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What is the capital of the Republic of the Philippines? |
Manila. Manila is a part of a metropolitan area. It consists of neighboring cities and municipalities including Quezon City, Pasig City, Pasay City etc. The population in 2003 is around eight million
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What is the “Summer Capital” of the Philippines? |
Baguio City. Baguio City is in the northern part of Luzon in the province of Benguet. Due to the city’s altitude, a lot of people goes here every summer to escape the heat of the lowlands.
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What is the oldest city of the Philippines? |
Cebu. Cebu is in the Visayas group of island. It’s also known as the “Queen city of the south”.
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What is the largest island of the Philippine Archipelago? |
Luzon. Visayas is a group of islands. Mindanao is the second largest. Palawan is technically part of the Luzon islands.
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The Philippines is predominantly Catholic in religion. Islam is the second largest religion of the Philippines and most of the Filipino Muslims live in what island? |
Mindanao. Mindanao is in the southern part of the country. It is the only group of islands that the Spanish church failed to dominate.
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During World War Two, it was known as “The Rock” due to its fortress and the strong resistance of the USAFFE forces. What is the name of this island? |
Corregidor. After the fall of Bataan it was the last resistance of the Filipino and USAFFE forces.
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Where can you find the marker for “Kilometer 0 (zero)”? It is the distance reference to all points in the country. |
Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. The Rizal monument can be found in Luneta formerly known as Bagumbayan. The monument serve as the starting point of any location in the Philippines.
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Where is the highest peak in the Philippines? |
Mt. Apo. Mount Apo can be found in Davao in Mindanao. It’s also an active Volcano.
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What is the longest river in the Philippines? |
Cagayan River. It runs through the whole length of Cagayan Valley from Cagayan, Isabela to almost central Luzon.
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Where can you find Mayon Volcano? |
Albay. Though all of these provinces are in the “Bicol Region”, Mayon can be found in Albay province. This volcano is famous due to its near perfect cone, but it’s one of the deadliest volcanos in the island.
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What is the provincial capital of Isabela? |
Ilagan. This is the second largest province. It is in the northern part of Luzon. Together with Cagayan, Quirino, Nueva Viscaya and Batanes it is called the Cagayan Valley Region.
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The Philippines is composed of approximately how many islands? |
7,107. It still depends, if it is low tide or high tide.
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What is the largest province in the Philippines in terms of land area? |
Palawan. This province is a large, long island found in the east central part of the country. The capital is Puerto Princesa City.
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What is the longest mountain range in the Country? |
Sierra Madre. The Sierra Madre mountain range runs from Cagayan in the north to Quezon province in the south, which is almost the entire length of eastern Luzon island.
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In the early 1990s, this volcano exploded and it is one the most violent in the 20th century. What is the name of this volcano? |
Mt. Pinatubo. It can be found in Zambales province. This volcano was dormant for almost 600 years before the explosion which left most of central Luzon devastated. Up to the present, every rainy season the province of Pampanga and Zambales is still ravaged by lahar.
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Pinoy Trivia |
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Mactan MythThere is no historical evidence that Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan in a one-on-one duel during the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521. Nothing of the sort was was never mentioned by Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the Magellan expedition and the lone available source on the subjects. His account: Magellan was hit first on the right leg by a poison arrow, then on the arm by a bamboo spear while a bolo slashed his left leg. When he fell, a swarm of attackers finished him off with a hail of hacks and stabs. First Pinoy in the SkyThe first Filipino to fly as a passenger was an Igorot chief named Gagaban. He rode with American pilot Lee Hammond in a Red Devil biplane on a short flight over Luneta on February 12, 1912. Pinay Make-UpAlthough cosmetic products were already widely sold in Manila in the 1910’s — thanks to the American occupation — it was only about 15 years later that the ordinary Filipina could wear make-up in public with full confidence. Before then she ran the risk of being mistaken for a bailarina or a vaudeville artista. Not LimasawaFilipino historians now agree that Limasawa Island, in Leyte del Sur, does not deserve the honor of being the site of the first Mass in the Philippines. The actual site was Masao in Butuan Bay, Agusan del Norte, where the national shrine commemorating the event has already been transferred. The long-running error has been traced to an English translation of Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicle of the Magellan expedition, where the prefix “li-” was attached to Mazzaua, Masao’s original name. Dynamic DuoManuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmena, Sr. were born in the same year (1878), were classmates in high school (San Juan de Letran) and college (University of Santo Tomas), and placed in the Top 10 of the bar examinations of 1903. Both later became provincial fiscals and governors (Tayabas and Cebu). Aguinaldo’s AgesEmilio Aguinaldo became capitan municipal of Kawit, Cavite, when he was only 26 years old, headed a revolution two months later, and assumed the presidency of the republic two months short of his 30th birthday. He died at age 95, the oldest for any Philippine president so far. Coup LeaderThe Philippine coup count is nothing compared to that of Bolivia. Statisticians say this South American country has had 191 coups and counter-coup since it became independent in 1825. Rizal as “Doctor”Jose Rizal’s “doctor” title does not refer to a doctorate as most people tend to think. For some reason, he was not able to take the examination that would have qualified him for a doctorate. Rizal did have a licentiate in medicine and so was allowed to practice in the profession. Kids & TVA UP survey reveals that the average Filipino child watches television at least three hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends — more than the time he spends studying, playing, or interacting with other people. Cheers!Alak, the Pinoy word for liquor, appears to have been derived from the Arabic term arak. It’s an old alcoholic drink resembling rum in taste, widely enjoyed in the Middle east and other parts of Asia. First “Import”Not many are aware that a black American fought on the side of Aguinaldo’s army during the Fil-American War. He was David Fagan, a six-foot defector who earned the rank of captain in the pinoy forces. An avowed hater of “whites”, Fagan learned to speak tagalog rather well, according to accounts, and lived-in with a Filipina. He was described as a fierce warrior and reportedly “salvaged” a number of white Americans captured by Filipino troops. He was hunted down after the defeat of Aguinaldo’s army, and believed assassinated. Pioneer PaperThe first newspaper in the Philippines was the Del Superior Gobierno, which began publication in August 1811. Edited by the Spanish governor-general himself, it carried only news from abroad as the paper was meant for the Spanish community in the country. Del Superior Gobierno had a life span of only 15 issues. Bar BirdsOld-timers say the term ‘mga kalapating mababa ang lipad‘ — describing nightclub hostesses — has its roots in Palomar, the famed Tondo red-light district at the term of the century. Palomar is Spanish for “pigeon house“. Manila, Manila, ManilaManila is not unique. There are two other Manila’s in the world, both towns in the United States (Utah and Arkansas). Mr. Shoo LiJun “Mr. Shoo Li” Urbano is following in the footsteps of his father, Manuel Conde (born Manuel Urbano), when he created television’s Mongolian Barbecue. Also known for his portrayal of Juan Tamad on film, the elder Urbano starred in the epic 1951 movie Genghis Khan, the Pinoy version of the life of the famed Mongolian warrior-king. It was the first Filipino film cited for technical achievement at the Cannes Film Festival. Jun’s real name, by the way, is manuel Conde, Jr. First Filipino - or Filipina?Was the first Filipino a man or a woman?The oldest human relics in the Philippines were discovered in Tabon Cave, Palawan, in 1962. The most important find was a fragment of a rather thick skull with a sloping forehead and wide, heavy bones. The jaws and the back of the head were missing, but subsequent carbon tests and ethic studies led to the general conclusion that the skull belonged to a small, slight human, a “Negritoid” who had lived about 22,000 years ago. Further tests gave the impression that the skullcap belonged to a woman. |
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un Trivia About the Philippines
1. The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world, behind the United States and England.
2. Boondocks and Boonies, words that have come to mean “in middle of nowhere” in the English language, are derived from the Tagalog word bundock, which means “mountain”. An educated guess would be that American soldiers fighting in the Philippines a century ago adopted the word. As an example, “Our units going into the boondocks to search for insurgents.” After the war, soldiers brought the term home with them, and the rest is history.
3. The Philippines is the fourth largest Catholic country in the world, behind Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.
4. Though the Republic of the Philippines is roughly the same size as Arizona in total area, it has 36,289 km of coastline. The United States, in comparison, has a “mere” 19,924 km of coastline. How is that possible? The Philippines is composed of around 7,000 islands (some are quite tiny), each of which has its own coastline. All those coastlines combined add up!
5. General Douglas MacArthur, known for his “Return” to the Philippines, was the son of Arthur MacArthur, a Brigadier General in the Army who played a major part in pacifying the Philippines during the Philippine-American war at the end of the 19th Century.
6. The Philippines has the longest accessible underground river in the world.
7. With a total membership exceeding 3 million, the Philippines has the third largest Boy Scouts organization in the world, behind the United States and Indonesia.
8. The first recorded intermarriage of a Filipino to a westerner occurred in 1565, when Isabel, the daughter of a Cebuano chief, Rajah Tupas, was married to a Greek by the name of Maestre Andrea. A widow, Isabel was one of the first Cebuanos to be taught the Catholic faith.
Trivia
·The exotic jeepney is a post-war creation inspired by the GI jeeps that the American soldiers brought to the country in the 1940s. Enterprising Filipinos salvaged the surplus engines and came out unique vehicles of art.
·Short distance and feeder trips could not be more exciting than via Philippine quick transports – the tricycle, a motorcycle with a sidecar, and the pedicab, a bicycle with a sidecar.
·The world’s longest underground river system accessible to man can be found at the St. Paul National Park in the province of Palawan.
·The largest Philippine wild animal, the tamaraw, is a species of the buffalo that is similar to the carabao. It is found only in the island of Mindoro.
·The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, a dormant volcano found in Mindanao, at 2,954 meters (9,689 feet). Mt. Pulog in Luzon is the second highest at 2,928 meters (9604 feet).
·Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno was the first bowler to be elevated to the International Bowling Hall of Fame based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The Philippine Congress has named him “Greatest Filipino Athlete of All Time.”
·Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? “Consummatum est!” (”It is done!”)
·The largest city in the Philippines is Davao City. With an area of 2,211 sq. km., it is about three times the size of the national capital, Metro Manila.
·Cebu is the oldest Philippine city.
·Negros Occidental has the most cities among Philippine provinces.
·Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds and Christmas carols start filling the air, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.
·Paskuhan Village in the province of Pampanga is Asia’s only Christmas theme park and the third of its kind in the world.
·The great Christmans lanterns of San Fernando, Pampanga can reach as big as 40 feet in diameter, using as many as 16,000 glowing bulbs.
·The exotic jeepney is the Filipino version of the jitney, the taxi/minibus that travels along a fixed route, found in many countries.
·The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.
·The word “boondocks,” which is now a part of the English language, dictionary, and vocabulary, comes from the Tagalog word “bundok,” meaning “mountain.”
·The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.
·Diving paradise Anilao, in the province of Batangas, is the theme of a picture book that bagged the International Prize for Underwater Images at the 27th World Festival of Underwater Images in France in November 2000. “Anilao” book creators and Filipino scuba divers Scott Tuason and Eduardo Cu Unjieng defeated big names in underwater photography such as Jacques Mayol, Pascal Kobeh, Monique Walker, and Alessandro Tommasi.
·The biggest game preserve and wildlife sanctuary in the Philippines is located on Calauit Island in Palawan, which has the largest land area among the Philippine provinces.
·The antibiotic erythromycin — used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections — was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.
·Fernando Amorsolo was officially the first National Artist of the Philippines. He was given the distinction of National Artist for Painting in 1972.
·Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo was the first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in 1942. He was also aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur in World War II; Philippine resident commissioner in the U.S. Congress from 1944-46; and the first Asian to become UN President in 1949.
·The largest fish in the world, the Whale Shark, locally known as Butanding, regularly swims to the Philippine waters.
·The world’s shortest and lightest freshwater fish is the dwarf pygmy goby (Pandaka Pygmaea), a colorless and nearly transparent species found in the streams and lakes of Luzon. Males have an average length of 8.7 mm. and weigh 4-5 mg.
·On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.
·The Philippine Madrigal Singers bagged the 1997 European Choral Grand Prix, the choral olympics of the world’s best choirs. The group, being the only Asian choir, bested five regional champions from all over Europe, earning them the title as the “world’s best choir.”
·There are 12,000 or so species of seashells in the Philippines. The Conus Gloriamaris or “Glory of the Sea” is the rarest and most expensive in the world.
·Of the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the Philippines.
·Of the eight species of marine turtles worldwide, five are reported to be found in the Philippines: the Green Turtle, Hawkbill, Leatherback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead.
·Of the eight known species of giant clams in the world, seven are found in the Philippines.
·The Basilica of San Sebastian is the only steel church in Asia and was the second building to be made out of steel, next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
·The largest bell in Asia hangs at the belfry of the 221-year old Panay Church. It is 7 feet in diameter and 7 feet in height, and weighs 10.4 tons. Its tolling can be heard as far as 8 km. away. It was casted from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople as a manifestation of faith and thanksgiving.
·The World Cup, which was instituted in 1965, is contested annually by the national champions of the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ). The highest number of wins is 4, by Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno: 1976, 1980, 1992, and 1996.
·Filipino Eriberto N. Gonzales Jr. consumed 350 chilis in 3 minutes at the annual Magayon Festival chili-eating contest held at Penaranda Park, Legazpi, Albay on May 27, 1999, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the most chilis eaten.
·The longest possible eclipse of the Sun is 7 min. 31 sec. The longest eclipse in recent times took place west of the Philippines on June 20, 1995, lasting for 7 min. 8 sec.
·Camiguin province holds the distinction of having the most number of volcanoes per square kilometer than any other island on earth. It is also the only place in the Philippines which has more volcanoes (7) than towns (5).
·The 900 sq m Relief Map of Mindanao in Dapitan City was personally done by Dr. Jose Rizal. It was used as a device for teaching history and geography to townsfolk.
·The Zamboanga Golf Course and Beach Park was founded in 1910 by Gov. John Pershing. It is one of the oldest golf courses in the Philippines.
·Isabela City is the youngest city in the region. It was only on March 5, 2001 that the Municipality of Isabela, Province of Basilan was converted into a component city Through RA 9023. On April 25, 2001, Isabeleños ratified the new status of Isabela.
·The Kinabayo is an exotic and colorful pageant re-enacting the Spanish-Moorish Wars, particularly the Battle of Covadonga where the Spanish forces under General Pelagio took their last stand against the Saracens. They were able to reverse the tide of war with the miraculous apparition of St. James, the Apostle. A Kinabayo Festival is celebrated every July in Dapitan City, attracting thousands of tourists to the city.
·The altar at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Dipolog City was designed by Dr. Jose Rizal. The Cathedral was erected by the Spanish friars sometime in 1895, before Dipolog City became a municipality.
·The Rizal Shrine in Dapitan City is the original estate of Dr. Jose Rizal which he acquired by purchase during his exile in Dapitan from 1892 to 1896.
·RA 8973 signed by then President Joseph E. Estrada in February 2001 created the province of Zamboanga Sibugay. A total of sixteen municipalities compose this newest province in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
·Magat Dam is Asia’s biggest dam project at the time of its construction. It serves the primary function of power generation and irrigation.
·The Cagayan River or Rio Grande de Cagayan is the Philippines’ mightiest watercourse – the longest and widest river in the country. Small streams originating form Balete Pass, Cordillera, Caraballo and Sierra Madre Mountains meet other streams and rivers and flow to the Cagayan River.
·Magapit Suspension Bridge is the first of its kind in Asia. It spans the Cagayan River at Lallo and is 0.76 kilometers long. The hanging bridge links the first and second districts of Cagayan going towards the Ilocos Region via the scenic Patapat Road on the Ilocos Norte-Cagayan Inter-Provincial national highway.
·Angono Petroglyphs – This cultural heritage site dates back to circa 3000 B.C. and is the most ancient Filipino, or more aptly, prehistoric Filipino work of art. Besides being the country’s oldest “work of art” it also offers us an evocative glimpse into the life of our ancestors. The site has been included in the World Inventory of Rock Art under the auspices of UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOMOS and nominated as one of the “100 Most Endangered Sites of the World.
·PANCIT HABHAB (Lucban)-Made from rice flour, these local noodles acquired its name and developed its unique attraction by the way it is eaten. Otherwise known as Pancit Lucban, these noodles are hawked in the streets and served on a piece of banana leaf, sans fork or any other utensils. Thus, it is eaten straight from the leaf, licking permitted… “habhab”-style.
·Tagala - the Philippines first Filipino-Spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.
·Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor
·Ilo-Ilo golf and country club is the oldest golf club in the Philippines. It was built at 1908 by Irish Engineers.
·Limasawa Island – where Ferdinand Magellan first landed in the Philippines which give way to the discovery of the Philippines and where the first mass was celebrated.
·San Juanico Strait - said to be the narrowest yet the most navigable strait in the world
·Calbiga Cave – The Philippines’ biggest karst formations and one of the largest in Asia, the 2,968-hectare cave system is composed of 12 caves with wide underground spaces, unique rock formations and sub-terranean watercourse.
·At the Immaculate Conception Cathedral can be found the only existing pipe organ in Mindanao. The 2nd largest pipe organ in the Phiippines. The huge instrument took 2 years to built and was brought over by sea from Germany in 23 crates.
·Cagayan de Oro City - “The City of Golden Friendship,” known for its warm people and old-fashioned hospitality
·Mt. Apo, the Philippines highest mountain at 10,311 feet above sea level, and considered as the “Grand-father of all Philippine Mountains”
·Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines, probably the deepest in the country and is considered one of the major tropical lakes in Southeastern Asia. The lake is home of endemic cryprinids, the species found only in the lake and nowhere else in the world.
·Halo-Halo! Halo-halo literally means, “mix-mix”. And its is just that: a mixture of sweetened fruits and beans, lavished with pinipig (crisp flattened rice flakes), sugar and milk, topped by crushed ice and ice cream. You know its summertime when halo-halo stand start sprouting by the roadside and by the beach, all whipping up their heavenly concoctions of such a refreshingly divine dessert. You can make your own by selecting and mixing your ingredients to make a perfect Halo-Halo. Halo-Halo is uniquely, unforgettably Filipino!
·KALESA - The kalesa or karitela is a horse-driven carriage that was introduced during the 18th century. It was used by Spanish officials and the nobles as a means of transportation. The Ilustrados, the rich Filipinos who had their own businesses, used the kalesa not only for traveling but as a means a means of transporting their goods as well.
·BAKYA-Made primarily of lightwood (laniti and santol trees), it is sculpted with a slope and shaved to a smooth finish, then painted with floral designs or varnished to a high sheen. The upper portions, which are made of rubber or transparent plastic, are fastened to the sides by thumb nails called “clavitos”. The bakya industry prospered during the 1930s when the Filipinos began exporting these to the other countries.
·SORBETES-This sweet treat was concocted in the early 1920’s, a time where a single centavo could buy you almost anything. The process of this ice cream making and selling it in carts with colorful designs is still the same. Back in the old days, these ice cream dealers bred their own cows and milked them with their own hands to ensure the freshness and sanitation of the milk needed to make the “dirty ice cream”.
·Waling Waling Orchids - With some 800 to 1,000 species of orchids, the Philippines has one of the richest orchid floras in the world. Philippine orchids come in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and colors. Most grow only in old-growth forest, often on branches of huge trees dozens of meters above the forest floor.
·Maria Teresa Calderon – A Filipina World champion speed reader as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
·In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world’s 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.
·The Philippine Basketball Association is Asia’s premier and the world’s second oldest professional league.
·Philippine Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia’s first airline.
·The world’s largest pearl was discovered by a Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the “Pearl of Lao-Tzu”, the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old.
·Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) Channel 3, the first television station in the country, went on the air in 1953.
·The world’s second deepest spot underwater is in the Philippines. This spot, about 34,440 feet (10,497 meters) below the sea level, is known as the Philippine Deep or the Mindanao Trench. The Philippine Deep is in the floor of the Philippine Sea. The German ship Emden first plumbed the trench in 1927.
·The symbolic name for the Philippines, Juan dela Cruz, is not a Filipino invention? It was coined by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s, after discovering it was the most common name in blotters.
·Lipa City in Batangas is dubbed as the “Rome of the Philippines” because of the number of seminaries, convents, monasteries, retreat houses, and a famous cathedral located in it.
·Compostela Valley is known to be laden with gold, thus earning the monicker “Golden Valley of Mindanao”
·Basilica of St. Martin de Tours in Taal, Batangas built by Augustinian Missionaries in 1572, is reputed to be the biggest catholic church in East Asia. It is so huge that it can house another big church
·Kibungan is known as the “Switzerland of Bengued” because of the frost during the cold months
·The Delmonte Pineapple Plantation in Bukidnon is considered to be the biggest in the far east
·Both Tridacna gigas, one of the world’s largest shells, and Pisidum, the world’s tiniest shell, can be found under Philippine waters. Tridacna gigas grows as large as one meter in length and weighs 600 pounds while Pisidum is less than 1 millimeter long. A shell called glory of the sea (Connus gloriamaris) is also found in the Philippines and considered as one of the most expensive shells in the world.
·Seahorses are small saltwater fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family (order Gasterosteiformes), which also includes pipefish and sea dragons. Most seahorse species, probably the most peculiar creatures in the water, live in the Coral Triangle. There are at least 50 known seahorse species in the world. They inhabit temperate and tropical waters but most of them are concentrated in the warm coastal waters of the Philippines.
·Donsol, a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a sanctuary to a group of 40 whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which are considered as the largest fish in the world. Locally known as “butanding”, whale sharks visit the waters of Donsol from November to May. They travel across the oceans but nowhere else have they been sighted in a larger group than in the waters of Sorsogon. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in length and weigh about 20 tons.
·The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most exotic birds.
One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram.
·Palawan bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Known in Southeast Asia as binturong, the bearcat is a species of its own, with population in the forests of Palawan, Borneo, Burma and Vietnam. It belongs to the family of Viverridae (civets). The Palawan bearcat has a long body and a pointed face leading to the nose. Its head and body measure 61 to 96 centimeters in combined length while its tail is almost as long. It weighs 9 to 14 kilograms and lives up to 20 years.
·Calamian Deer - Calamian Islands, north of Palawan province, keep a species of deer that cannot be found elsewhere. Scientists referred to the hog deer in the islands as Calamian deer in order to distinguish them from other hog deer in the world. An ordinary Calamian deer measures 105 to 115 centimeters in length and 60 to 65 centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs about 36 to 50 kilograms. It is said to have longer and darker legs, compared with other hog deer.
·World’s Smallest Hoofed Mammal - South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world’s smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.
·Flying Lemur - One of the most distinct creatures on Earth lives in the Philippines. It doesn’t have wings but it can glide across 100 meters of space in a single leap. Like the lemurs of Asia, it moves around at night. Its head resembles that of a dog while its body has similarities with the flying squirrel of Canada.
In Mindanao, people call it “kagwang”. Around the world, it is known as colugo or the flying lemur.
·Did you know that the first four cities of Metropolitan Manila are: Manila, Quezon, Pasay and Caloocan
·The flagpole located in Rizal Park, is where the starts of 0 kilometer reading in measuring all distances from Manila.
·Quezon City is the second biggest city in the Philippines.
·The Bonifacio Monument in Monumento, Caloocan City was designed by a noted Filipino sculptor Guillermo Tolentino
·In 1916, in the Philippines, an offensive style of passing the ball in a high trajectory to be struck by another player (the set and spike) were introduced. The Filipinos developed the “bomba” or kill, and called the hitter a “bomberino”. (source: http://volleyball.org/history.html)
·The PHILIPPINE EAGLE is the 2nd largest bird on the planet (next only to the American Condor)….
Social Issues in the Philippines
Falling Income
The Philippine GDP per capita shrank to US$990 in 2000 from US$1,129 in 1997 while the GNP per capita contracted to US$1,033 from US$1,197. This was a result of the Asian financial crisis, which caught up with the Philippines in 1998.
After expanding 5.2 percent in 1997, the country’s GDP backpedaled by 0.5 percent in 1998. It grew by only 3.4 percent in 1999 and 4 percent in 2000. With a high population growth rate of 2.3 percent annually, economic growth in 1999 and 2000 did little to improve the real per capita income of Filipinos.
Peso Drops 14 Times vs. US Dollar
According to Senator Ralph Recto, the country’s per capita income has barely grown in the past 21 years. He said that the per capita income of P12,913 in 2001 is only P318 higher than P12,595 in 1980. “In today’s pesos, the P318 increase in 21 years amounts to nothing at all.” he said. Senator Recto also noted that the value of the peso has depreciated by as much as 1,373 percent against the dollar since 1960.
The Poor and the Rich
In its 2000 survey of family income and expenditure, the NSO said that the average income of the population’s 10th decile, representing the richest 10 percent of the Filipinos, was 14 times higher than the average earnings of the first decile, representing the poorest 10 percent. Each decile was representing about 8 million Filipinos.
Poverty Threshold: P13,916
While the per capita income declined between 1997 and 2000, prices of consumer goods and services increased by almost 20 percent during the three-year period or over six percent annually. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) was forced to raise by 23 percent the national per capita poverty threshold to P13,916 in 2000 from P11,319 in 1997.
Unequal Regional Development
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that Metro Manila’s per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2000 was more than twice that of the national average and more than five times that of Bicol region.
Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed that 11 of the country’s 16 regions had a poverty incidence of over 30 percent as of 2000. The five other regions with lower poverty levels are all located in Luzon. The NSCB placed the poverty incidence in the country (the proportion of families with per capita incomes below the poverty threshold) at 28.4 percent in 2000, up from 28.1 percent in 1997. In terms of population, poverty incidence was estimated at 34 percent in 2000, also up from 33 percent in 1997.
The NSCB data showed that in 2000, the National Capital Region or Metro Manila had the lowest poverty incidence of 5.7 percent among families. It was followed by four other regions in Luzon, with Region 3 (Central Luzon) registering a poverty incidence of 17 percent; Region 4 (Southern Tagalog), 20.8 percent; Region 2 (Cagayan Valley), 24.8 percent; and Region 1 (Ilocos), 29.6 percent.
Two regions in Luzon - Region 5 (Bicol), the southernmost region in Luzon, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) - had a poverty incidence of over 30 percent. About 49 percent of families in Bicol were suffering from poverty while 31.1 percent of families in CAR were also in the same category.
All regions in the Visayas had over 30 percent of poverty incidence. Region 6 (Western Visayas) had a poverty incidence of 37.8 percent; Region 7 (Central Visayas), 32.3 percent; and Region 8 (Western Visayas), 37.8 percent.
All regions in Mindanao also had over 30 percent of poverty incidence. Region 9 (Western Mindanao) had a poverty incidence of 38.3 percent; Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), 32.9 percent; Region 11 (Southern Mindanao), 31.5 percent; Region 12 (Central Mindanao), 48.4 percent; Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 57 percent; and Caraga, 42.9 percent.
32 Million Poor Filipinos
With the adjustment on poverty threshold, the number of Filipinos considered poor or affected by poverty incidence swell to 30 million or 39.4 percent of the population in 2000 from 36.8 percent in 1997. According to the Commission on Population (Popcom), the figure could have further climbed to 32 million or 40 percent of the population in 2002. In terms of number of families, poverty incidence affected 33.7 percent of all Filipino families in 2000 from only 31.8 percent in 1997.
5.1 Million Poor Families
The NSO reported that in 2000, poverty incidence affected 19.9 percent of families in urban areas and 46.9 percent in rural areas. Real number of poor families climbed to 5.1 million, 1.5 million of them in urban areas and 3.6 million in rural areas. Some 2.5 million families were living in subsistence level, meaning their income was not enough to buy their basic food requirements.
Poor and Near Poor, 58 Percent
In its 2001 report, the World Bank said 12.7 percent of Filipinos were “poor”, a term it assigned to those who lived on less than US$1 a day while 45.9 percent were “near poor” or those who lived on less than US$2 a day.
A 2002 survey conducted by the local poll group Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 58 percent of its 1,200 respondents had considered themselves poor. The survey, conducted on March 4 to 23, 2002, also disclosed that 52 percent of the respondents believed that their quality of life had deteriorated over the past 12 months while only 15 percent said otherwise.
Only 80 Percent Had Access to Safe Water
Access to safe drinking water dropped to 80 percent among Filipino families in 2002 from 81.4 percent in 1999, according to the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO). In real figure, however, the number of families with access to safe drinking water climbed by 6.2 percent to 12.746 million in 2002 from 11.999 million in 1999 largely because of the 8 percent population growth during the three-year period.
86.1 Percent Had Toilets
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that the percentage of Filipino families with access to sanitary toilet improved to 86.1 percent in 2002 from 85.8 percent in 1999. In real number, this translates to 13.713 million families with sanitary toilet in 2002, up from 12.662 million families three years earlier.
79 Percent Had Electricity
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that around 12.581 million families or 79 percent of the total had electricity in 2002, up from only 10.809 million or 73.3 percent of all families in 1999.
72 Percent Had Strong Houses
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that 11.497 million Filipino families or 72.2 percent of the total had their roofs made of strong materials and 9.888 million had their outer walls made of strong materials.
67 Percent Owned House and Lot
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that 10.593 million Filipino families or 66.5 percent of the total had their own house and lot in 2002, with only 546,000 of them or 5.1 percent using the government’s finance program to purchase their house and lot. Some 3.425 million families or 21.5 percent of the total had lands other than residence in 2002 while 376,000 families acquired lands through the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Ibon: Poverty Affects 87.5 Percent
Ibon Foundation Inc., a research think-tank that was accused by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as leftist, reported that poverty incidence actually affected 13.4 million Filipino families or 87.5 percent of all families in the country. The independent research agency based its computation on data from the National Wage Commission. Ibon said that the daily cost of living for a family of six was P530 in Metro Manila and P435 in the whole country, as of April 2002.
16 Percent Experiences Hunger
A survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in March 2001 showed that 16.1 percent of its respondents had experienced hunger at least once in the last three months. About 6 percent of the households surveyed also claimed that they were experiencing hunger often or always.
20 to 34 Percent of Filipinos Undernourished
About 20 to 34 percent of 74.2 million Filipinos in the period 1998 to 2000 was undernourished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its report entitled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002.” The situation in the Philippines was worse that those in Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam where only 5 to 19 percent of the population was undernourished.
Only less than 2.5 percent of population in Malaysia was undernourished while there was no record of similar problem in Singapore and Thailand. Only Cambodia, with 35 percent or more of its population being undernourished, was worse off than the Philippines.
The FAO reported that there are some 840 million undernourished people in the world today while the World Bank said about 1.2 billion people lived on less than US$1 per day. Some 25,000 people reportedly die of hunger and poverty each day. Measured annually, around six million children under the age of five are dying of hunger.
6 of 10 Policemen are Poor
A study concuted by the UP Variates and the CORPS Foundation in July 2002 showed that 32 percent of Metro Manila policemen claimed that their monthly income they took home were below the poverty threshold of P8,877 a month while nearly 90 percent admitted they had debts to government and private lending institutions. Nearly 50 percent had no bank savings.
1.391 Million Families with Working Children
Child labor remains a problem in the country. As of 2002, there were 1.391 million families or 12.8 percent of the total that had working children aged from five years old to 17 years old.
4 Million Children, Working
So critical was the poverty incidence in the country that many Filipino children had to find work in 2001. According to the NSO, 4 million out of the total 25 million Filipino children were working during the survey period from October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001.
Most of these working children were male, aged 10 to 17 years old, unskilled and unpaid. They worked as farmers, fishermen, hunters, vendors, and factory workers. Some 221,000 children did heavy physical work; 1.1 million faced physical hazards; 942,000 suffered injuries at work; and 754,000 had work-related illnesses.
These figures were consistent with the findings of an international institution. According to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), some four million Filipino children were forced to work as of 2002 because their parents could not find jobs. Around 67 percent of these children were working in the agricultural sector and had to stop going to school. About 50 percent of the children were feeding their respective families.
15 Million Children, Malnourished
A 2002 study conducted by the Philippine Congress showed that about 15.6 million or more than 60 percent of the 25 million Filipino children (below 18 years old) were malnourished. In a separate study conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), three out of 10 Filipino pre-schoolers were found malnourished or underweight in 2001. In actual numbers, there were 3.7 million malnourished pre-school children.
RP Imported 24 Million Bags of Rice
The Philippines, which remains largely rural and agricultural, has become the world’s fourth largest importer of rice, after Indonesia, Nigeria and Iran. Citing a report of the US Department of Agriculture, Representative Satur Ocampo said the country imported about 1.18 million tons metric tons of rice in 2001 and a total of 1.2 million metric tons (24 million 50-kilogram bags) of rice in 2002.
1.5 Million Street Children
The Philippines has one of the world’s largest populations of street children. A 1996 report of the non-government movement End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) showed that the Philippines had 1.5 million children living or working in the street of 65 cities. Metro Manila alone had at least 75,000 street children.
ECPAT claimed that many children in the street were working as pickpockets and beggars and that around 60,000 children were either sexually exploited or driven to prostitution. According to the Dangerous Drugs Board, 325,000 children were using illegal substance, particularly rugby.
About 100 million children in the world were said to be living in the street as of 1994.
2.8 Million Illiterate Filipinos
According to the Functional Literacy Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) conducted in 2001, about 2.8 million Filipinos could not read and write while 7.4 million others are functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy refers to the inability of a person to use his skills in reading, writing and counting to improve his life.
10.8 Million Unemployed, Underemployed
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that as of April 2002, there were 4.866 million unemployed Filipinos accounting for 13.9 percent of the total labor force estimated at 35.052 million workers. About 5.922 million others or 19.6 percent of the labor force were also underemployed, meaning they had no regular sources of income.
26 Percent of College Graduates Unemployed
A study commissioned by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in 2002 showed that 26.2 percent of college graduates aged 24 years old and below were unemployed. In comparison, only 13.6 percent of high school graduates and 9.1 percent of elementary dropouts were unemployed during the same period.
Workers, Only 30.6 Percent of Population
Measured against the whole population (80 million), those who were working at least 40 hours a week estimated at 24.264 million workers comprised only 30.5 percent of all people in the Philippines as of April 2002.
40 Percent of Voters Unaware of Rights
In June 2002, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an independent Catholic organization, announced that almost 40 percent of their respondents composed of Filipino voters were unaware of their voting rights.
Prices Up by 6 Percent
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), prices of goods and services moved up by over 6 percent in 2001. In particular, prices of fuel, light and water increased by an average of 11.5 percent, year-on-year in 2001. Rice in the Philippines reportedly costs three times as much as it does in Thailand.
Price of Medicine, Three Times as Much
Prices of eight common drugs in the country were three times as much as they were in India, according to the Department of Health (DoH). For example, a 20-milligram tablet of Adalat Retard or Nifedine 20 that cost over P34 in the Philippines in 2001 was only priced at about P5.74 in India in the same year.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has accused local pharmaceutical firms belonging to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) of dictating prices of medicine in the country.
5 Million Housing Backlog
According to the National Housing Authority (NHA), some 5 million Filipino families were in need of permanent houses in the whole country.
3.4 Million Squatters
In its 2002 study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cited the need to improve the lives of some 3.4 million Filipinos living in the slums of Metro Manila.
3,521 Disabled Filipinos, Driving
As of October 2002, the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) disclosed that some 3,521 disabled Filipinos have licenses to drive vehicles. The number of disabled driver included 2,550 partially blind, 56 with impaired hearing and speech, 777 with impaired lower limbs and 138 with impaired upper limbs.
Philippine Justice System
According to the Supreme Court, about 45 percent of Philippine courts - regional trial courts, municipal courts, and municipal circuit trial courts - had no judges as of September 2002. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said there was a 22 percent vacancy in positions of prosecutors in the whole country. Just how the courts administered justice with such a wide vacancy in positions of judges and prosecutors paints a picture of disillusionment among victims waiting impatiently for justice. The vacancy in these positions usually means delay in the implementation of justice, which in turn discourages people from actually filing cases in courts.
88 Signatures for Housing Permit
As of 2001, it took 88 signatures to get an approval to build a house in the Philippines. President Arroyo ordered that the number of signatures be trimmed to 45.
P35 Billion Lost to Project Anomalies
The chairman of the Committee on Appropriations at the lower chamber of Congress said the Philippine government lost P21 billion to graft and corruption stemming from scheming contracts entered into by senators and congressmen in 2001. The amount excluded money lost to corruption involving projects executed by other government officials.
Meanwhile, Senator Edgardo Angara said that around P35 billion is lost to graft and corruption in government infrastructure projects annually. Such anomalies come in the form of rigged public bidding, substandard work and cost padding. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
P21 Billion Lost to Procurement Process
The Philippine government has been losing some P21 billion to corrupt officials involved in the procurement process, the none-government organization Procurement Watch Inc. (PWI) reported. At the same time, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 15 percent of the cost of all government contracts is lost to corruption.
P104 Billion Pork Barrel
Aside from legislating laws, Filipinos senators and congressmen have made it their responsibility to distribute development projects in their respective districts. Each one of the 24 senators receives some P200 million in development funds annually while each one of about 218 congressmen receives P100 million in annual appropriations.
In total, all these development funds for legislators, collectively known as procurement budget or pork barrel, amount to P104 billion annually. According to House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr., some P21 billion or nearly 20 percent of this amount is pocketed by some legislators, other government officials and contractors each year. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
RP, Fourth Most Corrupt in Asia
In its 2002 survey, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which asked 1,000 foreign businessmen in 12 Asian countries, has ranked the Philippines as the fourth most corrupt country in Asia closely behind Indonesia, India and Vietnam. The Philippines received a score of 8.0 in the survey, on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 the best possible score for a country with no corruption. PERC said Singapore was the least corrupt in the region, with a score of 0.9.
In a separate survey also in 2002, Transparency International (TI) ranked the Philippines 77th among 102 countries in terms of fighting graft and corruption. The Philippines got a score of 2.6 in corruption perception index, with 10 the highest possible score for the country that has no corruption. Finland was ranked number 1, with a score of 9.7. Bangladesh was at the bottom of the list, with a score of 1.2.
P85 billion Ill-Gotten Wealth Recovered
In its claim as of 2002, the Presidential Commission on Good Government said that it has recovered a total of P85 billion in ill-gotten wealth since it was created in 1986.
2.8 Million Income Tax Payers
While there were 15 million salaried workers in the country in 2000, only 2.8 million actually paid income taxes. According to Senator Ralph Recto, of the total individual income tax returns filed in 2000, 1.953 million were by salaried workers (1.350 million of whom were government employees) and only 536,000 by businessmen and non-salaried professionals (like doctors and lawyers). In real amount, ordinary workers paid some P63.8 billion while non-salaried individuals, mostly businessmen and professionals, contributed only P7.3 billion for a total of P81.8 billion in individual income taxes.
The senator disclosed that about 56.2 percent of salaried and non-salaried workers in the country failed to settle their individual income taxes in 2000. Over the past 11 years, leakage from the individual income tax amounted to P608 billion. This was on top of the P610 billion that were lost to leakage in the value added tax (VAT) scheme.
US$205 Billion Tax Evasion
A study conducted by the research unit of US bank Morgan Stanley said that the Philippine government lost some US$205 billion in potential revenues from 1965 to 2001. The figure was computed based on the estimated annual tax leakage of US$7.6 billion or P380 billion. It was higher than the government’s estimate. According to the Department of Finance (DoF), some P242 billion (US$4.65 billion) in potential government revenues is lost to tax evaders yearly. In its 1998 study, the Department of Finance said some P69.85 billion was lost because of leakage in the value-added tax, P59.33 billion in corporate income tax, P98.95 billion in personal income tax, P2.56 billion in excise tax, P6.4 billion in documentary stamp tax, P1.18 billion in interest withholding tax on bank deposits, P2.33 billion in fringe benefits tax, P1.5 billion in gross receipts tax, and P370 million in insurance tax.
P187 Billion Tax Incentives to Corporations
The government dangled some P187.2 billion tax incentives to the largest foreign and local companies in the country in 2001. These incentives came in the form of income tax holidays and duty-free importation of raw materials from other countries. Companies, which benefited from such tax incentives were those registered at Board of Investments (BOI), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and other investment promotion agencies.
P147 Billion Budget Shortage
The country’s fiscal deficit reached P147.03 billion (US$2.95 billion) or 4.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at P3.6 trillion (US$72 billion) in 2001. While the government spent P710.8 billion, its total revenues amounted to only P563.73 billion. Public sector funding requirement (PSFR) reached P189 billion. Debt servicing or payments to interests of domestic and foreign borrowings reached P27.2 billion.
To augment its budget requirements in 2001, the government sourced 87 percent of its total financing from domestic funds and 13 percent from foreign loans and aid. The government relied heavily on fixed-rate Treasury bonds as it issued P208.42 billion worth of these short-term fixed-income securities.
The situation was worse in 20002. The government said the budget deficit would climb to P223 billion or 5.6 percent of the GDP by the end of the year. The original target was only 4 percent.
P781 Billion Government Budget
According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government has a total budget of P780.8 billion for 2002. Budget deficit is expected to reach at least P150 billion in 2002.
Of the 2002 budget, some P233.9 billion or 30 percent is to be poured into social services; P204.2 billion or 26 percent to debt interest payments; P158.9 billion or 21 percent to economic services; P136.1 billion or 18 percent to general services; and P41.5 billion or 5 percent to defense. Among government agencies, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) had the largest share of the pie at P103 billion while the Department of National Defense (DND) got P60.4 billion.
US$53.4 Billion Foreign Debt
The Central Bank said that as of March 2002, total foreign debt of the Philippines amounted to US$53.4 billion. Public debt was placed at P2.62 trillion as of June 2002.
US$45 Billion in Infrastructure Needs
According to the World Bank, the Philippines would need some US$35 billion to US$45 billion in fresh investments from the private sector to improve its infrastructures (roads, bridges, railways, telecommunication facilities, etc.) over the next ten years.
Two People’s Revolts
Fourteen years after the historic “People Power Revolution” that ousted the Marcos dictatorial rule in 1986, two people’s revolts rocked Metro Manila in the first half of 2001. This was followed by several attempts to repeat the ugly May 1 mob rebellion staged by supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada. In the absence of a legal framework governing people’s revolts, political stability became harder to establish.
Foreign Affairs Secretary and former Senator Blas Ople called for a “sober” examination of the people power phenomenon and warned that a fresh call to stage another revolution would threaten the country’s political stability. In a Senate resolution, Senator Blas Ople urged the chamber to assess the merits of “people power” as an instrument of political change and its constitutional implications.
Episode of Turbulence
Even President Arroyo, who was a beneficiary of the January 2001 people’s revolt, appealed for an end to what she called an episode of turbulence and threats. “In a living democracy, no group has the right to hold policy-making hostage by threatening to overthrow the executive on every issue of policy disagreement,” she said.
34 Percent Says Democracy Works
The Filipino people were also dismayed. In a national survey conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) Center for Leadership, Citizenry and Democracy in November 2001, only one of three Filipino respondents or 34 percent claimed they were satisfied with the way democracy works in the country. In contrast, about 42 percent of the respondents said otherwise. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Violent Elections
A manifestation of poor peace and order situation in the Philippines is the death of at least 87 people in the barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections in July 2002. The police said another 45 individuals were injured in 183 violent confrontations among candidates and their henchmen. Ironically, the police described the situation as generally peaceful because fewer people died this year, compared with previous barangay elections. On July 15, the Filipino people elected 41,945 barangay chairmen, a similar number of youth leaders and 293,615 barangay council members.
25,000 Armed Rebels
There are two major insurgency movements in the Philippines, namely: the communist insurgency and the Muslim separatist movement. According to military estimates, there were 25,000 armed rebels as of the first quarter of 2002.
These included 11,930 communist guerillas, 12,500 active members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and hundreds more belonging to Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf, Abu Sufia and Pentagon groups.
347 Clashes with the Reds
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recorded 347 armed confrontations with the communist guerillas, resulting in the death of 189 rebels and 120 government soldiers in 2001.
Moro Leader in Prison
In November 2001, former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari who signed a peace pact with the government in 1996 broke the agreement and led another armed struggle along with his loyal supporters. He was facing sedition charges at a prison camp in Laguna province.
Muslim Extremists
The Abu Sayyaf (Bearers of the Sword) is a Muslim extremist group that was fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. Since 1994, it has burned a Christian town, beheaded a number of innocent civilians, abducted foreigners and planted bombs in crowded areas. The AFP claimed that it was able to reduce the Abu Sayyaf force from 4,000 in 1994 to 600 in June 2001 and to 60 in May 2002.
In April 2000, the group took 21 hostages, mostly European tourists from the Sipadan Island in Sabah, Malaysia and brought them to Sulu province in Mindanao. The hostages were freed four months later upon payment of US$20 million ransom by the Libyan government. On May 27, 2001, the Abu Sayyaf abducted an American couple along with another American and 17 Filipinos from a beach resort in Palawan province. The group had beheaded the other American but freed the Filipino hostages.
Some 1,000 American troops went to Mindanao to coordinate, advise and train Filipino soldiers in the rescue mission of the American couple. On June 7, 2002, American hostage Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse who was also taken by the group were killed during an encounter between the Muslim extremists and the pursuing Filipino troops in Zamboanga del Norte province. Gracia Burnham was wounded but survived.
Camp Abu Bakar Falls
The former Estrada administration declared an ugly all-out war against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the year 2000. While the government was able to siege Camp Abu Bakar, the main camp of the MILF, the war resulted in numerous bombings in the south and Metro Manila. There were also summary executions of Filipino Christians in Mindanao.
On May 7, 2002, the Arroyo government and the MILF signed an interim peace agreement in Putrajaya, Malaysia. While the agreement called for the government’s rehabilitation and development of areas devastated by the war in 2000, it did not call for the laying down of arms by the Muslim dissidents.
Cost of War: P100 Billion
The World Bank said the recurring armed conflict between government soldiers and Muslim fighters would cost southwestern Mindanao over P100 billion in the next 10 years in terms of lost or stagnant investments.
2 Million Unlicensed Guns
Around 2 million unlicensed guns were circulating in the Philippines on top of the 775,000 legally registered firearms. The figures were disclosed during the “Regional Seminar on Implementing the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons” which was held in Quezon City in July 2002.
A statement issued during the seminar also claimed that the 2 million unlicensed firearms and light weapons, including pistols, rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missiles, were responsible for the death of four million people in 46 major conflicts in the country in the 1990s.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the national police to intensify the campaign against loose firearms. Reports said there are about 328,329 loose firearms nationwide. In 2002, the national police confiscated 7,633 loose firearms. The Department of Interior and Local Government said that of the 12,000 firearms used in crimes in 2002, more than 10,000 of which were unlicensed.
37,254 Index Crimes
Some 37,254 index crimes were reported to the police in the year 2000 alone. The police claimed to have solved 32,445 or 87 percent of these cases. Index crimes refer to crimes committed against lives and properties.
P1.25 Billion Ransom
The Citizens Action Against Crime, a non-government organization, claimed that around 2,100 people, many of them Filipino-Chinese businessmen, have become victims of kidnap-for-ransom gangs in the Philippines and paid ransom amounting to about P1.25 billion from 1993 to 2002. The group added that in 2002 alone, kidnap victims paid a total ransom amounting to P211 million.
News reports said kidnap-for-ransom syndicates victimized over 240 individuals, including 20 foreigners in 2001. In the first half of 2002, another 80 individuals, including 30 foreigners, became victims of kidnapping. While Manila-based publications tagged the Philippines as the world’s kidnap capital, the Philippine National Police (PNP) quickly denied this, claiming that Colombia owns the title.
1,877 Cars Stolen
The Philippine National Police (PNP) documented a total of 1,877 car theft cases in 2000.
Police data showed that a total of 2,219 vehicles were reported stolen in Metro Manila in 2002. This meant that six cars were stolen in the metropolis each day and 185 cars each month in 2002.
8 Rape Victims Per Day
Some 3,145 cases of rape were reported in the country in 2001. This translates to 8 cases of rape each day and one rape incident in every three hours during the year. The figure only covers rape incidents reported to the police. There were also 5,735 murder cases and 4,079 homicide incidents reported in the country in 2001 alone.
5,185 Sex Crimes Against Children
According to the Social Welfare and Development, there were a total of 5,185 sex crimes committed against children in the Philippines in 2000, and 3,980 cases in 2001. Sex crimes refer to rape, incest, and acts of lasciviousness.
143 Escapees
The Bureau of Jail Management reported that 143 prisoners escaped from their cells in 2000. Of these fugitives, 89 were recaptured.
25,000 Inmates
The Bureau of Corrections said that in 2002, it was holding 25,002 inmates, 16,134 of whom are at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP), which has a holding capacity of only 8,700.
314 Political Prisoners
As of December 2002, the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa was hosting 314 political prisoners.
239 Dismissed Cops in 2002
In the campaign against erring policemen, the national police reported that it dismissed from the service 239 commissioned and non-commissioned officers who were among the 4,447 policemen who were charged administratively for various offenses in 2002. The national police is encouraging the public to report crimes or ask for police assistance in case of emergency by sending a short messaging service (SMS) or text message to 2920.
P300 Billion Illegal Drug Industry
According to Interior and Local Government Secretary Joey Lina, the crime syndicates produce and trade P300-billion worth of illegal drugs in the country annually. The Dangerous Drugs Board also disclosed that some 1.8 million Filipinos are hooked on illegal drugs while 1.6 million others are casual users.
1.8 Million Drug Users
According to the International Narcotics Control Board, the use of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu has become “the most popular drug of abuse” in the Philippines. The Anti-Narcotics Group of the Philippine National Police disclosed that around 1.8 million of the 80 million Filipinos were regular drug users.
The agency also disclosed that about 70 percent of marijuana supply in the world might be coming from the Cordillera region in northern Luzon. It claimed that marijuana fields have been found among the 300,000 hectares of Cordillera farmlands in the past. In 1999, the police conducted 7,956 raids and arrested 11,004 individuals on drug-related cases.
55,000 Mail Order Brides to US
According to women’s group Gabriela, about 55,000 Filipino women have entered the United States as mail order brides as of 1997. Another 20,000 mail order brides went to Australia.
15 Women Beaten Daily
As of 2002, militant women’s group Gabriela said at least 15 women and six children are beaten up daily. In 2001, Gabriela recorded 5,668 cases of wife battering and 2,274 cases of maltreatment of children.
Two-Thirds of Young Workers Had Premarital Sex
A survey conducted by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in 2002 showed that 30 percent of the country’s young workforce claimed to be sexually active, with 10 percent of the single male respondents claiming to have casual sex. The study titled “Issues Affecting Young Filipino Workers” also showed that 37 percent of young males have had sex with more than one partner - usually with prostitutes - prior to marriage while two-thirds of married female and male workers said they had premarital sex with the people they eventually married.
In a separate report, a study conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute in the year 2000 showed that 23 percent of 16.5 million Filipinos aged between 15 and 24 have engaged in premarital sex.
According to the TUCP, about 6.5 million Filipino workers were belonging to the 15 to 24 year age group as of 2002.
400,000 Prostitutes
Despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in the country, women’s group Gabriela said that around 400,000 Filipinos were working as prostitutes as of 1998.
100,000 Child Prostitutes
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), about 60,000 to 100,000 Filipino children were working as prostitutes as of 1997. Prostitution was present in 37 provinces then. The major child prostitution dens were found in Manila, Angeles City, Puerto Galera, Davao City and Cebu City. The Philippines has reportedly become a favorite destination of pedophiles from the US, Australia and Europe. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has documented 8,335 cases of child abuse from 1991 to 1996.
400,000 Abortions
A study released by the University of the Philippines Population Institute in February 2003 said that there were 400,000 cases of abortion in the country each year, despite the fact that abortion is illegal here.
Vagina Economy
While hundreds of surviving Filipino women are still demanding justice from the Japanese government for their travails in the hands of Japanese troops who held them as sex slaves during World War 2, thousands of young Filipino women are ironically asking the Philippine government to ease the rules in the deployment of entertainers to Japan.
One government agency that tried to screen the recruitment of young Filipino women as entertainers in Japan eventually found itself in deep controversy. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the country’s main agency tasked to uplift standards of non-degree and non-formal skills training of Filipino workers, was under fire for allegedly delaying the issuance of certification to some 20,000 young Filipino women to work as entertainers or “overseas performing artists” in Japan in 2002.
The Philippine Association of Recruitment Agencies Deploying Artists (PARADA), the association of recruitment agencies deploying young Filipino women as entertainers in Japan accused TESDA director general Dante Liban of deliberately delaying the issuance of the so-called Artist Record Books (ARB) to 20,000 prospective overseas performing artists in 2002. Applicants need an ARB to get a visa from the Japanese embassy.
PARADA alleged that a group of people in TESDA were demanding P25,000 for an ARB from applicants who do not want to undergo testing. Without irregularity, the ARB is supposed to cost only P300. Because of the alleged irregularity in TESDA, PARADA claimed that 20,000 Filipino women lost the opportunity of earning US$800 a month in Japan. Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that deployment of Filipino entertainers to Japan slowed to 50,000 persons in 2002 from 70,000 in 2001.
But a group of Filipinos said that the single biggest controversy was not the delay in the issuance of ARBs to young Filipino women but the deployment of thousands of them to work as prostitutes or sex workers in other countries. Labor Undersecretary Lucila Lazo even went to the extent of calling it as “vagina economy”.
There are around 180,000 Filipino entertainers in Japan sending US$200 million each year. Many of these women were vulnerable to abuse and some driven to prostitution by the Japanese Yakuza gang.
According to the Movement for Responsible Enterprise (MORE), a civic group of concerned Filipinos, the Philippine government provided cover to save Japan from the embarrassment of hosting Filipino prostitutes. “The government made them appear like performing artists, sent to Japan as entertainers,” it added.
Filipino entertainers were eventually called “Japayuki”, which was an original concoction made by Japanese media referring to young girls working as prostitutes. The Philippine government allows the deployment of Filipino women as young as 18 years old.
The civic group also called on religious and militant groups to join the campaign against the continued deployment of Filipino entertainers abroad. “Let us all destroy this national disgrace. Stop the trafficking of women. Our national honor is priceless. We must defend it at all cost, at all times,” it said.
P8 Billion Annual Gambling Revenues
Gambling is a major social problem in the country. Not even the ouster of President Joseph Estrada from Malacanang Palace, on charges of receiving “jueteng” money from syndicates, could abate the problem. Jueteng is said to be a P40-billion business in the Philippines, annually.
While declaring “jueteng” as illegal, the government promotes other forms of gambling such as casino operations, lottery and recently text games. In May 2002 alone, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the government agency tasked to collect gambling revenues, reported an income of P1.81 billion. For the whole of 2000, Pagcor reported a net income of P8 billion, the second largest amount earned by any Philippine company in that year.
Text Gambling
No one seems to be bothered by the growing trend of text gambling in the Philippines. Due to the popularity of short messaging service (SMS) or text messaging in the country, broadcast stations and telecommunication companies have connived to endorse the now hugely popular text games. Here, the participants, mostly television viewers or radio listeners, put their bet in the form of a text message worth P10 each for the chance to win large prizes. Although less pronounced as a form of gambling, text gambling is no different than other number games like lottery, jai alai or jueteng.
Companies Lose P3.5 Billion to Counterfeiting
According to the Brand Protection Association (BPA), a group of 15 multinational companies based in the country, their member companies lost P3.5 billion to makers and distributors of fake brand products in the first three quarters of 2002 alone. As a result, the government also lost P1.3 billion in potential revenues.
The BPA also disclosed that the government confiscated fake goods amounting to P2.4 billion in the first nine months of 2002 alone, up from P800 million in the whole of 1998. The BPA said that the counterfeiting and piracy problem is not limited to CD’s, VCDs and computer softwares but also affects top brands of garments, bags, wallets, medicines, liquified petroleum gas (LPGs), batteries, lamps, bulbs and switches, brandy, vodka, cigarettes, soaps and shampoo, laser printer toner and ink cartridges, sofa beds, hacksaws, toys and electronic goods.
About 86 makers of product lines are said to be affected by counterfeits, which are boldly sold at formal distribution channels like shopping malls, department stores and supermarkets. “Not because these companies are in on it, but because they are also fooled,” Mr. Wallace clarified. The BPA said that the fake drugs and smuggled medicines comprise 30 percent of total products in the pharmaceutical sector.
The lighting sector is burdened by a 5 to 15 percent penetration of fake products while about 63 percent of softwares sold in the country is considered pirated. Most of the fake products sold in the country, the BPA added, come from China.
P1.1 billion Smuggled Fuel
A study conducted by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center (AIM-PC) suggested that some P1.1 billion worth of diesel fuel were smuggled into the country between 1999 and 2001. Some 300,000 liters or 2,000 barrels of diesel are reportedly smuggled and sold in the country each day. The policy think tank blamed several owners of barges and tankers/trucks; ship captains and seamen; past and present officials of oil firms; owners of depots and storehouses; and importers and owners of import terminals as responsible for the smuggling. The culprits reportedly got help from officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard.
Alcohol, Most Abused Drug
Liquor is said to be the most abused substance in the Philippines and the world. While there remains to be a concrete study on the effects of alcoholism, many index crimes such as homicides, physical injuries and sex-related offenses are often associated with alcohol. Adding to these are the numerous accidents caused by drunk driving. Many Filipino families were also ruined by alcoholism, with young children exposed to the evils of their drunken fathers. Sadly, the government does not do anything about it.
San Miguel Corp., a beverage conglomerate that is the top seller of beer and gin, is also the country’s largest corporation. In 1998 alone, the company sold 327.6 million bottles of beer.
1.25 Billion Liters of Beer
In 1995, Filipinos consumed 146,000 bottles of wine, making them the top wine drinkers in Asia. A more shocking report is that Filipinos consumed 1.25 billion liters or 3.9 billion bottles of beer in 1998 alone. In the year 2001, beverages comprised nearly 2.3 percent of the average Filipino’s expenditures.
A 1994 survey conducted by the University of the Philippines showed that almost 5.3 million or 60 per cent of Filipino youths were drinking alcoholic beverages. Of the total, 4.2 million were males and 1.1 million, females. A conclusion was that there were more alcoholic drinkers than smokers among Filipino youths, who were starting to drink alcohol at the age of 16 or 17 years old.
21.6 Percent of Students Smoke
A global youth tobacco survey (GYTS) in the Philippines showed that as many as 21.6 percent of Filipino students were smoking cigarettes. The percentage was 32.6 percent among male students and 12.9 percent among female students. Some students believed that smoking would win them more friends and make them look cool. Tobacco comprised 2.4 percent of the average Filipino’s expenditures in 2001.
6,100 Tons of Garbage Daily
According to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the metropolis produces some 6,100 tons of garbage daily. In 2001, the total volume of recyclable materials that ended up in junkshops and recycling plants reached 120,162 metric tons.
The Cost of Air Pollution
The World Bank has reported that air pollution in the Philippines results in a yearly loss of US$1.5 billion in medical treatment, lost wages, low productivity and deaths that severely impact the Filipinos’ quality of life. The World Bank report also said that air pollution results in 2,000 deaths each year and causes US$1.5 billion in lost wages, medical treatment in the four metropolis of Baguio, Manila, Cebu and Davao The World Bank also said that the country needs US$500 million (P25 billion) to implement the Clean Air Act of 1999 over the next 10 years.
