Philippines
Republic of the Philippines Republika ng Pilipinas(Filipino) | |
---|---|
Motto: "Maka-Diyos, Maka-Tao, Makakalikasan at Makabansa"[1] "For God, People, Nature, and Country" | |
Anthem:Lupang Hinirang Chosen Land | |
Great Seal Dakilang Sagisag ng Pilipinas(Filipino) Great Seal of the Philippines | |
Capital | Manilaa 14°35′N120°58′E/ 14.583°N 120.967°E |
Largest city | Quezon City 14°38′N121°02′E/ 14.633°N 121.033°E |
Official languages | |
Recognized regional languages | |
National language | Filipino |
Other recognized languages | Official and nationalsign languageb Filipino Sign Language Auxiliary languagesc |
Ethnic groups (2015) |
|
Demonym(s) | Filipino (masculine or neutral) Filipina (feminine) Pinoy (colloquial masculine or neutral) Pinay (colloquial feminine) Philippine |
Government | Unitarypresidentialconstitutionalrepublic |
Bongbong Marcos | |
Sara Duterte | |
Juan Miguel Zubiri | |
Lord Allan Velasco | |
Alexander Gesmundo | |
Legislature | Congress |
Senate | |
House of Representatives | |
Formation of the republic | |
June 12, 1898 | |
•Treaty of Paris (1898)/ Spanish cessiond | December 10, 1898 |
January 21, 1899 | |
March 24, 1934 | |
May 14, 1935 | |
July 4, 1946 | |
February 2, 1987 | |
Area | |
• Total | 300,000[2][3]km2(120,000 sq mi) (72nd) |
• Water (%) | 0.61[4](inland waters) |
•Land | 300,000 |
Population | |
• 2015 census | 100,981,437[5](13th) |
• Density | 336/km2(870.2/sq mi) (47th) |
GDP(PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $933.913 billion[6](27th) |
• Per capita | $8,573[6](115th) |
GDP(nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $367.362 billion[6](31st) |
• Per capita | $3,484[6](119th) |
Gini(2015) | 40.1[7] medium·44th |
HDI(2017) | 0.699[8] medium·113th |
Currency | Peso(₱) (PHP) |
Time zone | UTC+8(PST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+8(not observed) |
Date format |
|
Mains electricity | 220V - 60Hz |
Driving side | right[9] |
Calling code | +63 |
ISO 3166 code | PH |
Internet TLD | .ph |
|
ThePhilippinesis anisland countryinSoutheast Asiain thePacific Ocean.It has 7,641 islands. The capital city of the Philippines isManila.
Spain(1521–1898), and theUnited States(1898–1946), colonized (controlled) the country andPalau,which is on the eastern side of thePhilippine Sea.The Philippines andEast Timorare the only nations in East Asia where most people areChristians.The Philippines got independence when the United States left in 1946.
Regions and States
[change|change source]Local Government.The parts of Philippines are "local government units" (LGUs). Theprovinceis the top unit. There are 81 provinces in the country (2015). In the provinces there arecitiesandmunicipalities(towns). In these municipalities there are smallerbarangays(villages). Thebarangayis the smallest local government unit.
All provinces are in 17regionsfor 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
[change|change source]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 |
CALABARZON¹ | Region IV-A | Calamba City(de jure) Lucena City(de facto) |
MIMAROPA¹ | 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 |
SOCCSKSARGEN¹ | Region XII | Koronadal,South Cotabato |
Caraga | Region XIII | Butuan |
Bangsamoro | BARMM | Cotabato City |
Cordillera Administrative Region | CAR | Baguio |
National Capital Region | NCR | Manila |
¹Names are capitalized because they areacronyms,containing the names of the constituent provinces or cities.
Geography
[change|change source]The Philippines has 7,107 islands. Together there are about 300,000 square kilometers of land. The islands are in three groups:Luzon,Visayas,andMindanao.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'scapitaland it is the second-largestcityafterQuezon City.Cebu CityandDavao Cityare the largest cities in Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.
Theclimateis hot, humid (there is a lot of water in the air), andtropical.The average temperature all year is around 26.5 °Celsius. Filipinos usually say there are threeseasons:Tag-initorTag-araw(the hot season or summer from March to May),Tag-ulan(the rainy season from June to November), andTag-lamig(the cold season from December to February).
The Philippines is in thePacific Ring of Fire(zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Most of the mountainous islands had a lot of tropicalrainforestsa long time ago. They started asvolcanoes.The highest place isMount Apoon Mindanao at 2,954 m. Many volcanoes in the country, for exampleMount Mayon,are active. The country also has about 19typhoonsper year.
Taal Volcano is an island in Taal Lake. It is in an ancientcalderain 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.
