An Introduction To The Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines, an island nation located in the Malay archipelago in
Southeast Asia, comprising of 7,107 islands, collectively known as Philippine
Archipelago, has a total area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers to it's credit. The
country, named "Las Islas Felipinas" after King Philip II of Spain, fell prey to Spanish
colonialism in 1565. The colonial rule lasted for three long centuries and ended after
Philippine Revolution of 1896. But independence, the most prized political ambition
of modern times, was not forthcoming for it yet. It was ceded to the US in 1898 in
the wake of the Spanish-American War, and it was only in 1946 that they saw the run
of independence rise after Japanese occupation in World War II. However, it was as
late as in 1992 that the US finally closed its last military bases on the islands and
left the Philippine soil for good. Manila is now the capital of Philippines.
The people of the Philippines are supposed to be the direct descendants of the
Austronesian-speaking peoples. Still, some of the Filipinos are of mixed descent from
the intermarriages with other nationalities like the Chines and the Spanish. They are,
therefore, known as mestizos. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and
English, along with Tagalog, is the official language.
The Philippines is a presidential-unitary republic with the President at the apex, as the
head of state, the head of government, and the commander-in-chief of the armed
forces. He is elected by popular vote, every 6 years. During his term in the office, he
or she appoints and presides over the cabinet of secretaries.
The bicameral Congress is the primary legislative body comprising the Senate and the
House of Representatives. There are 24 senators in all, who serve a 6-year term each
with the half retiring every three years. The House of Representatives houses 250
members with a 3-year term each.
The judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court, presided over by the Chief Justice as
its head and 14 associate justices. All the appointments are made by the President
from the nominations submitted by the Judiciary itself and the Bar Council. Besides,
the Supreme Court, other courts include the Court of Appeals, the Regional Trial
Courts and the Metropolitan Trial Courts.
The economy of the Philippines is largely agricultural with light industry and servicesector economy lending a helping hand. In the recent past the Philippines has
emerged as one of the most happening places for Business Process Outsourcing
(BPO) in Asia, and houses numerous call centers. The advent of what might be called
'BPO revolution' has given immense impetus to the Philippine market generating a
great number of jobs and business opportunities.
The Philippine economy has shown a great degree of resilience, which is generally
attributed to low foreign inflows and the fact that Philippines' is a largely agriculturebased economy. Economic set backs could not throw the Philippine economy out of

gear when it struck the nation in 1999. The growth rate came down to 3 percent in
1999 but rose remarkably to 4 percent in 2000, and by 2004 the Philippine had
registered an admirable 6 percent growth recovering from the East Asian financial
crisis of the late 1990s.
Government policies are carefully designed to assist and promote industrial
development. The Philippine middle class, being essential to economic prosperity, is
taken special care of. Strategies for streamlining the economy include improvements
of infrastructure, more efficient tax systems, furthering deregulation and privatization
of the economy. As of 2006, The US and Japan are Philippines' biggest trading
partners, which means that the country's economic prosperity also depends upon the
economic performance of these nations.

Philippine History
Early History -The Negritos are believed to have migrated to the Philippines some
30,000 years ago from Borneo, Sumatra, and Malaya. The Malayans followed in
successive waves. These people belonged to a primitive epoch of Malayan culture,
which has apparently survived to this day among certain groups such as the Igorots.
The Malayan tribes that came later had more highly developed material cultures.
In the 14th cent. Arab traders from Malay and Borneo introduced Islam into the
southern islands and extended their influence as far north as Luzon. The first
Europeans to visit (1521) the Philippines were those in the Spanish expedition
around the world led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Other Spanish
expeditions followed, including one from New Spain
(Mexico) under Lpez de Villalobos, who in 1542
named the islands for the infante Philip, later Philip II.

Spanish Control - The conquest of the Filipinos by Spain did not begin in earnest until
1564, when another expedition from New Spain, commanded by Miguel Lpez de
Legaspi, arrived. Spanish leadership was soon established over many small
independent communities that previously had known no central rule. By 1571, when
Lpez de Legaspi established the Spanish city of Manila on the site of a Moro town
he had conquered the year before, the Spanish foothold in the Philippines was
secure, despite the opposition of the Portuguese, who were eager to maintain their
monopoly on the trade of East Asia.

