Philippines

Republic of the Philippines Republika ng Pilipinas  (Filipino)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Maka-Diyos, Maka-Tao, Makakalikasan at Makabansa" "For God, People, Nature, and Country"
Anthem: Lupang Hinirang Chosen Land
Great Seal Dakilang Sagisag ng Pilipinas  (Filipino) Great Seal of the Philippines
Capital	Manila 14°35′N 120°58′E
Largest city	Quezon City 14°38′N 121°02′E
Official languages	Filipino English
Recognized regional languages	19 languages Aklanon Bikol Cebuano Chavacano Hiligaynon Ibanag Ilocano Ivatan Kapampangan Kinaray-a Maguindanao Maranao Pangasinan Sambal Surigaonon Tagalog Taūsug Waray Yakan>
National language	Filipino
Other recognized languages	Official and national sign language Filipino Sign Language Auxiliary languages Spanish Arabic
Ethnic groups (2015)	32.9% Visayan 29.5% Tagalog 10.1% Moro 10% Ilocano 5.8% Bicolano 2.8% Kapampangan 1.6% Igorot 1.5% Pangasinense 1.5% Chinese 3.3% others
Demonym(s)	Filipino (masculine or neutral) Filipina (feminine) Pinoy (colloquial masculine or neutral) Pinay (colloquial feminine) Philippine
Government	Unitary presidential constitutional republic
• President	Rodrigo Duterte
• Vice President	Leni Robredo
• Senate President	Vicente Sotto III
• House Speaker	Lord Allan Velasco
• Chief Justice	Alexander Gesmundo
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Formation of the republic
• Independence from Spain declared	June 12, 1898
• Treaty of Paris (1898) / Spanish cession	December 10, 1898
• Malolos Constitution / First Philippine Republic	January 21, 1899
• Tydings–McDuffie Act	March 24, 1934
• Commonwealth of the Philippines	May 14, 1935
• Treaty of Manila / Independence from United States	July 4, 1946
• Current constitution	February 2, 1987
Area
• Total	300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi) (72nd)
• Water (%)	0.61 (inland waters)
• Land	300,000
Population
• 2015 census	100,981,437 (13th)
• Density	336/km2 (870.2/sq mi) (47th)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$933.913 billion (27th)
• Per capita	$8,573 (115th)
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$367.362 billion (31st)
• Per capita	$3,484 (119th)
Gini (2015)	40.1 medium · 44th
HDI (2017)	0.699 medium · 113th
Currency	Peso (₱) (PHP)
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+8 (not observed)
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy dd-mm-yyyy (AD)
Mains electricity	220V - 60Hz
Driving side	right
Calling code	+63
ISO 3166 code	PH
Internet TLD	.ph
Website National Government Portal Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
^ While Manila is designated as the nation's capital, the seat of government is the National Capital Region, commonly known as "Metro Manila", of which the city of Manila is a part. Many national government institutions aside from Malacañang Palace and some agencies/institutions are located within the NCR. ^ Since March 10, 1945

The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia in the Pacific Ocean. It has 7,641 islands. Spain (1521-1898) and the United States (1898-1946), colonized (controlled) the country and Palau, which is on the eastern side of the Philippine Sea. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila.

The Philippines and East Timor are the only nations in East Asia where most people are Christians. The Philippines achieved independence after the United States left in 1946.

The Philippine Islands are surrounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the west by the South China Sea, and on the south by the Celebes Sea. Borneo island is a few hundred kilometers to the southwest, Vietnam is to the west, and Taiwan is directly north.

Politics

The government of the Philippines, is similar to the Government of the United States of America. The President of the Philippines works as the head of state, the head of government, and the commander in chief of the Military of the Philippines and the armed forces. The president is elected by voting just as in America except by popular vote as there is no electoral voting. He stays as the president for 6 years. He is the leader of the cabinet.

The bicameral Philippine legislature, the Congress of the Philippines, consists of the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives of the Philippines; members of both are elected by popular vote. There are 24 senators serving 6 years in the Senate while the House of Representatives consists of no more than 250 congressmen each serving 3-year terms.

The judiciary branch of the government is headed by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which has a Chief Justice as its head and 14 Associate Justices, all appointed by the president.

The Philippines is a founding and prominent member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is also an active participant of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a member of the Group of 24 and one of the 51 founding members of the United Nations on October 24, 1945.

Regions and States

Local Government. The parts of Philippines are "local government units" (LGUs). The province is the top unit. There are 81 provinces in the country (2015). In the provinces there are cities and municipalities (towns). In these municipalities there are smaller barangays (villages). The barangay is the smallest local government unit.

All provinces are in 17 regions for administration (organisation). Most government offices have regional offices for the provinces. The regions do not have a separate local government, except for the Muslim Mindanao and Cordillera regions, which have their own power (autonomous government).

Regions

Region	Designation	Regional center
Ilocos Region	Region I	San Fernando, La Union
Cagayan Valley	Region II	Tuguegarao, Cagayan
Central Luzon	Region III	San Fernando, Pampanga
CALABARZON ¹	Region IV-A	Laguna, Quezon
MIMAROPA ¹	Region IV-B	Calapan, Oriental Mindoro
Bicol Region	Region V	Legazpi, Albay
Western Visayas	Region VI	Iloilo City
Central Visayas	Region VII	Cebu City
Eastern Visayas	Region VIII	Tacloban
Zamboanga Peninsula	Region IX	Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur
Northern Mindanao	Region X	Cagayan de Oro
Davao Region	Region XI	Davao City
SOCCSKSARGEN ¹	Region XII	Koronadal, South Cotabato
Caraga	Region XIII	Butuan
Bangsamoro	BARMM	Cotabato City
Cordillera Administrative Region	CAR	Baguio
National Capital Region	NCR	Manila

¹ Names are capitalized because they are acronyms, containing the names of the constituent provinces or cities.