History
[change|change source]Human beings came to the Philippines 30,000 years ago. They came from Asia. Scientists think they came on aland bridgeduring theice age.The sea level was very low then. By the 900s c.e. there were villages in the Philippines. Chinese sailors from China and Muslim sailors fromBorneocame to trade with the villagers.[14]
In 1521,Ferdinand Magellanclaimed the Philippines forSpain.That means he said they belonged to Spain, but the Filipinos did not agree or sign a treaty. Because the king of Spain at the time wasKing Philip II,the islands are called the Philippines. The Spanish built farms in the Philippines, but many Filipinos did not want Spain to rule them. For example,Jose Rizalwrote about why the Spanish rule was bad. The Spanish governmentkilled him.[14]
Rebels began to fight the Spanish government. They were still fighting when theSpanish-American Warbegan in 1898.[14]During the Spanish-American War, American CommodoreGeorge Deweystarted to capture Manila on May 5. But he did not finish right away. Because messages were slow in 1898, Dewey captured Manila one day after the truce began. The United States paid Spain US $20 million and took the Philippines.[15]
In 1899, the Filipinos began aninsurgencyagainst the Americans. The Filipinos did not want the United States to rule them. They wanted to rule themselves, so they fought the Americans. They started fighting on February 4, 1899, two days before the treaty between the United States and Spain. The Americans and Filipinos fought each other. Emilio Aguinaldo led the Filipinos. There werecruelacts. For example, American soldiers would kill Filipinos even if they werenot fighters.About 20,000 Filipino fighters and about 200,000 Filipino non-fighters died. About 4200 Americans died. In 1902, the United States won. There was a little more fighting later.[16][17]
The United States government decided that the Philippines should be an independent country but not right away. In 1907, the Philippines had elections for its first assembly. In 1916, theUnited States government promisedto make the Philippines an independent country. In 1935, the Philippines became a United Statescommonwealth.This meant the Filipinos had more control over the Philippines than before but were not an independent country.[16][18]
DuringWorld War II,the Japanese navy came to the Philippines. The American army was not ready to stop the Japanese. They left. The Japanese captured the country. The Japanese soldiers took away the Filipinos' food. The people starved. The Filipinos usedguerrilla warfareto fight the Japanese. Later in the war, the Americans came back. The Americans and Filipinos fought the Japanese together. The American generalDouglas MacArthurhelped lead.[18]
After World War II, the United States and the Philippines agreed that the Philippines should be an independent country. The Philippines became independent in 1946. It became the Republic of the Philippines.[16][18]
The United States military did not leave all of the Philippines. The United States and Philippines signed a treaty in 1947. That treaty said the United States could build amilitary basein the Philippines.Subic BayandClark Air Force Basewere the largest American military bases outside the United States. They were important during theCold War.[18]Many Filipinos did not like the bases.[19]
During theCold Warthe United States did not likeCommunism.It would support almost any government that was not Communist, even if it was very bad in other ways. The Marcos family became leaders of the Philippines for many years. The Filipinos electedFerdinand Marcosin 1965. Later, he declaredmartial lawand dismissed the assembly. That meant that the Filipinos had almost no freedom and could not vote for new leaders. Communist groups and Muslim groups tried to take control, but the United States helped Marcos stop them.[19]
In 1986, the Filipinos stopped Marcos. They wrote a new constitution for the country. In the early 1990s, Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Bases were closed. There was still corruption but not as much as with Marcos.[20]
Problems
[change|change source]There are many environmental problems in the Philippines. One of them isoverfishingin 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 topollution.Deforestationis 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 serioussoil erosion,which is threatening the Philippinesbiodiversity.[21]
Economy
[change|change source]The Philippines is a developing country. In 1998 the Philippine economy—a mixture ofagriculture,light industry, and support services—deteriorated because of the effects of theAsian financial crisisand 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 is estimated at 6.6%.[22]
The Government has promised to continue its economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly industrialized countries ofSoutheast Asia.The strategies are improvinginfrastructure,fixing thetaxsystem to help the government income, supporting deregulation (to remove government control) andprivatizationof the economy, and increasing trade within the region. Future prospects depend heavily on the economic performance of the three major trading partners,China,theUnited StatesandJapan.
People
[change|change source]Around 109,6 million people live in the Philippines as of 2020. Most people in the Philippines are ofAustronesianstock. The ethnicChinese,who have helped run businesses since the9th century,also live in the country. Its now 105 million people there. TheNegritoslive in the mountains of Luzon and Visayas. Luzon has a lot ofmestizopeople, aSpanishterm for someone of mixed Hispanic and native blood.
The people of the Philippines are known asFilipinos.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-mixedminority. But now everyone who is a citizen/national of the Philippines is called "Filipino". Even then, it is still has the most diverseethnic groupsin Asia, the other beingIndonesia.People also callFilipinos"Pinoy"for short.