In its Philippines Environment Monitor 2002, the World Bank said the government spends US$400 million in health cost as a result of air pollution in four urban centers alone, namely: Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and Baguio where about a quarter of the population lives. Such a health cost is said to be 0.6 percent of the country’s gross national product.
The World Bank cited a 2001 survey showing that more than 72 percent of Metro Manila’s residents were alarmed by air pollution and 73 percent said they were not aware that the government was doing anything to address it. The World Bank said air pollutants such as ozone and nitrogen oxides continue to spread.
In its study, the World Bank said fine particle emissions result in about 2,000 premature deaths and 9,000 cases of chronic bronchitis in the country’s four largest urban areas annually. These emissions of pollutants were largely blamed on public buses, jeepneys, utility vehicles, trucks and motorcycles that continue to emit visible smoke despite the government’s anti-smoke belching campaign. As of 2001, there were 3.9 million land vehicles in the country.
22 Million Filipinos Exposed to Tuberculosis
A World Bank report in 2002 said that around 22 million Filipinos were exposed to tuberculosis. Nearly 740 Filipinos are afflicted with tuberculosis, while 68 die of the disease each day. The report added that Filipinos spend a total of P160 billion to cure the disease each year.
578 AIDS Cases
The Department of Health has recorded 1,761 HIV-positive cases and 578 AIDS cases from January 1984 to September 2002. Most of these cases involved persons aged 20 to 39 years old. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency said that there were about 28,000 Filipinos infected with HIV or AIDS and that 1,200 of died in 1999 alone.
P30 Trillion for Reforestation
In January 2003, a study by the Green Tropics International (GTI) claimed that the Philippines would need P30 trillion to reforest country’s denuded mountains in over 85 years.
2.7 Trips by Metro Manilans Each Day
Studies made by the Traffic and Engineering Center (TEC) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) showed that as of 2002, Metro Manilans were making an average of 2.7 trips individually and 12 million trips collectively each day. Before this, a study by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1999 showed that the Philippines was losing some P140 billion annually to traffic congestion. It said the national economy was directly losing P40 billion in the forms of gasoline and diesel fuel, man-hours, electricity, salaries of traffic aides and increased expenses for mobile phones. Indirectly, the country was losing P100 billion in the forms of lost business opportunities, depreciated value of real property and increased cause of health care due to air pollution.
Cost of Traffic Problem: US$3.6 Billion
The San Francisco-based Filipinas Magazine reported that traffic congestion costs the Philippine economy some US$3.6 billion annually. Citing a government study, the magazine said the traffic problem, particularly in Metro Manila, results in a US$1 billion loss to wasted gasoline and electricity, man-hours and hiring of traffic aides; and US$2.6 billion to missed business opportunities, reduced sales and investment disincentives. The study added that total loss would exceed US$36 billion in ten years. It noted that the average speed of a vehicle has slowed to 12.6 kilometers per hour today from 18 kilometers per hour ten years ago.
Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. This was how the corporate watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) described the usual promise made by pseudo-investment firms in luring the public to invest substantial amount in their get-rich-quick schemes.
The SEC warned that pseudo-investment firms that are not registered with the government office have already duped many investors, including foreigners and Filipino-Americans. Some victims, who have placed investments ranging from P10,000 to P50 million, were not able to recover their money and its supposed interest.
The SEC has already issued cease-and-desist orders (CDOs) on the operations of several pseudo-investment firms that have been in operation without licenses. According to the corporate watchdog, some of these firms act as lending investors, investment firms, and financial companies that issue securities to the public. The companies promote their services by telephone calls, mails or personal visits and usually offer investors huge interest on every investment placed, without explaining the risks involved. They also require immediate investments.
The pseudo-investment firms give promise that a minimum investment of P10,000 to P100,000 would earn a monthly interest of 15 percent. Among the promotional gimmicks of these pseudo-investments firms are seminars that use the lines “You can become a millionaire in three years” and “You can turn your financial dreams into reality”. Investors usually discover that they have been duped only when the checks issued to them bounced.
Pyramiding Scam
As of January 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the government corporate watchdog said that investment firms engaged in the so-called pyramiding operation have duped at least 2 million Filipinos of as much as P70 billion.
World’s 4th Most Accident-Prone Country
According to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Philippines was the fourth most accident prone country in the world. The two institutions arrived at this conclusion after finding out that some 5,809,986 Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of disasters or man-made calamities over a ten-year period (1992-2001). Ahead of the Philippines in the accident list were China, India and Iran.
On a separate report, the Philippine National Red Cross said 31,835 Filipinos were killed and 94,369,462 others were affected by natural disasters and calamities in a span of 20 years. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Shallow Knowledge of History
Congressman Edmund Reyes of Marinduque province quoted an NFO-Trends survey showing that Filipino youth had a “very shallow appreciation” of the country’s history and cultural heritage. The survey showed that only 37 percent of the 1,420 respondents aged 7 to 21 years old, were able to sing the National Anthem and only 28 percent could recite “Panatang Makabayan”. When asked to name Filipino heroes, the respondents could only name up to two heroes.
A Day’s Labor For A Burger
In 2001, the minimum daily wage in Metro Manila remained at P250, the highest among the country’s 16 regions.
An office worker in Makati, who was hired on a contractual basis by a job placement agency, did not receive P250 by the end of a working day. After tax, social security and other deductions were made on top of the share deductions by the agency, the office worker went home with only P200.
However, he had to calculate his transportation and meal allowance that amounted to over P100. In other words, what was left in his pocket by the end of the day was less than P100. To treat himself after a hard day’s work, he decided to stop by a popular fastfood restaurant.
He ordered a big burger, a large can of cola and French fries. He was billed P100. Before sleeping at night, he remembered that he had to buy a new pair of shoes. He reached for his pocket and found it empty.
Yet, he considered himself lucky because he was unmarried and was living with his parents who were giving him free breakfast every morning. He was lucky because he had no wife to support and no children to send to school. He was lucky because he was healthy and did not have to buy medicine.
Other people were not as lucky as he was. Many companies were not complying with the Minimum Wage Law and were giving their workers much less. About 4.9 million Filipinos had no jobs while 5.9 million others had no regular source of livelihood as of April 2002. He was lucky, after all.
The Filipinos
81.2 Million Filipinos
The National Statistics Office (NSO) placed the Philippine population at 79.5 million at the start of 2002. This number is expected to grow by 1.7 million or over 2 percent annually to 81.2 million by the end of 2002. This makes the Philippines the world’s 14th most populous country in the world behind China, with 1.3 billion people; India, 1 billion; United States, 288 million; Indonesia, 218 million; Brazil, 176 million; Pakistan, 149 million; Nigeria, 147 million; Russia, 143 million; Bangladesh, 136 million; Japan, 127 million; Mexico, 100 million; Germany 82 million; and Vietnam, over 81 million. About 93 percent of the Philippine population is Christian, while the rest belongs to Islam and other religions. In 1799, Spanish historians said there were only 1,502,574 people living in the Philippines.
Population To Double in 28 Years
The Makati Business Club said that with an annual population growth rate of 2.36 percent, the total number of Filipinos would climb from 80 million at present to 97 million by 2010 and double to 160 million in 28 years.
34 Million Voters
As of 1998, there were 34.2 million registered Filipino voters who were grouped into 174,420 polling precincts in the whole country.
Half A Million More Men
Contrary to popular beliefs that women were as twice as many as men in the Philippines, the NSO said there are in fact more men than women in the country. In its latest estimate for 2002, the NSO said there were some 40 million Filipino men and 39.5 million Filipino women, resulting in a population discrepancy in sex of half a million.
Women Live Longer
Life expectancy is estimated at 72.2 years for Filipino women and 66.9 years for Filipino men. Around 38 percent of the population is younger than 15 years old and 28 percent belongs to the 15 to 24 age bracket. Population experts claim it would take 25 years before the Philippine population reaches its peak.
More Single Men Than Single Women
In the 2000 population census, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said that nearly 53 percent of the 25 million single people in the Philippines were males while only 47 percent were females. However, around 76 percent of the 2.6 million widowed persons were females and only 24 percent were males.
Half of Women Use Contraceptives
In its Family Planning Survey in 2001, the NSO said about 49.8 percent of married Filipino women, aged 15 to 49 years old, was using contraceptives. The NSO concluded that women in poor households were less likely to practice family planning than those in higher income families in the same manner that women who lacked formal education were less likely to observe birth control practices than those who at least had some schooling.
Majority of Filipinos Oppose Divorce
A survey conducted by local poll firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) in the fourth quarter of 2002 showed that 50 percent of its 1,200 respondents nationwide were opposed to divorce while only 36 percent agreed that divorce “is usually the best solution when a couple can’t seem to work out their marriage problems.”
The same survey showed that 50 percent of the respondents disapproved of cohabitation before marriage while only 35 percent agreed with the statement “It’s a good idea for a couple who intend to get married to live together first.”
At the same time, 61 percent of the respondents agreed while only 19 percent disagreed with the statement “Married people are generally happier than unmarried people.” Around 93 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement “Watching children grow up is life’s greatest joy.”
91 Percent Proud to Be Filipinos
In a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in November 2001, 57 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they were very proud to be Filipinos while 34 percent claimed they were proud of their national identity. Only 9 percent said they were not proud and 1 percent claimed they were not proud at all of becoming Filipinos. The respondents also cited the following qualities of the Filipinos: God-centered, industrious, faithful, has convictions, responsible, peaceful and law-abiding, and loving and caring.
Happiest People in Asia
Despite the many problems hounding the Philippines, Filipinos still consider themselves as among the happiest people in the world. Results of regional surveys conducted by MTV-Asia, ACNielsen and the Economist magazine have indicated that Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia.
But in the World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998, the Philippines was ranked 12th among 54 countries in the world in terms of happiness index. Among Asian countries, it was ranked first. According to the survey, the top ten happiest nations in the world were Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela.
World’s 5th Largest Christian Population
According to the book Top 10 of Everything, the Philippines had the world’s 5th largest Christian population. As of 2000, the Philippines reportedly had 72.225 million Christians, comprising 93 percent of its total population then. Countries with larger Christian populations than the Philippines were the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and China. Most Filipinos remain Catholics. The Protestants comprise only 8 percent of the population although they were growing at a faster rate than any other religion in the country.
32,000 Evangelical Churches
The Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches said that it had around 32,000 member-churches in the 1990s, which were expected to have risen to 50,000 by the end of 2000. About 27,000 of these evangelical churches have been established only in the past 25 years. About 1,400 American Christian missionaries were in the Philippines to help propagate the Gospel.
97 Percent of Filipinos Believe in God
A survey, mentioned by the Economist magazine, showed that 97 percent of Filipinos believe in God while 65 percent feel extremely close to Him. “This is more than double the percentage of the two runners-up in the survey - America and Israel,” the Economist said. (Source: The Economist)
562,808 Marriages
According to the NSO, 562,808 Filipino couples were married in 1997 alone. In the same year, 339,400 people died while 1,653,236 babies were born in the country.
412 Annulment Suits Every Week
As of 2002, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said it was receiving 412 marriage annulment suits every week.
28,563 Died of Accidents
The Department of Health (DoH) reported that in 1997, 49,962 people died of heart diseases while 28,563 people died because of accidents. The other leading causes of death during that year were tuberculosis and pneumonia. The most common diseases in the country were diarrhea, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, hypertension and tuberculosis.
17,493 Government Positions
The Commission on Election (COMELEC) said that as of June 2002, there were 17,493 elective government positions in the country, with only about 15 percent held by women. The bureaucracy, however, had more women employees. As of 1997, there were 741,808 Filipino women working for the government, compared with only 636,836 men.
The Department of Labor and Employment said that in January 2001, the overall unemployment rate was higher among women at 10.3 percent compared with 9.4 percent among men. But if women were serving as heads of families, they were earning higher at P135,400 annually, compared with P121,003 received by men.
218 Congressmen
The head of government is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who ascended to presidency via a military-backed people’s revolt on January 21, 2001. She appointed Senator Teofisto Guingona as her vice-president.
The Philippine Congress has two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 24 seats while the House of Representatives has 218 members, five of whom are party list representatives.
The bureaucracy also employs 79 provincial governors and an equal number of vice governors, 114 city mayors and the same number of city vice mayors, 730 provincial board members, 1,496 municipal mayors and an equal number of town vice mayors, and 12,240 municipal councilors. The numbers exclude barangay officials. The next national elections will be held in May 2004.
30.2 Million Jobs
Of the 50.2 million people aged 15 years old and above, 35.052 million or 69.9 percent belong to the labor force. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), there were 30.186 million Filipino workers as of April 2002, 11 million of whom were employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector; 14.3 million in the services sector; and 4.82 million in the industrial sector.
1.2 Million Fishermen
In particular, 9.788 million were employed in agriculture, hunting and forestry; 1.237 million in fishing; 136,000 in mining and quarrying; 2.904 million in manufacturing; 114,000 in electricity, gas and water sector; and 1.67 million in construction.
301,000 Bankers
Some 1.445 million Filipinos were employed in government; 5.77 in wholesale, retail and repair; 2.104 million in transportation, storage and communication; 680,000 in hotels and restaurants; 913,000 in education; 301,000 in banks and financial institutions, 355,000 in hospitals and social institutions; 552,000 in real estate, renting and business activities; 877,000 in personal services; and 1.339 million in household services
14.7 Million Salary Earners
In terms of source of income, about 14.711 million Filipinos were salary-earners while 11.379 million others were self-employed. Another 4.096 million were considered unpaid family workers.
1.4 Million Professionals
In terms of occupation, there were 9.227 million laborers and unskilled workers; 6.17 million farmers, forestry workers and fishermen; 3.175 million officials of government institutions and executives, managers and supervisors of private companies; 3.107 million workers in retail and wholesale trade; 2.677 service workers and shop and market sales workers; 2.147 million plant and machine operators; 1.367 million professionals; 1.335 million clerks; 850,000 technicians and associate professionals; and 130,000 others in special occupations.
290,000 IT Professionals
According to the government, there were 290,000 professionals working for the country’s information and technology (IT) sector as of 2002.
113,743 Policemen
As of 2002, the Philippine National Police had an authorized strength of 113,743 members, including 69 chief superintendents (one-star general); 11 police directors (two-star), 3 police deputy director-generals (three-star), and 1 police director-general (four-star).
330,000 New College Graduates
The Commission on Higher Education reported that as of 1998, there were 1,185 universities and colleges in the country serving more than 2 million students. In 1998, some 331,827 students graduated from college; 90,880 of them with a degree in Business Administration; 40,611 in Engineering; 36,181 in Medical Science; and 25,038 in Mathematics and Computer Science. They were supposed to join the labor force but not all of them ended up getting the jobs they have been trained for.
2 Million College Students
As of 1998, 2,067,965 students were enrolled in Philippine colleges and universities. These included 620,681 students who were enrolled in Business and related courses; 299,226 in Engineering; 316,293 in Education; and 166,329 in Mathematics and Computer Science. Students who were enrolled in two- or three-year technical or vocational courses were not included in the counting.
2,323 Foreign Students
According to the Commission on Higher Education, there were 2,323 foreign students enrolled in Philippine schools in the school year 2000-2001, down from 5,284 enrollees five years ago. Most of these foreign students were Americans, Koreans and Taiwanese.
17.3 Million Public School Students
According to Senator Ralph Recto, the public education system would be lacking some 49,212 teachers and 44,716 classrooms by 2003 to accommodate some 536,000 new students and fill the void in the previous years. Total enrollment in 36,234 public elementary schools and 4,422 public high schools is expected to reach 17.335 million students by 2003. There were only 375,952 public classrooms by the end of 2002.
12.7 Million Elementary School Students
As of 2001, some 12.7 million students were enrolled in elementary schools; 11.8 million of them in public schools and only 927,289 in private schools. Some 5.4 million students were enrolled in high schools; 4.2 million of them in public schools and 1.2 million in private schools.
440,000 Teachers
As of 2001, there were 331,827 elementary school teachers and 109,845 high school teachers.
7 Million Filipinos Abroad
According to the Philippine Senate, some 7 to 8 million Filipinos live and work abroad, 2.5 million of them in the United States. There were 105,000 Americans in the Philippines in 1999.
The Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) said that in 2001 alone, 866,590 Filipinos left the country on legitimate working visas to work abroad. This translates to 2,374 Filipinos leaving the country each day. OFWs sent a total of US$6.23 billion in dollar remittances to the Philippines in 2001.
2.4 Million Filipino-Americans
According to the US Census 2000, there were 2.4 million Filipino Americans in the US, comprising the second largest Asian group next only to the Chinese Americans. However, there are some who say that the actual number of Filipino-Americans could exceed 3 million. More than 1 million Filipino Americans live in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles in the west coast.
192,000 Tourists to the US
According to the US embassy in Manila, some 192,000 Filipinos visited the US on non-immigrant visas in 2001 alone. A number of Filipino tourists tried to stay there and find work but were deported back to the Philippines.
19 Percent of Filipinos Want to Migrate
A survey conducted by Pulse Asia in March and April 2002 showed that 19 percent of its 1,200 respondents wanted to migrate to another country because opportunities were lacking in the Philippines. The desire to migrate from the Philippines was stronger among upper classes. The survey said that 31 percent of its respondents belonging to ABC wanted to live in another country.
1.2 Million Passports Annually
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issues about 1.2 million passport booklets annually. In the first quarter of 2002, there was a shortage of passports because the number of Filipinos who went abroad for work suddenly surged. The POEA said that from around 2,300 in the previous quarters, the number of OFWs leaving the country each day surged to 2,700 in the first quarter of 2002. The DFA imposes a daily quota of 2,000 passports for individual applicants and 1,500 passports for travel agencies.
204,900 Seafarers
Of the total number of Filipinos who left the country on working visas in 2001, 661,639 were land-based workers while 204,951 were seafarers. Filipino seafarers man about 20 percent of international vessels in the world.
Top destinations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are Saudi Arabia, which hired 190,732 Filipinos in 2001; Hong Kong, 113,583; Japan, 74,093; Singapore, 26,305; Kuwait, 21,956; and Italy, 21,641. Only 10,000 Filipinos were hired in the US but the number excluded 2.5 million Filipino immigrants who were already there.
2.7 Million Filipino Immigrants
A Commission of Overseas Filipinos study showed that there were 2.7 million Filipino immigrants around the world as of 2002. The figure includes 1.89 million immigrants in the US; 200,000 in Canada; 170,000 in Japan; and 70,000 in the United Kingdom.
51,031 Migrants in 2000
According to the Bureau of Immigration, 51,031 Filipinos migrated to other countries in the year 2000 alone. Of this number, 31,324 Filipinos went to the US; 8,245 to Canada; 6,468 to Japan; 2,298 to Australia; 522 to Germany; 174 to the United Kingdom; and 1,970 to other countries.
US$6.2 Billion Remittances
Dollar remittances sent by OFWs amounted to US$6.235 billion in 2001. About US$5.142 billion of the total amount was sent by land-based OFWs while US$1.093 billion came from Filipino seafarers. Some US$3.2 billion or over half of total remittances came from the United States. The figure excluded dollar remittances that were not sent through the regular banking system.
Richest in New York
According to the 1990 United States Census, the Filipino-Americans living in New York (perhaps the world’s most prosperous city) had the highest median income among all ethnic groups. The census revealed that in 1990, there were 43,229 Filipino Americans in New York who had a median income of about US$45,000, surpassing those of European-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Afro-Americans.
15,000 Nurses in the UK
According to British Ambassador to the Philippines Paul Dimond, there were 15,000 Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom as of June 2002. The number is growing, he added. He also disclosed that the British embassy has issued 30,000 visas to Filipinos in 2001 alone, with an acceptance rate of 95 percent among applicants. About 300,000 Filipino nurses reportedly left the country to work abroad in 2001.
150,000 Entertainers in Japan
As of 1998, there were 150,000 Filipino women working as entertainers in Japan. Many of them were vulnerable to abuse and some driven to prostitution.
154,000 Household Maids in Hong Kong
According to The Economist magazine, Filipino women were serving as domestic helpers or “amahs” in 154,000 households in Hong Kong as of 1998. The report added that Filipino women comprised 40 percent of non-Chinese amahs in Hong Kong. Over half of Filipino amahs in Hong Kong have college degrees, and some even hold master’s degree in education.
Filipino household maids are also present in Singapore, Taiwan, and the Middle East. Filipino caregivers are in the United States and Canada.
32,000 Teachers as Household Helps
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that as many as 32,000 Filipino teachers had left their profession in the country to work as household maids and nannies abroad.
389,818 American Tourists
Data from the Department of Tourism showed that in 2001 around 1.671 million foreign travelers visited the country, 44 percent of whom went here for holiday, 25 percent to visit friends and relatives, 18 percent on business, and the rest to attend conventions and for other purposes.
By country of residence, the US topped the list, with 389,818 travelers accounting for 23 percent of all tourists. The US was followed by Japan with 343,021 travelers; South Korea, 205,788; Hong Kong, 134,254; Taiwan, 84,644; Australia, 68,253; United Kingdom, 59,100; Canada, 54,851; Singapore, 44,010; Germany, 40,286; Malaysia, 29,564; South Asian countries, 20,114; Middle East countries, 18,480; China, 14,533; Thailand, 14,472; France, 13,847; Netherlands, 13,422; Indonesia, 12,630; and Switzerland, 12,204.
Italy sent 8,962 visitors; New Zealand, 7,768; Denmark, 7,741; Sweden, 7,296; Norway, 6,589; Austria, 6,531; Spain, 5,614; Belgium, 5,432; South American countries, 3,083; Vietnam, 3,058; Guam, 2,746; Ireland, 2,306; Eastern European countries, 2,189; Finland, 2,009; Brunei, 1,783; and African countries, 1,631. The number of visitors from other countries was less than 1,000 each.
Average Age of Tourists - 40
Almost 55 percent of all foreign tourists in 2001 had visited the country in the past. Stating that they were in repeat visits were nearly 76 percent of all Singaporean, 69 percent of Australian, 67 percent of American and British, 64 percent of German and 57 percent of Japanese travelers.
Nearly 65 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were male and the rest female. Of the group, only Canada had more female visitors, accounting for 50.3 percent. Female visitors from Japan comprised only 19.7 percent while female American visitors accounted for 44.3 percent.
The average age of foreign tourists in the Philippines in 2001 was 40 years old. Visitors from the US had an average age of 45; Canada, 43; Australia, 42; UK, 42; Japan, 41; Germany, 41; Taiwan, 40; Singapore, 39; Hong Kong, 37; and Korea, 34.
By age group, foreign visitors aged under 15 years old in 2001 comprised 8.8 percent of the total; 15 to 19, 2.3 percent; 20 to 24, 4.2 percent; 25 to 34, 19.9 percent; 35 to 44, 24 percent; 45 to 54, 21.9 percent; 55 to 64, 11.1 percent; 65 and above, 6 percent. Others did not state their age.
About 64 percent of all foreign visitors were independent travelers and only 19 percent went on package tours. The rest did not state their travel arrangements. Only 2 percent of Singaporean; 4 percent of American, Canadian and Australian; 10 percent of German; 26 percent of Japanese; 33 percent of Taiwanese; 38 percent of Hong Kong; and 45 percent of Korean visitors went to the Philippines on package tours.
8 Percent of Tourists - Students
In terms of occupation, nearly 33 percent of the foreign visitors were engaged in professional, managerial and administrative services; 7 percent in clerical or sales services; 1 percent in military or public services; and 1 percent in industry sector. About 8 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were students; 4, percent housewives; and 3 percent, pensioners or retirees. Over 41 percent of the tourists did not state their occupation.
Only 31 percent of the foreign guests checked in at hotels, 12.5 percent rented houses or apartments, and 18 percent stayed with relatives and friends. A significant 38 percent of the tourists did not state their type of accommodation in the country.
Among top foreign visitors, about 39 percent of the American tourists stayed with relatives and friends, 15.6 percent rented houses and apartments, and only 9 percent stated that they checked in at hotels. About 36 percent did not state their type of accommodation. Like the American visitors, many Canadian, European and Australian tourists stayed with relatives and friends or rented houses and apartments.
11,784 Hotel Rooms in Metro Manila
In 2001, the average occupancy rate among DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila was 55.85 percent. The 15 deluxe hotels had an average occupancy rate of 58.4 percent; six first class hotels, 54.3 percent; 32 standard hotels, 52.5 percent; and six economy hotels, 41.1 percent.
These DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila had combined 11,784 rooms in 2001. In particular, deluxe hotels had a total of 6,874 rooms; first class hotels, 1,779 rooms; standard hotels, 2,770 rooms; and economy hotels; 361 rooms. Guests spent an average of 2.73 nights at these hotels.
Foreign backpackers could be classified among the 1.106 million independent travelers who came to the Philippines without package tours or among the 728,545 tourists who traveled for holiday. They were among the 439,855 travelers aged 15 to 35 years old or 139,590 foreign students and minors. They were also among the 208,418 foreign travelers who rented houses and apartments or 301,294 who stayed with relatives and friends.
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Origin of Names of Places Abra - abrir, a Spanish term which means opening
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itles of Philippine Places
What’s in a Name?
The Department of Tourism (DoT) has the habit of using titles as a way of endorsing tourist destinations in the country. However, other countries are also using similar titles. Aside from Filipinos, the Japanese also use the phrase “Pearl of the Orient” to refer to their country. While Filipinos describe the Banaue Rice Terraces as the eighth wonder of the world, the Chinese use the same title for the Great Wall of China and the Cambodians for Angkor Wat. According to Filipinos, Mount Mayon has the most beautiful cone figure among all volcanoes in the world, the same way the Japanese view Mount Fuji and Costa Ricans view Arenal volcano. Davao City is reportedly the world’s largest city but other cities in the world protest, including Puerto Princesa City of Palawan. Boracay Island is sold as the world’s most beautiful beach resort, but Thailand, Indonesia, Latin American countries and several Pacific islands are ready to contest this title.
Aklan - oldest province
Angono, Rizal - town of artists
Antipolo City - picnic area
Apalit, Pampanga - tapayan capital
Baclayon Church, Bohol - oldest stone church
Bacolod City - city of smiles
Bacolor, Pampanga - country’s capital in 1762-1763
Baguio City - summer capital
Balabac Island, Palawan - land of Philippine mouse deer
Baliuag, Bulacan - the first town to have election
Banaue Rice Terraces - stairways to the sky
Barasoain Church - headquarters of the Malolos Congress
Basey, Samar - town of mat festival
Batanes - smallest province; northernmost province
Bataan - last stronghold during Japanese occupation
Biak na Bato, San Miguel, Bulacan - site of the Biak na Bato republic
Binondo - known for Chinatown district
Bocaue, Bulacan - firecrackers’ capital
Bohol - land of chocolate hills
Boracay Island - world’s finest beach resort
Bulacan - land of heroes and beautiful women
Bukidnon - pineapple country
Calamba, Laguna - birthplace of Jose Rizal
Calamian Islands - land of Calamian deer
Calauit Island, Palawan - animal sanctuary
Camiguin - land of volcanoes
Capiz - seafood capital
Catanduanes - land of howling winds
Cebu City - premiere city in the south
Central Luzon - rice bowl
Corregidor Island - island fortress; the rock
Crisologo Street, Vigan - kamestizoan district
Davao City- world’s largest city; durian capital
Davao Oriental - easternmost province
Divisoria - bargain capital
Donsol, Sorsogon - sanctuary of whale sharks
Gapan, Nueva Ecija - newest city
General Santos City - most competitive city; tuna capital
Guiginto, Bulacan - cutflower capital
Guimaras - mango capital
Hundred Islands, Pangasinan - actually composed of 400 islets
Iligan City - land of waterfalls
Intramuros, Manila - walled city
Kabayan, Benguet - land of mummies
Kalibo, Aklan - land of ati-atihan
Kawit, Cavite - first independent town
Laguna - resort province
Laguna de Bay - largest lake
Lanao del Sur - center of Islam
Las Pinas City - land of the bamboo organ
Lipa, Batangas - coffee capital
Lubao, Pampanga - the birthplace of Diosdado Macapagal
Lucban, Quezon - Pahiyas town
Luzon - world’s 17th largest island
Magallanes, Agusan del Norte - site of the oldest tree
Makati City - financial center
Malolos, Bulacan - site of the First Philippine Republic
Manila - capital city
Maria Cristina Falls, Iligan City - mother of industry
Marikina City - shoe capital
Mexico, Pampanga - formerly known as Masicu
Meycauayan, Bulacan - jewelry capital
Miag-ao Church, Iloilo - fortress church
Mindanao - world’s 19th largest island
Mindoro - land of the tamaraws
Mount Apo - highest peak
Mount Arayat - legendary home of Mariang Sinukuan
Mount Mayon - a volcano with nearly perfect cone
Nayong Pilipino - Philippines in miniature. (The theme park was opened in 1972 and closed on June 25, 2002.)
Negros Occidental - sugar capital; sports capital
Pagsanjan Falls - Philippines’ el dorado
Palawan - the last frontier; largest province; westernmost province
Pampanga - culinary capital of Luzon
Paete, Laguna - town of wood carvers
Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte - earthquake baroque
Paombong, Bulacan - vinegar capital
Philippine Deep - world’s second deepest spot
Philippines - pearl of the orient
Rio Grande de Cagayan - longest river
Romblon - marble country
San Agustin Church, Intramuros - oldest church in Luzon
San Fernando, Pampanga - lantern capital of the world
San Juanico Bridge - longest suspension bridge
San Sebastian Church - the only steel church in Asia
Siargao Island - perfect waves island
Spratleys - the islands claimed by six countries
Sta. Maria, Bulacan - egg nest of the Philippines
Sta. Maria Church, Ilocos Sur - outstanding example of Spanish baroque architecture
Subic Freeport - American town
Taal Volcano - world’s smallest volcano
Tagaytay City - the next summer capital
Tangub City - Christmas symbol capital
Tawi-Tawi - southernmost province
Trinidad Valley - land of strawberry and vegetables
Tubbataha Marine Park - world’s richest bio-geographic area
Unisan, Quezon - oldest town
University of San Carlos, Cebu City - oldest university
Vigan, Ilocos Sur - Spanish colonial town
Zamboanga Sibugay - newest province
Only in the Philippines
Richest Biodiversity
A great number of rare and exotic animals exist only in the Philippines. The country’s surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of biodiversity in the world. But this distinction was soon overshadowed by the fact that the Philippines has been dubbed as the “hottest of the hotspots” by no less than the Conservation International.
