- Government
- History & Culture
- People & Religions
- Capital Manila
- Geography/Climate
- Time & Language
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Below you find facts and figures about the constitution, history, religion, climate and
the people of the Islands.
Further information can also be found in the other sections of the
site, and trough the Directory. - Enjoy.
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Government |
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The Philippines
are a democratic republic headed by a president as the chief
executive, who under the 1987 constitution, is elected to a
single six-year term. |
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The elected legislature consists of a senate of 24 members,
serving six-year terms, and a house of representatives with a
maximum of 250 members, serving three-year terms.
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| History
& Culture
Some
300,000 years ago the earliest inhabitants arrived from the Asian
mainland.
It is possible that they arrived by way of a land bridge that is
believed to have existed during the ice ages.
By
the ninth century A.D. coastal villagers welcomed Chinese commerce and
settlers heralding a time of cross island trade. |
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further sustained with the opening of trade routes by Muslim traders
from Borneo. . |
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In
1521, Ferdinand Magellan claimed the islands for Spain who gave them
their current name in honor of the Spanish crown prince.
The Spaniards' imperial rule lasted until the United States of America
gained possession of the Philippines after victories in the
Spanish-American War in 1898 and the Philippine-American War from 1899
to 1901.
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Briefly
interrupted during the Japanese occupation of the Second World War,
U.S. rule lasted until 1946.
Before and again after the war, the U.S. prepared the Philippines for
self-rule [with a Philippine president first being sworn in in 1935],
and 1946 on July 4, the day Americans celebrate their independence, the
Philippines gained their independence to become a presidential
republic.
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two equal
horizontal bands of blue (top) and red with a white equilateral
triangle based on the hoist side; in the center of the triangle is
a yellow sun with eight primary rays (each containing three
individual rays) and in each corner of the triangle is a small
yellow five-pointed star |
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People and Religions
A majority of Filipinos are of Malaysian and Indonesian descent; however
Chinese and Spanish bloods also play a large part in their ethnicity.
Approximately
90% of the Philippine people are Christian (85% are Catholic).
Most were converted and westernized by different degrees during nearly 400
years of Spanish and American rule.
The major non-Christian groups are the Muslim population [5%] concentrated in
Western Mindanao and in the mountains of northern Luzon. and ethnic
Chinese Buddhists [1.5%] concentrated mainly in larger towns and cities. |
Population:
81,159,644
(July 2000 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 37%
15-64 years: 59%
65 years and over: 4%
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Demographic
Indicators
(2000 est.)
Crude Birth Rate [per 1,000]:
27.85
Population growth rate: 2.07%
Life Expectancy At Birth (Years):
Males 64.65 Females 70.46
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| Geography and Climate |
| The Philippines are
a Southeast Asian archipelago of over 7,000 islands of which about 2,000 are inhabited. The Philippine are located in the South China Sea, east of Malaysian
Borneo and Indonesian Kalimantan, north of the Indonesian Spice Islands
and south of Taiwan with the coordinates of 13 00 N, 122 00 E and a total
coastline of about 36,289 km |
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Physical Features
The Islands are are of volcanic origin and hence mostly mountains with
narrow to extensive coastal lowlands. Only about 17,000 km² are
irrigated, with rain forests and jungles occupying about 46% of the total
land surface.
As some of the islands have active volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are
somewhat common.
Climate
The overall climate is tropical marine with average temperatures
reaching 26ºC and above. However, due to the large area over which the
islands are distributed and because of different sea temperatures from
north to south, the northeast monsoon is usually from November to April
while the southwest monsoon is May to October. |
Capital
Manila
Many people dismiss Manila as nothing more than a 12 million
person-strong entry point to more interesting rural destinations in
the Philippines. And while the less built-up areas of the country do
offer much to the adventurous traveler, those who stop to smell the
incense and the pollution find that this modern capital city has a
few hidden treasures of its own. |
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Map
of Manila
courtesy of lonely planet
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| Time and Language |
| Time in Manila is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT+ 8).
The official languages are English, which
is spoken as second language by about half the population and Pilipino
which is based on Tagalog.
About 8 native languages and dialects are
spoken throughout the islands, all belonging to the Malay-Polynesian linguistic
family.
Only few Filipinos still speak Spanish and the use of it is slowly
declining.
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Even
though the Philippines has a wide range of languages, they have one of the
highest literacy rates in Eastern Asia-Pacific area. Ninety percent
of the population that are 10 years of age and older are literate.
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