Languages
[change|change source]FilipinoandEnglishare 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 theMalay language.Other local languages and dialects areCebuanoandIlocanoand many others. English is used in government, schools and business. Other languages areChinesewhich is spoken by the ethnic Chinese population and the Chinese–Filipinos. Most of theMuslimslive deep in southernMindanaoand the smaller islands off of the southern Philippine mainland nearMalaysia'snortheastern tip. They also speakArabicas a second language but to a small extent.Spanish,once the official language of the Philippines in the 1970s is also spoken by a notable minority of Filipinos.
Culture
[change|change source]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 themSpanish culture.They soon spread to the islands making forts and schools, preaching Christianity, and converting most of the native people to theCatholicreligion. When the United States colonized the islands in 1898, theAmericansbrought 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 is not directly from Spain but fromMexico,as the Philippines were ruled bySpainviaMexico.It was governed fromMexico Citywhich explains much of theSpanishinfluence in the Philippines.[23]Also, theSpanishthat was spoken in the Philippines was MexicanSpanish,not EuropeanSpanish.A lot of the foods in the Philippines can also be found inMexico.Filipinos, as a tradition, usually eat with their hands, like that ofMalaytradition. And most of Filipino cuisine is also ofMalayinfluence for the most part.[24]
Each year major festivities calledbarrio fiestasare 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.Circumcisionof males is a tradition and a big cultural event calledTuli,nearly 91.7% are circumcised.[25]
Religion
[change|change source]Most of the people in the Philippines areChristians.About 92% of the people are Christians. Most people in the Philippines belong to theRoman Catholicfaith (70%). A sizable percentage of the people areProtestants(many diverse Christian denominations) (17%),Iglesia ni Cristo(2%),Muslims(5-10%),Buddhists(2%). There are also someHindusand some other minor religions with fewer adherents (6.6%).
Gallery
[change|change source]- Largest cities of the Philippines
-
Manila,Philippine capital.
-
Cebu City,Philippines oldest city.
-
Davao City,Mindanao's largest city.
Related pages
[change|change source]References
[change|change source]- ↑"Republic act no. 8491".Republic of the Philippines. Archived fromthe originalon March 8, 2014.RetrievedMarch 8,2014.
- ↑"Philippine Population Density (Based on the 2015 Census of Population)".September 1, 2016.
- ↑"World Development Indicators".databank.worldbank.org.
- ↑"East & Southeast Asia:: Philippines".The World Factbook.Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency. October 28, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon July 19, 2015.RetrievedNovember 7,2009.
- ↑"Highlights of the Philippine Population 2015 Census of Population".www.psa.gov.ph.Philippine Statistics Authority.
- ↑6.06.16.26.3"IMF Philippines".International Monetary Fund.
- ↑"Gini Index".World Bank.RetrievedMarch 2,2011.
- ↑"Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical update"(PDF).United Nations Development Programme. September 15, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 15,2018.
- ↑Lucas, Brian (August 2005)."Which side of the road do they drive on?".RetrievedFebruary 22,2009.
- ↑"Presidential Decree No. 940, s. 1976".Manila: Malacanang. Archived fromthe originalon April 5, 2019.RetrievedApril 4,2015.
- ↑"Quezon City Local Government – Background".Quezon City Local Government. Archived fromthe originalon August 20, 2020.RetrievedAugust 25,2020.
- ↑"Executive Order No. 34, s. 1945".Manila: Malacanang. Archived fromthe originalon November 12, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 9,2021.
- ↑Lucas, Brian (August 2005)."Which side of the road do they drive on?".RetrievedFebruary 22,2009.
- ↑14.014.114.2"History of the Philippines".California State University at Bakersfield.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑Office of the Historian."The Spanish-American War, 1898".United States Department of State.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑16.016.116.2Office of the Historian."The Philippine-American War, 1899–1902".United States Department of State.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑"1898-1933: America's Colony".PBS.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑18.018.118.218.3"1934-1964: War and Independence".PBS.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑19.019.1"1965-1986: The Marcos Years".PBS.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑"1987-2003: Reform and Rebellion".PBS.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ↑"WWF Philippines office - WWF".wwf.panda.org.
- ↑"Report for selected countries and subjects".www.imf.org.
- ↑"The Spaniards as Colonial Masters in the Philippines".www.philippine-history.org.
- ↑"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-03.Retrieved2012-02-18.
{{cite web}}
:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/219779/[permanent dead link]tuli-a-rite-of-passage-for-filipino-boys/story/
- Open Directory ProjectArchived2004-08-19 at theWayback Machine
Other websites
[change|change source]- Government PortalArchived2012-01-01 at theWayback Machine
- Office of the PresidentArchived2007-06-09 at theWayback Machine
- Senate of the Philippines
- House of RepresentativesArchived2020-06-04 at theWayback Machine
- Supreme Court of the PhilippinesArchived2008-05-12 at theWayback Machine