---
type: Video
title: "$2000 Reward for Hardworking Filipinos 🇵🇭"
description: Harry works from chaotic Quiapo market to polished BGC handing 5,000 pesos to everyone who serves him — a phone repairer, a lumpia seller, bike taxi riders, a roadside masseur and a barber.
tags: [philippines, manila, quiapo, bgc, giving-back, street-food, markets]
timestamp: 2026-08-04T12:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYy6NcL5wA
video_id: mDYy6NcL5wA
upload_date: 2025-01-10
duration: 3303
---

# $2000 Reward for Hardworking Filipinos 🇵🇭

Harry returns to [Manila](/places/manila.md) — a city he says he comes back to
every year for the energy — and spends the day handing 5,000 pesos, roughly
$100, to everyone who does something for him. It starts in
[Quiapo](/places/quiapo.md), the chaotic downtown market district he prefers to
the polished parts of the city, where he has a phone repaired, eats fresh
lumpia made by a vendor who has to be ready to run from the police, and hijacks
a stall's microphone to advertise their t-shirts. He races a bike taxi across
town to BGC, has a 500-peso massage on the side of a highway from a man who has
done it for 24 years, eats Spanish fusion, gets a haircut with a scalp
treatment he can barely stay awake through, and finishes at Greenhills Mall
buying an iPad and an Apple Watch to give away as mystery gifts.

## Key moments

- [00:00] Back in downtown Manila, which he visits every year for the energy and
  the friendliness, with William along for the day.
- [01:09] Magic water at 20 pesos, and a plant at 50, from stalls he can't
  identify the boundaries of.
- [02:44] Someone is handing out free food and water on the street.
- [02:14] Why he prefers this area: the people are far friendlier and more
  interesting than in BGC or Makati.
- [04:59] He borrows a stall's microphone to advertise their t-shirts to the
  market, and notes there's only one country where you can do that.
- [06:04] A broken iPhone back panel. The quote is 1,500 for labour; he asks for
  the local price and gets 1,300.
- [07:45] The repairer fixes about five phones a day, working with heat to
  scrape the back panel off before replacing it.
- [08:18] The original part costs 2,500 rather than the 3,500 listed — a vlogger
  discount. Harry leaves 5,000.
- [09:30] Fresh lumpia, two pieces for 50. The seller's cart is portable because
  the trade is illegal and he has to be able to run.
- [10:31] He sells around 150 pieces a day, and makes them from scratch — a
  recipe from his grandfather.
- [12:22] Harry leaves 5,000 there too.
- [13:22] What strikes him: everyone speaks English, which he calls a breath of
  fresh air.
- [13:22] A church ceremony, with candles sold outside for wishes. The
  Philippines is strongly Christian.
- [14:31] Santo Niño figures for homes and businesses, at 2,500.
- [16:02] Counterfeit perfumes — Calvin Klein and Ray-Ban, "definitely real".
- [17:13] The food market: palabok at 35, sticky rice, and a Filipino dish he
  compares to pad thai. The stallholder works from 5am to 8pm.
- [20:07] A tip for the stall's sales team.
- [20:45] A Pakistani vendor selling chicken biryani, working in Manila and
  missing his family more than the food. He recognises Harry from his Karachi
  videos.
- [21:28] A bike taxi race across town — $100 to whichever driver arrives first.
- [21:56] His rider works eight-hour days through Manila traffic.
- [22:58] The case for bike taxis: they save hours in a city where this is what
  light traffic looks like.
- [23:31] The rider earns around 500–900 pesos a day (from video – unverified).
- [24:03] BGC, which he calls nicer than most cities in the UK — parks, malls,
  designer shops, walkable.
- [24:37] 5,000 split between the two riders.
- [24:55] A coconut seller. Harry buys the entire stock — 69 coconuts at 50 each
  — but takes only one, so they can still sell the rest.
- [25:52] A roadside massage beside a highway, 500 pesos, from John Rich, who
  has been doing it for 24 years and built the massage bed himself.
- [26:57] The comparison that makes the point: the same length massage at his
  hotel was 2,000.
- [27:28] He pre-empts the comments — he'll be told he overpaid or underpaid
  either way, so he pays what's asked.
- [28:36] Around 10–15 massages a day, 12-hour days, roughly 3,000 pesos daily
  (from video – unverified). Asked for a message to the world, the masseur says
  life here is hard, and the hardest part is the rising price of groceries and
  oil.
- [30:58] On cockfighting: a Spanish inheritance, licensed, effectively
  prohibited in Manila but still watchable in Mindanao and the provinces.
- [32:07] Harry leaves 5,000.
- [32:14] A Philippine Marine Corps static display and recruitment drive in BGC,
  with armour, artillery, sniper rifles and a new coastal defence unit.
- [34:24] Dinner at a Spanish fusion place, with tacos, prawns and roasted
  cauliflower — small plates, and knives and forks because they're in BGC.
- [38:30] 5,000 shared between the staff, for the service and for Christmas.
- [40:36] A barber shop, quoted 550 for a skin fade.
- [41:39] The barber has cut hair for 24 years, eight of them in that spot, and
  reckons well over 10,000 haircuts.
- [43:27] The hair wash and scalp treatment included in the price — something he
  says would cost far more in England.
- [44:29] A steam treatment on the face and a shoulder massage; he thinks he
  fell asleep, and the whole thing runs 30–45 minutes.
- [46:14] The bill is 1,600, cash only. He leaves 5,000 for the staff to share.
- [47:19] Greenhills Mall, his favourite in the country: good prices, no scams,
  and cheaper than BGC's malls. A Sunday church service is running inside it.
- [47:53] He notes how much it has been built up and organised since his last
  visit.
- [48:25] A second-hand iPad Air 4 in mint condition, listed at 19,500, talked
  down to 13,500 with a one-month warranty.
- [50:38] He offers the seller a dollar or a mystery gift — she picks the
  mystery, and it's the iPad.
- [51:50] An Apple Watch SE at 11,000, also with a month's warranty.
- [54:26] The same trick with the second seller: $20 or a mystery gift.

## Extracted pages

- Places: [Quiapo](/places/quiapo.md), [Manila](/places/manila.md)
- Country: [Philippines](/countries/philippines.md)
- Tips: [Reward honesty and hard work](/tips/reward-honesty-and-hard-work.md),
  [Try the street version of everyday services](/tips/try-street-services.md),
  [Haggle with a reference price](/tips/haggle-with-a-reference-price.md)