Looking for a safe, clean, quiet place to own (or lease) a small house and grow my own vegetables in a nice neat garden until I’m too old and frail to plant and pick them.
If you ever do move to the Philippines (PI), you would probably want to settle in AlexW's neck of the woods (Cebu/Visayas region of the PI), at least for your first PI home. You should probably live in an area that has a significant amount of American expats/retirees, until you get the lay of the land, etc., before you branch off by yourself, especially if you have never been to the PI before.
Offhand, there are a lot of American expats (both military retired and others) in the Cebu area as well as in the areas of the former U.S. Base Areas on Luzon, Olongapo (former Subic Bay naval base) and Angeles City (former Clark Air Force Base).
But first things first, if you get super, super serious about wanting to retire in the PI, you should make an exploratory trip to the PI first, for a few weeks to a couple of month duration if you can swing it. By being there for say a month or two, you can figure out whether the PI is right for you or not without you having to make any big financial/logistical (household goods) committments. If you don't like it there, you can just pack up your clothes and easily head back to the USA.
Also, if you personally know any expats living over there right now and have stayed in touch with them, you might want to have them sort of be your unofficial 'sponsor' or 'seadaddy' on your exploratory trip. They can meet you in Manila, Cebu or anywhere else you arrive at and help you get set up for your stay and help you get a feel for the place.
Or if you know someone who lives in the USA, but also travels to the Philippines frequently, then you can go with them on one of their next PI trips as well and check the place out for yourself to see if you can picture yourself living there full time or not.
I would advise you not go there by yourself without at least having someone dependable meeting you at the airport, especially if you have never been to the PI before.
Post number 11 of this thread has some good links you should check out and I will post one below as well from the Retired Activities Office (RAO), Subic Bay Philippines, a DOD entity that provides assistance to U.S. Military Retirees and their dependents residing in the Subic Bay area. The link is called "Thinking of Moving Here":
http://www.raosubic.com/movinghere.html
I was stationed in the PI ('Station Dito') for a good part of my time in the U.S. Navy in the late 1980's and still keep an eye on things going on there, especially concerning the areas around the former U.S. Military bases there. I may well return there one day as well, maybe even retire there, but that is still a couple of decades away at least :-(.