BOHOL, Philippines — The email that lands in your inbox won’t look like much. No corporate letterhead. No stuffy HR language about “synergistic core competencies.” Just a guy named Merv Moore, an American who once sat where you’re sitting now — staring at a screen in a country where the math no longer adds up — asking a simple question:
What if you could own 10 percent of a sports empire for the price of a used sedan? And what if it came with a beach?
This is not a hypothetical. On an island in the central Philippines, where the jungle meets the sea and the cost of a decent meal still hovers around five dollars, a baseball experiment is taking root. The Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club — an elite youth academy aiming to produce the first native-born Filipino Major League Baseball superstar — is preparing to launch next month. But the real headline isn’t the baseball. It’s the business deal attached to it, and the four men who will be crazy enough to take it.
“We’re not looking for volunteers,” Moore says, his voice carrying the relaxed cadence of someone who has already made the leap. “We’re looking for partners. Real ownership. Real equity. You’re not coming here to help me build my dream. You’re coming here to build ours.”
The Offer
Let’s cut through the tropical romance and get to what’s actually on the table. The Bohol Coconuts are seeking four business-minded individuals — specifically single American and European men — to relocate permanently and assume leadership roles: Club President, Vice-President, Sales Director, Marketing Director.
Each partner receives a genuine 10 percent equity stake in the entire operation: the baseball and softball club, the Coconuts Performance Center, the Elite Baseball Academy, the Eco-Lodge Suites, the upcoming “Building the Coconuts” YouTube reality docuseries, and future academies — a second Bohol location is already being planned for 2028. The founding team retains 60 percent.
Room and board are provided by Moore and his Filipina wife, Lerma. Partners will also earn revenue to fund their new island lifestyle — and, crucially, be introduced to what the club describes as “single, trustworthy Filipina ladies.”
For the right person — someone staring down another winter of heating bills, another year of a mortgage that feels like a ransom note, another Sunday evening dreading Monday morning — this is either the most insane thing they’ve ever heard or the sanest.
The Man Behind the Coconuts
Merv Moore doesn’t look like a visionary. He looks like the guy you’d find nursing a San Miguel at a beach bar, which is precisely the point. He’s already walked away from the script that tells men of a certain age to keep grinding until they drop. Now he’s building something that makes the grind look like a mug’s game.
Alongside Lerma, Moore operates Move2Bohol and the Founders Club — platforms designed to help discontented Westerners navigate the relocation maze. But the Coconuts is his moonshot. An elite baseball academy built from scratch in the Philippine jungle, complete with a performance center slated for completion in December 2026.
A YouTube docuseries, “Building the Coconuts,” premiering next month, documenting every grueling, exhilarating step of the process. A target pipeline of 300 youth players at launch. A mission statement audacious enough to make you lean forward: develop the first native-born Filipino MLB superstar.
“We have 115 million people in this country, the highest social media engagement rate in the world, and a genuine love for American sports culture,” Moore explains. “The raw material is here. What’s been missing is the infrastructure, the coaching, the vision. That’s what we’re building.”
Why Bohol? Why Now?
The island itself makes a compelling argument. Bohol welcomed more than 1.4 million visitors in 2025, a figure that has climbed steadily as the province cements its reputation as the “Crown Jewel” of the Philippines’ 7,641 islands. UNESCO has designated it a Global Geopark. Foreign arrivals spiked 18 percent last year alone, with Americans consistently ranking among the top source markets.
But tourism statistics only tell part of the story. The deeper truth is economic. A comfortable lifestyle for a single person in Bohol can be achieved on a monthly budget of approximately $1,000 to $1,500 — covering rent, food, transportation, and entertainment. Rent for a decent apartment or house ranges from $300 to $500 per month. A tricycle ride costs under fifty cents.
Compare that to the average one-bedroom apartment in any major American or Europeancity. Compare it to the cost of a weekly grocery run in London or Berlin. Compare it to the quiet desperation of watching your paycheck evaporate before it lands.
“This isn’t about running away,” Moore insists. “It’s about running towards something. A life where you’re not just surviving between weekends. A life where Tuesday morning feels as good as Saturday afternoon.”
The Docuseries
“Building the Coconuts” premieres next month, and it promises something rare in the polished world of sports media: authenticity. This is not a show about established athletes in sterile facilities. This is a show about clearing jungle, pouring concrete, and convincing a nation of basketball fanatics that baseball is their future.
The docuseries will document what it actually takes to build an elite sports academy from the ground up in Southeast Asia — the setbacks, the small victories, the moments of doubt and revelation. For the four partners who join, they won’t just be watching. They’ll be in the frame, central characters in a narrative that could capture global attention.
The Life Beyond the Diamond
There is, of course, an elephant in the room — or perhaps a more charitable metaphor would be a welcome mat. The opportunity is explicitly framed for single men, and the pitch includes introductions to Filipina women described as trustworthy and marriage-minded. It’s the kind of detail that might make some readers uncomfortable and others, if they’re honest, lean in closer.
The Philippines has long been a destination for Western men seeking cross-cultural relationships. Bohol’s expat community is diverse and welcoming, comprising people from the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and beyond.
English is widely spoken. Cultural integration is genuinely achievable. For a single man who has found the dating landscape back home to be a source of exhaustion rather than joy, the proposition carries a certain logic.
But the club’s leadership is quick to frame this as just one dimension of a much larger life redesign. The Coconuts aren’t a dating service. They’re a business. A serious one.
The Catch
There’s always a catch. Here it is: this is not a passive investment. You cannot write a check from the comfort of your current living room and wait for dividends to roll in. You have to move. You have to show up. You have to put your hands on something real.
The roles — Club President, Vice-President, Sales Director, Marketing Director — are operational, not ceremonial. You’ll be shaping strategy, building culture, driving revenue, and growing the Coconuts footprint across Bohol and beyond.
Imagine waking up on an island and eating fresh fruit – mangos, bananas, pineapples, strawberries – daily. You’ll finish your 3-4 hour workday in time to enjoy the white sand beaches. You’ll be building something that belongs to you — not your boss, not your shareholders, not the algorithm that currently dictates your professional existence.
The Pitch
Moore’s email address is printed plainly at the bottom of the Move2Bohol website: merv.moore@bohol-coconuts.com. There’s no application form. No multi-stage interview process designed by a consulting firm. Just an inbox and a conversation waiting to happen.
“The right guys will feel it in their gut,” Moore says. “They’re the ones who’ve been scrolling Zillow listings in Costa Rica at 2 a.m. They’re the ones who sit in traffic and think, ‘There has to be more than this.’ They’re the ones who are ready to stop dreaming and start doing.”
The Founders Club — the community arm of the Move2Bohol ecosystem — is designed precisely for these people: those who have moved beyond vague curiosity and into real planning. It’s a place to stay inspired, keep learning, and continue exploring what a tropical move could mean for your future. For some, it starts as curiosity. For others, it becomes a plan.
Four spots. A 10 percent stake in a venture that includes a sports academy, a training facility, eco-lodge suites, a YouTube series, and a planned 2028 expansion. Room and board covered. Revenue to fund your life. An island that drew 1.4 million visitors last year and is just getting started.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably already the target audience. You’re probably already doing the math in your head. You’re probably already wondering what your Monday morning could look like if it involved palm trees instead of parking garages.
The only question left is whether you’ll send the email.
For more information about relocating to Bohol and joining the Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club, contact Merv Moore at merv.moore@bohol-coconuts.com or visit move2bohol.com.