Manila repulsed the attack of the Chinese pirate Limahong in 1574. For centuries
before the Spanish arrived the Chinese had traded with the Filipinos, but evidently
none had settled permanently in the islands until after the conquest. Chinese trade
and labor were of great importance in the early development of the Spanish colony,
but the Chinese came to be feared and hated because of their increasing numbers,
and in 1603 the Spanish murdered thousands of them (later, there were lesser
massacres of the Chinese).
The Spanish governor, made a viceroy in 1589, ruled with the advice of the powerful
royal audiencia. There were frequent uprisings by the Filipinos, who resented the
encomienda system. By the end of the 16th cent. Manila had become a leading
commercial center of East Asia, carrying on a flourishing trade with China, India, and
the East Indies. The Philippines supplied some wealth (including gold) to Spain, and
the richly laden galleons plying between the islands and New Spain were often
attacked by English freebooters. There was also trouble from other quarters, and the
period from 1600 to 1663 was marked by continual wars with the Dutch, who were
laying the foundations of their rich empire in the East Indies, and with Moro pirates.
One of the most difficult problems the Spanish faced was the subjugation of the
Moros. Intermittent campaigns were conducted against them but without conclusive
results until the middle of the 19th cent. As the power of the Spanish Empire waned,
the Jesuit orders became more influential in the Philippines and acquired great
amounts of property.

Revolution, War, and U.S. Control - It was the opposition to the power of the clergy
that in large measure brought about the rising sentiment for independence. Spanish
injustices, bigotry, and economic oppressions fed the movement, which was greatly
inspired by the brilliant writings of Jos Rizal. In 1896 revolution began in the
province of Cavite, and after the execution of Rizal that December, it spread
throughout the major islands. The Filipino leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, achieved
considerable success before a peace was patched up with Spain. The peace was
short-lived, however, for neither
side honored its agreements, and
a new revolution was brewing
when the Spanish-American War
broke out in 1898.
After the U.S. naval victory in
Manila Bay on May 1, 1898,
Commodore George Dewey
supplied Aguinaldo with arms and urged him to rally the Filipinos against the Spanish.
By the time U.S. land forces had arrived, the Filipinos had taken the entire island of
Luzon, except for the old walled city of Manila, which they were besieging. The
Filipinos had also declared their independence and established a republic under the
first democratic constitution ever known in Asia. Their dreams of independence were

crushed when the Philippines were transferred from Spain to the United States in the
Treaty of Paris (1898), which closed the Spanish-American War.
In Feb., 1899, Aguinaldo led a new revolt, this time against U.S. rule. Defeated on
the battlefield, the Filipinos turned to guerrilla warfare, and their subjugation became
a mammoth project for the United Statesone that cost far more money and took far
more lives than the Spanish-American War. The insurrection was effectively ended
with the capture (1901) of Aguinaldo by Gen. Frederick Funston, but the question of
Philippine independence remained a burning issue in the politics of both the United
States and the islands. The matter was complicated by the growing economic ties
between the two countries. Although comparatively little American capital was
invested in island industries, U.S. trade bulked larger and larger until the Philippines
became almost entirely dependent upon the American market. Free trade,
established by an act of 1909, was expanded in 1913.
When the Democrats came into power in 1913, measures were taken to effect a
smooth transition to self-rule. The Philippine assembly already had a popularly
elected lower house, and the Jones Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1916,
provided for a popularly elected upper house as well, with power to approve all
appointments made by the governor-general. It also gave the islands their first
definite pledge of independence, although no specific date was set.
When the Republicans regained power in 1921, the trend toward bringing Filipinos
into the government was reversed. Gen. Leonard Wood, who was appointed governorgeneral, largely supplanted Filipino activities with a semimilitary rule. However, the
advent of the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s and the first
aggressive moves by Japan in Asia (1931) shifted U.S. sentiment sharply toward the
granting of immediate independence to the Philippines.

