinez family to go to a Davao vacation site monthly so that the patriarch would enjoy his remaining years or months. I also said that a week in a hotel costs ₱20,000, while a week in a hospital costs ₱100,000 without insurance. Still, the Martinez family refused to listen, with replies like, "Your suggested vacations are too expensive." I left the Martinez compound in March 2026 because they never listened to me.

As members of the Martinez family have health issues that require maintenance medication, regular visits to physicians, and sometimes hospital admissions, relocation to Davao City would ensure better treatment regimes for the family. Davao City has multiple private hospitals with different meanings—

• Metro Davao Medical and Research Center, Inc. (MDMRCI) – rapid access to diagnostic and treatment services, conducts research under stringent criteria
• Lanang Premier Doctors' Hospital, Inc. (LPDHI) – described as looking more like a hotel than a traditional hospital
• Davao Doctor's Hospital (DDH) – the premier health institution
• United Davao Specialists Hospital and Medical Center (UNIDAV) – the most profesionally diverse health institution

In case finances go thin, the Martinez family could visit the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), which is a public hospital. Across Mindanao, serious health cases involving the less privileged are referred to the SPMC.

Precedent

The Martinez family is not indigenous to Agusan del Sur or even Caraga. The patriarch is an Ilokano, ancestors from Nueva Ecija. The matriarch (d. 2023) was a Tagalog, ancestors from Batangas. Their two children are half-Ilokano and half-Tagalog. Probably the only indigenous anchor is the second child's wife, whose father is a Kamayo, but whose mother is a Cebuano, ancestors from Cebu. The patriarch grew up in Bangsamoro, while the matriarch grew up in Northern Mindanao. Two duo, both born in the 1930s, were assigned to Prosperidad as part of their careers in government service. The Martinez family has relatives and cousins who live in Davao City, SOCCSKSARGEN, Bangsamoro, Hong Kong, Illinois, and Washington state. At home, the Martinez family behaves like Cebuanos or Tagalogs, and there is no semblance of indigenous Manobo culture. They never wore indigenous outfits and instead wore Western outfits.

The Alidon–Corvera family, related to the second child's wife, was forced to migrate out of practical necessity. Initially having lived in Prosperidad, mismanagement of their eatery business deprived them of their only livelihood. When the matriarch of the Corvera family died, the Alidon–Corvera family had to sell their house to repay debts, enduring almost a decade of migratory period. The Alidon–Corvera family initially rented in Agusan del Norte and then moved to Misamis Oriental. The family ultimately settled in Davao City. The current breadwinner of the Alidon–Corvera family, in her 30s as of the writing of this post, told me that she was happy to have left Agusan del Sur. There were reports that someone in the Alidon–Corvera family had a difficult attitude and that had neighbors talk ill of them. Those reports sounded credible, as someone from the Alidon–Corvera family indeed mocked my school hardships. It is noteworthy that the same person who ridiculed me literally lost his newborn child to an unspecified health issue. As the Alidon–Corvera family materially succeeded in Davao City, they go to private health institutions instead of the more forgiving SPMC.

SMS conversation

I texted members of the Martinez family. My message to them was, "Relocating to Davao City would be an optimal decision, as you visit it monthly for health checks and premium shopping. For as long as you visit Davao City, the more the family denies, the more they prove that they need to relocate."

The recipients, unable to refute my message, resorted to ad hominem. Their reply to me was, "Keep nagging, when you don't even know how to make money. If you want this to happen, prove it that you can make money to make it happen. Don't just keep saying."

I told them to learn from the Alidon–Corvera family. my counterreply to them was, "Did it hurt? That you need to go to a distant place every month for health checks? That you are somewhat tense with your neighbors? You can get angry at me all you want, but observe what happened to the Alidon–Corvera family."

It is painful to get told that you have to relocate, especially of the environment you claim to belong to can no longer entertain your basic requirements. All migration processes start with signs that your surrounding environment and people start rejecting you. The earlier the migration, the better.

Explaining the title

"The early bird gets the worm, the late bird gets the cat"

In case you wonder about the title of the article, I can explain the meaning. The worm symbolizes the rewards for accepting early and acting accordingly. The cat represents the consequences of the denial of reality. The bird may eat the worm, but the cat eats the bird. Accepting the reality right now enables faster healing and a better future. Denial enables misfortune to grow in severity until it can cripple the deniers permanently.