Southeast Asia, 4 degrees 23 minutes north latitude-21 degrees 25 minutes east longitude 116 degrees
Mabuhay!
Philippines is an archipelago consisting of 7,641 islands located in Southeast Asia. Of the 7,641 islands, only 2,000 are inhabited which are clustered into the three major island groups namely Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The remaining 5,000 islands of the archipelago are yet to be named.
The islands of the Philippine are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire making its volcanic activity active. With the country’s rich biodiversity, the Philippines attracts tourist of all nationality for its beaches, mountain, rainforests, diving spots, and unique islands with numerous beaches, caves, and rock formation.
With all the destinations to choose from, the Philippines make the ultimate destination 365 days a year!
Capital: Metro Manila
Population: 107 Million (World 13th / Southeast Asia 2nd, as of Jan 2019)
Main Cities: Manila (Luzon) / Cebu City (Visayas) / Davao City (Mindanao)
The Philippines is a multiracial nation with more than 90 percent belongs to the Malay community.
The remaining 10 percent is owned by Chinese-Filipino and Mestizo (US/Spanish mixed blood).
Chinese-Filipino has shown its activity in the Philippines economy while the Mestizo has a high level of education, forming a higher class.
The Philippines belongs to a subtropical climate zone and is greatly influenced by a humid tropical monsoon climate.
Due to the seasonal winds, the Philippine season is largely divided into two (2) season; dry and rainy, with geographical characteristics that make it somewhat different from region to region.
The dry season is from December to May which makes December to February the best time to travel to the Philippines. It’s a season usually called the 'Winter of Philippines’ due to its chilly weather in most of the regions with an average temperature around 22°C to 28°C with little precipitation. March to May is a season with a midday temperature that reaches about 40°C.
From June to November is the rainy or wet season as it rains frequently and is often affected by typhoons.
Language: Filipino (Tagalog), English and Local Native Language (depending on the region)
The official languages of the Philippines are English and Filipino (Tagalog).
The Philippines ranks fifth in the world following India and the U.S. with high English usage.
In addition, a total of 182 native languages is spoken throughout the nation. 12 of which are indigenous languages spoken by at least one (1) million native speakers, such as Cebuano, Ilocano, Bikol, Ilongo, among others but widely use standardized Tagalog as the official language (used by 25 percent of the Philippines' population).
Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages with a number of Spanish-influenced during the colonial rule of Spain and the United States since the 16th Century.
The Philippine monetary unit is Peso consisting of newly designed six (6) kinds of bills and six (6) kinds of coins.
- Paper Bills: 1,000 / 500 / 200 / 100 / 50 / 20
- Coins : 10 / 5 / 1
- Centavos: 25 / 5 / 1
1 peso = about 21 won (as of May 2012)
Symbol‎: ‎₱
Code‎: ‎PHP
Central bank‎: ‎Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Major Banks: Banco De Oro, Bank of the Philippines (BPI), Metrobank,
However, nowadays most establishments accepts Credit Card or e-wallet (such as wechat, gcash, etc) as a payment method catering to major brands such as Visa, MasterCard, Amex or JCB.
The Philippines boasts to be the only Christian nation in Asia with more than 86% of the population as Roman Catholic, 6% belongs to nationalized Christian cults, 4% for the Muslim minority within Mindanao area, and the remaining 2% for the various Protestants denominations.
Due to the influence of the Spanish colonial rule over 300 years, Catholicism is the dominant religion, however as the influence of the United States grows, Protestantism is increasing.
The Philippines' flag was designed by Marcela Argonzilo in 1898 and was adopted by General Aguinaldo's Patriotic Union during the Spanish-American War in Hong Kong's independence movement.
The yellow sun in the triangle represents freedom, and the eight-rays of the sun represent the first eight states to strike against Spain. The three stars refer to the three regions of the Philippines (Luzon, Mindanao, Visayas).
The color white represents equality, blue represents peace, sincerity, justice, and red represent patriotism and courage.
The Philippines has been colonized by many countries such as Spain, United States, and Japan for a long time so its cuisines are of mixed culture. However, there are still unique indigenous foods in different regions that have been a signature dish of different recipes and tastes that are outstanding.
With the modernization of generations, not only do we create a fusion with the signature dishes but Filipinos are greatly influenced and has adapted international cuisine such as Korean.