The Commonwealth - The Hare-Hawes Cutting Act, passed by Congress in 1932,

provided for complete independence of the islands in 1945 after 10 years of selfgovernment under U.S. supervision. The bill had been drawn up with the aid of a
commission from the Philippines, but Manuel L. Quezon, the leader of the dominant
Nationalist party, opposed it, partially because of its threat of American tariffs against
Philippine products but principally because of the provisions leaving naval bases in
U.S. hands. Under his influence, the Philippine legislature rejected the bill. The
Tydings-McDuffie Independence Act (1934) closely resembled the Hare-Hawes Cutting
Act, but struck the provisions for American bases and carried a promise of further
study to correct imperfections or inequalities.
The Philippine legislature ratified the bill; a constitution, approved by President
Roosevelt (Mar., 1935) was accepted by the Philippine people in a plebiscite (May);
and Quezon was elected the first president (Sept.). When Quezon was inaugurated on
Nov. 15, 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was formally established.
Quezon was reelected in Nov., 1941. To develop defensive forces against possible

aggression, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was brought to the islands as military adviser in
1935, and the following year he became field marshal of the Commonwealth army.

World War II - War came suddenly to the Philippines on Dec. 8 (Dec. 7, U.S. time),
1941, when Japan attacked without warning. Japanese troops invaded the islands in
many places and launched a pincer drive on Manila. MacArthurs scattered defending
forces (about 80,000 troops, four fifths of them Filipinos) were forced to withdraw to
Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island, where they entrenched and tried to hold until
the arrival of reinforcements, meanwhile guarding the entrance to Manila Bay and
denying that important harbor to the Japanese. But no reinforcements were
forthcoming. The Japanese occupied Manila on Jan. 2, 1942. MacArthur was ordered
out by President Roosevelt and left for Australia on Mar. 11; Lt. Gen. Jonathan
Wainwright assumed command.
The besieged U.S.-Filipino army on Bataan finally crumbled on Apr. 9, 1942.
Wainwright fought on from Corregidor with a garrison of about 11,000 men; he was
overwhelmed on May 6, 1942. After his capitulation, the Japanese forced the
surrender of all remaining defending units in the islands by threatening to use the
captured Bataan and Corregidor troops as hostages. Many individual soldiers refused
to surrender, however, and guerrilla resistance, organized and coordinated by U.S.
and Philippine army officers, continued throughout the Japanese occupation.
Japans efforts to win Filipino loyalty found expression in the establishment (Oct. 14,
1943) of a Philippine Republic, with Jos P. Laurel, former supreme court justice, as
president. But the people suffered greatly from Japanese brutality, and the puppet
government gained little support. Meanwhile, President Quezon, who had escaped
with other high officials before the country fell, set up a government-in-exile in
Washington. When he died (Aug., 1944), Vice President Sergio Osmea became
president. Osmea returned to the Philippines with the first liberation forces, which
surprised the Japanese by landing (Oct. 20, 1944) at Leyte, in the heart of the
islands, after months of U.S. air strikes against
Mindanao. The Philippine government was established
at Tacloban, Leyte, on Oct. 23.
The landing was followed (Oct. 2326) by the greatest
naval engagement in history, called variously the battle
of Leyte Gulf and the second battle of the Philippine
Sea. A great U.S. victory, it effectively destroyed the
Japanese fleet and opened the way for the recovery of
all the islands. Luzon was invaded (Jan., 1945), and
Manila was taken in February. On July 5, 1945, MacArthur announced All the
Philippines are now liberated. The Japanese had suffered over 425,000 dead in the
Philippines.

The Philippine congress met on June 9, 1945, for the first time since its election in
1941. It faced enormous problems. The land was devastated by war, the economy
destroyed, the country torn by political warfare and guerrilla violence. Osmeas
leadership was challenged (Jan., 1946) when one wing (now the Liberal party) of the
Nationalist party nominated for president Manuel Roxas, who defeated Osmea in
April.

