Chambalero is right -- in the PI, as in anywhere else, you get what you pay for. If it's infrastructure and educated people you want, go to Makati or Fort Bonifacio. It's expensive by PI standards but still well below US prices. Traffic is terrible everywhere but if you live in a nice house in an exclusive gated village or better yet, in a condo highrise located in a mixed-use community like Rockwell, then even that wouldn't be a problem as everything would be walking distance.
It's so easy to be all high and mighty in the Philippine provinces, where people are often poor and the people that are not are most probably corrupt (not always the case, though), but in Forbes Park or Greenhills or Alabang, or even in less high-society settings for that matter, like in Pasig or Quezon City where most of the country's upper middle class reside, it's much more "civilized". So there's little to none of the problems associated with a provincial setting, but more of the "first-world" type of problems, like..."gasoline is so expensive now I don't get to drive my Hummer anymore. I just have to drive around in my dad's Lexus. Life sucks!" type of problems.
EDIT: Best cities to live in in the PI: Marikina City, Davao City, Cebu City, Puerto Princesa City
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