Geography

The Philippines has 7,701 islands. Together there are about 300,000 square kilometers of land. The islands are in three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest island and Mindanao is the second largest. The Visayas are the group of islands in the central part of the Philippines. The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the country's capital and it is the second-largest city after Quezon City. Cebu City and Davao City are the largest cities in Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.

The climate is hot, humid (there is a lot of water in the air), and tropical. The average temperature all year is around 26.5 °Celsius. Filipinos usually say there are three seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Tag-lamig (the cold season from December to February).

The Philippines is in the Pacific Ring of Fire (zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Most of the mountainous islands had a lot of tropical rainforests a long time ago. They started as volcanoes. The highest place is Mount Apo on Mindanao at 2,954 m. Many volcanoes in the country, for example Mount Mayon, are active. The country also has about 19 typhoons per year.

Taal Volcano is an island in Taal Lake. It is in an ancient caldera in Batangas Province. It is about 2 hours by bus going south from Manila. The jump-off point in Talisay is suitable for day trips and overnighters.

Problems

There are many environmental problems in the Philippines. One of them is overfishing in many areas, which lead to pitiful catches. Another problem is that only ten percent of sewage is treated and cleaned, while the other 90% is dumped back to nature and the ocean, which leads to pollution. Deforestation is a serious problem, and after decades of cutting down forests, illegal logging and forest fires, there is only 3% left of original forest cover. Forest losses have also affected the Philippines with serious soil erosion, which is threatening the Philippines biodiversity.

Economy

The Philippines is a developing country. In 1998 the Philippine economy — a mixture of agriculture, light industry, and support services — deteriorated because of the effects of the Asian financial crisis and poor weather conditions. The economy's growth fell to 0.6% in 1998 from 5% in 1997, but recovered to about 3% in 1999 and 4% in 2000. As of 2012, it's estimated at 6.6%.

The government has promised to continue its economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly industrialized countries of Southeast Asia. The strategies are improving infrastructure, fixing the tax system to help the government income, supporting deregulation (to remove government control) and privatization of the economy, and increasing trade within the region. Future prospects depend heavily on the economic performance of the three major trading partners, China, the United States and Japan.

People

Around 109,6 million people live in the Philippines as of 2020. Most people in the Philippines are of Austronesian stock. The ethnic Chinese, who have helped run businesses since the 9th century, also live in the country. Its now 105 million people there. The Negritos live in the mountains of Luzon and Visayas. Luzon has a lot of mestizo people, a Spanish term for someone of mixed Hispanic and native blood.

The people of the Philippines are known as Filipinos. Filipinos are divided into many groups, the three largest are the Tagalogs, Cebuanos, and the Ilocanos. When the Philippines was a colony, the term "Filipino" used to mean the Spanish and Spanish-mixed minority. But now everyone who is a citizen/national of the Philippines is called "Filipino". Even then, it is still has the most diverse ethnic groups in Asia, the other being Indonesia. People also call Filipinos "Pinoy" for short.

Languages

Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is based largely on Tagalog, a native language spoken in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. The Filipino language, is a cousin of the Malay language. Other local languages and dialects are Cebuano and Ilocano and many others. English is used in government, schools and business. Other languages are Chinese which is spoken by the ethnic Chinese population and the Chinese-Filipinos. Most of the Muslims living deep in southern Mindanao and the smaller islands off of the southern Philippine mainland near Malaysia's northeastern tip. They also speak Arabic as a second language but to a very small extent. Spanish, once the official language of the Philippines in the 1970s is also spoken by a notable minority of Filipinos.

Culture

Before the Spanish arrived, the Filipinos did not think of themselves as one culture. Most of the Philippines were Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu. The Spaniards came in 1565, and brought with them Spanish culture. They soon spread to the islands making forts and schools, preaching Christianity, and converting most of the native people to the Catholic religion. When the United States colonized the islands in 1898, the Americans brought with them their own culture, which has the strongest influence up to now. This makes the Philippines the most Westernized country in eastern Asia. The Spanish culture in the Philippines though, is not directly from Spain but from Mexico, since the Philippines was ruled by Spain, through Mexico. It was governed from Mexico City which explains much of the Spanish influence in the Philippines that one could only find in Mexico and not in Spain. Also, the Spanish that was spoken in the Philippines was Mexican Spanish, not European Spanish. A lot of the foods in the Philippines can also be found in Mexico. Filipinos, as a tradition, usually eat with hands, like that of Malay tradition. And most of Filipino cuisine is also of Malay influence for the most part.

Each year major festivities called barrio fiestas are held. They commemorate the Patron saints of the towns, villages and regional districts. The festivities includes church services, street parades, fireworks displays, feasts, dance/music contests, and cockfights. Circumcision of males is a tradition and a big cultureal event, nearly 91,7% are circumcised.

Religion

Most of the people in the Philippines are Christians. About 92% of the people are Christians. Most people in the Philippines belong to the Roman Catholic faith (70%). A sizable percentage of the people are Protestants (many diverse Christian denominations) (17%), Iglesia ni Cristo (2%), Muslims (5-10%), Buddhists (2%). There are also some Hindus and some other minor religions with fewer adherents (6.6%).

Further reading

• Philippines on English Wikipedia

See also

• List of rivers of the Philippines
• Philippines at the Olympics
• Philippines national football team

References

• Open Directory Project Archived 2004-08-19 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Government Portal
• Office of the President Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Senate of the Philippines
• House of Representatives Archived 2020-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Supreme Court of the Philippines Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine