Philippines
The Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), or the Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), is a nation in southeast Asia. It lies 1,210 km (750 mi) away from mainland Asia and consists of 7,107 islands that form part of the Malay Archipelago.
The country's name originated with Ruy López de Villalobos naming both the islands of Samar and Leyte, Las Islas Felipinas after King Philip II of Spain during his failed expedition in 1543. The archipelago was known under various names such as Spanish East Indies, New Castille (Nueva Castilla), Western Islands (Islas del Poniente), the St. Lazarus Islands (Islas de San Lázaro) and others. Ultimately, Filipinas came to refer to the entire archipelago.
History
Pre-Spanish Era
The Philippines has been inhabited for thousands of years. Aborigines collectively known as Negritos or Aetas crossed prehistoric land and ice bridges. Later, waves of Austronesian speaking migrants crossed from Southern China. Chinese merchants arived in the 8th century . Powerful Buddhist and Hindu empires rose in Southeast Asia. Essentially, the islands were autonomous.
The Spanish Conquest and Colonization
Portuguese and Spanish explorers led by Ferdinand Magellan first set foot in the archipelago in 1521. On April 27, 1565, the Spanish conquistador, Miguel López de Legazpi and 500 armed soldiers came to Cebu and established the first Spanish settlement on the islands. The defeat of Rajah Sulayman in Manila marked the beginning of the 333 year-long colonial period of the Philippines. Augustinian and Franciscan friars marched with Spanish soldiers of fortune from island to island establishing forts, searching for gold and spices. Roman Catholicism was introduced and adopted by the majority. Sporadic rebellions occured from tribal groups in the highlands of north Luzon and coastal regions occurred. Muslim belligerents maintained resistance in the southern islands of Mindanao, a trend that rages on today. The Phillippines was ruled from New Spain-(Mexico), and a burgeoning Manila Galleon or Manila-Acapulco galleon trade began in the late 16th century.
Spanish challenges
Spanish rule was harsh and led to several native revolts demanding equal rights. Moros harrassed and captured other Christian Filipinos and sold them as slaves. The government quelled uprisings from one region with natives from another, using the Roman military strategy Divide et impera. During the revolt led by Diego Silang, for instance, natives from Macabebe and Pampanga were used as soldiers against the rebellion in Ilocos. In 1762, colonial forces of the British East India Company captured Manila and restored it to Spain in accordance with the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Defeat at the hands of British, however, inspired rebels such as Diego Silang, who in 1762 expelled the Spanish from the coastal city of Vigan.
Rizal, the Propaganda Movement, and the Revolution
The islands' economy began to open up during the 19th century. The rise of an ambitious, more nationalistic Filipino middle class, consisting of educated native Filipinos who formed a group called the Ilustrados, Philippine-born Spaniards and creoles, Spanish mestizos and an economically entrenched ethnic Chinese mestizo community, signaled the beginning of the end of complete Spanish domination. Enlightened by the Propaganda Movement to the injustices of the Spanish colonial government, they clamored for independence. José Rizal, the most famous propagandist, was arrested, found guilty by the court and executed in 1896 for acts of rebellion, conspiracy and treason for establishing the Propaganda Movement and suspicions of being involved with the illegal, Katipunan Revolutionary Organisation. After his death, the Philippine Revolution broke out, pioneered by the Katipunan, a secret revolutionary society founded by Andres Bonifacio and later led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The revolution nearly succeeded in ousting the Spanish by 1898.
The U.S. Intervention
As a consequence of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the U.S. invaded and occupied the islands, in which Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for US $20 million through the 1898 Treaty of Paris. On June 12, 1898, the Filipinos, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, declared independence from Spain and proclaimed the new republic in Kawit, Cavite. A power struggle between Filipinos and Americans resulted in the Philippine-American War. After the war officially ended in 1901, the Philippines was under U.S. occupation and regime, and became a territory of the United States until 1935, when its status was upgraded to that of a U.S. Commonwealth. During the Commonwealth years, Philippines sent a non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives, as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands currently do. De facto independence for the Philippines was finally granted in 1946, after the Japanese invasion and occupation of the islands during World War II.
The following period was marred by post-war problems, civil unrest and corruptions during the unpopular dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, ousted in 1986. There is a continuing problem of communist insurgency and Muslim separatism.
