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The Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is an island country located in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. The Philippines comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, sharing maritime borders with Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam. The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country with a population of 90 million people. Its national economy is the 46th largest in the world with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$154.073 billion. There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines. It is a multi-ethnic country. Ecologically, The Philippines is considered to be among 17 of the most megadiverse countries in the world.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in 1521, the Philippines was settled by Austronesian (Malayo Polynesian) peoples. The Philippines became a Spanish colony in the 16th century, as an extension of the Viceroyalty of New Spain until the late 19th century. The culture of Spain has had a defining influence on Philippine identity, including the Catholic faith, and many Philippine traditions. In 1896, rebellion led to the Philippine Revolution that won independence from Spain during the Spanish-American War of 1898. American occupation led to the Philippine-American War which ended in 1902. The Philippines became a territory of the United States in the 20th century. A Commonwealth government was established in 1935, which allowed self-governance. The country gained its independence from the United States on July 4, 1946 after World War II. Martial law was declared in 1972 which led to the insurgencies of the New People's Army, and the Moro National Liberation Front. Liberal parties then led People Power Revolution of 1986, which would bring the country back to democracy.
The Philippines is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia-Pacific, the other being East Timor. Pre-Hispanic indigenous rituals still exist; and there are also followers of Islam.[10] Spanish was an official language of the Philippines until 1987. Since then, the two official languages are Filipino, and English.
The name Philippines was derived from King Philip II of Spain in the 16th century. The Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas (The Philippine Islands) in honor of the then Crown Prince during his expedition to the Philippines, originally referring to the islands of Leyte, and Samar. Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas (Philippines) was eventually adopted as the name of the entire archipelago.
The Banaue Rice Terraces, they are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
GeographyThe Philippines constitutes an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers (116,000 sq mi). It is located between 116° 40' and 126° 34' E. longitude, and 4° 40', and 21° 10' N. latitude, and borders the Philippine Sea on the east, the South China Sea on the west, and the Celebes Sea on the south. The island of Borneo is located a few hundred kilometers southwest, and Taiwan directly north. The Moluccas, and Sulawesi are to the south-southwest, and Palau is to the east beyond the Philippine Sea.
The islands are commonly divided into three island groups: Luzon (Regions I to V, NCR and CAR), Visayas (VI to VIII), and Mindanao (IX to XIII and ARMM). The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the national capital, and second largest city after its suburb Quezon City.
The local climate is hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5 °C (79.7 °F). There are three recognized 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). The southwest monsoon (from May to October) is known as the "Habagat", and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (from November to April) as the "Amihan".
Most of the mountainous islands used to be covered in tropical rainforest, and are volcanic in origin. The highest mountain is Mount Apo located in Mindanao measuring at 2,954 metres (9,692 ft) above sea level. There are many active volcanos such as Mayon Volcano, Mount Pinatubo, and Taal Volcano. The country also located within the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific and approximately 19 typhoons strike per year.
Located on the northwestern fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippine Islands experiences frequent seismic, and volcanic activities. Some 20 earthquakes are registered daily in the Philippines, though most are too weak to be felt. The last great earthquake was the 1990 Luzon earthquake.
The longest river is the Cagayan River in northern Luzon. Manila Bay is connected to Laguna de Bay by means of the Pasig River. Subic Bay, the Davao Gulf, and the Moro Gulf are some of the important bays. Transversing the San Juanico Strait is the San Juanico Bridge (considered a point of vital national infrastructure and capacity), that connects the islands of Samar and Leyte.
EconomyThe Philippines is a newly industrialized country with an economy anchored on agriculture but with substantial contributions from manufacturing, mining, remittances from overseas Filipinos, and service industries such as tourism, and increasingly, business process outsourcing. The Philippines is listed in the roster of the "Next Eleven" economies.
Historically, the Philippine economy has largely been anchored on the Manila galleon during the Spanish period, and bilateral trade with the United States during the American period. Pro-Filipino economic policies were first implemented during the tenure of Carlos P. Garcia with the "Filipino First" policy. By the 1960s, the Philippine economy was regarded as the second largest in Asia, next to Japan. However, the leardership of Ferdinand Marcos would prove disastrous to the Philippine economy, sliding the country into severe economic recession, only to recover in the 1990s with a program of economic liberalization, and the breaking of Marcos era monopolies and the system of cronyism under Fidel V. Ramos.
The Asian Financial Crisis affected the Philippine economy to an extent, resulting in a lingering decline of the value of the Philippine peso, and falls in the stock market, although the extent to which it was affected was not as severe as that of its Asian neighbors. This is largely due to the fiscal conservatism of the Philippine government partly as a result of decades of monitoring, and fiscal supervision from the International Monetary Fund, in comparison to the massive spending of its neighbors on the rapid acceleration of economic growth. By 2004, the Philippine economy experienced six percent growth in gross domestic product, and 7.3% in 2007, in line with the "7, 8, 9" project of the government to accelerate GDP growth by 2009.
In a bid to further strengthen the Philippine economy, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pledged to make the Philippines a developed country by 2020. As part of this goal, she instituted five economic "super regions" to concentrate on the economic strengths of various regions of the Philippines, as well as the implementation of tax reforms, continued privatization of state assets, and the building-up of infrastructure in various areas of the Philippines.
Despite the growing economy, the Philippines will have to address several chronic tasks in the future. Strategies for streamlining the economy include improvements of infrastructure, more efficient tax systems to bolster government revenues, furthering deregulation and privatization of the economy, and increasing trade integration within the region, and across the world. The Philippine economy is also heavily reliant on remittances as a source of foreign currency, surpassing even foreign direct investment. China, and India have emerged as major economic competitors, siphoning away investors who would otherwise have invested in the Philippines, particularly telecommunications companies. Regional development is also somewhat uneven, with Luzon, and Metro Manila in particular gaining most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other regions, although the government has taken steps to distribute economic growth by promoting investment in other areas of the Philippines.
The Philippines is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), playing home to its headquarters. It is also a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Colombo Plan, and the G-77, among others.
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