The Republic of the Philippines - Manuel Roxas became the first president of the
Republic of the Philippines when independence was granted, as scheduled, on July 4,
1946. In Mar., 1947, the Philippines and the United States signed a military
assistance pact (since renewed) and the Philippines gave the United States a 99-year
lease on designated military, naval, and air bases (a later agreement reduced the
period to 25 years beginning 1967). The sudden death of President Roxas in Apr.,
1948, elevated the vice president, Elpidio Quirino, to the presidency, and in a bitterly
contested election in Nov., 1949, Quirino defeated Jos Laurel to win a four-year
term of his own.
The enormous task of reconstructing the war-torn country was complicated by the
activities in central Luzon of the Communist-dominated Hukbalahap guerrillas (Huks),
who resorted to terror and violence in their efforts to achieve land reform and gain
political power. They were finally brought under control (1954) after a vigorous attack
launched by the minister of national defense, Ramn Magsaysay. By that time
Magsaysay was president of the country, having defeated Quirino in Nov., 1953. He
had promised sweeping economic changes, and he did make progress in land reform,
opening new settlements outside crowded Luzon island. His death in an airplane
crash in Mar., 1957, was a serious blow to national morale. Vice President Carlos P.
Garca succeeded him and won a full term as president in the elections of Nov.,
1957.
In foreign affairs, the Philippines maintained a firm anti-Communist policy and joined
the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in 1954. There were difficulties with the
United States over American military installations in the islands, and, despite formal
recognition (1956) of full Philippine sovereignty over these bases, tensions increased
until some of the bases were dismantled (1959) and the 99-year lease period was
reduced. The United States rejected Philippine financial claims and proposed trade
revisions.
Philippine opposition to Garca on issues of government corruption and antiAmericanism led, in June, 1959, to the union of the Liberal and Progressive parties,
led by Vice President Diosdado Macapagal, the Liberal party leader, who succeeded
Garca as president in the 1961 elections. Macapagals administration was marked
by efforts to combat the mounting inflation that had plagued the republic since its
birth; by attempted alliances with neighboring countries; and by a territorial dispute
with Britain over North Borneo (later Sabah), which Macapagal claimed had been
leased and not sold to the British North Borneo Company in 1878.

Marcos and After - Ferdinand E. Marcos, who succeeded to the presidency after
defeating Macapagal in the 1965 elections, inherited the territorial dispute over
Sabah; in 1968 he approved a congressional bill annexing Sabah to the Philippines.
Malaysia suspended diplomatic relations (Sabah had joined the Federation of
Malaysia in 1963), and the matter was referred to the United Nations. (The
Philippines dropped its claim to Sabah in 1978.) The Philippines became one of the
founding countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967.
The continuing need for land reform fostered a new Huk uprising in central Luzon,
accompanied by mounting assassinations and acts of terror, and in 1969, Marcos
began a major military campaign to subdue them. Civil war also threatened on
Mindanao, where groups of Moros opposed Christian settlement. In Nov., 1969,
Marcos won an unprecedented reelection, easily defeating Sergio Osmea, Jr., but
the election was accompanied by violence and charges of fraud, and Marcoss
second term began with increasing civil disorder.
In Jan., 1970, some 2,000 demonstrators tried to storm Malacaang Palace, the
presidential residence; riots erupted against the U.S. embassy. When Pope Paul VI
visited Manila in Nov., 1970, an attempt was made on his life. In 1971, at a Liberal
party rally, hand grenades were thrown at the speakers platform, and several people
were killed. President Marcos declared martial law in Sept., 1972, charging that a
Communist rebellion threatened. The 1935 constitution was replaced (1973) by a
new one that provided the president with direct powers. A plebiscite (July, 1973) gave
Marcos the right to remain in office beyond the expiration (Dec., 1973) of his term.
Meanwhile the fighting on Mindanao had spread to the Sulu Archipelago. By 1973
some 3,000 people had been killed and hundreds of villages burned. Throughout the
1970s poverty and governmental corruption
increased, and Imelda Marcos, Ferdinands
wife, became more influential.
Martial law remained in force until 1981,
when Marcos was reelected, amid
accusations of electoral fraud. On Aug. 21,
1983, opposition leader Benigno Aquino was
assassinated at Manila airport, which incited
a new, more powerful wave of anti-Marcos
dissent. After the Feb., 1986, presidential election, both Marcos and his opponent,
Corazon Aquino (the widow of Benigno), declared themselves the winner, and charges
of massive fraud and violence were leveled against the Marcos faction. Marcoss
domestic and international support eroded, and he fled the country on Feb. 25,
1986, eventually obtaining asylum in the United States.
Aquinos government faced mounting problems, including coup attempts, significant
economic difficulties, and pressure to rid the Philippines of the U.S. military presence
(the last U.S. bases were evacuated in 1992). In 1990, in response to the demands
of the Moros, a partially autonomous Muslim region was created in the far south. In

1992, Aquino declined to run for reelection and was succeeded by her former army
chief of staff Fidel Ramos. He immediately launched an economic revitalization plan
premised on three policies: government deregulation, increased private investment,
and political solutions to the continuing insurgencies within the country. His political
program was somewhat successful, opening dialogues with the Marxist and Muslim
guerillas. However, Muslim discontent with partial rule persisted, and unrest and
violence continued throughout the 1990s. In 1999, Marxist rebels and Muslim
separatists formed an alliance to fight the government.
Several natural disasters, including the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on Luzon and
a succession of severe typhoons, slowed the countrys economic progress. However,
the Philippines escaped much of the economic turmoil seen in other East Asian
nations in 1997 and 1998, in part by following a slower pace of development
imposed by the International Monetary Fund. Joseph Marcelo Estrada, a former movie
actor, was elected president in 1998, pledging to help the poor and develop the
countrys agricultural sector. In 1999 he announced plans to amend the constitution
in order to remove protectionist provisions and attract more foreign investment.
Late in 2000, Estradas presidency was buffeted by charges that he accepted
millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling operations. Although his support
among the poor Filipino majority remained strong, many political, business, and
church leaders called for him to resign. In Nov., 2000, Estrada was impeached by the
house of representatives on charges of graft, but the senate, controlled by Estradas
allies, provoked a crisis (Jan., 2001) when it rejected examining the presidents bank
records. As demonstrations against Estrada mounted and members of his cabinet
resigned, the supreme court stripped him of the presidency, and Vice President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as Estradas successor.
Macapagal-Arroyo was elected president in her own right in May, 2004, but the
balloting was marred by violence and irregularities as well as a tedious vote-counting
process that was completed six weeks after the election.
Source: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.

34 Interesting Facts About The Philippines

April 25, 2013 2:42 pm Leave a Comment Alex Cardo

Facts about the Philippines: The Golden Field. Photo by Dacel Andes
Interesting Facts About The Philippines
Facts about the Philippines

1. The Philippines ranks 12th among the most populous countries in the world, the
population of this country is about 90 million people.

Interesting Facts about the Philippines: Mayon Volcano, Philippines. Photo by Dacel
Andes
2. The Philippines has more than 200 volcanoes, although only some of them are
active.
3. The flag of the Philippines the only flag in the world, where colors can be
reversed: in wartime, the upper band is red, the bottom of the blue, and in times of
peace on the contrary.

Interesting facts about the Philippines: Tabon Cave Complex

4. In the Philippine cave complex Tabone (Tabon Cave Complex) were found fossils of
Homo sapiens. According to studies, this area was inhabited by about fifty thousand
years ago.

Interesting facts about the Philippines: As part of the Banaue Rice Terraces of the
Philippines Cordilleras, the Batad rice terraces are thus also a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Known as the Eighth Wonder of the World by the Philippines, they are
one of the most well-known attractions of northern Philippines. Photo by Paul
Cagayan
5. There are Rice Terraces on the slopes of the Philippine Cordilleras, whose history
is two thousand years old. They are considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
6. The first European who visit the Philippines is a Portuguese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan.