Contemporary Philippines
The Philippines has faced some degree of economic and political instability after 1986. While some cite a return to democracy and governmental reform in the Post-Marcos era, government corruption and the activity of militant insurgent groups have continued to hamper economic productivity in the country. The country has seen two Presidential crises during this time, the most recent being the 2005 Philippine electoral crisis.
Politics and foreign relations
National government
The government of the Philippines is loosely patterned after the U.S. government. It is organized as a representative republic, where the President functions as head of state, the head of government, and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote to a term of 6 years, during which he or she appoints and presides over the cabinet. The bicameral Philippine legislature, the Congress, consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives; 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, which has a Chief Justice as its head and 14 Associate Justices, all appointed by the president.
International relations
The Philippines is a founding and active member of the United Nations since its (UN's) inception on October 24, 1945. The Philippines is also a founding and prominent member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an active player in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Latin Union and a member of the Group of 24. The Philippines is a major non-NATO ally of the United States, but also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Philippines is currently in a dispute with the Republic of China (Taiwan), the People's Republic of China, Vietnam and Malaysia over the oil- and natural gas-rich Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, and with Malaysia over Sabah. The Sultan of Sulu, who received Sabah as a gift in 1703 after having helped the Sultan of Brunei defeat a rebellion, has given the Philippine Government power to reclaim his lost territory. To this day, the Sultan of Sulu's family still receives "rental" payments for Sabah from the Malaysian Government.
Provinces and regions
- Main articles: Provinces of the Philippines, Regions of the Philippines
The Philippines is divided into a hierarchy of local government units (LGUs) with the province as the primary unit. There are 79 provinces in the country. Provinces are further subdivided into cities and municipalities, which are in turn composed of barangays. The barangay is the smallest local government unit.
All provinces are grouped into 17 regions for administrative convenience. Most government offices establish regional offices to serve the constituent provinces. The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Muslim Mindanao and Cordillera regions, which are autonomous.
Go to the articles on the regions and provinces to see a larger map showing the locations of the regions and provinces.
Regions
- Ilocos Region (Region I)
- Cagayan Valley (Region II)
- Central Luzon (Region III)
- CALABARZON (Region IV-A) ¹ ²
- MIMARO or MIMAROPA (Region IV-B) ¹ ²
- Bicol Region (Region V)
- Western Visayas (Region VI)
- Central Visayas (Region VII)
- Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)
- Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX)
- Northern Mindanao (Region X)
- Davao Region (Region XI)
- SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII) ¹
- Caraga (Region XIII)
- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
- Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
- National Capital Region (NCR) (Metro Manila)
¹ Names are capitalized because they are acronyms, containing the names of the constituent provinces or cities (see Acronyms in the Philippines).
² These regions formed the former Southern Tagalog region, or Region IV.
Geography
The Philippines constitutes an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land area of approximately 300,000 km². It lies between 116° 40' and 126° 34' E. longitude, and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N. latitude. It is bordered on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the west by the South China Sea, and on the south by the Celebes Sea. The island of Borneo lies a few hundred kilometers to the southwest and Taiwan directly north. The Moluccas and Celebes are farther south, and on the eastern side of the Philippine Sea is Palau.
The islands are commonly divided into three major groups: Luzon (Regions I to V + NCR & CAR), Visayas (VI to VIII), and Mindanao (IX to XIII + ARMM). The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the country's capital and second-largest city after Quezon City.
The local climate is hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5° Celsius.
Filipinos generally recognise 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 Taglamig (the cold season from December to February).
The southwest monsoon (May-October) is known as the "Habagat" and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (November-April) as the "Amihan".
Most of the mountainous islands used to be covered in tropical rainforests and are volcanic in origin. The highest point is Mount Apo on Mindanao at 2,954 m. Many volcanoes in the country, such as Mount Pinatubo and Taal Volcano, are active. The country is also astride the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific and is struck by about 19 typhoons per year.
Lying on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activities.
Economy
In 1998 the Philippine economy — a mixture of agriculture, light industry, and supporting services — deteriorated as a result of spillover from the Asian financial crisis and poor weather conditions. Growth fell to 0.6% in 1998 from 5% in 1997, but recovered to about 3% in 1999 and 4% in 2000. The government has promised to continue its economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in the newly industrialised countries of East Asia. Heavy debt (public debt at 77% of GDP), is hampering efforts to improve the economic situation. Budget allocation for servicing of debt is higher than the budget for the Department of Education and for the military combined.
The strategy includes improving infrastructure, overhauling the tax system to bolster government revenues, furthering deregulation and privatisation of the economy, and increasing trade integration with the region. Prospects for the future depend heavily on the economic performance of the two major trading partners, the United States and Japan, and a more accountable administration and consistent government policies.
The Philippines is a member of the Asian Development Bank.
Demographics
The people of the Philippines are collectively known as Filipinos. Colloquially, Filipinos may refer to themselves as Pinoy (feminine: Pinay).
In the 100 years since the 1903 Census of the Philippines, the population has grown by a factor of eleven. The country suffers from overpopulation due to having a high birth rate, which is far above the replacement rate and until recently was one of the highest in Asia. The government and the Catholic Church have clashed over the issue of artificial versus natural methods methods of population control.
According to Philippine government statistics and current census data, some 95.5 percent of the population belong to the groups that speak Austronesian languages. Their descendants form the bulk of the Philippine population (95.5%) today. There are twelve major native groups descended from the Austronesian-speaking immigrants. The largest and most prominent of these groups are the Tagalog (24%), Cebuanos (24%) and Ilokanos (11%), with the Hiligaynons (Ilonggos), Bikolanos, Waray-Warays, Kapampangans, Pangasinans, Kinaray-as, Maranaos, Maguindanaos, and Tausugs. The groups which are descendants of Nesiots are the Igorots, Gaddangs, and most tribal people in Mindanao loosely called 'lumads'. The Ivatan people of Batanes were assumed to have descended from aboriginal Formosans, their language being the only one totally different from that of the archipelago.
Because of the vast number of native ethnolinguistic groups, the Philippines is said to be one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Asia. While in recent decades the government has worked to make the country more culturally homogenous, this is made difficult by the linguistic diversity of its inhabitants. Furthermore, despite the Filipino language being made the official language of the country, it is still primarily based on Tagalog and thus natively spoken by only (24 percent) of the population.
About 95 percent of the population are Christians with 85 percent belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and the other 10 percent belong to various Protestant churches, such as Baptists, Evangelicals, Mormons, and two churches, the Philippine Independent Church and the Iglesia ni Cristo. 4 percent belong to Islam, and the rest are Buddhist, Hindus, or Sikhs.
The Philippine Protestant churches are linked with the North American churches. There is also a American minority in the country, many of whom are missionaries. Most of the ethnic Chinese living in the Philippines are either Protestants or Buddhists.
Languages
More than 170 languages are spoken in the Philippines and almost all of them belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian language group of the Austronesian language family. According to the 1987 Constitution, Tagalog-based Filipino and English are the official language.
There are 12 native regional languages and are, as with other regional languages, the auxilary languages of their respective regions, each with over one million speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Bikol, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Kinaray-a, Maranao, Maguindanao, and Tausug.
Other languages spoken includes Spanish, Hokkien, Cantonese, and Arabic.
Religion
(95%) of all Filipinos are Christians, with (83%) belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and the other 12% belonging to various Protestant denominations. Also included in the Protestant category are two native churches, the Philippine Independent Church, founded by Gregorio Aglipay and the Iglesia ni Cristo, founded by Felix Manalo.
The Roman Catholic church exerts considerable power in the both governmental and non-governmental affairs, although there is a constitutional provision in the separation of Church and State. The Philippines currently has one cardinal. Jaime Cardinal Sin, a leading spiritual leader in the country and active participant in People Power I and People Power II, died on June 21, 2005. The most well-known Roman Catholic cathedral in the Philippines is the huge Manila Cathedral, followed closely by the Barasoain Church in Bulacan.
The various Protestant denominations are linked with North American churches. There is a significant presence of American missionaries in the Philippines. Many Christian Filipinos, especially Roman Catholics, believe in ghosts, anting-antings (lucky charms), mythical creatures, and certain superstitions.
Four percent of all Filipinos are Muslims. Most of the lowland Muslims practice full-filedged Islam, although some Mindanaoan hilltribes pratice Islam together with Animism.
Culture
The culture of the Philippines is a mixture of Western and Eastern influences. The foundation of the culture is based primarily on the Pre-Hispanic, native cultures of the various Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups, mixed with many foreign influences; from Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, Islamic, Hinduism and Anglo-Saxon.
For reasons embedded in its long and complex colonial history, spanning over three centuries as a colony of Spain and Mexico, the culture of the Philippines is greatly indebted to, and directed towards, Hispanic customs and traditions. Intermingling with other foreign cultures in the last 107 years, including the United States of America and neighbouring Asian countries have changed the cultural settings and character of most people. More recent contributions that have changed the mentality and practices among most urban Filipinos are the result of pop culture from the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan,South Korea and China.
