Mabuhay!

Welcome to the Philippines!

Geography

Scattered in a stretch of a thousand miles in the far east, from Taiwan in the north to Borneo in the south, are thousands of islands known as the Pearl of the Orient --- The Philippine Islands. The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands, of which only about 3,000 are big enough to have names. Eleven (11) islands comprise more than 95% of the total land area, namely: luzon, mindanao, samar, negros, palawan, panay, mindoro, leyte, cebu, bohol and masbate.

The total land area is 115,600 square miles or 300,439 square kilometers, just about the size of the British Isles.

As an island nation, the Philippines has the longest coastline in the world, totaling 10,850 miles (17,360 kilometers). With its myriad bays and gulfs, the whole coastline is longer than that of the United States. There are lovely coves and excellent natural harbors. Thus it’s a virtual paradise for the people who enjoy beaches and the sea. It is also a popular destination for those who love scuba diving, snorkeling and lovers of all water sports.

Mountains ridge the islands and there are countless rivers and lakes in the vales between the ranges.

History

Little is known about early Philippine society. It is generally believed that the barangay (named after balangay, the boats used by Malays to reach the Philippine seas) culture evolved before the first traders visited these shores.

On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor whose expedition was funded by the King Carlos of Spain, landed in the shores of Limasawa Island. He died fighting Datu Lapu-lapu. Nevertheless, the Spaniards established a colony in Manila in 1571. The country was named Felipinas after King Philip II of Spain.

Spain's dominion over the Philippine Islands lasted for 330 years. The Filipinos revolted against Spain and gained independence on June 12, 1898. this, however was illusory for soon after was the outbreak of the Spanish-American war which the Americans won. According to the terms of the Treaty of Pris in 1899, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for 20 million dollars.

The start of the American Occupation begun. At the outbreak of world war II, Filipinos and Americans fought side by side as brothers against the Japanese. In 1945, 3 years after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, American forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur liberated the Philippine Islands.

The Philippine independence from the United States was achieved on July 4, 1946.

There followed a period in which democracy and the rule of law took hold of the Philippines. But the rights and freedom guaranteed in the constitution suffered a major setback when President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972.

On August 21, 1983, opposition leader Ninoy Aquino was murdered upon his return to the Philippines. His death spurred the populist EDSA revolution of February 1986, which restored democracy by toppling the Marcos dictatorship. Aquino's widow, corazon C. Aquino, became the first woman president and head of state in a southeast asian country.

Today the Philippines stands proud and independent in the community of nations.

Ethnic Composition

The majority of Filipinos belong to the Malay race. The Malay Filipino is of medium height and has a brown complexion, dark hair, a flat nose, round black eyes and low cheekbones. But due to intermarriage with Chinese and Indian traders before the Spaniards came, and through intermarriage with European and American colonizers afterwards, many Filipinos living in urban centers have acquired Eurasian features.

The Filipino-Chinese community controls much of the country's banking, commerce and the retain import-export industries of the country. Due to centuries-old contact with the Chinese, before and during Spanish colonial times, the average Malay Filipino could easily have one or two Chinese ancestors in his family tree.

Historically, there has been little or no ethnic or racial discrimination in the Philippines. But there is some form of class discrimination along financuial lines and economic lines in a country where only a few hundred families control mostly all the business and wealth.

The People

The Population of the Philippines is about 60 million. Its labor force of about 23 million expanding by nearly a million a year. Due to a poor economy, only half of the nation's potential workforce is totally or partially employed. Today, about 70% of the Filipinos live below the poverty line.

Despite the poor economy, educational standards are high. Most middle-class Filipino families give a high priority to education and will pool all their resources to send their children to college. About 90% of the population is literate---a very high figure compared to other Asian countries.

Natural Resources

The Filipinos are basically an agricultural people. About 80 percent of them live by farming. The greatest crop is rice, the people’s staple food.

Practically all minerals known to man are found in the Philippines. Mining is one of the ancient industries of the Filipinos. It was flourishing even before the Europeans first came to the Far East. More gold is produced than in any other country in South East Asia.

No other archipelago in the world contains such plant wealth as does the Philippines. According to botanists, there are ten thousand species of ferns and flowering plants in the country and the Philippines has the richest collection of orchids in the world, reaching nearly one thousand species. Many Philippine orchids are extremely rare and are never found in other countries. Of all the orchids, the waling-waling (Vanda sanderiana) in loveliness and grace.

The Philippines teem with an abundance of animal life. There are 750 species of birds in the archipelago, more than the number in Australia, China, Japan, Indonesia or Hawaii. The insect population is vast, with some 25,000 species. Of special interest to scientists are 3 Philippine animals---the mouse deer (the smallest deer known), the tarsier (the smallest monkey in the world) and the tamaraw (a unique animal that looks like a dwarf buffalo and is only found in the islands).

Everywhere one looks in the islands, there are breath-taking vistas: towering mountains; mist-capped volcanoes canopied by azure skies; rolling valleys carpeted with coconut groves; or fields of rice, sugar cane, tobacco; meandering rivers bordered by swaying bamboos and lowering plants; foaming waterfalls; sparkling lakes, sandy beachesawash with the eternal surge of the tides; and the sapphire seas dancing to the rhythm of the oriental breeze.>

Language

The official languages are English and Pilipino.There are more than 200 Philippine languages/dialects, of which 13 are considered major language groups. The most widely used are Tagalog, spoken in Metro Manila and in large areas of Luzon. It is also the dialect used as a basis for Pilipino, the national language. Cebuano is the 2nd most popular dialect, widely used in western Visayas and Mindanao regions.

Links

Tinikalang Ginto Philippine web directory
Make It Cebu! a webpage on Cebu, my home province
Surfing Cebu another Cebu site
The Philippine Star a national newspaper
The Philippine Daily Inquirer another national paper