Encyclopedia
The
Philippines , officially the
Republic of the Philippines , is an island nation located in the
Malay archipelago in
Southeast Asia, with
Manila as its capital. It comprises 7,107 islands called the Philippine Archipelago, with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers or 116,000 square miles.
The Filipinos came from
Austronesian-speaking peoples, but there are also some Filipinos of mixed descent, known as
mestizos, through intermarriage with the Spanish, Chinese or other nationalities.
The country was named "Las Islas Filipinas" by Ruy López de Villalobos after
King Philip II of Spain. A Spanish colonial rule began in 1565 and lasted for about three centuries until the
Philippine Revolution of 1896. The United States gained possession of the Philippines after the
Spanish-American War in 1898 and ruled the country for about five decades. Philippine culture has many affinities with the
West.
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and
English is an official language, along with Filipino.
The Philippines is a significant source of migrant workers; there are over 9 million
overseas Filipinos and their remittances exceed $12 billion a year, an amount that forms a significant portion of the Philippines' gross national product. Moreover, the country exports more than one million of its nationals abroad annually through its overseas employment program. Due to this, the
Filipino diaspora has become the third largest among overseas ethnicities.
History
Archeological and
paleontological evidence suggests that
Homo sapiens existed in
Palawan about 50,000 years ago.
Sailing for the Spanish,
Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit the archipelago, arriving in 1521.
Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in 1565 and formed the first Spanish settlements, and paved the way for colonization. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the inhabitants. In the next 300 years, the Spanish military fought off various local indigenous revolts and various external colonial challenges. Such challenges came from the British, Chinese, Dutch, French, Japanese, and Portuguese. The most significant loss for Spain was the temporary occupation of the capital by the British during the
Seven Years' War. The Philippines was ruled as a territory of
New Spain from 1565 to 1821, before it was administered directly from Spain. The
Manila Galleon which linked Manila to Acapulco once or twice a year, began in the late 16th century. The Philippines opened itself to world trade on September 6, 1834. A propaganda movement began in the Spanish mainland, which included
José Rizal. This was done in order to inform the government of the injustices of the administration in the Philippines as well as the abuses of the friars. In the 1880s and the 1890s, the propagandists clamored for political and social reforms, which included demands for greater representation in Spain. Unable to gain the reforms, Rizal returned to the country, and pushed for the reforms locally. Rizal was subsequently arrested, tried, and executed for sedition on December 30, 1896. Earlier that year, the Katipunan, led by
Andrés Bonifacio, already started a revolution, which was eventually continued by
Emilio Aguinaldo, who established a revolutionary government, although the Spanish governor general Fernando Primo de Rivera proclaimed the revolution was over in May 17, 1897.
The
Spanish-American War began in 1898 and reached the Philippines when Commodore
George Dewey defeated the Spanish squadron at the Manila Bay. Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898, and was proclaimed head of state. Spain ceded the Philippines, together with
Cuba,
Guam and
Puerto Rico to the United States. By 1899, the
Philippine-American War ensued between the two, which continued the violence of the previous years. That war ended when Aguinaldo was captured by American troops on March 23, 1901. The colonial administration of the Americans introduced democracy in the Philippines. The status was turned into that of a
commonwealth in 1935, which provided for more self-governance. Plans for independence in the next decade were underway, although this was interrupted by
World War II, when
Japan invaded the country. Independence was granted on July 4, 1946.e 1946, the newly independent Philippine state has faced economic and political instability and various rebel groups. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the rise of student activism and civil unrest.
Ferdinand Marcos was then, the elected president. Barred from seeking a third term, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, ruled the country by decree, and extended both his power and tenure by force. His authoritarian rule became marred with unmitigated, pervasive corruption, cronyism and despotism. In 1981, martial law was lifted, and Marcos remained as president after an election in 1981.sition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning from exile. In January 1986, Marcos allowed for "snap" elections, after large protests. The election was believed to be fraudulent, and resulted in a standoff between military mutineers and the military loyalists. Protesters supported the mutineers, and was accompanied by resignations of prominent cabinet officials.
Corazon Aquino, the wife of Benigno Aquino, Jr., was the recognized winner of the snap election. She took over government, and drafted a new constitution, after the
1986 EDSA Revolution. Marcos, his family, and along with some of his allies were exiled to Hawaii.return of democracy and government reforms after the events of 1986 was hampered by massive national debt, government corruption, coup attempts, a communist insurgency, and a Muslim separatist movement. The economy improved during the administration of
Fidel V. Ramos, who was elected in 1992. However, the economic improvements were negated at the onset of the
East Asian financial crisis in 1997. The
2001 EDSA Revolution led to the downfall of the following president,
Joseph Estrada. The current administration of president
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been hounded by allegations of corruption and
election rigging.litics and government
The government of the Philippines is organized as a
presidential-
unitary republic, where the
President functions as
head of state, the head of government, and the commander-in-chief of the
armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote to a 6-year term, during which he or she appoints and presides over the cabinet of secretaries.
bicameral Congress comprises the
Senate and the
House of Representatives; members of the former are elected at large and those of the latter by geographical district. The 24 senators serve 6-year terms, with half retiring every three years, while the House of Representatives comprises 250 members serving 3-year terms.. Life expectancy is 69.91 years, with 72.28 years for females and 66.44 years for males. Population growth per year is about 1.92 percent, with 26.3 births per 1,000 people. In the 100 years since the 1903 Census, the population has grown by a factor of eleven. This represents a much faster rate of growth than other countries in the region .