The Philippines is considered as a mega diversity country and a global biodiversity hotspot. In the 2000 Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 418 of the country’s 52,177 species were listed as threatened. The country is home to about 9,000 species of flora, a third of which is said to be endemic to the country. It hosts 165 species of mammals, 121 of which can be found only in this part of the world. The Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priority-setting Program (PBCPP) described these 165 endemic mammal species as endangered or critically endangered.
There are also 332 species of reptiles and amphibians living in the country, 215 of them endemic to the archipelago. It is said that less than 14 of the 114 total species of snakes in the country are poisonous. Several species of frogs and other reptiles remain to be documented. Unfortunately, several species were believed to have vanished without being studied.
In 1953, Albert Herre identified 2,117 species of fish in Philippine waters. These included 330 species of endemic freshwater fish. Whales, dolphins and whale sharks have also been visiting Philippine waters near the islands, allowing sightings by both marine scientists and commercial fishermen. About 500 of the 800 known coral reef species in the world are found in Philippine waters.
The country also has the highest concentration of birds and butterflies in the world. There are some 86 species of birds and 895 species of butterflies in the country. About 352 species of butterflies are endemic to the Philippines.
Many of these biological wonders are now in danger. The main culprit is human’s indiscriminate use of the country’s natural resources, resulting in an unabated denudation of the Philippine rainforests. In the last 500 years, the Philippines saw the destruction of over 93 percent of its original forest cover. Only about 5 percent of the country’s 27,000 square kilometers of coral reefs were in excellent condition.
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the country’s total forest size dwindled to 6.7 million hectares in 1990 from 30 million hectares in 1930. At the same time, the forest-to-man ratio shrank to 0.1 hectare per Filipino in 1990 from 1.13 hectares per Filipino in 1930. By 1996, experts claimed that only 1.8 million to 2.4 million hectares or 6 to 8 percent of original vegetation were remaining.
A study by the Philippine Congress said that 123,000 hectares of the country’s forest cover are lost every year. The study added that by 2036, there would be no forest left in the Philippines, unless reforestation is started.
In January 2003, a study by the Green Tropics International (GTI) claimed that the Philippines would need P30 trillion to reforest country’s denuded mountains in over 85 years.
Rhinoceros and Elephants
With the discovery of different animal fossils in the past century, scientists believed that elephants, rhinoceros and stegodons used to live in the Philippines. Two species of elephants and one species of rhinoceros were identified, namely: Elaphas beyeri, Elaphas cf. namadicus and Rhinoceros philippinensis. Four species of stegodons were also listed by scientists, namely: Stegodon cf. trigonocephalus, Stegodon luzonensis, Stegodon cf. sinensis and Stegodon mindanensis. All of them are now believed extinct.
One of the World’s Largest Eagles
Also known as the monkey-eating eagle, the endangered Philippine eagle is one of the largest in the world. With scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi, the Philippine eagle lives in the rainforests of Isabela, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. It has similarities with Papua New Guinea’s Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguinea).
Measuring about one meter in height, the average Philippine eagle has a 76-centimeter highly arched, powerful bill. It lives on large snakes, hornbills, civet cats, flying lemurs and monkeys - the reason why it is also called monkey-eating eagle. It creates its nests in large trees some 30 meters from the ground.
With an estimated population of 100 to 300 today, the Philippine eagle is in danger of extinction. It is one of the 400 exotic bird species in the Philippines, which, if not protected, would disappear from the face of the Earth. Along with the Philippine cockatoo, Palawan peacock pheasant, Mindoro imperial pigeon, Sulu hornbill and Cebu black shama, the Philippine Eagle might follow the Cebu flowerpecker which is now presumed extinct.
The Philippine Eagle has come to symbolize all efforts by the Filipino people to save the remaining rainforests in the country and preserve the wealth of the nation for the future generation.
Flying Lemur
One of the most distinct creatures on Earth lives in the Philippines. It doesn’t have wings but it can glide across 100 meters of space in a single leap. Like the lemurs of Asia, it moves around at night. Its head resembles that of a dog while its body has similarities with the flying squirrel of Canada.
In Mindanao, people call it “kagwang”. Around the world, it is known as colugo or the flying lemur. Zoologists, however, claim that it doesn’t fly and it is not a lemur, a large-eyed nocturnal mammal found only in Madagascar and Comoro Islands. The truth is that kagwang or Cynocephalus volans is one of only two species belonging to the primitive order Dermoptera. The other species is the Cynocephalus variegatus or the flying lemur of Malaysia.
An ordinary kagwang weighs from 1 to 1.7 kilogram and ranges in length from 14 to 17 inches. It has a wide head with small ears and big eyes. Its 12-inch tail is connected by a patagium, a membrane stretching from forelimbs to tail. This well-developed membrane enables kagwang to glide to a distance of 100 meters or more to escape from predators like the Philippine Eagle.
The continuous denudation of tropical forests in the country threatens the remaining population of kagwang, which used to abound in the wilderness of Basilan, Leyte, Samar, Bohol and Mindanao. The exact number of the remaining kagwangs remains to be determined. Alarmed by the situation, the Philippine government declared kagwang as an endangered species and banned its commercial exploitation.
Largest and Smallest Bats
The Philippines has at least 56 species of bats. It is home to the smallest and the largest bats among the 1,000 known species in the world.
The smallest bat in the world is the Philippine bamboo bat (vespertilionid), which belongs to the vespertilionid family. This bat measures about four centimeters (1 1/2 inches) in length and has a wingspan of 15 cm. Approximately, it weighs 1.5 grams (1/20 ounce).
The three-layered virgin forest of Subic Bay and Bataan is home to the world’s largest bats: the giant flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) and the golden crown flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus). Over the years, these two species of giant fruit bats have roamed around the 10,000-hectare Subic Forest National Protected Area, which is considered the biggest roosting site of bats in the world.
An ordinary giant flying fox weighs up to 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms), heavier than a golden crown flying fox. The golden crown measures six feet in wingspan, the largest among all bats. The giant flying fox and the golden crown are just two of the 15 species of fruit bats in the country.
In other parts of the country, several bat species are now believed extinct. Among them were bare-backed fruit bat or Dobsonia chapmani, which reportedly disappeared from the forests of Negros and Cebu in 1964 and the Panay fruit bat or Acerodon Lucifer which was last seen in 1892. The Philippine tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene rabori of Negros is considered highly endangered. Scientists warned that this breed would disappear before 2015 unless action is taken to protect its remaining population.
Last Remnants of Dinosaur Age
Scientists call sea turtles as the only living remnants of the dinosaur age, but maybe not for long. Unless sincere efforts are undertaken, sea turtles might follow dinosaurs into extinction.
Sea turtles, popularly known in the Philippines as pawikan, belong to the sub-order Cryptodira, and to the families Dermochelyidae and Cheloniidae. There are more than 220 species of turtles in the world, but only seven are considered marine (saltwater). Five of these species are present in the Philippines, namely: Green (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).
A typical Philippine Sea Turtle weighs between 180 to 210 kilograms and, unlike land turtles, cannot retract its head and limbs under its streamlined shell. The most common species in the Philippines is the Green Sea Turtle, which grows up to 1.5 meters long and weighs up to 185 kilograms. The largest species is the Leatherback Turtle, which grows more than two meters in length.
World’s Smallest Hoofed Mammal
South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world’s smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.
In other countries, it is called chevrotain, or simply mouse deer. Contrary to its name, pilandok is not a member of the deer family. It belongs to the family Tragulidae in the mammalian order Artiodactyla. The male species has no antlers like those of a real deer. Instead, it uses its large tusk-like canine teeth on its upper jaw for self-defense; in the same way a deer uses its antlers.
Aside from the Pilandok, other mouse deer species include the Malay mouse deer or napu and the African water chevrotain. They are found in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and India. While the mouse deer are widely distributed across Asia, their dwindling population has alarmed the World Conservation Union, which declared them as endangered in 1996.
Most Endangered Deer
One of the world’s rarest mammals lives in the dwindling forest of Panay Island. It is the Philippine spotted deer (Cervus alfredi), considered by many as the most endangered deer in the planet.
The Philippine spotted deer is only about 80 centimeters in height (shoulder) and has soft and moderately long hair covering its spotted dark brown body. Its most distinct physical characteristic is its oval yellowish white spots on its back and sides. This species has long been classified as endangered, which means they have been reduced in number to a critical level, or whose habitats have been damaged, altered or reduced.
By 1985, a survey reported that only a small population of the Philippine spotted deer was found in the remote regions of Panay.
Calamian Deer
Calamian Islands, north off Palawan province, keep a species of deer that cannot be found elsewhere. Scientists referred to the hog deer in the islands as Calamian deer in order to distinguish them from other hog deer in the world.
An ordinary Calamian deer measures 105 to 115 centimeters in length and 60 to 65 centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs about 36 to 50 kilograms. It is said to have longer and darker legs, compared with other hog deer. From a relatively large number in the 1940s, the population of Calamian deer dropped to “dangerously low levels” in the 1970s. By 1996, its population further declined to only about 900, prompting conservationists to declare it as an endangered species.
Largest Endangered Animal
People used to call Mindoro as the “Land of the Tamaraws”. About 10,000 heads of these unique pygmy water buffalos were roaming around the island-province of Mindoro in the 1900s. But that was a century ago. Today, the Tamaraws in the province are in danger of extinction, and Mindoro might lose the symbol that it once proudly introduced to the world.
The Tamaraw, scientifically known as Bubalus mindorensis, is endemic to Mindoro. Belonging to the family of buffalos, the same categorical group of the Philippine carabao, the Tamaraw is the largest endangered land animal in the Philippines today. In 1996, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed it as one of the ten most endangered species in the world.
The Tamaraw measures between five to six feet in length and weighs about 300 kilograms. While it shares many similarities with the carabao, the Tamaraw is most known for its horns, with a “V” form, unlike the horns of the carabao, which take a curved shape. The Tamaraw’s horns grow about 14 to 20 inches long.
From 10,000 heads in the 1900’s, the Tamaraw population went down to 369 heads in the late 1980’s. Today, reports say there are as few as 20 heads roaming in the wild.
World’s Smallest Monkey
In many respects, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is different from other animals. Considered as the world’s smallest primate, it measures only about twelve centimeters in length. Its two big eyes cannot move and do not have a tapetum - the upper protective tissue. Because of this, the Philippine tarsier has learned to turn its head 180 degrees. It has also two grooming claws on each foot and an almost bald tail extending about nine inches.
Found in the islands of Samar, Leyte, Bohol and Mindanao, the Philippine tarsier got its name from its elongated tarsus bone. An ordinary tarsier weighs between 117 and 134 grams. It is able to move between trees by leaping as far as three meters. It also has keen senses of hearing and sight.
Today, there are only about 1,000 tarsiers inhabiting the wilds of Corella town in Bohol province where the biggest concentration of these rare animals was once reported. Ensuring the continued existence of the Philippine tarsiers is the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc.
Neither A Bear Nor A Cat
Palawan bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Known in Southeast Asia as binturong, the bearcat is a species of its own, with population in the forests of Palawan, Borneo, Burma and Vietnam. It belongs to the family of Viverridae (civets).
The Palawan bearcat has a long body and a pointed face leading to the nose. Its head and body measure 61 to 96 centimeters in combined length while its tail is almost as long. It weighs 9 to 14 kilograms and lives up to 20 years.
It has thick black fur, which hunters use for making clothes and caps. It is usually awake at night when it finds food and uses its tail to climb tall trees where it hides among the leaves. Like other wild animals, Palawan bearcat’s population is threatened by human activities.
Endangered Cockatoos
The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most exotic birds. Scientists have documented 577 bird species around the Philippine archipelago. Of this number, 185 species are endemic to the country. The Bird Life International listed 116 of them as “threatened” or “near-threatened”.
One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram.
The remaining population of kalangays, between 1,000 and 4,000, is now restricted to Palawan, particularly in St. Paul’s Subterranean River National Park, Pandanan Island and El Nido Marine Reserve.
World’s Largest Fish
Donsol, a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a sanctuary to a group of 40 whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which are considered as the largest fish in the world.
Locally known as “butanding”, whale sharks visit the waters of Donsol from November to May. They travel across the oceans but nowhere else have they been sighted in a larger group than in the waters of Sorsogon. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in length and weigh about 20 tons. In 1996, a marine biologist discovered that whale sharks are ovoviviparous, which means that the females produce live offspring from eggs hatched in the uterus.
The Philippine government declared whale sharks as endangered species in 1998, thereby banning its plunder and exploitation. Right now, the Department of Tourism is promoting eco-tourism to protect the whale sharks in Donsol.
World’s Smallest Fish
The world’s smallest freshwater fish is found in the Philippines. The dwarf goby (Pandaka pygmaea) measures 1.2 centimeters or less than half of an inch, the tiniest known vertebrate. American Ichthyologist Albert Herre first discovered it in Malabon River in 1925.
The Philippines is also the home of sinarapan, the world’s smallest commercial fish. Sinarapan, scientifically known as Mistichthys luzonensis, is a goby found only in Lakes Bato and Buhi in Camarines Sur province. Sinarapan grows to an average length of 1.25 centimeters, only slightly longer than the dwarf goby. Today, unabated fishing in the two lakes threatens the population of sinarapan.
Herbivorous Marine Mammal
Dugongs or sea cows, the only herbivorous marine mammals, are often sighted in Philippine waters, particularly near Palawan province and southern Mindanao.
According to marine scientists, an ordinary dugong grows up to three meters in length and weighs 400 kilograms. It feeds on sea grass so it always reaches for the bottom of the sea. Whether dugong’s appetite has something to do with its long life remains to be verified. It is said that a dugong can live more than 70 years. The Philippine government has banned the commercial exploitation of dugong since 1991.
Exotic Seahorses
More than 500 of the world’s 700 coral species are found under the waters of the Philippines, which is a part of the Coral Triangle - a region in the Pacific Ocean.
Seahorses are small saltwater fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family (order Gasterosteiformes), which also includes pipefish and sea dragons. Most seahorse species, probably the most peculiar creatures in the water, live in the Coral Triangle. There are at least 50 known seahorse species in the world. They inhabit temperate and tropical waters but most of them are concentrated in the warm coastal waters of the Philippines.
The seahorse’s scientific genus name, Hippocampus is a Greek word, which means, “bent horse.” Seahorses range in length from about 2 inches to 14 inches. They are known for their small compressed body covered with 50 rectangular body plates. At least 47 nations and territories around the world are involved in buying and selling seahorses. The largest known importers are China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Among the largest exporters is the Philippines.
Largest and Smallest Shells
Both Tridacna gigas, one of the world’s largest shells, and Pisidum, the world’s tiniest shell, can be found under Philippine waters. Tridacna gigas grows as large as one meter in length and weighs 600 pounds while Pisidum is less than 1 millimeter long. A shell called glory of the sea (Connus gloriamaris) is also found in the Philippines and considered as one of the most expensive shells in the world.
World’s Largest Reptile
The saltwater crocodile, which can be found in the Philippines and other Asian countries, is considered as the world’s largest reptile. Scientifically known as Crocodylus porosus, it is different from Mindoro’s freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis), which is a relatively smaller species.
An adult saltwater crocodile measures between six to seven meters (20-23 feet) and weighs about two to three tons. There were tales that a 27-foot saltwater crocodile was killed near Lake Taal in Batangas in 1823. It reportedly took 40 men to bring the body ashore. When the men cut the crocodile’s body open, they found the body of a horse in seven pieces. The largest crocodile ever sighted was a 33-footer in Borneo in 1920. It was believed to be 200 years old.
Endemic Plants
The Philippine archipelago also teems with different types of plants. It is said that as many as 9,000 flowering plants can be found in the country, including 200 fruit trees. Among the endemic fruit trees in the Philippines are durian, mabolo, pili and bignay.
They Were Vanishing
Vanishing were not only the animals endemic to the Philippines, but also several things and cultural traditions that Filipinos in the 1950s grew up with. Among the items that are no longer found in the Philippine market are bakya, banig and salakot (If you still remember them). Bahay kubo is also disappearing in towns and barangays and it would be hard to find a house, with a batalan today. Who still observe cultural traditions like harana, bayanihan and balagtasan. And where did the makata go?
Do You Know That…
The Bible Also Mentions the Philippines
It can be easily understood that no verse in the Bible carried the term Philippines, since the Bible was written two thousand years ago or centuries before the Spaniards came here. However, there are verses in the Bible that prophesy about the Philippine archipelago and other islands in the Pacific. In the chapter 24 of the Book of Isaiah, verses 15 to 16 read “Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’” The Philippines is the only Christian archipelago in the Pacific covering East Asia.
Arroyo and Sukarnoputri Share Similarities
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia have remarkable similarities. Both are 54-year-old women who had been vice-presidents before becoming presidents in place of their predecessors who were ousted in the year 2001. Both of them were daughters of former presidents of the world’s two largest archipelagos who lost the presidency in 1965 to dictators. Both women have three children and their husbands were being pursued by controversy. Both visited Washington in their first year as presidents and met US President George W. Bush, another offspring of a former president who also assumed power in 2001. Arroyo and Sukarnoputri are not entirely similar though. The former is a Catholic Christian from the world’s fifth largest Christian country while the latter is a Muslim from the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.
Bulacan Produced Queens
Marcelo del Pilar, the father of Philippine journalism; Francisco Balagtas, the father of Philippine literature; Jose Corazon de Jesus, father of balagtasan; Nicanor Abelardo, father of kundiman; Francisca Reyes-Aquino, mother of Philippine dances; Gerry de Leon, a father of Philippine movies; Guillermo Tolentino, one of the fathers of Philippine arts; Jose Reyes, a father of Philippine medicine; and Dely Magpayo, a mother of Philippine broadcasting, were all born in Bulacan province. Atang dela Rama, the mother of Philippine theater, lived in Bulacan. Aside from national fathers and mothers, Bulacan also produced queens, namely: Lydia de Vega, Asia’s former sprint queen; Regine Velasquez, Asia’s song bird; and Michelle Aldana, Miss Asia-Pacific beauty queen.
Babe Ruth Scored Homeruns in RP
Babe Ruth, the American baseball legend who had over 200 homeruns in his professional career, once played in the baseball field of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. In 1934, Ruth and another baseball great, Lou Gehrig, selected an All-Star team that toured Asia where they played 18 games. The All-Star selection stopped in the Philippines and played at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex from December 2 to December 9. Gehrig beat Ruth when he scored the first recorded homerun at the Rizal complex on December 2. Ruth scored the 2nd homerun on the same day and 4th homerun on December 9. The other players of the same selection who also scored homeruns at the Rizal complex were Earl Averill and C. Gehringer.
7 Cabinet Officials Were from Harvard
In a speech before an American delegation early in 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has claimed that her Cabinet officials include seven Harvard graduates and three Wharton alumni. The 54-year-old president added that four of her economic managers had been top executives on Wall Street prior to joining government service in the Philippines. President Arroyo, herself, has a Ph. D. in Economics, which she earned from the University of the Philippines (UP). Before this, she had studied for two years at the Georgetown University where she had former US President Bill Clinton as a classmate.
Manila Played Host To Big Events
Manila served as a host to some of the world’s biggest events in the past several decades. On November 22, 1995, the country hosted 21 world leaders, including former US President Bill Clinton, during the 4th Economic Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 1974, Former First Lady Imelda Marcos ordered the construction of the Folk Arts Theater to be the site of the 23rd annual Miss Universe beauty pageant on July 19. The prestigious beauty contest was held again in the country in 1994. On October 1, 1975, the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City was the venue of the infamous “Thrilla in Manila”, the thrilling boxing match between Heavyweight champions, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Manila also hosted other international sports events such as the Asian Games in 1954 and the Southeast Asian Games in 1981 and 1991. In 1980, the Marcos administration ordered the construction of the grand Coconut Palace to host John Paul II during his Manila visit. The head of the Vatican state visited Manila again in January 1995.
Sabah Once Belonged to Sultan of Sulu
Sabah, an oil-rich region forming the northern part the great Borneo Island, used to be a property of the Sultan of Sulu. Its 73,620-square-kilometer land area is about twice the size of Switzerland and teems with incomparable natural resources. The territory is still being claimed by the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III. The Sulu sultanate was founded by Rajah Baginda in 1430. According to the present sultan, his claim goes as far back as 1704 when the Sultan of Brunei ceded part of then North Borneo which now comprises Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines for his help in suppressing a rebellion. There are about 500,000 Filipinos, most of them Muslims, living in Sabah. They fled to the territory in the 1970s during heavy fighting between Muslim rebels and the government troops. Sabah is only four hours by boat from the southernmost island-province of Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines.
Coconut Workers Own San Miguel Corp.
There are 3 million hectares planted to coconut trees, the second largest agricultural area after rice fields (4 million hectares). The coconut industry employs about 3.4 million Filipinos. Some 18 to 20 million more Filipinos depend on the industry for their livelihood, according to the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP). About 90 percent of those employed in the coconut industry are small farmers, who earn P10,000 a year or P25 a day.
Coconut farmers are among the most exploited segments of Philippine society. Driven to squalor by Marcos cronies who thrived on the so-called coconut levies, the coconut farmers represent the oldest sector of the domestic economy. In 1642, the Spanish colonial government forced each Filipino to plant 200 coconut trees, because Spanish shipbuilders had a large need for charcoaled coconut shells and coconut husks. Coconut products have gradually become the country’s top export, accounting for 35 percent of all exports in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, coconut products were the country’s leading exports of raw materials. New economic policies initiated under the Aquino administration led to a slow-phased shift to industries, which eventually put the coconut industry at the tailend of government priorities. In 2001, coconut exports represented only 1.6 percent of the country’s total exports.
In 1971, the dictatorial government of the late President Ferdinand Marcos established the Coconut Investment Fund (Cocofund) by imposing a levy of P15 per 100 kilograms of copra for nine years between 1973 and 1982. Supposedly, the fund should serve as subsidy to coconut products for domestic consumption. However, the cocofund, which amounted to a total of P9.695 billion by August 1982, was turned into a private fund used to finance three financial institutions, including the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB). The cocofund was also used to acquire the majority shares of San Miguel Corporation, the country’s largest food and beverage conglomerate. A known Marcos crony, Danding Cojuangco, still retains the chairmanship of both UCPB and San Miguel until today. The fund, which is estimated at over P100 billion today, has yet to be transferred to the accounts of the coconut farmers. (Source: http://www.virtual-asia.com/ph)
A Mayor Held Office for 5 Decades
No other local official had the distinction of serving an elective post for almost half a century. Pablo Cuneta, the late mayor of Pasay City and father of popular actress, Sharon Cuneta, died at 90 on September 27, 2000 after serving the government for 50 years. In 1947, then President Elpidio Quirino appointed him vice mayor of Pasay City. In 1955, he was elected mayor, a post which he held until 1967 when he lost to Jovito Claudio in the mayoralty election. He emerged victorious in the 1972 elections and served his constituents in Pasay City until 1986 when he was ordered ousted by the Aquino administration. Cuneta won in the 1988 mayoralty election and served his post uninterrupted until 1997 when his health began to fail. He was awarded a golden trophy for his 50th year in public service in the same year.
A Priest Took Up Arms Against Americans
From 1900 to 1902, Catholic priest Gregorio Labayan Aglipay took up arms against American soldiers in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Aglipay founded the Liwanag branch of the Katipunan in Victoria, Tarlac, attended the Malolos Congress and became the ecclesiastical governor of Nueva Segovia (Ilocos) in 1899. In his religious role, Aglipay is considered as the Martin Luther of the Philippines for founding the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or the Philippine Independent Church, which celebrated its centenary on August 3, 2002. A century earlier, the Union Obrera Democratica, a confederation of 10 labor organizations headed by Isabelo de los Reyes, broke ties with the Vatican and designated Aglipay as the Obispo Maximo (supreme bishop) of their new religion. The Catholic Church then excommunicated Aglipay. An American general called Aglipay a better soldier than a bishop. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
The Osmena Clan Is the Oldest Political Dynasty
The Osmena clan is perhaps the oldest and the most dominant political dynasty in the country. This political dynasty began when Sergio Osmena Sr. replaced Manuel Quezon as president of the Commonwealth government during the war. His son, Osmena Jr. became a senator and his grandson, Osmena III is now an incumbent senator. John Osmena, a former mayor of Cebu City, is also a senator today. Lito Osmena, a long-time governor of the province of Cebu, vied for the presidency in the 1998 presidential election. Tomas Osmena was a mayor of Davao City.
Six Vice-Presidents Became Presidents
Six former vice-president became presidents, namely: Sergio Osmena, Elpidio Quirino, Carlos Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Three Senate Presidents Became Presidents
Three former senate presidents became presidents, namely Manuel Quezon, Manuel Roxas, and Ferdinand Marcos.
Two Speakers Became Presidents
Two former House speakers became presidents, namely: Sergio Osmena Sr. and Manuel Roxas.
Three Presidents Died in Office
Three Philippine presidents were not able to finish their terms of office. They were Manuel Quezon who died in New York City on August 1, 1944; Manuel Roxas who died of a heart attack on April 15, 1948; and Ramon Magsaysay who died in an air accident on March 17, 1957.
First 3 Beauty Queens Married Pinoys
The first Miss Universe, Armi Kuusela of Finland won the crown in 1952 and married Virgilio Hilario of Tarlac the following year. The first Miss International (1961), Maria Stella Marquez Zawadsky of Colombia, married Filipino millionaire, Jorge Araneta. The first Miss Asia (1965), Angela Filmer of Malaysia, married Jose Faustino, also a Filipino.
A Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus
In May 2000, the so-called “love bug” computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the “love bug” wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.
Caloocan City Has Two Separate Parts
Caloocan City is the only city in the Philippines with two areas set apart from each other by other towns and cities. Its first area, known as the urban portion, covers Monumento and is bounded on the south by Manila, on the west by Navotas and Malabon and on the north by Valenzuela City. Its second area, known as Caloocan II, is a hilly portion between Bulacan province and Quezon City.
Orchids Breeds Were from RP
Waling-waling or Vanda sanderiana, is described as the “Queen of Philippine Orchids”. One of the largest species in the world, waling-waling was discovered by German Taxonomist Heinrich Gustav Reicheinback in Mindanao in 1882. Since then, it has become the most sought-after flower in Mindanao and helped in the flourishing of the world’s multibillion-dollar orchid and cutflower industry. The massive deforestation in Mindanao threatens the region’s wildlife, including waling-waling which used to abound in the tropical forest of Mount Apo and its surrounding areas. Today, it is believed that Waling-Waling has more species abroad, particularly in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Hawaii. Of the 9,000 flowering plants in the world, about 3,500 are endemic to the Philippines. Human activities, however, pose a great threat to their existence.
Romulo Coined “I Shall Return”
It was Carlos P. Romulo, who coined the famous phrase “I shall return” by General Douglas MacArthur. Romulo was MacArthur’s press officer at that time.
Romulo Put RP in UN Map
According to Beth Day Romulo, Carlos P. Romulo literally put the Philippines on the world map. “When the UN official seal which depicts the world was being selected, Romulo asked ‘Where is the Philippines?’
The answer came, ‘It’s too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.’
‘I want that dot,’ Romulo insisted.” The UN seal now has a tiny dot for the Philippines.
MacArthur Was Field Marshall of Philippine Army
Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon appointed American four-star Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur as Field Marshall of the Philippine Army in 1935. Attached with the appointment was MacArthur’s extra monthly pay of US$3,980 that made him the highest paid military officer in the world, according to American historian Carlos D’Este in his book “Eisenhower, A Soldier’s Life”.
Eisenhower Wrote Quezon’s Speeches
In the book “Eisenhower, A Soldier’s Life”, American historian Carlos D’Este claimed that Dwight Eisenhower became an adviser and speechwriter of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in the Philippines. When Quezon sought an exile in the US, he met Eisenhower in Washington D.C. and offered him “a lavish stipend of some one hundred thousand dollars for services rendered the Philippines during his four years there, which Eisenhower courteously rejected.” This was before Eisenhower was appointed as the supreme commander of all allied forces and planned the now infamous Normandy Invasion in Europe during World War II. Eisenhower later became a US president.
Filipinos Had Headed International Organizations
Carlos P. Romulo became president of the United Nations 4th General Assembly; Cesar Bengzon, president of the World Court Justice; Blas Ople, president of International Labor Organization; Jose Aspiras, president of World Tourism Organization; Jesus Tamesis, president of World Medical Association; Arturo Tanco, president of World Food Council; Florencio Campomanes, president of International Chess Federation; Justiniano Montano, president of World Boxing Council; Gonzalo Puyat II, president of International Amateur Basketball Federation; Ramos del Rosario, president of World Jaycee International;
Jolly Bugarin, president of International Criminal Police Organization; Mercedes Concepcion, president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population; Lolita Delgado-Fransler, president of Association of International College of Women; Modesto Farolan, president of International Union of Official Tourist Organizations; Florencio Moreno, president of World Highway Engineers Association; Quintin Gomez, president of the 8th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists; Cielito del Mundo, president of World Family Institute Inc.;
Fe del Mundo, president of International Women’s Medical Association; Amelito Mutuc, president of World Association of Lawyers; John Choa, president of Y’s Men International; Roman Cruz, president of Orient Airlines Association; Manuel Nieto, president of Oriental Boxing Federation; Rufus Rodriguez, president of World Association of Law Students; Edward dela Rosa, president of World Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors; Esther Vibal, president of International Inner wheel;
Antonio Delgado, chairman of Boy Scouts World Conference; Marcelo Fernan, secretary general of the Academy of American and International Law Alumni; Norman Certeza Sr., governor of Kiwanis International; Eduardo Chuidian, general manager of Association of International Shipping Lines; Rafael Salas, executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities; and Dioscoro Umali, assistant director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Tolentino and Amorsolo Were Classmates
Guillermo Tolentino and Fernando Amorsolo, both national artists in arts, were classmates at the UP School of Fine Arts. Guillermo Tolentino was the one who carved the UP Oblation while Amorsolo was known for his paintings about barrio life and women.
