Discover Philippines

Mabuhay! is the common expression that you will hear when you land in the tropical paradise of Southeast Asia. It is a Tagalog word which means: hello, welcome, greeting. It is also one way of saying “long live” that can be compared to Roman language expression “viva, vive”.

GEOGRAPHY
LOCATION: An archipelago that lies on the Western Pacific Ocean and an island country in the Southeast Asia. It is between the Philippine Sea and South China Sea with Taiwan and Borneo on north and south respectively as neighboring countries.

LAND AREA: 122,121 sq mi (316,294 sq km)

CLIMATE: Tropical. There are three accepted seasons: Cold (December- February), summer (March- May) and rainy (June- November). Habagat is also known as southwest monsoon starts from May to October. Amihan or northeast monsoon begins on November to April.

• The Philippines is divided into three major islands: Luzon (in the north), Visayas (center) and Mindanao (south). The highest mountain point in the archipelago is Mount Apo with a scale of 2,954 meters (9,692 ft). The natural resources can be found in this country are timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, and copper. It also constitutes of 7, 107 islands aside from these Philippines lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, wherein it is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic activities. Moreover, it is usually affected with typhoons because it is located on the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific.

HISTORY
Before the Spaniards/ Americans/ Japanese came in Philippines. The barangay, the smallest political unit, was ruled by a datu. The people were classified into classes: noble (rich), freemen (middle class), alipin (slaves). Slaves are divided into two: the aliping saguiguilid in which they can’t own a land and can’t marry the person they like whilst the aliping namamahay is the opposite of aliping saguiguilid. It was in the middle of Islamic proselytism that Spaniards came to the country. Philippines is named after King Philip II, the ruler of Spain. The archipelago was discovered by a Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, on March 21, 1521. Spanish government occupied Philippines for almost 333 years. After the Spanish occupation came the Americans, wherein a Spanish- American war begun. Treaty of Paris terminated the war between the two countries. It was signed on December 10, 1898. Then it was followed by Japanese occupation wherein a group of Filipinos formed an organization called HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon). It aims to fight against the atrocities of Japanese government. The country achieved its true independence on June 12, 1898. It was done on the house of the first Republican president, Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit, Cavite. The unfurling of the Philippine flag was made in Hong Kong by Marcella Agoncillo, Delfina Herbosa and Lorenza Agoncillo was witnessed by a huge crowd. The national anthem which is Lupang Hinirang was sung by thousands of Filipinos.

CURRENCY
Philippine peso (Php) is the currency used. It is equivalent to 100 centavos in English.

LANGUAGES
There are more than 180 languages spoken in the archipelago. Filipino which is based on Tagalog is the official language in the country. English is also considered as the official language since most of the books, television shows, newspapers, etc. is used as the medium of communication. The eight major dialects in the countries are Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Waray, Ilonggo, Pangasinense, Pampango and Bicol.

CULTURE
Philippines is of mixed culture It was also tagged as one of the happiest people in the world. Most of the music, dance, language, folk, etc. are strongly of American, Western and Hispanic influence. The Filipinos are known for its being hospitable and close family ties. Their first concern is their families. Nuclear family is very common in the Philippines. Divorce is illegal in the country; if you want to file for a separation you can do this either annulment or legal separation. The most common played sports are basketball and billiards. When it comes to courtship, parents strongly disapprove of having girls visit boy’s house. It should be the boy who will visit the girl to earn the parents’ approval. Long time ago, if the boy wants to ask for the hand of the girl. He will give a dowry to the girl’s family in exchange of marriage. Now, it is seldom practiced. The use of “po” or “opo” is a sign of respecting people who are much older than you. There are terms used when a young person would like to make a request/ call to the much older than him e.g. Ate (little child wants to call an older woman). American culture has also a wide influence to Filipinos for example, the cravings in eating at a fast food restaurants such as Mc Donalds, KFC and the like & also the love to watch Hollywood movies. Though most of the modern youths love to listen to foreign songs, nonetheless OPM (Original Pilipino Music) is widely appreciated. In regards with the foods, Filipino foods are also influenced by Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, American, etc. Before the arrival of foreign men in the country, some Filipinos are firm believers of superstition. An example for this is, when you sing while cooking you will not get married and will stay single for the rest of your life. A great sign of respect to elders are also shown by kissing their hand.

ECONOMY
Nowadays, the Philippine government is facing political crisis, but this doesn’t stop the blooming of Philippine Stock Exchange. So far, the highest exchange of dollars to peso had been down to around Php41- $1. This is due to OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) dollar remittances. There are inflations of prices with the common commodities needed by Filipino people. Consumer sectors are protesting about this situation. Agriculture and industry like food processing, textiles and garments play an important part in economy. Most commercial and financial industries are concentrated in Manila, the capital of Philippines. But Cebu is getting an attention among local and foreign businessman or investors. Unemployment rate is 10.4% (2003), and was lessen to 7.9% (2007). Lots of foreign based companies are established in the country. Call center companies are growing in the archipelago. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for purchasing power parity is $508.1 billion (2006 est.) and the GDP for real growth rate: 6.9 % (2007 est.) There is a wide increase of labor force from 35.79 million (2006) to 41.93 million (2007).

RELIGION
There are number of religions existed in Philippines. Most of the Filipinos are Christian it comprises of 90.3 % of the population. Where it is subdivided into different categories such as Roman Catholic, Protestants, Evangelical and Aglipayan. A part of Mindanao is mostly Muslims and only few are Christians.

See more about the Philippines in this website: Cebuanas Travel Information