Pea attends a housewarming and house blessing for her friend Rob, an expat who moved to the Philippines in September 2025 after watching her channel since 2020. Rob gives a tour of his three-story home, explains the price, taxes, and the holding-company structure that lets him legally own it, and then a priest blesses the house before the traditional coin toss and a lechon feast. The video doubles as a guide to what a Filipino house blessing looks like.
Filipino housewarming customs
- Unlike in the West, where guests bring housewarming gifts, in the Philippines the host feeds the guests
- You know it's a Filipino home when there are lots of shoes outside
- The house is full of Rob's family for the party
House tour
- Three stories, five bedrooms, 260 square meters (they call it roughly 2,600 sq ft)
- First floor: kitchen, main area, a mom's room, and a powder room
- Second floor has two wings: an office wing still being set up, with Rob's office/"man cave" and a coffee station, and a wing with the kids' bedrooms (they skip the bedrooms since people are still in them)
- Third floor is Rob's "sanctuary," which Pea calls the "fortress of solitude"
- Rob goes up around 4 a.m. to work and focus, listening to roosters and tukos (geckos)
- Ocean view and mountain view; Bohol is visible in the distance
- Sunrise over the mountains on one side and sunset over the mountains on the other; a steady breeze
- Pea calls it "really paradise up here"
Cost and ownership
- Located on the outskirts of Cebu; Rob paid 14 million pesos
- Pea's take: you can still have a slice of paradise in the Philippines if you know where to find it
- He installed solar; not 100% off grid but working toward it, since it's always hot and the sun comes up early
- Property tax: less than 8,000 pesos (under $150) a year, or about 5,000 pesos (around $100 US) if paid by November; "Not even in Tennessee"
- Was he scared to buy? "Oh, absolutely"
- Foreigners can't simply buy land, so he did his research up front and hired local attorneys
- They set up a holding company that owns the land
- His wife owns 60% and is treasurer; Rob owns 40% and is president
- The house itself is in Rob's name
- His point: it's possible to own property in the Philippines as long as you do it correctly
Rob's backstory
- Moved to the Philippines in September 2025
- Previously an expat in Abu Dhabi
- During the pandemic he found the YouTube channel of "this Filipina woman" whose name he pretends not to remember; jokes "why would you name your child P?" and that her parents "must have hated her"
- Has watched since 2020; it took a couple of years to actually move
- No regrets: he met a wonderful Filipina who brings peace to his life, "and that's what every man is really looking for"
- On tampo: he rates his wife's as "less than a four," which he can deal with
- Pea: it depends on the severity of your crimes, and anyway "it's always going to be your" fault
- Rob calls it his cross to bear; Pea: "But we're worth it"
The house blessing
- Catering includes lechon, pancit, and sweet spaghetti; Rob admits he doesn't like sweet spaghetti ("I'm too picky") but his wife knows
- The priest arrives with his own personal guitarist, and everyone lights candles while trying not to set each other on fire as he sings a religious song
- After a prayer, the priest splashes liquid all over the house without missing a corner, including furniture and the TV; Pea says she wouldn't love that, but Rob is a good sport at his first Filipino house blessing
- The priest moves upstairs room to room with every family member and their candles following, causing a "traffic jam" on the stairs; Pea imagines Rob wondering how long it will take to scrape the wax off
- Purpose: to make sure there are no bad spirits in the house so the family is safe
- Pea jokes that the priest seems to be "a Second Amendment priest"
The coin toss
- After the blessing, the homeowners throw coins and guests scramble and scream to grab them
- The tradition: tossing coins brings more blessings to the family, and the farther the coins go, the bigger the blessings
- Pea comes away with six pesos
The feast
- "In typical Filipino fashion, the food doesn't actually exist" until a bunch of people stand around photographing it; Pea has no idea why anyone would look back at food photos, "but that's our ritual"
- A spread like this can cost over $1,000 even in the Philippines; Rob went all out
- Lechon is the star; Pea's favorite part is the cheek, and she gets it because nobody is attacking it yet; she also grabs cracklings for Rob
- Two kinds of fried chicken and pork with sauce
- Pig innards including liver, intestine, and stomach, because "we don't waste the parts of the pig"
- Dinuguan (pig's blood stew), which she likes because it's spicy
- Pancit noodles and lumpia, which are always at Filipino parties (vegetable lumpia that also has meat)
- It takes her three trips to the table
- She puts sweet spaghetti to the test for viewers who think it's disgusting: "You're right. It's disgusting"
Rob's advice for men wanting to move to the Philippines
- Number one: follow P's advice
- Don't do it online; start here in person. It's tempting, but don't get scammed
- When you find the right Filipina you can trust, she'll make the house into a home
Outro skit
- Pea as a cheerleader ("Give me a P...") pitching subscriptions and Patreon, ending with "I wish I had bigger pom-poms"