The highland Negrito Filipinos, those living in the mountains of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and other remote jungles; have retained the ancient beliefs of their ancestors and isolate themselves from modern day society. They have produced a culture different from other Filipinos. Their way of life is seen as the true indigenous culture of the Philippine archipelago.
In terms of nationalistic organization, politics and government, the Philippines' character more closely resembles the countries of Latin America than its Asian neighbours. There have been at least ten attempted coup d'état in the past ten years, of which two have been successful. The Roman Catholic Church plays a significant role in both population issues and government.
The Philippines has many national heroes. Considered the first to repel western aggression was Lapu-Lapu of Mactan Island, who killed Ferdinand Magellan. José Rizal (born June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna), "Pride of the Filipino People," considered to be one of the country's foremost national hero, mastered 22 languages including Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Malay, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native languages; he was an architect, artist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist, ophthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, sculptor and sociologist. The first Asian Secretary-General for the United Nations General Assembly was a Filipino - Carlos Pena Romulo. One of boxing greats, Flash Elorde was also a Filipino. In more recent times, the Philippines has produced major sports heroes, such as five-time bowling World Champion Rafael Nepumuceno, the boxing champions : Francisco Pancho Villa and Manuel Pacquiao, billiards multi-champion : Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante.
Literature
The arrival of the Spaniards in 1565 brought Spanish culture and language. The Spanish conquerors established a strict class system that was based on race and soon imposed Roman Catholicism on the native population. Augustinian and Franciscan missionaries, accompanied by Spanish soldiers soon spread Christianity from island to island. Their mission was made easier by the forced relocation of indigenous peoples during this time, as the uprooted natives turned to the foreign, structured religion as the new center of their lives. The priests and friars preached in local languages and employed indigenous peoples as translators, creating a bilingual class known as ladinos. The natives, called 'indios,' generally were not taught Spanish, but the bilinguale individuals, notably poet-translator Gaspar Aquino de Belen, produced devotional poetry written in the Roman script in the Tagalog language. Pasyon is a narrative of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ begun by Gaspar Aquino de Belen, which has circulated in many versions. Later, the Spanish ballads of chivalry, the corrido, provided a model for secular literature. Verse narratives, or komedya, were performed in the regional languages for the illiterate majority. They were also written in the Roman alphabet in the principal languages and widely circulated.
In addition, the classical literature (José Rizal, Pedro Paterno) and historical documents (national anthem, Constitución Política de Malolos), were written in Spanish, which is no longer an official language. The Philippine writers, including Claro M. Recto continued writing in Spanish until 1946.
Landmarks
Natural Landmarks
- Baguio City, Benguet (summer capital of the Philippines)
- Banaue Rice Terraces, Banaue, Ifugao
- Chocolate Hills, Carmen, Bohol
- Mayon Volcano, Legazpi City, Albay (most perfectly symmetrical volcano in the world)
- Mount Apo, Kidapawan City, Cotabato {highest mountain in the Philippines)
- Pagsanjan Falls, Anglas, Cavinti, Laguna
- Taal Volcano, Batangas (smallest volcano in the world)
City Landmarks
- Burnham Park, Baguio City
- Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila
- University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila (largest university campus in the world)
Cultural & Historical Landmarks
- Chinatown, Binondo District, Manila
- Corregidor Island, Bgy. San Jose, Mariveles, Bataan
- Fort Santiago, Manila
- Heritage City of Vigan, Ilocos Sur
- Intramuros Walled City, Manila (the best surviving walled city in the world)
- Las Piñas Bamboo Organ, Fr. Diego Cera Ave., Las Piñas City, Metro Manila
- Manila Cathedral and San Agustin Church, Intramuros, Manila
Related topics
- Main article: List of Philippine-related topics
- Communications in the Philippines
- Holidays in the Philippines
- List of Philippine companies
- Military of the Philippines
- Military history of the Philippines
- Transportation in the Philippines
External links
- Official
- Official website of the Philippine Government - Gateway to governmental sites
- Supreme Court
- Department of Foreign Affairs
- Department of Tourism
- Department of Trade and Industry
- Other
- Template:Wikitravel
- Philippines, an external wiki
- CIA — The World Factbook — Philippines — CIA's Factbook on The Philippines
- Country Profile: Philippines — BBC's Country Profile on The Philippines
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