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PHILIPPINES
The Republic of the Philippines is an island
nation consisting of an archipelago of 7,107 islands, lying in the tropical
western Pacific Ocean about 100 kilometers southeast of mainland Asia. Spain
(1521-1898) and the United States (1898-1946), colonized the country and
have been the largest influences on Philippine culture. It is, with Timor-Leste
and South Korea, one of the three predominantly Christian nations in Asia
and one of the most westernized —a unique blend of East and West.
The Philippines was the most developed country in Asia immediately following
World War II, but has since lagged behind other countries because of poor
economic growth, government confiscation of wealth, socialist policies, and
widespread corruption. Currently, the country attains a moderate economic
growth, buoyed by remittances by its large, diasporic overseas Filipino
workforce, booming information technology industry, and cheap labor in other
sectors. The country's major problems include an ongoing Muslim separatist
movement in southern Mindanao, communist insurgencies in the north, and
environmental degradation due to rainforest depletion and marine and coastal
pollution.
The Philippine Islands lie between 116° 40'
and 126° and 34' E. longtitude, 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.
History
Human fossil records indicate that the Philippines may have been inhabited
for thousands of years. Its aboriginal population, collectively known as the
Negritos or Aetas, crossed prehistoric land or ice bridges to eventually
settle in the islands' lush forests. Successive waves of migrants from the
Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago, and from Indochina and Taiwan,
began to pour in around the turn of the first millennium, pushing the
aboriginal population into the interior or absorbing them through
intermarriage.
Chinese merchants arrived in the 8th century. The rise of powerful Buddhist
kingdoms precipitated trade with the Indonesian archipelago, India, Japan
and Southeast Asia. Factional fighting among the kingdoms of Southeast Asia
weakened their strength. In the meantime, the spread of Islam through
commerce and proselytism, much like Christianity, brought traders and
missionaries into the region; Arabs set foot in Mindanao in the 14th century.
When the first Europeans arrived, led by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, there
were rajahs as far north as Manila, who historically were tributaries of the
kingdoms of Southeast Asia. However, the islands were essentially self-sufficient
and self-ruling.
The Spanish claimed and colonized the islands in the 16th century and named
it Filipinas after King Felipe II. Roman Catholicism was immediately
introduced and imposed, sparking deep resistance from tribal groups in the
highlands and the Muslim separatism that rages on today. Sporadic rebellions
and violence erupted in the coastal populations throughout the next three
centuries in response to colonial abuses. The new territory was ruled from
New Spain (Mexico) and a burgeoning galleon trade began in the 18th century.
In 1781, Governor José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of
Friends of the Country and make it independent of New Spain
The country opened up during the 19th century. The rise of an ambitious,
more nationalistic Filipino middle class, consisting of educated native
Filipinos, Philippine-born Spaniards and creoles, Spanish mestizos and an
economically entrenched Chinese mestizo community, signaled the end of
Spanish colonialism in the islands. 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 and
executed in 1896 for acts of subversion. Soon after, 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.
That same year Spain and the United States fought the Spanish-American War,
after which Spain ceded the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United
States for US$20 million. The Filipinos had by then declared independence
and the subsequent assertion of American control led to the Philippine-American
War that officially ended in 1901, but fighting continued well into 1913.
Independence was finally granted in 1946, after the Japanese had occupied
the islands during World War II. The following period was marred by post-war
problems; civil unrest during the unpopular dictatorship of Ferdinand
Marcos, ousted in 1986; and later, the continuing problem of communist
insurgency and Muslim separatism.
Politics
National Government. The government of the Philippines, loosely patterned
after the American system, is organized as a representative republic, with
the President functioning as both head of state and government, as well as
being 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 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 Provinces
Local Government. The Philippines is divided into a hierarchy of local
government units (LGUs) with the province as the primary unit. As of 2002,
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
MIMAROPA (Region IV-B) ¹
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)
Names are capitalised because they are acronyms, containing the names of the
constituent provinces or cities.
Geography
The Philippines constitute an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land
area of approximately 300,000 km². The islands are commonly divided into
three 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 Tag-lamig (the cold
season from December to February).
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, are active.
The country is also astride the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific and is
struck by about 19 typhoons per year.
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.
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.
Demographics
According to Philippine government statistics and current census data, some
95% of the population is ethnically Malay, descendants of immigrants from
the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago, and the most significant
ethnic minority group are the Chinese, who have played an important role in
commerce since the 9th century. Mestizos, Filipinos of mixed race, form a
tiny (2%) but economically and politically important minority. Small
communities of expatriates (both Asian and Western), and Negrito forest
tribes that inhabit the more remote areas of Mindanao and Zambales,
constitute the remainder.
In an effort to avoid constant conflict and disputes, other data compiled
from a source which as yet remains unnamed will be mentioned. This unnamed
source has placed the Malay component of the demographics of the Philippines
to a reduced 70% of the population from the 95% agreed upon by Filipino
government sources, recent Filipino census data and international static
agencies. The remaining 30% is then claimed to be distributed by people of
the following ancestries; Spanish 3% (c. 2.5 million); Indian 5% (c. 4.3
million); Arab 3% (c. 2.5 million); Chinese 10% (c. 8.6 million); Americans
of any race 1% (c. 860 thousand); aboriginal Negrito 1% (c. 860 thousand);
Japanese 1% (c. 860 thousand), other non-Malay tribal populations 5% (c. 4.3
million); all others 1% (c. 860 thousand).
The people of the Philippines are known as Filipinos. Throughout the
colonial era the term "Filipino" originally referred to the Spanish and
Spanish-mestizo minority. The definition, however, was later changed to
include the entire population of the Philippines regardless of ethnic
origin. The Philippines is the most ethnically diverse country in Asia.
In the 100 years since the 1903 Census of the Philippines, the population
has grown by a factor of eleven.
Foreign languages spoken include; English; Chinese (Mandarin, Hokkien and
Cantonese) among members of the Chinese and Chinese-mestizo communities, in
their Chinatowns and community-based schools where the medium of instruction
is in Mandarin; Arabic among some members of the Muslim population; and
Spanish, which ceased to be an official language in 1973 and is now spoken
by less than 0.01% of the population (2,658 speakers, 1990 Census).
Furthermore, the sole existing Spanish-Asiatic creole language, Chabacano,
is spoken by some in the south.
Since 1939, in an effort to develop national unity, the government has
promoted the use of the official national language, Filipino, which is based
on Tagalog. Filipino is taught in all schools and is gaining acceptance,
particularly as a second language for a diverse population. English is seen
as the second official language and is used extensively in government,
education and commerce.
Culture
Throughout Filipino history, no distinct national cultural identity was
shaped. The reason for this was partly due to the existence of an exorbitant
number of languages spoken throughout the country, estimated today to be
around 80 distinct languages, in addition to each of their many different
dialects. The isolation between neighbouring populations — whether from
village to village or island to island — also greatly contributed to this
lack of a unified identity.
In addition, the classical literature (José Rizal, Pedro Paterno) and
historical documents (national anthem, Constitución Política de Malolos),
were written in Spanish, which ceased to be an official language. The
Philippine writers (Claro Mayo Recto is the most important of them),
continued writing in Spanish until 1946.
Nowadays, rather than being national in nature, the cultural development of
the Philippines had been local. Despite this and despite their variety, a
common aspect that most Filipino cultural traditions share today is that
they have all been enriched and influenced both by Asia and the West, from
China, Malaysia, Spain and the United States, to Islam and Christianity.
Baroque Churches of the Philippines and Historic Town of Vigan are the
cultural World Heritage Sites. However, during World War II, much of the
city of Intramuros was destroyed.
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