15 National Artists Were from Manila
Aside from Manila, there is no other city or province, which owns the distinction of having produced 15 national artists. Three of these national artists - Levi Celerio, Cesar Legaspi and Rolando Tinio - were born in Tondo, the same district that produced Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and yes, Juan Flavier. Other national artists who were born in Manila include Fernando Amorsolo, Francisco Arcellana, Ishmael Bernal, Gerardo de Leon, Nick Joaquin, Arturo Luz, Jose Maceda, Antonio Molina, Juan Nakpil, Andrea Veneracion, Jose Garcia Villa and Honorata “Atang” dela Rama. Coming far behind Manila in having produced a great number of national artists is Bulacan province, the birthplace of six national artists.
Bulacan Produced Great Musicians
Aside from producing heroes and poets, Bulacan is known as the birthplace of great Filipino composers, singers and dancers. Nicanor Abelardo, who is widely regarded as the father of kundiman, was born in San Miguel, Bulacan while Francisco Santiago, another pioneer of kundiman, grew up in Sta. Maria town. Noted composer Antonino Buenaventura was born in Baliuag town while contemporary composer Ernani Cuenco was born in the capital town of Malolos. Honorata “Atang” dela Rama, the great theater actress before the war, made Bulacan her home and married poet and national artist Amado Hernandez of San Miguel.
The father of Levi Celerio, the poet of Philippine music, was from Baliuag. Francisca Reyes Aquino, the mother of Philippine dances, was born in the town of Bocaue. Composer and singer Rey Valera was born in Meycauayan town. At present, three divas from Bulacan - Regine Velasquez, Jaimie Rivera and Claire dela Fuente own the finest voices that this country has ever heard.
A Filipino Supervised a Russian Orchestra
Redentor Romero had served as the conductor of the 100-member Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which received worldwide acclaim.
Pasyon Was a Poem
The long poem read and chanted by Catholic devotees during the Lent first appeared in 1704. Entitled Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Nation, the poem was written in octosyllabic verse by Gaspar Aquino de Belen.
Balagtas Had Other Works
Francisco dela Cruz Balagtas, the 19th Century poet from Bulacan, wrote more than 100 plays, comedies, awits and koridos. Most of these works, however, were burned in a fire that gutted his house in Udyong, Bataan in 1892. Fortunately, copies of three of his works were found elsewhere. Aside from the well-known awit Florante at Laura, other existing works of Balagtas were a short farce entitled La India Elegante y e! Negrito Amante and a full-length komedya entitled Orosman at Zafira.
A Filipino was Declared Emperor
In 1926, Florencio Intrencherado was proclaimed emperor of Negros Occidental province. In the 1900s, the people of Negros declared a republic in Panay, which was later abolished by the US government.
A Filipino Refereed Muhammad Ali
In October 1975, Carlos Padilla Jr. served as the referee in the world-boxing match between Ali and Frazier in what was dubbed as thrilla in Manila.
A Brazilian Became Filipinos’ Darling in 2000
Leila Barros, a fine-looking volleyball player from Brazil, became the Filipino crowd’s darling in the staging of World Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix in Manila in 1999 and 2000. Leila, a five-foot-eight player, led her team to the first runner-up finish in the 1999 event, which was won by Russia. Brazil won the crown in 1994, 1996 and 1998. The Filipino audience used to ignore the game of volleyball until they saw Leila spike the ball with the elegance and style no one else could show.
Inside the court, the 28-year-old Brazilian beauty was noted for her intensity and leaping ability, which enabled her to penetrate the stonewall defense of her six foot rivals. Behind the pretty face was her seriousness and sheer determination to win each game. She moves with the agility of Martina Hingis and the form of Anna Kournikova. Not a few Filipino men fell in love with her flash images on television. Some of those who were lucky to see her personally waved placards proposing marriage, not knowing that the young, otherwise innocent looking star player has been married for four years. How sad! Just the same, Leila moves and jumps with the charm of any 16-year-old girl “oozing with sensuality”, as one sports columnist put it. At a time the Philippines was troubled by many problems, all it needed was a little inspiration from someone like Leila, who reminded the Filipino men of the beauty of life.
Intel Chips Were Manufactured in RP
Intel Corp., the world’s largest corporation, has been operating in the Philippines for almost 30 years. Calling itself as the first multinational company that established a branch in the country, Intel manufactures processors and chips in its Philippine plant, which is expected to be Intel’s biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide soon. Other foreign electronic and IT firms in the country are Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Trend Micro, Fujitsu, and America Online (AOL).
Marcos Was Last Lawyer President
Eight Filipino presidents were laywers. All former presidents from Manuel Quezon in 1935 to Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, except Ramos Magsaysay, had practiced law. Starting 1986, the next four presidents were non-lawyers, namely: Corazon Aquino, a housewife; Fidel Ramos, a military general; Joseph Estrada, an actor; and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an economist.
A Filipino Ruled an Island
In 1956, Tomas Cloma, a Filipino explorer, discovered an island in the South China Sea. Cloma named the island as “Freedomland” which he tried to rule by establishing his own government.
A Planetoid was Named After a Filipino
The minor planet Biyo, which has a diameter of four to nine kilometers and was formerly called planet 13241, was named after Dr. Josette Biyo, a teacher at the Philippine Science High School in Iloilo City who won the International Excellence in Teaching Award during the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in Louisville, Kentucky in 2002. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory in the United States game the name.
Scientists Endorse Four Medicinal Plants
The country’s Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAR) has included four medicinal plants - lagundi, sambong, yerba Buena and tsaang gubat - in its list of drugs. Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) also endorses the use of the four plants and six others to cure particular ailments or diseases. The use of lagundi is encouraged to cure cough; sambong, urinary tract stones; yerba Buena, muscle pains; tsaang gubat, intestinal colic; niyog niyugan, intestinal worms; bayabas, for wound wash; akapulko, skin infection; ulasimang bato, uric acid; garlic, high blood cholesterol; and ampalaya, high blood sugar.
There Were Mummies in the Philippines
A tribe in Kabayan town, Benguet province used to mummify the bodies of their dead. Until now, the mummified bodies of their ancestors are hung at the burial rocks in the area.
Someone Made Magsaysay Famous
The person responsible for making the late President Ramon Magsaysay famous as the champion of the masses was Jose V. Cruz, a journalist. At 30 years old, Cruz first served as the press secretary of Magsaysay.
Filipino Doctors Apply as Nurses in the US
So enamored are Filipinos about working in other countries for higher income that 2,000 doctors are now taking up nursing examination for the possibility of working in the US. The Philippine Nurses Association disclosed that in June 2002 alone, at least 100 doctors took the nursing board examinations. A doctor applying for a nurse in the US said that he would earn in a month as a nurse in the US what he is earning in a year as a doctor in the Philippines. Some Filipino nurses earn up to US$5,000 monthly in New York and California. Reports said the US would need additional 600,000 nurses until 2010 while Japan would require 1.2 million nurses during the same period. Filipino nurses are also trooping to Europe, particularly United Kingdom. Ironically, the Philippines has one of the lowest ratios of doctors and nurses against the population.
Salaried Workers Carry Burden of Taxes
Citing data from the National Tax Research Center (NTRC), Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho said that in the year 2001, there were 2,605,505 individual taxpayers who filed their income tax returns and paid a total of P80.42 billion.
About 2,079,745 salaried workers, or 80 percent of the income tax payers, paid a total of P66.3 billion in income taxes, accounting for 82 percent of the total collection. Professionals or self-employed individuals contributed only P10.75 billion or only 13 percent of the income taxes while capital gains tax paid by individuals reached P3.18 billion.
In particular, self-employed individuals or single-proprietors paid P10.13 billion while professionals paid only P620 million. Based on these figures in 2001, professionals paid only P20,447 in income tax while salaried workers paid P31,879.
According to the DOF, this should not be the case since professionals are actually earning much higher than salaried workers. Citing a 1997 government survey, the DOF said that salaried workers earned only P582.7 billion while professionals received P1.159 billion during that year. Measured per capita, salaried workers earned an average of P223,642 while professionals earned P2.204 million in 1997.
In the year 2002, for example, only 2.8 million Filipinos of the total 30 million workers, businessmen and professionals paid their income taxes. As of October 2002, there were over 30 million Filipinos in the labor force, about 15 million of whom were salaried workers, 11 million were self-employed and 4 million were unpaid family workers.
One government study showed that over the past 11 years (1991 to 2001), leakage from the individual income tax amounted to P608 billion. This was on top of the P610 billion that were lost to leakage in the value added tax (VAT) scheme.
Americans Are 25 Times Richer
Equitable distribution of wealth would hardly resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country’s per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino’s equal share in the country’s total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United States, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share.
Among Questionable Claims Are:
1. The Philippines is the world’s second largest English-speaking nation. In reality, most Filipinos do not speak English on the street while the Department of Education is bothered by Filipino students’ low English proficiency level. In comparison, English is the main language in the streets of United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other British territories.
2. The Philippines has the largest Christian population in Asia. China actually has over 80 million Christians and is therefore the country with largest Christian population in Asia.
3. The Philippines was second to Japan in economic prosperity in Asia in the 1950s. Coming out of World War II, most East Asian countries, including the Philippines, were in still in recovery in the 1950s. Some of them had just won their freedom while economic prosperity was a strange phrase during that period. Even our parents would agree that life was harder in the 1950s. The Philippines never became rich and its golden age has yet to set in. Economic situation, however, was less burdening in 1996 and 1997 under the Ramos administration.
4. The Philippines is an agricultural economy. The Philippines is no longer an agricultural country. It cannot even produce enough rice, sugar or wheat to feed its entire population and has to import food from Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. The country’s agricultural exports comprised less than 5 percent of its total outbound shipments in 2001. While the agriculture sector employed 37 percent of the workforce in 2001, it contributed only 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial and services sectors contributed the remaining 79 percent to the domestic economy.
5. Filipinos are the happiest people in the world. The World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998 ranked Iceland 1st and the Philippines 12th among 54 countries in happiness index. The Philippines was ranked first among Asian countries though. The truth is happiness cannot be measured.
6. Early Filipinos had a perfect socio-economic and justice system before the Spaniards came. There was never a perfect society in the world and tales about gold abounding in the Philippines five centuries ago remain to be proven. The fact is slavery, war, witchcraft, beheading and human sacrifice were already present in the country before the Spaniards came.
7. The Philippines is a favorite destination of foreign tourists. It could have the finest beach resorts in the world, but the Philippines gets only about 2 million foreign tourists annually. In comparison, smaller Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong receive over 8 million foreign guests every year.
8. The Philippines is one of the safest and most peaceful places on earth. That is what the Department of Tourism claims but according to the International Red Cross, the Philippines registered the world’s fourth highest number of casualties and injuries as a result of natural disasters and man-made calamities from 1992 to 2001 - 5.8 million cases in all. It was behind China, India and Iran. China and India were expected in the accident list because they have the largest populations in the world.
9. Equitable distribution of wealth would resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country’s per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino’s equal share in the country’s total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United States, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share.
10. Basketball is the dominant sports in the Philippines. Not any more. Because of the growing youth population and the lack of basketball courts, most Filipino children are now trooping to computer game shops and billiard halls.
11. Filipinos invented the fluorescent lamp that illuminated the world and the Lunar Rover used by American astronauts on the moon. The National Academy of Science and Technology disagrees.
Most Profitable Businesses Today Include:
1. Gambling in the form of online lottery or text games
2. Power generation and distribution, thanks to purchased power cost adjustment
3. Mobile phone networks, as long as the country is hooked to texting
4. Beer and wine production as always
5. Drug manufacturing and retail, because medicines here are twice as expensive
6. Computer training centers which promise instant jobs after graduation
7. Kindergarten schools with exorbitant tuition fees
8. Caregiver training centers for people wanting to go to Canada and US
9. Immigration consultancy which offers expensive seminars
10. Job placement agencies
11. Pyramid selling
12. Laundry services for American troops
13. Importing ukay-ukay
14. Selling pirated VCDs and software
15. Kidney buy and sell
16. Smut publishing, as in yellow journalism
17. Billiard tables for rent
18. Computer game shops
19. Money exchange in Basilan
20. Bikini car wash as the one in Iloilo City
The lists of questionable claims and most profitable businesses today only reflect the author’s opinion. The author does not in any way encourage anybody to engage in the most profitable businesses listed above. Both lists were made for satirical purposes.
Significant Updates
ROTC No Longer A Problem in Graduation
Here is a piece of good news to those who were not able to graduate because of a missing requirement in Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Under a new law which was approved in February 2002, all male students who were not allowed to graduate from college despite completing all their academic units in 2001 or earlier could now apply for graduation.
Republic Act No. 9163 or the law creating the National Service Training Program (NSTP) suspends ROTC requirement “for those students who despite completing all their academic units as of the effectivity of this Act have not been allowed to graduate.” The law took effect in February 2002.
Male students who have completed their academic units by 2001 or earlier could now follow up their application for graduation. The law is already being implemented by the Commission on Higher Education (CHR).
ASEAN Free Trade Starts January 2003
Do you know that starting January 1, 2003, the Philippines and the nine other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a combined population of about 600 million people, would transform the region into a common market where products and services freely flow?
Aside from the Philippines, the other members of ASEAN are Brunei Darrusalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The common market of the region is called ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
By January 2003, these countries would begin implementing the so-called Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT), a gradual tariff reduction mechanism by which “tariffs on goods traded within the ASEAN region, which meet a 40 percent ASEAN content requirement, will be reduced to 0 to 5 percent by the year 2003 (2006 for Vietnam, and 2008 for Laos and Myanmar)”. Excluded from these products are those under each country’s sensitive list.
This would mean that most products from Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia would enter the country duty free. Imported items that are duty free are of course cheaper. If cheap imported products swarm across the country, local entrepreneurs would be forced to lower the prices of their products, to the benefit of the Filipino consumers.
The Philippines has to learn lessons from AFTA before it should stick to its commitments to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and World Trade Organization (WTO), which are larger market blocs.
Help the Children!
In the love of God, let us help the poor and sick children. Three out of 10 Filipino pre-schoolers are malnourished or underweight. In actual number, there are at least 3.7 million malnourished pre-school children in the Philippines.
In the love of God, let us help the poor and sick children. As of 1996, the Philippines had 1.5 million children living or working in the street of 65 cities. Metro Manila alone had at least 100,000 street children. Many of these children have been working as pickpockets, beggars and prostitutes.
In the love of God, let us help the poor and sick children. Many sick children die at the Philippine General Hospital each day. One physician said that they die, not because the doctors are unskilled or incompetent but “because these children are poor.”
In the love of God, let us help the poor and sick children. We can do these by sharing our love with and contributing our support to at least two highly regarded institutions, namely: the Philippine General Hospital Department of Pediatrics and the Alay Pag-asa Foundation.
Send a text message to Dr. Philip Cruz of the Department of Pediatrics, Philippine General Hospital at Mobile Phone No. 63917 - 5304437 or deposit donations at Banco de Oro (Give a Life Account No. 043-0071418). Contact Numbers appeared at Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 6 issue.
Contact Alay Pag-Asa Christian Foundation Inc., No. 32 Arayat Street corner Road 1, Mandaluyong City 1550, Metro Manila or call Tel. No. (632) 532-3250; 532-6433 or write to Alay Pag-Asa P.O. Box 12911, Ortigas Center P.O. Pasig City 1605, Metro Manila, Philippines or email apacf@i-manila.com.ph.
In the love of God, let us help the children!
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God, like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them.
Bible verses were quoted from the New International Version.
Smallest in the Philippines
World’s Smallest Volcano
Taal Volcano, a 406-meter-high crater, is said to be the world’s smallest volcano. It is described as “a crater within an island within a lake” because it stands as an island at Taal Lake. The lake was formed after the volcano, which used to be much larger, collapsed. The ridges around Tagaytay City, which overlooks the lake, are believed to be part of the crater of the old volcano.
These ridges now serve as the border of the 18-mile-diameter Taal Lake and stretch 32 kilometers from Mount Batulao to Mount Sungay. Also considered as one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Taal Volcano has erupted over 20 times since 1572.
Smallest Bat in the World
The Philippines has at least 56 species of bats. It is home to the smallest among the 1,000 known bat species in the world.
The smallest bat in the world is the Philippine bamboo bat (vespertilionid), which belongs to the vespertilionid family. This bat measures about four centimeters (1 1/2 inches) in length and has a wingspan of 15 cm. Approximately, it weighs 1.5 grams (1/20 ounce).
Smallest Mammal in the World
South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world’s smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.
In other countries, it is called chevrotain, or simply mouse deer. Contrary to its name, pilandok is not a member of the deer family. It belongs to the family Tragulidae in the mammalian order Artiodactyla. The male species has no antlers like those of a real deer. Instead, it uses its large tusk-like canine teeth on its upper jaw for self-defense; in the same way a deer uses its antlers.
Aside from the Pilandok, other mouse deer species include the Malay mouse deer or napu and the African water chevrotain. They are found in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and India. While the mouse deer are widely distributed across Asia, their dwindling population has alarmed the World Conservation Union, which declared them as endangered in 1996.
Smallest Monkey in the World
In many respects, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is different from other animals. Considered as the world’s smallest primate, it measures only about twelve centimeters in length. Its two big eyes cannot move and do not have a tapetum - the upper protective tissue. Because of this, the Philippine tarsier has learned to turn its head 180 degrees. It has also two grooming claws on each foot and an almost bald tail extending about nine inches.
Found in the islands of Samar, Leyte, Bohol and Mindanao, the Philippine tarsier got its name from its elongated tarsus bone. An ordinary tarsier weighs between 117 and 134 grams. It is able to move between trees by leaping as far as three meters. It also has keen senses of hearing and sight.
Today, there are only about 1,000 tarsiers inhabiting the wilds of Corella town in Bohol province where the biggest concentration of these rare animals was once reported. Ensuring the continued existence of the Philippine tarsiers is the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc.
Smallest Fish in the World
The world’s smallest freshwater fish is found in the Philippines. The dwarf goby (Pandaka pygmaea) measures 1.2 centimeters or less than half of an inch, the tiniest known vertebrate. American Ichthyologist Albert Herre first discovered it in Malabon River in 1925.
The Philippines is also the home of sinarapan, the world’s smallest commercial fish. Sinarapan, scientifically known as Mistichthys luzonensis, is a goby found only in Lakes Bato and Buhi in Camarines Sur province. Sinarapan grows to an average length of 1.25 centimeters, only slightly longer than the dwarf goby. Today, unabated fishing in the two lakes threatens the population of sinarapan.
Smallest Shell in the World
Pisidum, the world’s tiniest shell, can be found under Philippine waters. Pisidum measures less than 1 millimeter long.
Smallest Town in Terms of Population
The town of Kalayaan, a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean west of Palawan province, had the smallest population among municipalities at 223 as of 2000.
Smallest Painting in the Philippines
Miniaturist Norris Castillo created what is perhaps the smallest piece of painting in the country. Known as “the Harvest”, the oil-on-canvas painting measures 1/4 inches in width and 3/8 inches in length. It is now exhibited at the National Museum. Castillo claimed that he has created more than 10,000 pieces of painting. (Source: Panorama magazine)
Smallest Province in the Philippines
The smallest province in the Philippines is Batanes, with only a total land area of 209 square kilometers.
Pinoy Who’s Who
Abadilla, Alejandro - poet; 1904-1969
Abelardo, Nicanor - composer; San Miguel, Bulacan; 1893-1934
Abueva, Napoleon - sculptor; Bohol; 1930
Aglipay, Gregorio - religious leader; Ilocos Norte; 1860-1940
Agoncillo, Felipe - nationalist; Taal, Batangas; 1859-1941
Aguinaldo, Emilio - president and general; Kawit, Cavite; 1869-1964
Alcala, Larry - cartoonist; Daraga, Albay; 1926-2002
Amorsolo, Fernando - painter; Manila; 1892-1972
Antonio, Pablo - architect; Balanga, Bataan; 1901-1974
Aquino, Benigno -senator and martyr; Concepcion, Tarlac; 1932-1983
Aquino, Corazon Cojuango - president; Luisita, Tarlac; January 25, 1933
Aquino, Francisca Reyes - culture and dance researcher; Bocaue, Bulacan; 1899-1983
Aquino, Melchora - nationalist; Kalookan; 1812-1919
Arguilla, Manuel - writer; Bauang, La Union; 1910-1944
Arcellana, Francisco - short story writer; Manila; 1916-2002
Arroyo, Gloria Macapagal - president; Manila; April 5, 1947
Avellana, Lamberto - film director; Bontoc, Mountain Province; 1915-1991
Balagtas, Francisco - poet; Balagtas, Bulacan; 1788-1862
Baraquio, Angela Perez - beauty queen; Hawaii; June 1, 1976
Bernal, Ishmael - film director; Manila; 1938-1997
Blanca, Nida - film actress; Gapan, Nueva Ecija; 1936-2001
Bonifacio, Andres - nationalist; Manila; 1863-1897
Brocka, Lino - film director; Pilar, Sorsogon; 1939-1991
Buenaventura, Antonino - composer; Baliuag, Bulacan; 1904-1996
Bulosan, Carlos - writer; Pangasinan; 1911-1956
Cayetano, Benjamin - governor of Hawaii; November 14, 1939
Celerio, Levi - poet and songwriter; Manila; 1910-2002
Constantino, Renato - historian; 1919-1999
Cuenco, Ernani - composer; Malolos, Bulacan; 1936-1988
Dagohoy, Francisco - nationalist; Bohol; 1744-1829 (revolt)
De Jesus, Gregoria - nationalist; Kalookan; 1875-1943
De Jesus, Jose Corazon - poet; Sta. Maria, Bulacan; 1896-1932
Dela Rama, Honorata “Atang” - actress; Pandacan, Manila; 1902-1991
De Leon, Felipe - composer; Penaranda, Nueva Ecija; 1912-1992
De Leon, Gerardo - film director; Manila; 1913-1981
Delos Santos, Efipanio - writer and nationalist; Malabon; 1871-1928
Del Pilar, Gregorio - nationalist and general; Bulacan; 1875-1899
Del Pilar, Marcelo - journalist and nationalist; Bulacan, Bulacan; 1850-1896
De Ocampo, Roberto - finance secretary and banker; Manila; January 10, 1946
De Venecia, Jose Jr. - House speaker; Dagupan City; December 26, 1936
Edades, Victorio - painter; Pangasinan; 1895-1985
Estrada, Joseph - president; Manila; April 19,1937
Enrile, Juan Ponce - senator and defense minister; Gonzaga, Cagayan; February 14, 1924
Felipe, Julian - composer; Cavite City; 1861-1941
Flavier, Juan - senator and barrio doctor; Manila; June 23, 1935
Francisco, Carlos - painter; Angono, Rizal; 1913-1969
Fuentes, Jovita - opera singer; Capiz, 1895-1978
Garcia, Carlos - president; Talibon, Bohol; 1896-1971
Gokongwei, John Jr. - business tycoon; Cebu City; July 4, 1926
Gonzalez, N.V.M. - writer; Romblon, Romblon; 1917-1999
Goquingco, Leonor Orosa - writer and dancer; Jolo, Sulu;
Guerrero, Fernando Ma. - nationalist; Manila; 1873-1929
Guerrero, Wilfredo Ma. - scriptwriter; 1910-1995
Guingona, Teofisto - vice-president; San Juan, Metro Manila; July 4, 1928
Hernandez, Amado - poet; San Miguel, Bulacan; 1903-1970
Hidalgo, Felix Resureccion - painter; 1853-1913
Jacinto, Emilio - nationalist; Tondo, Manila; 1875-1899
Jaena, Graciano Lopez - nationalist and editor; Jaro, Iloilo; 1856-1896
Jaworski, Robert - senator and basketball player; Baguio City; March 8, 1946
Joaquin, Nick - writer; Manila; May 4, 1917
Jose, F. Sionil - writer; Rosales, Pangasinan; December 3, 1924
Kasilag, Lucrecia - composer; San Fernando, La Union; August 31, 1819
Kiukok, Ang - painter; Davao City; March 1, 1931
Laurel, Jose P. - president; Tanauan, Batangas; 1891-1959
Legaspi, Cesar - painter; Tondo, Manila; 1917-1994
Locsin, Leandro - architect; Silay, Negros Occidental; 1928-1994
Luna, Juan - painter and nationalist; Badoc, Ilocos Note; 1857-1899
Luz, Arturo - painter; Manila; November 29, 1926
Mabini, Apolinario - nationalist; Tanauan, Batangas; 1864-1903
Macapagal, Diosdado - president; Lubao, Pampanga; 1910-1997
Maceda, Jose - composer; Manila; January 31, 1917
Magsaysay, Ramon - president; Iba, Zambales; 1907-1957
Manansala, Vicente - painter; Macabebe, Pampanga; 1910-1981
Marcos, Ferdinand - president; Sarrat, Ilocos Norte; 1917-1989
Mariano, Eleanor - physician and US general; Angeles City; 1955
Molina, Antonio - composer; Manila; 1894-1980
Nakpil, Juan - architect; Manila; 1899-1986
Natorie, Josie - fashion designer; Manila; 1947
Navarro, Jerry Elizalde - painter; 1924-1999
Nepomuceno, Rafael - bowling champion; January 30, 1957
Ocampo, Hernando - painter; Manila; 1911-1978
Ople, Blas - senator; Bulacan; February 3, 1927
Osmena, Sergio - president; Cebu City; 1878-1961
Pagkalinawan, Cecilia - IT executive in New York; Manila; 1969
Palma, Jose - poet and songwriter; 1876-1903
Perez, Eugenio - congressman; San Carlos, Pangasinan; 1896-1957
Pimentel, Aquilino - senator; Claveria, Misamis Oriental; December 11, 1933
Ponce, Mariano - nationalist; Baliuag, Bulacan; 1861-1918
Puyat, Gil - nationalist; Manila; 1907-1981
Quezon, Manuel - president; Baler, Tayabas; 1878-1944
Quirino, Elpidio - president; Vigan, Ilocos Sur; 1890-1956
Quizon, Rodolfo (Dolphy) - film actor and comedian; Pampanga; July 25, 1928
Ramos, Fidel - president; Lingayen, Pangasinan; March 18, 1928
Reyes, Severino - playwright; 1861-1942
Rizal, Jose - poet, novelist and martyr; Calamba, Laguna; 1861-1896
Roco, Raul - senator and education secretary; Naga City; October 26, 1941
Romulo, Carlos - UN president and journalist; Camiling, Tarlac; 1899-1985
Roxas, Manuel - president; Roxas City, Capiz; 1892-1948
Salonga, Jovito - senate president and nationalist; Rizal; June 22, 1920
Salonga, Lea - stage actress; Manila; February 22, 1971
San Pedro, Lucio - composer; Angono, Rizal; 1913-2002
Santiago, Miriam Defensor - senator; Iloilo City; June 15, 1945
Santos, Jose Abad - statesman and nationalist; San Fernando, Pampanga; 1886-
Santos, Lope - novelist and linguist; 1879-1963
Silang, Diego - nationalist; Ilocos Sur; 1730-1763
Silang, Gabriela - nationalist; Ilocos Sur; 1731-1763
Sin, Cardinal Jaime - Catholic archbishop; Aklan; August 21, 1928
Sycip, Washington - businessman; Manila; January 30, 1921
Tiempo, Edith - writer; Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya; April 22, 1919
Tinio, Rolando - playwright; Manila; 1937-1997
Tizon, Alex - journalist; Pampanga; 1958
Tolentino, Aurelio - playwright; 1868-1915
Tolentino, Guillermo - sculptor; Malolos, Bulacan; 1890-1976
Urtula, Lucrecia Reyes - dancer; Calamba, Laguna;
Valencia, Teodoro - journalist; Tanauan, Batangas; 1913-
Veneracion, Andrea - choirmaster; Manila; June 11, 1928
Vergara, Benito Sibug - scientist; Manila; June 23, 1934
Villa, Jose Garcia - poet; Manila; 1909-1997
Villa, Pancho - boxing champion; Iloilo; 1901
Villar, Manuel Jr. - senator and real estate magnate; Las Pinas City; December 13, 1949
The list includes presidents, government officials, national artists and other famous Filipinos. More names would be included in the futur
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What is the capital of the Republic of the Philippines? |
Manila. Manila is a part of a metropolitan area. It consists of neighboring cities and municipalities including Quezon City, Pasig City, Pasay City etc. The population in 2003 is around eight million
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What is the “Summer Capital” of the Philippines? |
Baguio City. Baguio City is in the northern part of Luzon in the province of Benguet. Due to the city’s altitude, a lot of people goes here every summer to escape the heat of the lowlands.
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What is the oldest city of the Philippines? |
Cebu. Cebu is in the Visayas group of island. It’s also known as the “Queen city of the south”.
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What is the largest island of the Philippine Archipelago? |
Luzon. Visayas is a group of islands. Mindanao is the second largest. Palawan is technically part of the Luzon islands.