Interesting facts about the Philippines: A remnant of what once a proud mangrove

tree served as a foreground to the glorious vista of the majestic Mount Apo, the
highest peak on the Island of the Philippines. Photo by Hector Quiambao
7. The highest point in the Philippines Mount Apo, located on the Mindanao island,
it reaches a height of 2,954 meters.
8. About 80% of the total population are Catholics.
9. Filipinos have a different ethnic background, such as Malay, Chinese, Spanish,
American, etc.
10. The country got its name in honor of the Spanish King Philip II.
11. The capital city of the Philippines Manila is named in honor of a mangrove tree
with white flowers (nilad).
12. In the period from 1521 to 1898 years, the Philippines was a Spanish colony.
After, the archipelago became the property of the United States.
13. The Philippines was the first country in South-East Asia, which gained
independence after the Second World War, in 1946.
14. The Philippine area covers about 300,000 square kilometers, which corresponds
approximately to the area of Italy.
15. Filipinos are the worlds largest network of diasporas, which covers more than 11
million people.
16. There are the worlds deepest ocean trenches, at the bottom of the Pacific
Ocean. Mindanao Trench, which is near the Philippines, reaches a depth of six and a
half miles.
17. Philippines are considered the text capital of the world. Every day, 35 million
mobile subscribers in the country are sending about 450 million short text messages
(SMS). This is more than the total number of daily text messages sent in the United
States and Europe together.
18. Despite the fact that the land area of the Philippines is about 1/30th of the U.S.
Area, the coastline of the Philippines extends for 36,289 kilometers, while in the U.S.
Only 19,924 kilometers.
19. Despite popular belief, karaoke was invented in the Philippines, but not in Japan.
Karaoke invented by Roberto Del Rosario, calling it Sing along with the system. And
the name karaoke came later, translated from the Japanese it means singing
without accompaniment.
20. The most rare and expensive shell in the world Conus Gloriamaris one of the

12,000 species of seashells found in the Philippines. In addition, of the 500 known
coral species in the world, about 488 have been found on the archipelago of .
21. Tribes Tianjin and Integ, living in the mountainous areas of the northern
Philippines, kissing each other in a special way. They advance lips together and
quickly inhaled.
22. Traditional ancient Philippine toy yo-yo used as a weapon at first.
23. Aurora the only Philippine province, named in honor of the first lady.

Interesting facts about the Philippines: Sunset at Palawan, Philippines. Photo by

Marcellian Tan
24. The safe in the geological sense Philippine called Palawan. It is the most
distant from the volcanoes and earthquake areas.
25. The most popular month for weddings in the Philippines is December (until
early January), and not June.
26. The first representatives of the Philippines who have reached the top of the hit
parade Top 100 songs of the Billboard was the band Rocky Fellers of Manila.
27. There are only two seasons a warm wet season and cool dry season in the
Philippines. The dry season lasts from October to June, and wet for the remainder
of the year.
28. In the course of the history of the Philippines had early contact with China, some
of the Arab countries and Cambodia, but the archipelago was not known to the
Western world until the 17th March 1521, when Magellan arrived to the Samar
island. Since then the Philippines was a colony of many countries such as: Spain,
Portugal, the United States and Japan.
29. Philippine University of San Carlos in Cebu City, founded by the Spanish in 1595,
is superior in age from Harvard University and is the oldest university in Asia. The
second-oldest institution of higher education is Asia the University of Santo Tomas in
Manila, founded in 1611.
30. Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar discovered the antibiotic erythromycin.
31. A video camera with a single chip was first created by Marc Loinaz a Filipino
inventor from New Jersey.
32. The first International Grandmaster from Asia was Eugenio Torre, who won the
Chess Olympiad, held in 1974 in Nice (France).
33. The fluorescent lamp was invented by Agapito Flores Filipino scientists from the
island of Cebu.
34. Two Filipino beauty, Gloria Diaz and Margie Morgan received the title of Miss
Universe beauty pageants in 1969 and 1973.