About the Philippines

When we are at peace, the flag is flown with the blue field on top. When we are at war, we fly it with the red field on top.

Government. The Philippines is a Republic. Our official name is the Republic of the Philippines. We have an elected President who is head of the government and commander of the armed forces. In the southernmost island of Mindanao, there is a self-governing region of all the Philippines' predominantly muslim provinces. This is called the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARRM).

We love laughing at our own misuse of our adopted language English.

Language. Filipino and English are the official languages of the country. But there exists 175 individual languages - most of which have their roots in Malay and Polynesian languages with Spanish, English and Chinese thrown in. 

This photo of a van outrunning a pyroclastic flow from Pinatubo was taken by my photographer friend Albert Garcia.

Geography. The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands, most of the islands are volcanic in origin because the country sits on the Pacific Rim of Fire. As a result, the country experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 was the second largest eruption in the 20th century.

Last year's unusually harsh Typhoon Ondoy left many parts of Manila submerged in water

Climate. We have a tropical-maritime climate - which means it is hot and humid most of the time. It is coolest in January (21 degrees C) and hottest in May (32 degrees C). We are smack in the middle of the typhoon belt and have torrential rains and storms from July to October. As many as 19 typhoons enter Philippine territory in the typhoon season!

Economy. Though the Philippines was regarded as the second wealthiest country in Asia after World War II, our economy suffered from slow economic growth and frequent recessions brought on not just by global slowdowns but by chronic corruption in government and other areas of economic management. It is heavily reliant on remittances from Filipino workers in other countries. The economic malaise is made worse by a huge population - the Philippines is the 12th most populous nation in the world with a population of 92 million. 

The Aetas (also known as Negritos) were the first Filipinos: a pygmy race that crossed over from the Asian mainland on land bridges 30,000 years ago.

Illustration courtesy of Maasimo Cartaginese 

The Asian land masses separated over time and the Philippines became an archipelago of 7,107 islands.

People from other islands, travelling on boats called the ‘balanghay’ came to settle.

Early Filipinos traded with Chinese and Arab traders.

Island culture reflected Malay, Hindu, Islamic and Chinese influences.

The Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, is credited as the first Westerner to discover the Philippines.

Lapu Lapu, a Muslim chieftain, resisted Magellan’s attempt to declare sovereignty over the islands. Magellan was killed in battle and Lapu Lapu is now known as the first Fiipino hero.

An artist's re-imagining of the first mass held in the islands

Magellan and his men introduced Christianity to the islands and Catholicism became the dominant religion. Magellan was an agent of Spain and Spain ruled over the Philippines for the next 300 years.

Over the next 300 years, the Spanish unified the archipelago, which previously had been independent kingdoms and communities (barangays). They named the new country the Philippines, after Philip II of Spain. There were frequent uprisings as native Filipinos resisted the injustices of the Spanish's encomienda system but it was only in the 1800s, with the rise of a Filipino middle class that real revolution took place.

The Philippines became an important waystation for the spice trade. The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade brought spices, porcelain, ivory, lacquerware and silk to European markets, via Mexico. 

19th century prosperity produced well-to-do farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, writers, and government employees who were able to buy and read books which were originally forfeited from the lowly Filipino class. They discussed political problems and thus sought government reforms - from this group rose the Ilustrados, who began the campaign for change.

Filipinos conducted a revolution against Spanish rule between 1896 and 1898. 

Revolutionaries had control of the main island of Luzon when the United States declared war on Spain over the blowing up of an American ship during fighting in Cuba.

The Americans sailed into Manila Bay, swiftly defeating a Spanish fleet and captured Manila. Soon after, the US (under President McKinley) distanced itself from the revolutionaries and annexed the Philippines. Thus began the American Colonial Period.

During World War II the Japanese occupied the Philippines after American forces surrendered soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

A million Filipinos were killed during the war, many in the last months leading to Japanese surrender.

The Philippines faced huge challenges after the war - poverty, rebuilding, as well as simmering insurgencies - in the South, by Muslim separatists and in the countryside, by a communist-led movement. 

In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos was elected president. Nearing the end of his second term and constitutionally barred from seeking a third, he declared martial law on 21 September 1972, citing political divisions, theCold War, and the threat of communist rebellion and Islamic insurgency.

During Martial Law, there was an extraordinary rise in the numbers of Filipinos seeking to work abroad. A so-called brain drain of professionals to the United States turned into a flood of workers to the Middle East. The migration phenomenon continues to this day, from unskilled Filipinos seeking work as maids in other countries to doctors retraining as nurses to take advantage of a nursing shortage in the West. Photo source:Philstar

In 1983, oppositionist Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. returned from exile in the United States only to be shot dead as he descended from the plane. Marcos was forced to call presidential elections in 1986, running against Aquino's widow, Corazon. When Marcos proclaimed himself the winner, two of his allies turned against him and barricaded themselves in two military camps. Millions of people gathered in support of the rebel leaders pressuring Marcos to flee. This was the People Power Revolution.