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The Philippines is predominantly Catholic in religion. Islam is the second largest religion of the Philippines and most of the Filipino Muslims live in what island? |
Mindanao. Mindanao is in the southern part of the country. It is the only group of islands that the Spanish church failed to dominate.
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During World War Two, it was known as “The Rock” due to its fortress and the strong resistance of the USAFFE forces. What is the name of this island? |
Corregidor. After the fall of Bataan it was the last resistance of the Filipino and USAFFE forces.
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Where can you find the marker for “Kilometer 0 (zero)”? It is the distance reference to all points in the country. |
Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. The Rizal monument can be found in Luneta formerly known as Bagumbayan. The monument serve as the starting point of any location in the Philippines.
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Where is the highest peak in the Philippines? |
Mt. Apo. Mount Apo can be found in Davao in Mindanao. It’s also an active Volcano.
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What is the longest river in the Philippines? |
Cagayan River. It runs through the whole length of Cagayan Valley from Cagayan, Isabela to almost central Luzon.
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Where can you find Mayon Volcano? |
Albay. Though all of these provinces are in the “Bicol Region”, Mayon can be found in Albay province. This volcano is famous due to its near perfect cone, but it’s one of the deadliest volcanos in the island.
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What is the provincial capital of Isabela? |
Ilagan. This is the second largest province. It is in the northern part of Luzon. Together with Cagayan, Quirino, Nueva Viscaya and Batanes it is called the Cagayan Valley Region.
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The Philippines is composed of approximately how many islands? |
7,107. It still depends, if it is low tide or high tide.
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What is the largest province in the Philippines in terms of land area? |
Palawan. This province is a large, long island found in the east central part of the country. The capital is Puerto Princesa City.
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What is the longest mountain range in the Country? |
Sierra Madre. The Sierra Madre mountain range runs from Cagayan in the north to Quezon province in the south, which is almost the entire length of eastern Luzon island.
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In the early 1990s, this volcano exploded and it is one the most violent in the 20th century. What is the name of this volcano? |
Mt. Pinatubo. It can be found in Zambales province. This volcano was dormant for almost 600 years before the explosion which left most of central Luzon devastated. Up to the present, every rainy season the province of Pampanga and Zambales is still ravaged by lahar.
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Pinoy Trivia |
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Mactan MythThere is no historical evidence that Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan in a one-on-one duel during the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521. Nothing of the sort was was never mentioned by Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the Magellan expedition and the lone available source on the subjects. His account: Magellan was hit first on the right leg by a poison arrow, then on the arm by a bamboo spear while a bolo slashed his left leg. When he fell, a swarm of attackers finished him off with a hail of hacks and stabs. First Pinoy in the SkyThe first Filipino to fly as a passenger was an Igorot chief named Gagaban. He rode with American pilot Lee Hammond in a Red Devil biplane on a short flight over Luneta on February 12, 1912. Pinay Make-UpAlthough cosmetic products were already widely sold in Manila in the 1910’s — thanks to the American occupation — it was only about 15 years later that the ordinary Filipina could wear make-up in public with full confidence. Before then she ran the risk of being mistaken for a bailarina or a vaudeville artista. Not LimasawaFilipino historians now agree that Limasawa Island, in Leyte del Sur, does not deserve the honor of being the site of the first Mass in the Philippines. The actual site was Masao in Butuan Bay, Agusan del Norte, where the national shrine commemorating the event has already been transferred. The long-running error has been traced to an English translation of Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicle of the Magellan expedition, where the prefix “li-” was attached to Mazzaua, Masao’s original name. Dynamic DuoManuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmena, Sr. were born in the same year (1878), were classmates in high school (San Juan de Letran) and college (University of Santo Tomas), and placed in the Top 10 of the bar examinations of 1903. Both later became provincial fiscals and governors (Tayabas and Cebu). Aguinaldo’s AgesEmilio Aguinaldo became capitan municipal of Kawit, Cavite, when he was only 26 years old, headed a revolution two months later, and assumed the presidency of the republic two months short of his 30th birthday. He died at age 95, the oldest for any Philippine president so far. Coup LeaderThe Philippine coup count is nothing compared to that of Bolivia. Statisticians say this South American country has had 191 coups and counter-coup since it became independent in 1825. Rizal as “Doctor”Jose Rizal’s “doctor” title does not refer to a doctorate as most people tend to think. For some reason, he was not able to take the examination that would have qualified him for a doctorate. Rizal did have a licentiate in medicine and so was allowed to practice in the profession. Kids & TVA UP survey reveals that the average Filipino child watches television at least three hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends — more than the time he spends studying, playing, or interacting with other people. Cheers!Alak, the Pinoy word for liquor, appears to have been derived from the Arabic term arak. It’s an old alcoholic drink resembling rum in taste, widely enjoyed in the Middle east and other parts of Asia. First “Import”Not many are aware that a black American fought on the side of Aguinaldo’s army during the Fil-American War. He was David Fagan, a six-foot defector who earned the rank of captain in the pinoy forces. An avowed hater of “whites”, Fagan learned to speak tagalog rather well, according to accounts, and lived-in with a Filipina. He was described as a fierce warrior and reportedly “salvaged” a number of white Americans captured by Filipino troops. He was hunted down after the defeat of Aguinaldo’s army, and believed assassinated. Pioneer PaperThe first newspaper in the Philippines was the Del Superior Gobierno, which began publication in August 1811. Edited by the Spanish governor-general himself, it carried only news from abroad as the paper was meant for the Spanish community in the country. Del Superior Gobierno had a life span of only 15 issues. Bar BirdsOld-timers say the term ‘mga kalapating mababa ang lipad‘ — describing nightclub hostesses — has its roots in Palomar, the famed Tondo red-light district at the term of the century. Palomar is Spanish for “pigeon house“. Manila, Manila, ManilaManila is not unique. There are two other Manila’s in the world, both towns in the United States (Utah and Arkansas). Mr. Shoo LiJun “Mr. Shoo Li” Urbano is following in the footsteps of his father, Manuel Conde (born Manuel Urbano), when he created television’s Mongolian Barbecue. Also known for his portrayal of Juan Tamad on film, the elder Urbano starred in the epic 1951 movie Genghis Khan, the Pinoy version of the life of the famed Mongolian warrior-king. It was the first Filipino film cited for technical achievement at the Cannes Film Festival. Jun’s real name, by the way, is manuel Conde, Jr. First Filipino - or Filipina?Was the first Filipino a man or a woman?The oldest human relics in the Philippines were discovered in Tabon Cave, Palawan, in 1962. The most important find was a fragment of a rather thick skull with a sloping forehead and wide, heavy bones. The jaws and the back of the head were missing, but subsequent carbon tests and ethic studies led to the general conclusion that the skull belonged to a small, slight human, a “Negritoid” who had lived about 22,000 years ago. Further tests gave the impression that the skullcap belonged to a woman. |
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un Trivia About the Philippines
1. The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world, behind the United States and England.
2. Boondocks and Boonies, words that have come to mean “in middle of nowhere” in the English language, are derived from the Tagalog word bundock, which means “mountain”. An educated guess would be that American soldiers fighting in the Philippines a century ago adopted the word. As an example, “Our units going into the boondocks to search for insurgents.” After the war, soldiers brought the term home with them, and the rest is history.
3. The Philippines is the fourth largest Catholic country in the world, behind Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.
4. Though the Republic of the Philippines is roughly the same size as Arizona in total area, it has 36,289 km of coastline. The United States, in comparison, has a “mere” 19,924 km of coastline. How is that possible? The Philippines is composed of around 7,000 islands (some are quite tiny), each of which has its own coastline. All those coastlines combined add up!
5. General Douglas MacArthur, known for his “Return” to the Philippines, was the son of Arthur MacArthur, a Brigadier General in the Army who played a major part in pacifying the Philippines during the Philippine-American war at the end of the 19th Century.
6. The Philippines has the longest accessible underground river in the world.
7. With a total membership exceeding 3 million, the Philippines has the third largest Boy Scouts organization in the world, behind the United States and Indonesia.
8. The first recorded intermarriage of a Filipino to a westerner occurred in 1565, when Isabel, the daughter of a Cebuano chief, Rajah Tupas, was married to a Greek by the name of Maestre Andrea. A widow, Isabel was one of the first Cebuanos to be taught the Catholic faith.
Trivia
·The exotic jeepney is a post-war creation inspired by the GI jeeps that the American soldiers brought to the country in the 1940s. Enterprising Filipinos salvaged the surplus engines and came out unique vehicles of art.
·Short distance and feeder trips could not be more exciting than via Philippine quick transports – the tricycle, a motorcycle with a sidecar, and the pedicab, a bicycle with a sidecar.
·The world’s longest underground river system accessible to man can be found at the St. Paul National Park in the province of Palawan.
·The largest Philippine wild animal, the tamaraw, is a species of the buffalo that is similar to the carabao. It is found only in the island of Mindoro.
·The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, a dormant volcano found in Mindanao, at 2,954 meters (9,689 feet). Mt. Pulog in Luzon is the second highest at 2,928 meters (9604 feet).
·Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno was the first bowler to be elevated to the International Bowling Hall of Fame based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The Philippine Congress has named him “Greatest Filipino Athlete of All Time.”
·Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? “Consummatum est!” (”It is done!”)
·The largest city in the Philippines is Davao City. With an area of 2,211 sq. km., it is about three times the size of the national capital, Metro Manila.
·Cebu is the oldest Philippine city.
·Negros Occidental has the most cities among Philippine provinces.
·Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds and Christmas carols start filling the air, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.
·Paskuhan Village in the province of Pampanga is Asia’s only Christmas theme park and the third of its kind in the world.
·The great Christmans lanterns of San Fernando, Pampanga can reach as big as 40 feet in diameter, using as many as 16,000 glowing bulbs.
·The exotic jeepney is the Filipino version of the jitney, the taxi/minibus that travels along a fixed route, found in many countries.
·The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.
·The word “boondocks,” which is now a part of the English language, dictionary, and vocabulary, comes from the Tagalog word “bundok,” meaning “mountain.”
·The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.
·Diving paradise Anilao, in the province of Batangas, is the theme of a picture book that bagged the International Prize for Underwater Images at the 27th World Festival of Underwater Images in France in November 2000. “Anilao” book creators and Filipino scuba divers Scott Tuason and Eduardo Cu Unjieng defeated big names in underwater photography such as Jacques Mayol, Pascal Kobeh, Monique Walker, and Alessandro Tommasi.
·The biggest game preserve and wildlife sanctuary in the Philippines is located on Calauit Island in Palawan, which has the largest land area among the Philippine provinces.
·The antibiotic erythromycin — used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections — was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.
·Fernando Amorsolo was officially the first National Artist of the Philippines. He was given the distinction of National Artist for Painting in 1972.
·Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo was the first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in 1942. He was also aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur in World War II; Philippine resident commissioner in the U.S. Congress from 1944-46; and the first Asian to become UN President in 1949.
·The largest fish in the world, the Whale Shark, locally known as Butanding, regularly swims to the Philippine waters.
·The world’s shortest and lightest freshwater fish is the dwarf pygmy goby (Pandaka Pygmaea), a colorless and nearly transparent species found in the streams and lakes of Luzon. Males have an average length of 8.7 mm. and weigh 4-5 mg.
·On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.
·The Philippine Madrigal Singers bagged the 1997 European Choral Grand Prix, the choral olympics of the world’s best choirs. The group, being the only Asian choir, bested five regional champions from all over Europe, earning them the title as the “world’s best choir.”
·There are 12,000 or so species of seashells in the Philippines. The Conus Gloriamaris or “Glory of the Sea” is the rarest and most expensive in the world.
·Of the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the Philippines.
·Of the eight species of marine turtles worldwide, five are reported to be found in the Philippines: the Green Turtle, Hawkbill, Leatherback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead.
·Of the eight known species of giant clams in the world, seven are found in the Philippines.
·The Basilica of San Sebastian is the only steel church in Asia and was the second building to be made out of steel, next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
·The largest bell in Asia hangs at the belfry of the 221-year old Panay Church. It is 7 feet in diameter and 7 feet in height, and weighs 10.4 tons. Its tolling can be heard as far as 8 km. away. It was casted from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople as a manifestation of faith and thanksgiving.
·The World Cup, which was instituted in 1965, is contested annually by the national champions of the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ). The highest number of wins is 4, by Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno: 1976, 1980, 1992, and 1996.
·Filipino Eriberto N. Gonzales Jr. consumed 350 chilis in 3 minutes at the annual Magayon Festival chili-eating contest held at Penaranda Park, Legazpi, Albay on May 27, 1999, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the most chilis eaten.
·The longest possible eclipse of the Sun is 7 min. 31 sec. The longest eclipse in recent times took place west of the Philippines on June 20, 1995, lasting for 7 min. 8 sec.
·Camiguin province holds the distinction of having the most number of volcanoes per square kilometer than any other island on earth. It is also the only place in the Philippines which has more volcanoes (7) than towns (5).
·The 900 sq m Relief Map of Mindanao in Dapitan City was personally done by Dr. Jose Rizal. It was used as a device for teaching history and geography to townsfolk.
·The Zamboanga Golf Course and Beach Park was founded in 1910 by Gov. John Pershing. It is one of the oldest golf courses in the Philippines.
·Isabela City is the youngest city in the region. It was only on March 5, 2001 that the Municipality of Isabela, Province of Basilan was converted into a component city Through RA 9023. On April 25, 2001, Isabeleños ratified the new status of Isabela.
·The Kinabayo is an exotic and colorful pageant re-enacting the Spanish-Moorish Wars, particularly the Battle of Covadonga where the Spanish forces under General Pelagio took their last stand against the Saracens. They were able to reverse the tide of war with the miraculous apparition of St. James, the Apostle. A Kinabayo Festival is celebrated every July in Dapitan City, attracting thousands of tourists to the city.
·The altar at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Dipolog City was designed by Dr. Jose Rizal. The Cathedral was erected by the Spanish friars sometime in 1895, before Dipolog City became a municipality.
·The Rizal Shrine in Dapitan City is the original estate of Dr. Jose Rizal which he acquired by purchase during his exile in Dapitan from 1892 to 1896.
·RA 8973 signed by then President Joseph E. Estrada in February 2001 created the province of Zamboanga Sibugay. A total of sixteen municipalities compose this newest province in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
·Magat Dam is Asia’s biggest dam project at the time of its construction. It serves the primary function of power generation and irrigation.
·The Cagayan River or Rio Grande de Cagayan is the Philippines’ mightiest watercourse – the longest and widest river in the country. Small streams originating form Balete Pass, Cordillera, Caraballo and Sierra Madre Mountains meet other streams and rivers and flow to the Cagayan River.
·Magapit Suspension Bridge is the first of its kind in Asia. It spans the Cagayan River at Lallo and is 0.76 kilometers long. The hanging bridge links the first and second districts of Cagayan going towards the Ilocos Region via the scenic Patapat Road on the Ilocos Norte-Cagayan Inter-Provincial national highway.
·Angono Petroglyphs – This cultural heritage site dates back to circa 3000 B.C. and is the most ancient Filipino, or more aptly, prehistoric Filipino work of art. Besides being the country’s oldest “work of art” it also offers us an evocative glimpse into the life of our ancestors. The site has been included in the World Inventory of Rock Art under the auspices of UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOMOS and nominated as one of the “100 Most Endangered Sites of the World.
·PANCIT HABHAB (Lucban)-Made from rice flour, these local noodles acquired its name and developed its unique attraction by the way it is eaten. Otherwise known as Pancit Lucban, these noodles are hawked in the streets and served on a piece of banana leaf, sans fork or any other utensils. Thus, it is eaten straight from the leaf, licking permitted… “habhab”-style.
·Tagala - the Philippines first Filipino-Spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.
·Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor
·Ilo-Ilo golf and country club is the oldest golf club in the Philippines. It was built at 1908 by Irish Engineers.
·Limasawa Island – where Ferdinand Magellan first landed in the Philippines which give way to the discovery of the Philippines and where the first mass was celebrated.
·San Juanico Strait - said to be the narrowest yet the most navigable strait in the world
·Calbiga Cave – The Philippines’ biggest karst formations and one of the largest in Asia, the 2,968-hectare cave system is composed of 12 caves with wide underground spaces, unique rock formations and sub-terranean watercourse.
·At the Immaculate Conception Cathedral can be found the only existing pipe organ in Mindanao. The 2nd largest pipe organ in the Phiippines. The huge instrument took 2 years to built and was brought over by sea from Germany in 23 crates.
·Cagayan de Oro City - “The City of Golden Friendship,” known for its warm people and old-fashioned hospitality
·Mt. Apo, the Philippines highest mountain at 10,311 feet above sea level, and considered as the “Grand-father of all Philippine Mountains”
·Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines, probably the deepest in the country and is considered one of the major tropical lakes in Southeastern Asia. The lake is home of endemic cryprinids, the species found only in the lake and nowhere else in the world.
·Halo-Halo! Halo-halo literally means, “mix-mix”. And its is just that: a mixture of sweetened fruits and beans, lavished with pinipig (crisp flattened rice flakes), sugar and milk, topped by crushed ice and ice cream. You know its summertime when halo-halo stand start sprouting by the roadside and by the beach, all whipping up their heavenly concoctions of such a refreshingly divine dessert. You can make your own by selecting and mixing your ingredients to make a perfect Halo-Halo. Halo-Halo is uniquely, unforgettably Filipino!
·KALESA - The kalesa or karitela is a horse-driven carriage that was introduced during the 18th century. It was used by Spanish officials and the nobles as a means of transportation. The Ilustrados, the rich Filipinos who had their own businesses, used the kalesa not only for traveling but as a means a means of transporting their goods as well.
·BAKYA-Made primarily of lightwood (laniti and santol trees), it is sculpted with a slope and shaved to a smooth finish, then painted with floral designs or varnished to a high sheen. The upper portions, which are made of rubber or transparent plastic, are fastened to the sides by thumb nails called “clavitos”. The bakya industry prospered during the 1930s when the Filipinos began exporting these to the other countries.
·SORBETES-This sweet treat was concocted in the early 1920’s, a time where a single centavo could buy you almost anything. The process of this ice cream making and selling it in carts with colorful designs is still the same. Back in the old days, these ice cream dealers bred their own cows and milked them with their own hands to ensure the freshness and sanitation of the milk needed to make the “dirty ice cream”.
·Waling Waling Orchids - With some 800 to 1,000 species of orchids, the Philippines has one of the richest orchid floras in the world. Philippine orchids come in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and colors. Most grow only in old-growth forest, often on branches of huge trees dozens of meters above the forest floor.
·Maria Teresa Calderon – A Filipina World champion speed reader as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
·In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world’s 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.
·The Philippine Basketball Association is Asia’s premier and the world’s second oldest professional league.
·Philippine Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia’s first airline.
·The world’s largest pearl was discovered by a Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the “Pearl of Lao-Tzu”, the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old.
·Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) Channel 3, the first television station in the country, went on the air in 1953.
·The world’s second deepest spot underwater is in the Philippines. This spot, about 34,440 feet (10,497 meters) below the sea level, is known as the Philippine Deep or the Mindanao Trench. The Philippine Deep is in the floor of the Philippine Sea. The German ship Emden first plumbed the trench in 1927.
·The symbolic name for the Philippines, Juan dela Cruz, is not a Filipino invention? It was coined by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s, after discovering it was the most common name in blotters.
·Lipa City in Batangas is dubbed as the “Rome of the Philippines” because of the number of seminaries, convents, monasteries, retreat houses, and a famous cathedral located in it.
·Compostela Valley is known to be laden with gold, thus earning the monicker “Golden Valley of Mindanao”
·Basilica of St. Martin de Tours in Taal, Batangas built by Augustinian Missionaries in 1572, is reputed to be the biggest catholic church in East Asia. It is so huge that it can house another big church
·Kibungan is known as the “Switzerland of Bengued” because of the frost during the cold months
·The Delmonte Pineapple Plantation in Bukidnon is considered to be the biggest in the far east
·Both Tridacna gigas, one of the world’s largest shells, and Pisidum, the world’s tiniest shell, can be found under Philippine waters. Tridacna gigas grows as large as one meter in length and weighs 600 pounds while Pisidum is less than 1 millimeter long. A shell called glory of the sea (Connus gloriamaris) is also found in the Philippines and considered as one of the most expensive shells in the world.
·Seahorses are small saltwater fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family (order Gasterosteiformes), which also includes pipefish and sea dragons. Most seahorse species, probably the most peculiar creatures in the water, live in the Coral Triangle. There are at least 50 known seahorse species in the world. They inhabit temperate and tropical waters but most of them are concentrated in the warm coastal waters of the Philippines.
·Donsol, a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a sanctuary to a group of 40 whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which are considered as the largest fish in the world. Locally known as “butanding”, whale sharks visit the waters of Donsol from November to May. They travel across the oceans but nowhere else have they been sighted in a larger group than in the waters of Sorsogon. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in length and weigh about 20 tons.
·The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most exotic birds.
One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram.
·Palawan bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Known in Southeast Asia as binturong, the bearcat is a species of its own, with population in the forests of Palawan, Borneo, Burma and Vietnam. It belongs to the family of Viverridae (civets). The Palawan bearcat has a long body and a pointed face leading to the nose. Its head and body measure 61 to 96 centimeters in combined length while its tail is almost as long. It weighs 9 to 14 kilograms and lives up to 20 years.
·Calamian Deer - Calamian Islands, north of Palawan province, keep a species of deer that cannot be found elsewhere. Scientists referred to the hog deer in the islands as Calamian deer in order to distinguish them from other hog deer in the world. An ordinary Calamian deer measures 105 to 115 centimeters in length and 60 to 65 centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs about 36 to 50 kilograms. It is said to have longer and darker legs, compared with other hog deer.
·World’s Smallest Hoofed Mammal - South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world’s smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.
·Flying Lemur - One of the most distinct creatures on Earth lives in the Philippines. It doesn’t have wings but it can glide across 100 meters of space in a single leap. Like the lemurs of Asia, it moves around at night. Its head resembles that of a dog while its body has similarities with the flying squirrel of Canada.
In Mindanao, people call it “kagwang”. Around the world, it is known as colugo or the flying lemur.
·Did you know that the first four cities of Metropolitan Manila are: Manila, Quezon, Pasay and Caloocan
·The flagpole located in Rizal Park, is where the starts of 0 kilometer reading in measuring all distances from Manila.
·Quezon City is the second biggest city in the Philippines.
·The Bonifacio Monument in Monumento, Caloocan City was designed by a noted Filipino sculptor Guillermo Tolentino
·In 1916, in the Philippines, an offensive style of passing the ball in a high trajectory to be struck by another player (the set and spike) were introduced. The Filipinos developed the “bomba” or kill, and called the hitter a “bomberino”. (source: http://volleyball.org/history.html)
·The PHILIPPINE EAGLE is the 2nd largest bird on the planet (next only to the American Condor)….
Social Issues in the Philippines
Falling Income
The Philippine GDP per capita shrank to US$990 in 2000 from US$1,129 in 1997 while the GNP per capita contracted to US$1,033 from US$1,197. This was a result of the Asian financial crisis, which caught up with the Philippines in 1998.
After expanding 5.2 percent in 1997, the country’s GDP backpedaled by 0.5 percent in 1998. It grew by only 3.4 percent in 1999 and 4 percent in 2000. With a high population growth rate of 2.3 percent annually, economic growth in 1999 and 2000 did little to improve the real per capita income of Filipinos.
Peso Drops 14 Times vs. US Dollar
According to Senator Ralph Recto, the country’s per capita income has barely grown in the past 21 years. He said that the per capita income of P12,913 in 2001 is only P318 higher than P12,595 in 1980. “In today’s pesos, the P318 increase in 21 years amounts to nothing at all.” he said. Senator Recto also noted that the value of the peso has depreciated by as much as 1,373 percent against the dollar since 1960.
The Poor and the Rich
In its 2000 survey of family income and expenditure, the NSO said that the average income of the population’s 10th decile, representing the richest 10 percent of the Filipinos, was 14 times higher than the average earnings of the first decile, representing the poorest 10 percent. Each decile was representing about 8 million Filipinos.
Poverty Threshold: P13,916
While the per capita income declined between 1997 and 2000, prices of consumer goods and services increased by almost 20 percent during the three-year period or over six percent annually. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) was forced to raise by 23 percent the national per capita poverty threshold to P13,916 in 2000 from P11,319 in 1997.
Unequal Regional Development
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that Metro Manila’s per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2000 was more than twice that of the national average and more than five times that of Bicol region.
Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed that 11 of the country’s 16 regions had a poverty incidence of over 30 percent as of 2000. The five other regions with lower poverty levels are all located in Luzon. The NSCB placed the poverty incidence in the country (the proportion of families with per capita incomes below the poverty threshold) at 28.4 percent in 2000, up from 28.1 percent in 1997. In terms of population, poverty incidence was estimated at 34 percent in 2000, also up from 33 percent in 1997.
The NSCB data showed that in 2000, the National Capital Region or Metro Manila had the lowest poverty incidence of 5.7 percent among families. It was followed by four other regions in Luzon, with Region 3 (Central Luzon) registering a poverty incidence of 17 percent; Region 4 (Southern Tagalog), 20.8 percent; Region 2 (Cagayan Valley), 24.8 percent; and Region 1 (Ilocos), 29.6 percent.
Two regions in Luzon - Region 5 (Bicol), the southernmost region in Luzon, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) - had a poverty incidence of over 30 percent. About 49 percent of families in Bicol were suffering from poverty while 31.1 percent of families in CAR were also in the same category.
All regions in the Visayas had over 30 percent of poverty incidence. Region 6 (Western Visayas) had a poverty incidence of 37.8 percent; Region 7 (Central Visayas), 32.3 percent; and Region 8 (Western Visayas), 37.8 percent.
All regions in Mindanao also had over 30 percent of poverty incidence. Region 9 (Western Mindanao) had a poverty incidence of 38.3 percent; Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), 32.9 percent; Region 11 (Southern Mindanao), 31.5 percent; Region 12 (Central Mindanao), 48.4 percent; Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 57 percent; and Caraga, 42.9 percent.
32 Million Poor Filipinos
With the adjustment on poverty threshold, the number of Filipinos considered poor or affected by poverty incidence swell to 30 million or 39.4 percent of the population in 2000 from 36.8 percent in 1997. According to the Commission on Population (Popcom), the figure could have further climbed to 32 million or 40 percent of the population in 2002. In terms of number of families, poverty incidence affected 33.7 percent of all Filipino families in 2000 from only 31.8 percent in 1997.
5.1 Million Poor Families
The NSO reported that in 2000, poverty incidence affected 19.9 percent of families in urban areas and 46.9 percent in rural areas. Real number of poor families climbed to 5.1 million, 1.5 million of them in urban areas and 3.6 million in rural areas. Some 2.5 million families were living in subsistence level, meaning their income was not enough to buy their basic food requirements.
Poor and Near Poor, 58 Percent
In its 2001 report, the World Bank said 12.7 percent of Filipinos were “poor”, a term it assigned to those who lived on less than US$1 a day while 45.9 percent were “near poor” or those who lived on less than US$2 a day.
A 2002 survey conducted by the local poll group Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 58 percent of its 1,200 respondents had considered themselves poor. The survey, conducted on March 4 to 23, 2002, also disclosed that 52 percent of the respondents believed that their quality of life had deteriorated over the past 12 months while only 15 percent said otherwise.
Only 80 Percent Had Access to Safe Water
Access to safe drinking water dropped to 80 percent among Filipino families in 2002 from 81.4 percent in 1999, according to the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO). In real figure, however, the number of families with access to safe drinking water climbed by 6.2 percent to 12.746 million in 2002 from 11.999 million in 1999 largely because of the 8 percent population growth during the three-year period.
86.1 Percent Had Toilets
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that the percentage of Filipino families with access to sanitary toilet improved to 86.1 percent in 2002 from 85.8 percent in 1999. In real number, this translates to 13.713 million families with sanitary toilet in 2002, up from 12.662 million families three years earlier.
79 Percent Had Electricity
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that around 12.581 million families or 79 percent of the total had electricity in 2002, up from only 10.809 million or 73.3 percent of all families in 1999.
72 Percent Had Strong Houses
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that 11.497 million Filipino families or 72.2 percent of the total had their roofs made of strong materials and 9.888 million had their outer walls made of strong materials.
67 Percent Owned House and Lot
The Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2002 showed that 10.593 million Filipino families or 66.5 percent of the total had their own house and lot in 2002, with only 546,000 of them or 5.1 percent using the government’s finance program to purchase their house and lot. Some 3.425 million families or 21.5 percent of the total had lands other than residence in 2002 while 376,000 families acquired lands through the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Ibon: Poverty Affects 87.5 Percent
Ibon Foundation Inc., a research think-tank that was accused by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as leftist, reported that poverty incidence actually affected 13.4 million Filipino families or 87.5 percent of all families in the country. The independent research agency based its computation on data from the National Wage Commission. Ibon said that the daily cost of living for a family of six was P530 in Metro Manila and P435 in the whole country, as of April 2002.
16 Percent Experiences Hunger
A survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in March 2001 showed that 16.1 percent of its respondents had experienced hunger at least once in the last three months. About 6 percent of the households surveyed also claimed that they were experiencing hunger often or always.
20 to 34 Percent of Filipinos Undernourished
About 20 to 34 percent of 74.2 million Filipinos in the period 1998 to 2000 was undernourished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its report entitled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002.” The situation in the Philippines was worse that those in Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam where only 5 to 19 percent of the population was undernourished.
Only less than 2.5 percent of population in Malaysia was undernourished while there was no record of similar problem in Singapore and Thailand. Only Cambodia, with 35 percent or more of its population being undernourished, was worse off than the Philippines.