Ethnic groups
The people of the Philippines are called
Filipinos. Most Filipinos are descended from the various
Austronesian-speaking migrants who arrived in successive waves over a thousand years ago from
Southeast Asia. These ethnic Filipinos are divided into various ethnolinguistic groups, the three most numerous being the Bisaya, Tagalogs, and the Ilocanos. They are genetically closely related to the
Taiwanese aborigines,
Malays of
Malaysia and
Indonesia, and the
Polynesians. The Negritos or
Aetas are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Philippines, and number less than 30,000 people . Filipinos of Chinese descent, who had been settling in the Philippines since pre-Hispanic times, currently forms the largest non-Austronesian ethnic group, claiming about 2% of the population. Other significant minorities include Americans, South Asians, and Europeans . According to a
Stanford University small-sample study, about 3.65% of Filipinos are partly of European descent.
Languages
More than 170 languages are spoken in the country, almost all of them belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian language group of the
Austronesian language family. According to the
1987 Constitution, Filipino, heavily based on Tagalog, and
English are both the official languages. The twelve major regional languages are the auxiliary official languages of their respective regions, each with over one million speakers:
Tagalog, Cebuano.
Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Bikol, Kapampangan, Pangasinan. Kinaray-a, Maranao, Maguindanao and Tausug.
English is used by some Filipinos as their first language, particularly those belonging to the upper echelons of society.
The Lan-nang-oe variant of Min Nan Chinese dialect is widely spoken by the country's Chinese minority.
Spanish and
Arabic are also used as auxiliary languages. The
use of Spanish in the Philippines as the original official language of the country has declined. Currently, only a few
Mestizo families speak it as their first language. The use of Arabic is prevalent among the
Filipino Muslims. It is taught in
madrasah schools.
Religion
The Philippines is the fifth-largest Christian nation, after the
United States,
Brazil,
Mexico, and
Russia. About 93 percent of all Filipinos are Christians: 83 percent belong to the
Roman Catholic Church, 2.6 percent belong to the Philippine Independent Church, and about 5 percent belong to various Protestant denominations.oximately 5 percent of Filipinos are
Muslim. They primarily live in parts of
Mindanao and the
Sulu archipelago. Most lowland Muslim Filipinos practice normative Islam, although the practices of some Mindanao's hill tribe Muslims reflect a fusion with animism. The Muslims have resisted conquest and conversion for centuries by the Spanish and the Americans. Various Muslim groups have been waging a decades-long armed campaign against the Philippine government for political self-determination.
There are also small populations of Buddhists,
Hindus, and
Jews.
Culture
Filipino culture is largely a fusion of the indigenous traditions of the Philippines, with the Hispanic and American cultures. It has also been significantly influenced by Chinese, Indonesian and Indian cultures.
The Hispanic influences in Filipino culture are largely derived from the culture of Spain and Mexico as a result of over three centuries of Spanish colonial rule through Mexico City. These Hispanic influences are most evident in Roman Catholic Church religious festivals. Filipinos hold major festivities known as barrio fiestas to commemorate their patron saints. The most obvious Hispanic legacy, however, is the prevalence of Spanish surnames among Filipinos. This peculiarity, unique among the people of Asia, came as a result of a colonial decree for the systematic distribution of family names and implementation of the Spanish naming system on the inhabitants of the Philippines. A Spanish surname in the Philippines doesn't necessarily denote Hispanic heritage.
The Chinese influences in Filipino culture are most evident in Filipino cuisine. The prevalence of noodles, known locally as mami, are a testament of the Chinese cuisine. Other Chinese influences include linguistic borrowings and the occasional Chinese derived surnames.
The use of English within the Philippines is America's most obvious legacy. The most commonly played and arguably the national sport in the Philippines is basketball. Indeed, there is a wide emulation of other American cultural trends, such as the love of fast-food; many street corners boast fast-food outlets. Aside from the American commercial giants such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, and Shakey's, local fast-food chains have also sprung up, including Jollibee, Greenwich Pizza, and Chowking. Filipinos listen to American music, watch American movies, and admire American actors and actresses, although Asian trends and culture have begun making inroads to the locals.
In spite of this, native moral codes, respect of family, veneration of elders, and friendliness, all remain intact. Filipinos honor national heroes whose works and deeds contributed to the shaping of the Filipino nation. José Rizal is the most celebrated ilustrado, a Spanish-speaking reformist visionary whose writings contributed greatly in nurturing a sense of national identity and awareness. His novels Noli Me Tangere is the Latin [i] version of the words spoken, according to the Gospel of John [i], b ...
and El Filibusterismo is the second novel written by Dr....
originally written in Spanish, are required readings for Filipino students, and provide vignettes of colonial life under the Spanish rule. They give a sense of Filipino identity and historical continuity. Ninoy Aquino, the charismatic leader against the Marcos dictatorship, is a highly revered martyr of the People Power revolution.
As with many cultures, music is an important aspect of the Filipino social fabric .
See also
References
External links
Official
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