The FAO reported that there are some 840 million undernourished people in the world today while the World Bank said about 1.2 billion people lived on less than US$1 per day. Some 25,000 people reportedly die of hunger and poverty each day. Measured annually, around six million children under the age of five are dying of hunger.
6 of 10 Policemen are Poor
A study concuted by the UP Variates and the CORPS Foundation in July 2002 showed that 32 percent of Metro Manila policemen claimed that their monthly income they took home were below the poverty threshold of P8,877 a month while nearly 90 percent admitted they had debts to government and private lending institutions. Nearly 50 percent had no bank savings.
1.391 Million Families with Working Children
Child labor remains a problem in the country. As of 2002, there were 1.391 million families or 12.8 percent of the total that had working children aged from five years old to 17 years old.
4 Million Children, Working
So critical was the poverty incidence in the country that many Filipino children had to find work in 2001. According to the NSO, 4 million out of the total 25 million Filipino children were working during the survey period from October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001.
Most of these working children were male, aged 10 to 17 years old, unskilled and unpaid. They worked as farmers, fishermen, hunters, vendors, and factory workers. Some 221,000 children did heavy physical work; 1.1 million faced physical hazards; 942,000 suffered injuries at work; and 754,000 had work-related illnesses.
These figures were consistent with the findings of an international institution. According to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), some four million Filipino children were forced to work as of 2002 because their parents could not find jobs. Around 67 percent of these children were working in the agricultural sector and had to stop going to school. About 50 percent of the children were feeding their respective families.
15 Million Children, Malnourished
A 2002 study conducted by the Philippine Congress showed that about 15.6 million or more than 60 percent of the 25 million Filipino children (below 18 years old) were malnourished. In a separate study conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), three out of 10 Filipino pre-schoolers were found malnourished or underweight in 2001. In actual numbers, there were 3.7 million malnourished pre-school children.
RP Imported 24 Million Bags of Rice
The Philippines, which remains largely rural and agricultural, has become the world’s fourth largest importer of rice, after Indonesia, Nigeria and Iran. Citing a report of the US Department of Agriculture, Representative Satur Ocampo said the country imported about 1.18 million tons metric tons of rice in 2001 and a total of 1.2 million metric tons (24 million 50-kilogram bags) of rice in 2002.
1.5 Million Street Children
The Philippines has one of the world’s largest populations of street children. A 1996 report of the non-government movement End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) showed that the Philippines had 1.5 million children living or working in the street of 65 cities. Metro Manila alone had at least 75,000 street children.
ECPAT claimed that many children in the street were working as pickpockets and beggars and that around 60,000 children were either sexually exploited or driven to prostitution. According to the Dangerous Drugs Board, 325,000 children were using illegal substance, particularly rugby.
About 100 million children in the world were said to be living in the street as of 1994.
2.8 Million Illiterate Filipinos
According to the Functional Literacy Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) conducted in 2001, about 2.8 million Filipinos could not read and write while 7.4 million others are functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy refers to the inability of a person to use his skills in reading, writing and counting to improve his life.
10.8 Million Unemployed, Underemployed
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that as of April 2002, there were 4.866 million unemployed Filipinos accounting for 13.9 percent of the total labor force estimated at 35.052 million workers. About 5.922 million others or 19.6 percent of the labor force were also underemployed, meaning they had no regular sources of income.
26 Percent of College Graduates Unemployed
A study commissioned by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in 2002 showed that 26.2 percent of college graduates aged 24 years old and below were unemployed. In comparison, only 13.6 percent of high school graduates and 9.1 percent of elementary dropouts were unemployed during the same period.
Workers, Only 30.6 Percent of Population
Measured against the whole population (80 million), those who were working at least 40 hours a week estimated at 24.264 million workers comprised only 30.5 percent of all people in the Philippines as of April 2002.
40 Percent of Voters Unaware of Rights
In June 2002, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an independent Catholic organization, announced that almost 40 percent of their respondents composed of Filipino voters were unaware of their voting rights.
Prices Up by 6 Percent
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), prices of goods and services moved up by over 6 percent in 2001. In particular, prices of fuel, light and water increased by an average of 11.5 percent, year-on-year in 2001. Rice in the Philippines reportedly costs three times as much as it does in Thailand.
Price of Medicine, Three Times as Much
Prices of eight common drugs in the country were three times as much as they were in India, according to the Department of Health (DoH). For example, a 20-milligram tablet of Adalat Retard or Nifedine 20 that cost over P34 in the Philippines in 2001 was only priced at about P5.74 in India in the same year.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has accused local pharmaceutical firms belonging to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) of dictating prices of medicine in the country.
5 Million Housing Backlog
According to the National Housing Authority (NHA), some 5 million Filipino families were in need of permanent houses in the whole country.
3.4 Million Squatters
In its 2002 study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cited the need to improve the lives of some 3.4 million Filipinos living in the slums of Metro Manila.
3,521 Disabled Filipinos, Driving
As of October 2002, the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) disclosed that some 3,521 disabled Filipinos have licenses to drive vehicles. The number of disabled driver included 2,550 partially blind, 56 with impaired hearing and speech, 777 with impaired lower limbs and 138 with impaired upper limbs.
Philippine Justice System
According to the Supreme Court, about 45 percent of Philippine courts - regional trial courts, municipal courts, and municipal circuit trial courts - had no judges as of September 2002. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said there was a 22 percent vacancy in positions of prosecutors in the whole country. Just how the courts administered justice with such a wide vacancy in positions of judges and prosecutors paints a picture of disillusionment among victims waiting impatiently for justice. The vacancy in these positions usually means delay in the implementation of justice, which in turn discourages people from actually filing cases in courts.
88 Signatures for Housing Permit
As of 2001, it took 88 signatures to get an approval to build a house in the Philippines. President Arroyo ordered that the number of signatures be trimmed to 45.
P35 Billion Lost to Project Anomalies
The chairman of the Committee on Appropriations at the lower chamber of Congress said the Philippine government lost P21 billion to graft and corruption stemming from scheming contracts entered into by senators and congressmen in 2001. The amount excluded money lost to corruption involving projects executed by other government officials.
Meanwhile, Senator Edgardo Angara said that around P35 billion is lost to graft and corruption in government infrastructure projects annually. Such anomalies come in the form of rigged public bidding, substandard work and cost padding. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
P21 Billion Lost to Procurement Process
The Philippine government has been losing some P21 billion to corrupt officials involved in the procurement process, the none-government organization Procurement Watch Inc. (PWI) reported. At the same time, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 15 percent of the cost of all government contracts is lost to corruption.
P104 Billion Pork Barrel
Aside from legislating laws, Filipinos senators and congressmen have made it their responsibility to distribute development projects in their respective districts. Each one of the 24 senators receives some P200 million in development funds annually while each one of about 218 congressmen receives P100 million in annual appropriations.
In total, all these development funds for legislators, collectively known as procurement budget or pork barrel, amount to P104 billion annually. According to House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr., some P21 billion or nearly 20 percent of this amount is pocketed by some legislators, other government officials and contractors each year. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
RP, Fourth Most Corrupt in Asia
In its 2002 survey, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which asked 1,000 foreign businessmen in 12 Asian countries, has ranked the Philippines as the fourth most corrupt country in Asia closely behind Indonesia, India and Vietnam. The Philippines received a score of 8.0 in the survey, on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 the best possible score for a country with no corruption. PERC said Singapore was the least corrupt in the region, with a score of 0.9.
In a separate survey also in 2002, Transparency International (TI) ranked the Philippines 77th among 102 countries in terms of fighting graft and corruption. The Philippines got a score of 2.6 in corruption perception index, with 10 the highest possible score for the country that has no corruption. Finland was ranked number 1, with a score of 9.7. Bangladesh was at the bottom of the list, with a score of 1.2.
P85 billion Ill-Gotten Wealth Recovered
In its claim as of 2002, the Presidential Commission on Good Government said that it has recovered a total of P85 billion in ill-gotten wealth since it was created in 1986.
2.8 Million Income Tax Payers
While there were 15 million salaried workers in the country in 2000, only 2.8 million actually paid income taxes. According to Senator Ralph Recto, of the total individual income tax returns filed in 2000, 1.953 million were by salaried workers (1.350 million of whom were government employees) and only 536,000 by businessmen and non-salaried professionals (like doctors and lawyers). In real amount, ordinary workers paid some P63.8 billion while non-salaried individuals, mostly businessmen and professionals, contributed only P7.3 billion for a total of P81.8 billion in individual income taxes.
The senator disclosed that about 56.2 percent of salaried and non-salaried workers in the country failed to settle their individual income taxes in 2000. Over the past 11 years, leakage from the individual income tax amounted to P608 billion. This was on top of the P610 billion that were lost to leakage in the value added tax (VAT) scheme.
US$205 Billion Tax Evasion
A study conducted by the research unit of US bank Morgan Stanley said that the Philippine government lost some US$205 billion in potential revenues from 1965 to 2001. The figure was computed based on the estimated annual tax leakage of US$7.6 billion or P380 billion. It was higher than the government’s estimate. According to the Department of Finance (DoF), some P242 billion (US$4.65 billion) in potential government revenues is lost to tax evaders yearly. In its 1998 study, the Department of Finance said some P69.85 billion was lost because of leakage in the value-added tax, P59.33 billion in corporate income tax, P98.95 billion in personal income tax, P2.56 billion in excise tax, P6.4 billion in documentary stamp tax, P1.18 billion in interest withholding tax on bank deposits, P2.33 billion in fringe benefits tax, P1.5 billion in gross receipts tax, and P370 million in insurance tax.
P187 Billion Tax Incentives to Corporations
The government dangled some P187.2 billion tax incentives to the largest foreign and local companies in the country in 2001. These incentives came in the form of income tax holidays and duty-free importation of raw materials from other countries. Companies, which benefited from such tax incentives were those registered at Board of Investments (BOI), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and other investment promotion agencies.
P147 Billion Budget Shortage
The country’s fiscal deficit reached P147.03 billion (US$2.95 billion) or 4.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at P3.6 trillion (US$72 billion) in 2001. While the government spent P710.8 billion, its total revenues amounted to only P563.73 billion. Public sector funding requirement (PSFR) reached P189 billion. Debt servicing or payments to interests of domestic and foreign borrowings reached P27.2 billion.
To augment its budget requirements in 2001, the government sourced 87 percent of its total financing from domestic funds and 13 percent from foreign loans and aid. The government relied heavily on fixed-rate Treasury bonds as it issued P208.42 billion worth of these short-term fixed-income securities.
The situation was worse in 20002. The government said the budget deficit would climb to P223 billion or 5.6 percent of the GDP by the end of the year. The original target was only 4 percent.
P781 Billion Government Budget
According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government has a total budget of P780.8 billion for 2002. Budget deficit is expected to reach at least P150 billion in 2002.
Of the 2002 budget, some P233.9 billion or 30 percent is to be poured into social services; P204.2 billion or 26 percent to debt interest payments; P158.9 billion or 21 percent to economic services; P136.1 billion or 18 percent to general services; and P41.5 billion or 5 percent to defense. Among government agencies, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) had the largest share of the pie at P103 billion while the Department of National Defense (DND) got P60.4 billion.
US$53.4 Billion Foreign Debt
The Central Bank said that as of March 2002, total foreign debt of the Philippines amounted to US$53.4 billion. Public debt was placed at P2.62 trillion as of June 2002.
US$45 Billion in Infrastructure Needs
According to the World Bank, the Philippines would need some US$35 billion to US$45 billion in fresh investments from the private sector to improve its infrastructures (roads, bridges, railways, telecommunication facilities, etc.) over the next ten years.
Two People’s Revolts
Fourteen years after the historic “People Power Revolution” that ousted the Marcos dictatorial rule in 1986, two people’s revolts rocked Metro Manila in the first half of 2001. This was followed by several attempts to repeat the ugly May 1 mob rebellion staged by supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada. In the absence of a legal framework governing people’s revolts, political stability became harder to establish.
Foreign Affairs Secretary and former Senator Blas Ople called for a “sober” examination of the people power phenomenon and warned that a fresh call to stage another revolution would threaten the country’s political stability. In a Senate resolution, Senator Blas Ople urged the chamber to assess the merits of “people power” as an instrument of political change and its constitutional implications.
Episode of Turbulence
Even President Arroyo, who was a beneficiary of the January 2001 people’s revolt, appealed for an end to what she called an episode of turbulence and threats. “In a living democracy, no group has the right to hold policy-making hostage by threatening to overthrow the executive on every issue of policy disagreement,” she said.
34 Percent Says Democracy Works
The Filipino people were also dismayed. In a national survey conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) Center for Leadership, Citizenry and Democracy in November 2001, only one of three Filipino respondents or 34 percent claimed they were satisfied with the way democracy works in the country. In contrast, about 42 percent of the respondents said otherwise. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Violent Elections
A manifestation of poor peace and order situation in the Philippines is the death of at least 87 people in the barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections in July 2002. The police said another 45 individuals were injured in 183 violent confrontations among candidates and their henchmen. Ironically, the police described the situation as generally peaceful because fewer people died this year, compared with previous barangay elections. On July 15, the Filipino people elected 41,945 barangay chairmen, a similar number of youth leaders and 293,615 barangay council members.
25,000 Armed Rebels
There are two major insurgency movements in the Philippines, namely: the communist insurgency and the Muslim separatist movement. According to military estimates, there were 25,000 armed rebels as of the first quarter of 2002.
These included 11,930 communist guerillas, 12,500 active members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and hundreds more belonging to Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf, Abu Sufia and Pentagon groups.
347 Clashes with the Reds
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recorded 347 armed confrontations with the communist guerillas, resulting in the death of 189 rebels and 120 government soldiers in 2001.
Moro Leader in Prison
In November 2001, former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari who signed a peace pact with the government in 1996 broke the agreement and led another armed struggle along with his loyal supporters. He was facing sedition charges at a prison camp in Laguna province.
Muslim Extremists
The Abu Sayyaf (Bearers of the Sword) is a Muslim extremist group that was fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. Since 1994, it has burned a Christian town, beheaded a number of innocent civilians, abducted foreigners and planted bombs in crowded areas. The AFP claimed that it was able to reduce the Abu Sayyaf force from 4,000 in 1994 to 600 in June 2001 and to 60 in May 2002.
In April 2000, the group took 21 hostages, mostly European tourists from the Sipadan Island in Sabah, Malaysia and brought them to Sulu province in Mindanao. The hostages were freed four months later upon payment of US$20 million ransom by the Libyan government. On May 27, 2001, the Abu Sayyaf abducted an American couple along with another American and 17 Filipinos from a beach resort in Palawan province. The group had beheaded the other American but freed the Filipino hostages.
Some 1,000 American troops went to Mindanao to coordinate, advise and train Filipino soldiers in the rescue mission of the American couple. On June 7, 2002, American hostage Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse who was also taken by the group were killed during an encounter between the Muslim extremists and the pursuing Filipino troops in Zamboanga del Norte province. Gracia Burnham was wounded but survived.
Camp Abu Bakar Falls
The former Estrada administration declared an ugly all-out war against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the year 2000. While the government was able to siege Camp Abu Bakar, the main camp of the MILF, the war resulted in numerous bombings in the south and Metro Manila. There were also summary executions of Filipino Christians in Mindanao.
On May 7, 2002, the Arroyo government and the MILF signed an interim peace agreement in Putrajaya, Malaysia. While the agreement called for the government’s rehabilitation and development of areas devastated by the war in 2000, it did not call for the laying down of arms by the Muslim dissidents.
Cost of War: P100 Billion
The World Bank said the recurring armed conflict between government soldiers and Muslim fighters would cost southwestern Mindanao over P100 billion in the next 10 years in terms of lost or stagnant investments.
2 Million Unlicensed Guns
Around 2 million unlicensed guns were circulating in the Philippines on top of the 775,000 legally registered firearms. The figures were disclosed during the “Regional Seminar on Implementing the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons” which was held in Quezon City in July 2002.
A statement issued during the seminar also claimed that the 2 million unlicensed firearms and light weapons, including pistols, rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missiles, were responsible for the death of four million people in 46 major conflicts in the country in the 1990s.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the national police to intensify the campaign against loose firearms. Reports said there are about 328,329 loose firearms nationwide. In 2002, the national police confiscated 7,633 loose firearms. The Department of Interior and Local Government said that of the 12,000 firearms used in crimes in 2002, more than 10,000 of which were unlicensed.
37,254 Index Crimes
Some 37,254 index crimes were reported to the police in the year 2000 alone. The police claimed to have solved 32,445 or 87 percent of these cases. Index crimes refer to crimes committed against lives and properties.
P1.25 Billion Ransom
The Citizens Action Against Crime, a non-government organization, claimed that around 2,100 people, many of them Filipino-Chinese businessmen, have become victims of kidnap-for-ransom gangs in the Philippines and paid ransom amounting to about P1.25 billion from 1993 to 2002. The group added that in 2002 alone, kidnap victims paid a total ransom amounting to P211 million.
News reports said kidnap-for-ransom syndicates victimized over 240 individuals, including 20 foreigners in 2001. In the first half of 2002, another 80 individuals, including 30 foreigners, became victims of kidnapping. While Manila-based publications tagged the Philippines as the world’s kidnap capital, the Philippine National Police (PNP) quickly denied this, claiming that Colombia owns the title.
1,877 Cars Stolen
The Philippine National Police (PNP) documented a total of 1,877 car theft cases in 2000.
Police data showed that a total of 2,219 vehicles were reported stolen in Metro Manila in 2002. This meant that six cars were stolen in the metropolis each day and 185 cars each month in 2002.
8 Rape Victims Per Day
Some 3,145 cases of rape were reported in the country in 2001. This translates to 8 cases of rape each day and one rape incident in every three hours during the year. The figure only covers rape incidents reported to the police. There were also 5,735 murder cases and 4,079 homicide incidents reported in the country in 2001 alone.
5,185 Sex Crimes Against Children
According to the Social Welfare and Development, there were a total of 5,185 sex crimes committed against children in the Philippines in 2000, and 3,980 cases in 2001. Sex crimes refer to rape, incest, and acts of lasciviousness.
143 Escapees
The Bureau of Jail Management reported that 143 prisoners escaped from their cells in 2000. Of these fugitives, 89 were recaptured.
25,000 Inmates
The Bureau of Corrections said that in 2002, it was holding 25,002 inmates, 16,134 of whom are at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP), which has a holding capacity of only 8,700.
314 Political Prisoners
As of December 2002, the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa was hosting 314 political prisoners.
239 Dismissed Cops in 2002
In the campaign against erring policemen, the national police reported that it dismissed from the service 239 commissioned and non-commissioned officers who were among the 4,447 policemen who were charged administratively for various offenses in 2002. The national police is encouraging the public to report crimes or ask for police assistance in case of emergency by sending a short messaging service (SMS) or text message to 2920.
P300 Billion Illegal Drug Industry
According to Interior and Local Government Secretary Joey Lina, the crime syndicates produce and trade P300-billion worth of illegal drugs in the country annually. The Dangerous Drugs Board also disclosed that some 1.8 million Filipinos are hooked on illegal drugs while 1.6 million others are casual users.
1.8 Million Drug Users
According to the International Narcotics Control Board, the use of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu has become “the most popular drug of abuse” in the Philippines. The Anti-Narcotics Group of the Philippine National Police disclosed that around 1.8 million of the 80 million Filipinos were regular drug users.
The agency also disclosed that about 70 percent of marijuana supply in the world might be coming from the Cordillera region in northern Luzon. It claimed that marijuana fields have been found among the 300,000 hectares of Cordillera farmlands in the past. In 1999, the police conducted 7,956 raids and arrested 11,004 individuals on drug-related cases.
55,000 Mail Order Brides to US
According to women’s group Gabriela, about 55,000 Filipino women have entered the United States as mail order brides as of 1997. Another 20,000 mail order brides went to Australia.
15 Women Beaten Daily
As of 2002, militant women’s group Gabriela said at least 15 women and six children are beaten up daily. In 2001, Gabriela recorded 5,668 cases of wife battering and 2,274 cases of maltreatment of children.
Two-Thirds of Young Workers Had Premarital Sex
A survey conducted by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in 2002 showed that 30 percent of the country’s young workforce claimed to be sexually active, with 10 percent of the single male respondents claiming to have casual sex. The study titled “Issues Affecting Young Filipino Workers” also showed that 37 percent of young males have had sex with more than one partner - usually with prostitutes - prior to marriage while two-thirds of married female and male workers said they had premarital sex with the people they eventually married.
In a separate report, a study conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute in the year 2000 showed that 23 percent of 16.5 million Filipinos aged between 15 and 24 have engaged in premarital sex.
According to the TUCP, about 6.5 million Filipino workers were belonging to the 15 to 24 year age group as of 2002.
400,000 Prostitutes
Despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in the country, women’s group Gabriela said that around 400,000 Filipinos were working as prostitutes as of 1998.
100,000 Child Prostitutes
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), about 60,000 to 100,000 Filipino children were working as prostitutes as of 1997. Prostitution was present in 37 provinces then. The major child prostitution dens were found in Manila, Angeles City, Puerto Galera, Davao City and Cebu City. The Philippines has reportedly become a favorite destination of pedophiles from the US, Australia and Europe. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has documented 8,335 cases of child abuse from 1991 to 1996.
400,000 Abortions
A study released by the University of the Philippines Population Institute in February 2003 said that there were 400,000 cases of abortion in the country each year, despite the fact that abortion is illegal here.
Vagina Economy
While hundreds of surviving Filipino women are still demanding justice from the Japanese government for their travails in the hands of Japanese troops who held them as sex slaves during World War 2, thousands of young Filipino women are ironically asking the Philippine government to ease the rules in the deployment of entertainers to Japan.
One government agency that tried to screen the recruitment of young Filipino women as entertainers in Japan eventually found itself in deep controversy. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the country’s main agency tasked to uplift standards of non-degree and non-formal skills training of Filipino workers, was under fire for allegedly delaying the issuance of certification to some 20,000 young Filipino women to work as entertainers or “overseas performing artists” in Japan in 2002.
The Philippine Association of Recruitment Agencies Deploying Artists (PARADA), the association of recruitment agencies deploying young Filipino women as entertainers in Japan accused TESDA director general Dante Liban of deliberately delaying the issuance of the so-called Artist Record Books (ARB) to 20,000 prospective overseas performing artists in 2002. Applicants need an ARB to get a visa from the Japanese embassy.
PARADA alleged that a group of people in TESDA were demanding P25,000 for an ARB from applicants who do not want to undergo testing. Without irregularity, the ARB is supposed to cost only P300. Because of the alleged irregularity in TESDA, PARADA claimed that 20,000 Filipino women lost the opportunity of earning US$800 a month in Japan. Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that deployment of Filipino entertainers to Japan slowed to 50,000 persons in 2002 from 70,000 in 2001.
But a group of Filipinos said that the single biggest controversy was not the delay in the issuance of ARBs to young Filipino women but the deployment of thousands of them to work as prostitutes or sex workers in other countries. Labor Undersecretary Lucila Lazo even went to the extent of calling it as “vagina economy”.
There are around 180,000 Filipino entertainers in Japan sending US$200 million each year. Many of these women were vulnerable to abuse and some driven to prostitution by the Japanese Yakuza gang.
According to the Movement for Responsible Enterprise (MORE), a civic group of concerned Filipinos, the Philippine government provided cover to save Japan from the embarrassment of hosting Filipino prostitutes. “The government made them appear like performing artists, sent to Japan as entertainers,” it added.
Filipino entertainers were eventually called “Japayuki”, which was an original concoction made by Japanese media referring to young girls working as prostitutes. The Philippine government allows the deployment of Filipino women as young as 18 years old.
The civic group also called on religious and militant groups to join the campaign against the continued deployment of Filipino entertainers abroad. “Let us all destroy this national disgrace. Stop the trafficking of women. Our national honor is priceless. We must defend it at all cost, at all times,” it said.
P8 Billion Annual Gambling Revenues
Gambling is a major social problem in the country. Not even the ouster of President Joseph Estrada from Malacanang Palace, on charges of receiving “jueteng” money from syndicates, could abate the problem. Jueteng is said to be a P40-billion business in the Philippines, annually.
While declaring “jueteng” as illegal, the government promotes other forms of gambling such as casino operations, lottery and recently text games. In May 2002 alone, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the government agency tasked to collect gambling revenues, reported an income of P1.81 billion. For the whole of 2000, Pagcor reported a net income of P8 billion, the second largest amount earned by any Philippine company in that year.
Text Gambling
No one seems to be bothered by the growing trend of text gambling in the Philippines. Due to the popularity of short messaging service (SMS) or text messaging in the country, broadcast stations and telecommunication companies have connived to endorse the now hugely popular text games. Here, the participants, mostly television viewers or radio listeners, put their bet in the form of a text message worth P10 each for the chance to win large prizes. Although less pronounced as a form of gambling, text gambling is no different than other number games like lottery, jai alai or jueteng.
Companies Lose P3.5 Billion to Counterfeiting
According to the Brand Protection Association (BPA), a group of 15 multinational companies based in the country, their member companies lost P3.5 billion to makers and distributors of fake brand products in the first three quarters of 2002 alone. As a result, the government also lost P1.3 billion in potential revenues.
The BPA also disclosed that the government confiscated fake goods amounting to P2.4 billion in the first nine months of 2002 alone, up from P800 million in the whole of 1998. The BPA said that the counterfeiting and piracy problem is not limited to CD’s, VCDs and computer softwares but also affects top brands of garments, bags, wallets, medicines, liquified petroleum gas (LPGs), batteries, lamps, bulbs and switches, brandy, vodka, cigarettes, soaps and shampoo, laser printer toner and ink cartridges, sofa beds, hacksaws, toys and electronic goods.
About 86 makers of product lines are said to be affected by counterfeits, which are boldly sold at formal distribution channels like shopping malls, department stores and supermarkets. “Not because these companies are in on it, but because they are also fooled,” Mr. Wallace clarified. The BPA said that the fake drugs and smuggled medicines comprise 30 percent of total products in the pharmaceutical sector.
The lighting sector is burdened by a 5 to 15 percent penetration of fake products while about 63 percent of softwares sold in the country is considered pirated. Most of the fake products sold in the country, the BPA added, come from China.
P1.1 billion Smuggled Fuel
A study conducted by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center (AIM-PC) suggested that some P1.1 billion worth of diesel fuel were smuggled into the country between 1999 and 2001. Some 300,000 liters or 2,000 barrels of diesel are reportedly smuggled and sold in the country each day. The policy think tank blamed several owners of barges and tankers/trucks; ship captains and seamen; past and present officials of oil firms; owners of depots and storehouses; and importers and owners of import terminals as responsible for the smuggling. The culprits reportedly got help from officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard.
Alcohol, Most Abused Drug
Liquor is said to be the most abused substance in the Philippines and the world. While there remains to be a concrete study on the effects of alcoholism, many index crimes such as homicides, physical injuries and sex-related offenses are often associated with alcohol. Adding to these are the numerous accidents caused by drunk driving. Many Filipino families were also ruined by alcoholism, with young children exposed to the evils of their drunken fathers. Sadly, the government does not do anything about it.
San Miguel Corp., a beverage conglomerate that is the top seller of beer and gin, is also the country’s largest corporation. In 1998 alone, the company sold 327.6 million bottles of beer.
1.25 Billion Liters of Beer
In 1995, Filipinos consumed 146,000 bottles of wine, making them the top wine drinkers in Asia. A more shocking report is that Filipinos consumed 1.25 billion liters or 3.9 billion bottles of beer in 1998 alone. In the year 2001, beverages comprised nearly 2.3 percent of the average Filipino’s expenditures.
A 1994 survey conducted by the University of the Philippines showed that almost 5.3 million or 60 per cent of Filipino youths were drinking alcoholic beverages. Of the total, 4.2 million were males and 1.1 million, females. A conclusion was that there were more alcoholic drinkers than smokers among Filipino youths, who were starting to drink alcohol at the age of 16 or 17 years old.
21.6 Percent of Students Smoke
A global youth tobacco survey (GYTS) in the Philippines showed that as many as 21.6 percent of Filipino students were smoking cigarettes. The percentage was 32.6 percent among male students and 12.9 percent among female students. Some students believed that smoking would win them more friends and make them look cool. Tobacco comprised 2.4 percent of the average Filipino’s expenditures in 2001.
6,100 Tons of Garbage Daily
According to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the metropolis produces some 6,100 tons of garbage daily. In 2001, the total volume of recyclable materials that ended up in junkshops and recycling plants reached 120,162 metric tons.
The Cost of Air Pollution
The World Bank has reported that air pollution in the Philippines results in a yearly loss of US$1.5 billion in medical treatment, lost wages, low productivity and deaths that severely impact the Filipinos’ quality of life. The World Bank report also said that air pollution results in 2,000 deaths each year and causes US$1.5 billion in lost wages, medical treatment in the four metropolis of Baguio, Manila, Cebu and Davao The World Bank also said that the country needs US$500 million (P25 billion) to implement the Clean Air Act of 1999 over the next 10 years.
In its Philippines Environment Monitor 2002, the World Bank said the government spends US$400 million in health cost as a result of air pollution in four urban centers alone, namely: Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and Baguio where about a quarter of the population lives. Such a health cost is said to be 0.6 percent of the country’s gross national product.
The World Bank cited a 2001 survey showing that more than 72 percent of Metro Manila’s residents were alarmed by air pollution and 73 percent said they were not aware that the government was doing anything to address it. The World Bank said air pollutants such as ozone and nitrogen oxides continue to spread.
In its study, the World Bank said fine particle emissions result in about 2,000 premature deaths and 9,000 cases of chronic bronchitis in the country’s four largest urban areas annually. These emissions of pollutants were largely blamed on public buses, jeepneys, utility vehicles, trucks and motorcycles that continue to emit visible smoke despite the government’s anti-smoke belching campaign. As of 2001, there were 3.9 million land vehicles in the country.
22 Million Filipinos Exposed to Tuberculosis
A World Bank report in 2002 said that around 22 million Filipinos were exposed to tuberculosis. Nearly 740 Filipinos are afflicted with tuberculosis, while 68 die of the disease each day. The report added that Filipinos spend a total of P160 billion to cure the disease each year.
578 AIDS Cases
The Department of Health has recorded 1,761 HIV-positive cases and 578 AIDS cases from January 1984 to September 2002. Most of these cases involved persons aged 20 to 39 years old. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency said that there were about 28,000 Filipinos infected with HIV or AIDS and that 1,200 of died in 1999 alone.
P30 Trillion for Reforestation
In January 2003, a study by the Green Tropics International (GTI) claimed that the Philippines would need P30 trillion to reforest country’s denuded mountains in over 85 years.
2.7 Trips by Metro Manilans Each Day
Studies made by the Traffic and Engineering Center (TEC) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) showed that as of 2002, Metro Manilans were making an average of 2.7 trips individually and 12 million trips collectively each day. Before this, a study by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1999 showed that the Philippines was losing some P140 billion annually to traffic congestion. It said the national economy was directly losing P40 billion in the forms of gasoline and diesel fuel, man-hours, electricity, salaries of traffic aides and increased expenses for mobile phones. Indirectly, the country was losing P100 billion in the forms of lost business opportunities, depreciated value of real property and increased cause of health care due to air pollution.
Cost of Traffic Problem: US$3.6 Billion
The San Francisco-based Filipinas Magazine reported that traffic congestion costs the Philippine economy some US$3.6 billion annually. Citing a government study, the magazine said the traffic problem, particularly in Metro Manila, results in a US$1 billion loss to wasted gasoline and electricity, man-hours and hiring of traffic aides; and US$2.6 billion to missed business opportunities, reduced sales and investment disincentives. The study added that total loss would exceed US$36 billion in ten years. It noted that the average speed of a vehicle has slowed to 12.6 kilometers per hour today from 18 kilometers per hour ten years ago.
Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. This was how the corporate watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) described the usual promise made by pseudo-investment firms in luring the public to invest substantial amount in their get-rich-quick schemes.
The SEC warned that pseudo-investment firms that are not registered with the government office have already duped many investors, including foreigners and Filipino-Americans. Some victims, who have placed investments ranging from P10,000 to P50 million, were not able to recover their money and its supposed interest.
The SEC has already issued cease-and-desist orders (CDOs) on the operations of several pseudo-investment firms that have been in operation without licenses. According to the corporate watchdog, some of these firms act as lending investors, investment firms, and financial companies that issue securities to the public. The companies promote their services by telephone calls, mails or personal visits and usually offer investors huge interest on every investment placed, without explaining the risks involved. They also require immediate investments.
The pseudo-investment firms give promise that a minimum investment of P10,000 to P100,000 would earn a monthly interest of 15 percent. Among the promotional gimmicks of these pseudo-investments firms are seminars that use the lines “You can become a millionaire in three years” and “You can turn your financial dreams into reality”. Investors usually discover that they have been duped only when the checks issued to them bounced.
Pyramiding Scam
As of January 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the government corporate watchdog said that investment firms engaged in the so-called pyramiding operation have duped at least 2 million Filipinos of as much as P70 billion.
World’s 4th Most Accident-Prone Country
According to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Philippines was the fourth most accident prone country in the world. The two institutions arrived at this conclusion after finding out that some 5,809,986 Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of disasters or man-made calamities over a ten-year period (1992-2001). Ahead of the Philippines in the accident list were China, India and Iran.
On a separate report, the Philippine National Red Cross said 31,835 Filipinos were killed and 94,369,462 others were affected by natural disasters and calamities in a span of 20 years. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Shallow Knowledge of History
Congressman Edmund Reyes of Marinduque province quoted an NFO-Trends survey showing that Filipino youth had a “very shallow appreciation” of the country’s history and cultural heritage. The survey showed that only 37 percent of the 1,420 respondents aged 7 to 21 years old, were able to sing the National Anthem and only 28 percent could recite “Panatang Makabayan”. When asked to name Filipino heroes, the respondents could only name up to two heroes.
A Day’s Labor For A Burger
In 2001, the minimum daily wage in Metro Manila remained at P250, the highest among the country’s 16 regions.
An office worker in Makati, who was hired on a contractual basis by a job placement agency, did not receive P250 by the end of a working day. After tax, social security and other deductions were made on top of the share deductions by the agency, the office worker went home with only P200.
However, he had to calculate his transportation and meal allowance that amounted to over P100. In other words, what was left in his pocket by the end of the day was less than P100. To treat himself after a hard day’s work, he decided to stop by a popular fastfood restaurant.
He ordered a big burger, a large can of cola and French fries. He was billed P100. Before sleeping at night, he remembered that he had to buy a new pair of shoes. He reached for his pocket and found it empty.
Yet, he considered himself lucky because he was unmarried and was living with his parents who were giving him free breakfast every morning. He was lucky because he had no wife to support and no children to send to school. He was lucky because he was healthy and did not have to buy medicine.
Other people were not as lucky as he was. Many companies were not complying with the Minimum Wage Law and were giving their workers much less. About 4.9 million Filipinos had no jobs while 5.9 million others had no regular source of livelihood as of April 2002. He was lucky, after all.
The Filipinos
81.2 Million Filipinos
The National Statistics Office (NSO) placed the Philippine population at 79.5 million at the start of 2002. This number is expected to grow by 1.7 million or over 2 percent annually to 81.2 million by the end of 2002. This makes the Philippines the world’s 14th most populous country in the world behind China, with 1.3 billion people; India, 1 billion; United States, 288 million; Indonesia, 218 million; Brazil, 176 million; Pakistan, 149 million; Nigeria, 147 million; Russia, 143 million; Bangladesh, 136 million; Japan, 127 million; Mexico, 100 million; Germany 82 million; and Vietnam, over 81 million. About 93 percent of the Philippine population is Christian, while the rest belongs to Islam and other religions. In 1799, Spanish historians said there were only 1,502,574 people living in the Philippines.
Population To Double in 28 Years
The Makati Business Club said that with an annual population growth rate of 2.36 percent, the total number of Filipinos would climb from 80 million at present to 97 million by 2010 and double to 160 million in 28 years.
34 Million Voters
As of 1998, there were 34.2 million registered Filipino voters who were grouped into 174,420 polling precincts in the whole country.
Half A Million More Men
Contrary to popular beliefs that women were as twice as many as men in the Philippines, the NSO said there are in fact more men than women in the country. In its latest estimate for 2002, the NSO said there were some 40 million Filipino men and 39.5 million Filipino women, resulting in a population discrepancy in sex of half a million.
Women Live Longer
Life expectancy is estimated at 72.2 years for Filipino women and 66.9 years for Filipino men. Around 38 percent of the population is younger than 15 years old and 28 percent belongs to the 15 to 24 age bracket. Population experts claim it would take 25 years before the Philippine population reaches its peak.
More Single Men Than Single Women
In the 2000 population census, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said that nearly 53 percent of the 25 million single people in the Philippines were males while only 47 percent were females. However, around 76 percent of the 2.6 million widowed persons were females and only 24 percent were males.
Half of Women Use Contraceptives
In its Family Planning Survey in 2001, the NSO said about 49.8 percent of married Filipino women, aged 15 to 49 years old, was using contraceptives. The NSO concluded that women in poor households were less likely to practice family planning than those in higher income families in the same manner that women who lacked formal education were less likely to observe birth control practices than those who at least had some schooling.
Majority of Filipinos Oppose Divorce
A survey conducted by local poll firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) in the fourth quarter of 2002 showed that 50 percent of its 1,200 respondents nationwide were opposed to divorce while only 36 percent agreed that divorce “is usually the best solution when a couple can’t seem to work out their marriage problems.”
The same survey showed that 50 percent of the respondents disapproved of cohabitation before marriage while only 35 percent agreed with the statement “It’s a good idea for a couple who intend to get married to live together first.”
At the same time, 61 percent of the respondents agreed while only 19 percent disagreed with the statement “Married people are generally happier than unmarried people.” Around 93 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement “Watching children grow up is life’s greatest joy.”
91 Percent Proud to Be Filipinos
In a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in November 2001, 57 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they were very proud to be Filipinos while 34 percent claimed they were proud of their national identity. Only 9 percent said they were not proud and 1 percent claimed they were not proud at all of becoming Filipinos. The respondents also cited the following qualities of the Filipinos: God-centered, industrious, faithful, has convictions, responsible, peaceful and law-abiding, and loving and caring.
Happiest People in Asia
Despite the many problems hounding the Philippines, Filipinos still consider themselves as among the happiest people in the world. Results of regional surveys conducted by MTV-Asia, ACNielsen and the Economist magazine have indicated that Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia.
But in the World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998, the Philippines was ranked 12th among 54 countries in the world in terms of happiness index. Among Asian countries, it was ranked first. According to the survey, the top ten happiest nations in the world were Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela.
World’s 5th Largest Christian Population
According to the book Top 10 of Everything, the Philippines had the world’s 5th largest Christian population. As of 2000, the Philippines reportedly had 72.225 million Christians, comprising 93 percent of its total population then. Countries with larger Christian populations than the Philippines were the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and China. Most Filipinos remain Catholics. The Protestants comprise only 8 percent of the population although they were growing at a faster rate than any other religion in the country.
32,000 Evangelical Churches
The Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches said that it had around 32,000 member-churches in the 1990s, which were expected to have risen to 50,000 by the end of 2000. About 27,000 of these evangelical churches have been established only in the past 25 years. About 1,400 American Christian missionaries were in the Philippines to help propagate the Gospel.
97 Percent of Filipinos Believe in God
A survey, mentioned by the Economist magazine, showed that 97 percent of Filipinos believe in God while 65 percent feel extremely close to Him. “This is more than double the percentage of the two runners-up in the survey - America and Israel,” the Economist said. (Source: The Economist)
562,808 Marriages
According to the NSO, 562,808 Filipino couples were married in 1997 alone. In the same year, 339,400 people died while 1,653,236 babies were born in the country.
412 Annulment Suits Every Week
As of 2002, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said it was receiving 412 marriage annulment suits every week.
28,563 Died of Accidents
The Department of Health (DoH) reported that in 1997, 49,962 people died of heart diseases while 28,563 people died because of accidents. The other leading causes of death during that year were tuberculosis and pneumonia. The most common diseases in the country were diarrhea, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, hypertension and tuberculosis.
17,493 Government Positions
The Commission on Election (COMELEC) said that as of June 2002, there were 17,493 elective government positions in the country, with only about 15 percent held by women. The bureaucracy, however, had more women employees. As of 1997, there were 741,808 Filipino women working for the government, compared with only 636,836 men.
The Department of Labor and Employment said that in January 2001, the overall unemployment rate was higher among women at 10.3 percent compared with 9.4 percent among men. But if women were serving as heads of families, they were earning higher at P135,400 annually, compared with P121,003 received by men.
218 Congressmen
The head of government is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who ascended to presidency via a military-backed people’s revolt on January 21, 2001. She appointed Senator Teofisto Guingona as her vice-president.
The Philippine Congress has two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 24 seats while the House of Representatives has 218 members, five of whom are party list representatives.
The bureaucracy also employs 79 provincial governors and an equal number of vice governors, 114 city mayors and the same number of city vice mayors, 730 provincial board members, 1,496 municipal mayors and an equal number of town vice mayors, and 12,240 municipal councilors. The numbers exclude barangay officials. The next national elections will be held in May 2004.
30.2 Million Jobs
Of the 50.2 million people aged 15 years old and above, 35.052 million or 69.9 percent belong to the labor force. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), there were 30.186 million Filipino workers as of April 2002, 11 million of whom were employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector; 14.3 million in the services sector; and 4.82 million in the industrial sector.
1.2 Million Fishermen
In particular, 9.788 million were employed in agriculture, hunting and forestry; 1.237 million in fishing; 136,000 in mining and quarrying; 2.904 million in manufacturing; 114,000 in electricity, gas and water sector; and 1.67 million in construction.
301,000 Bankers
Some 1.445 million Filipinos were employed in government; 5.77 in wholesale, retail and repair; 2.104 million in transportation, storage and communication; 680,000 in hotels and restaurants; 913,000 in education; 301,000 in banks and financial institutions, 355,000 in hospitals and social institutions; 552,000 in real estate, renting and business activities; 877,000 in personal services; and 1.339 million in household services
14.7 Million Salary Earners
In terms of source of income, about 14.711 million Filipinos were salary-earners while 11.379 million others were self-employed. Another 4.096 million were considered unpaid family workers.
1.4 Million Professionals
In terms of occupation, there were 9.227 million laborers and unskilled workers; 6.17 million farmers, forestry workers and fishermen; 3.175 million officials of government institutions and executives, managers and supervisors of private companies; 3.107 million workers in retail and wholesale trade; 2.677 service workers and shop and market sales workers; 2.147 million plant and machine operators; 1.367 million professionals; 1.335 million clerks; 850,000 technicians and associate professionals; and 130,000 others in special occupations.
290,000 IT Professionals
According to the government, there were 290,000 professionals working for the country’s information and technology (IT) sector as of 2002.
113,743 Policemen
As of 2002, the Philippine National Police had an authorized strength of 113,743 members, including 69 chief superintendents (one-star general); 11 police directors (two-star), 3 police deputy director-generals (three-star), and 1 police director-general (four-star).
330,000 New College Graduates
The Commission on Higher Education reported that as of 1998, there were 1,185 universities and colleges in the country serving more than 2 million students. In 1998, some 331,827 students graduated from college; 90,880 of them with a degree in Business Administration; 40,611 in Engineering; 36,181 in Medical Science; and 25,038 in Mathematics and Computer Science. They were supposed to join the labor force but not all of them ended up getting the jobs they have been trained for.
2 Million College Students
As of 1998, 2,067,965 students were enrolled in Philippine colleges and universities. These included 620,681 students who were enrolled in Business and related courses; 299,226 in Engineering; 316,293 in Education; and 166,329 in Mathematics and Computer Science. Students who were enrolled in two- or three-year technical or vocational courses were not included in the counting.
2,323 Foreign Students
According to the Commission on Higher Education, there were 2,323 foreign students enrolled in Philippine schools in the school year 2000-2001, down from 5,284 enrollees five years ago. Most of these foreign students were Americans, Koreans and Taiwanese.
17.3 Million Public School Students
According to Senator Ralph Recto, the public education system would be lacking some 49,212 teachers and 44,716 classrooms by 2003 to accommodate some 536,000 new students and fill the void in the previous years. Total enrollment in 36,234 public elementary schools and 4,422 public high schools is expected to reach 17.335 million students by 2003. There were only 375,952 public classrooms by the end of 2002.
12.7 Million Elementary School Students
As of 2001, some 12.7 million students were enrolled in elementary schools; 11.8 million of them in public schools and only 927,289 in private schools. Some 5.4 million students were enrolled in high schools; 4.2 million of them in public schools and 1.2 million in private schools.
440,000 Teachers
As of 2001, there were 331,827 elementary school teachers and 109,845 high school teachers.
7 Million Filipinos Abroad
According to the Philippine Senate, some 7 to 8 million Filipinos live and work abroad, 2.5 million of them in the United States. There were 105,000 Americans in the Philippines in 1999.
The Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) said that in 2001 alone, 866,590 Filipinos left the country on legitimate working visas to work abroad. This translates to 2,374 Filipinos leaving the country each day. OFWs sent a total of US$6.23 billion in dollar remittances to the Philippines in 2001.
2.4 Million Filipino-Americans
According to the US Census 2000, there were 2.4 million Filipino Americans in the US, comprising the second largest Asian group next only to the Chinese Americans. However, there are some who say that the actual number of Filipino-Americans could exceed 3 million. More than 1 million Filipino Americans live in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles in the west coast.
192,000 Tourists to the US
According to the US embassy in Manila, some 192,000 Filipinos visited the US on non-immigrant visas in 2001 alone. A number of Filipino tourists tried to stay there and find work but were deported back to the Philippines.
19 Percent of Filipinos Want to Migrate
A survey conducted by Pulse Asia in March and April 2002 showed that 19 percent of its 1,200 respondents wanted to migrate to another country because opportunities were lacking in the Philippines. The desire to migrate from the Philippines was stronger among upper classes. The survey said that 31 percent of its respondents belonging to ABC wanted to live in another country.
1.2 Million Passports Annually
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issues about 1.2 million passport booklets annually. In the first quarter of 2002, there was a shortage of passports because the number of Filipinos who went abroad for work suddenly surged. The POEA said that from around 2,300 in the previous quarters, the number of OFWs leaving the country each day surged to 2,700 in the first quarter of 2002. The DFA imposes a daily quota of 2,000 passports for individual applicants and 1,500 passports for travel agencies.
204,900 Seafarers
Of the total number of Filipinos who left the country on working visas in 2001, 661,639 were land-based workers while 204,951 were seafarers. Filipino seafarers man about 20 percent of international vessels in the world.
Top destinations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are Saudi Arabia, which hired 190,732 Filipinos in 2001; Hong Kong, 113,583; Japan, 74,093; Singapore, 26,305; Kuwait, 21,956; and Italy, 21,641. Only 10,000 Filipinos were hired in the US but the number excluded 2.5 million Filipino immigrants who were already there.
2.7 Million Filipino Immigrants
A Commission of Overseas Filipinos study showed that there were 2.7 million Filipino immigrants around the world as of 2002. The figure includes 1.89 million immigrants in the US; 200,000 in Canada; 170,000 in Japan; and 70,000 in the United Kingdom.
51,031 Migrants in 2000
According to the Bureau of Immigration, 51,031 Filipinos migrated to other countries in the year 2000 alone. Of this number, 31,324 Filipinos went to the US; 8,245 to Canada; 6,468 to Japan; 2,298 to Australia; 522 to Germany; 174 to the United Kingdom; and 1,970 to other countries.
US$6.2 Billion Remittances
Dollar remittances sent by OFWs amounted to US$6.235 billion in 2001. About US$5.142 billion of the total amount was sent by land-based OFWs while US$1.093 billion came from Filipino seafarers. Some US$3.2 billion or over half of total remittances came from the United States. The figure excluded dollar remittances that were not sent through the regular banking system.
Richest in New York
According to the 1990 United States Census, the Filipino-Americans living in New York (perhaps the world’s most prosperous city) had the highest median income among all ethnic groups. The census revealed that in 1990, there were 43,229 Filipino Americans in New York who had a median income of about US$45,000, surpassing those of European-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Afro-Americans.
15,000 Nurses in the UK
According to British Ambassador to the Philippines Paul Dimond, there were 15,000 Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom as of June 2002. The number is growing, he added. He also disclosed that the British embassy has issued 30,000 visas to Filipinos in 2001 alone, with an acceptance rate of 95 percent among applicants. About 300,000 Filipino nurses reportedly left the country to work abroad in 2001.
150,000 Entertainers in Japan
As of 1998, there were 150,000 Filipino women working as entertainers in Japan. Many of them were vulnerable to abuse and some driven to prostitution.
154,000 Household Maids in Hong Kong
According to The Economist magazine, Filipino women were serving as domestic helpers or “amahs” in 154,000 households in Hong Kong as of 1998. The report added that Filipino women comprised 40 percent of non-Chinese amahs in Hong Kong. Over half of Filipino amahs in Hong Kong have college degrees, and some even hold master’s degree in education.
Filipino household maids are also present in Singapore, Taiwan, and the Middle East. Filipino caregivers are in the United States and Canada.
32,000 Teachers as Household Helps
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that as many as 32,000 Filipino teachers had left their profession in the country to work as household maids and nannies abroad.
389,818 American Tourists
Data from the Department of Tourism showed that in 2001 around 1.671 million foreign travelers visited the country, 44 percent of whom went here for holiday, 25 percent to visit friends and relatives, 18 percent on business, and the rest to attend conventions and for other purposes.
By country of residence, the US topped the list, with 389,818 travelers accounting for 23 percent of all tourists. The US was followed by Japan with 343,021 travelers; South Korea, 205,788; Hong Kong, 134,254; Taiwan, 84,644; Australia, 68,253; United Kingdom, 59,100; Canada, 54,851; Singapore, 44,010; Germany, 40,286; Malaysia, 29,564; South Asian countries, 20,114; Middle East countries, 18,480; China, 14,533; Thailand, 14,472; France, 13,847; Netherlands, 13,422; Indonesia, 12,630; and Switzerland, 12,204.
Italy sent 8,962 visitors; New Zealand, 7,768; Denmark, 7,741; Sweden, 7,296; Norway, 6,589; Austria, 6,531; Spain, 5,614; Belgium, 5,432; South American countries, 3,083; Vietnam, 3,058; Guam, 2,746; Ireland, 2,306; Eastern European countries, 2,189; Finland, 2,009; Brunei, 1,783; and African countries, 1,631. The number of visitors from other countries was less than 1,000 each.
Average Age of Tourists - 40
Almost 55 percent of all foreign tourists in 2001 had visited the country in the past. Stating that they were in repeat visits were nearly 76 percent of all Singaporean, 69 percent of Australian, 67 percent of American and British, 64 percent of German and 57 percent of Japanese travelers.
Nearly 65 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were male and the rest female. Of the group, only Canada had more female visitors, accounting for 50.3 percent. Female visitors from Japan comprised only 19.7 percent while female American visitors accounted for 44.3 percent.
The average age of foreign tourists in the Philippines in 2001 was 40 years old. Visitors from the US had an average age of 45; Canada, 43; Australia, 42; UK, 42; Japan, 41; Germany, 41; Taiwan, 40; Singapore, 39; Hong Kong, 37; and Korea, 34.
By age group, foreign visitors aged under 15 years old in 2001 comprised 8.8 percent of the total; 15 to 19, 2.3 percent; 20 to 24, 4.2 percent; 25 to 34, 19.9 percent; 35 to 44, 24 percent; 45 to 54, 21.9 percent; 55 to 64, 11.1 percent; 65 and above, 6 percent. Others did not state their age.
About 64 percent of all foreign visitors were independent travelers and only 19 percent went on package tours. The rest did not state their travel arrangements. Only 2 percent of Singaporean; 4 percent of American, Canadian and Australian; 10 percent of German; 26 percent of Japanese; 33 percent of Taiwanese; 38 percent of Hong Kong; and 45 percent of Korean visitors went to the Philippines on package tours.
8 Percent of Tourists - Students
In terms of occupation, nearly 33 percent of the foreign visitors were engaged in professional, managerial and administrative services; 7 percent in clerical or sales services; 1 percent in military or public services; and 1 percent in industry sector. About 8 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were students; 4, percent housewives; and 3 percent, pensioners or retirees. Over 41 percent of the tourists did not state their occupation.
Only 31 percent of the foreign guests checked in at hotels, 12.5 percent rented houses or apartments, and 18 percent stayed with relatives and friends. A significant 38 percent of the tourists did not state their type of accommodation in the country.
Among top foreign visitors, about 39 percent of the American tourists stayed with relatives and friends, 15.6 percent rented houses and apartments, and only 9 percent stated that they checked in at hotels. About 36 percent did not state their type of accommodation. Like the American visitors, many Canadian, European and Australian tourists stayed with relatives and friends or rented houses and apartments.
11,784 Hotel Rooms in Metro Manila
In 2001, the average occupancy rate among DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila was 55.85 percent. The 15 deluxe hotels had an average occupancy rate of 58.4 percent; six first class hotels, 54.3 percent; 32 standard hotels, 52.5 percent; and six economy hotels, 41.1 percent.
These DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila had combined 11,784 rooms in 2001. In particular, deluxe hotels had a total of 6,874 rooms; first class hotels, 1,779 rooms; standard hotels, 2,770 rooms; and economy hotels; 361 rooms. Guests spent an average of 2.73 nights at these hotels.
Foreign backpackers could be classified among the 1.106 million independent travelers who came to the Philippines without package tours or among the 728,545 tourists who traveled for holiday. They were among the 439,855 travelers aged 15 to 35 years old or 139,590 foreign students and minors. They were also among the 208,418 foreign travelers who rented houses and apartments or 301,294 who stayed with relatives and friends.
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Origin of Names of Places Abra - abrir, a Spanish term which means opening
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itles of Philippine Places
What’s in a Name?
The Department of Tourism (DoT) has the habit of using titles as a way of endorsing tourist destinations in the country. However, other countries are also using similar titles. Aside from Filipinos, the Japanese also use the phrase “Pearl of the Orient” to refer to their country. While Filipinos describe the Banaue Rice Terraces as the eighth wonder of the world, the Chinese use the same title for the Great Wall of China and the Cambodians for Angkor Wat. According to Filipinos, Mount Mayon has the most beautiful cone figure among all volcanoes in the world, the same way the Japanese view Mount Fuji and Costa Ricans view Arenal volcano. Davao City is reportedly the world’s largest city but other cities in the world protest, including Puerto Princesa City of Palawan. Boracay Island is sold as the world’s most beautiful beach resort, but Thailand, Indonesia, Latin American countries and several Pacific islands are ready to contest this title.
Aklan - oldest province
Angono, Rizal - town of artists
Antipolo City - picnic area
Apalit, Pampanga - tapayan capital
Baclayon Church, Bohol - oldest stone church
Bacolod City - city of smiles
Bacolor, Pampanga - country’s capital in 1762-1763
Baguio City - summer capital
Balabac Island, Palawan - land of Philippine mouse deer
Baliuag, Bulacan - the first town to have election
Banaue Rice Terraces - stairways to the sky
Barasoain Church - headquarters of the Malolos Congress
Basey, Samar - town of mat festival
Batanes - smallest province; northernmost province
Bataan - last stronghold during Japanese occupation
Biak na Bato, San Miguel, Bulacan - site of the Biak na Bato republic
Binondo - known for Chinatown district
Bocaue, Bulacan - firecrackers’ capital
Bohol - land of chocolate hills
Boracay Island - world’s finest beach resort
Bulacan - land of heroes and beautiful women
Bukidnon - pineapple country
Calamba, Laguna - birthplace of Jose Rizal
Calamian Islands - land of Calamian deer
Calauit Island, Palawan - animal sanctuary
Camiguin - land of volcanoes
Capiz - seafood capital
Catanduanes - land of howling winds
Cebu City - premiere city in the south
Central Luzon - rice bowl
Corregidor Island - island fortress; the rock
Crisologo Street, Vigan - kamestizoan district
Davao City- world’s largest city; durian capital
Davao Oriental - easternmost province
Divisoria - bargain capital
Donsol, Sorsogon - sanctuary of whale sharks
Gapan, Nueva Ecija - newest city
General Santos City - most competitive city; tuna capital
Guiginto, Bulacan - cutflower capital
Guimaras - mango capital
Hundred Islands, Pangasinan - actually composed of 400 islets
Iligan City - land of waterfalls
Intramuros, Manila - walled city
Kabayan, Benguet - land of mummies
Kalibo, Aklan - land of ati-atihan
Kawit, Cavite - first independent town
Laguna - resort province
Laguna de Bay - largest lake
Lanao del Sur - center of Islam
Las Pinas City - land of the bamboo organ
Lipa, Batangas - coffee capital
Lubao, Pampanga - the birthplace of Diosdado Macapagal
Lucban, Quezon - Pahiyas town
Luzon - world’s 17th largest island
Magallanes, Agusan del Norte - site of the oldest tree
Makati City - financial center
Malolos, Bulacan - site of the First Philippine Republic
Manila - capital city
Maria Cristina Falls, Iligan City - mother of industry
Marikina City - shoe capital
Mexico, Pampanga - formerly known as Masicu
Meycauayan, Bulacan - jewelry capital
Miag-ao Church, Iloilo - fortress church
Mindanao - world’s 19th largest island
Mindoro - land of the tamaraws
Mount Apo - highest peak
Mount Arayat - legendary home of Mariang Sinukuan
Mount Mayon - a volcano with nearly perfect cone
Nayong Pilipino - Philippines in miniature. (The theme park was opened in 1972 and closed on June 25, 2002.)
Negros Occidental - sugar capital; sports capital
Pagsanjan Falls - Philippines’ el dorado
Palawan - the last frontier; largest province; westernmost province
Pampanga - culinary capital of Luzon
Paete, Laguna - town of wood carvers
Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte - earthquake baroque
Paombong, Bulacan - vinegar capital
Philippine Deep - world’s second deepest spot
Philippines - pearl of the orient
Rio Grande de Cagayan - longest river
Romblon - marble country
San Agustin Church, Intramuros - oldest church in Luzon
San Fernando, Pampanga - lantern capital of the world
San Juanico Bridge - longest suspension bridge
San Sebastian Church - the only steel church in Asia
Siargao Island - perfect waves island
Spratleys - the islands claimed by six countries
Sta. Maria, Bulacan - egg nest of the Philippines
Sta. Maria Church, Ilocos Sur - outstanding example of Spanish baroque architecture
Subic Freeport - American town
Taal Volcano - world’s smallest volcano
Tagaytay City - the next summer capital
Tangub City - Christmas symbol capital
Tawi-Tawi - southernmost province
Trinidad Valley - land of strawberry and vegetables
Tubbataha Marine Park - world’s richest bio-geographic area
Unisan, Quezon - oldest town
University of San Carlos, Cebu City - oldest university
Vigan, Ilocos Sur - Spanish colonial town
Zamboanga Sibugay - newest province
Only in the Philippines
Richest Biodiversity
A great number of rare and exotic animals exist only in the Philippines. The country’s surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of biodiversity in the world. But this distinction was soon overshadowed by the fact that the Philippines has been dubbed as the “hottest of the hotspots” by no less than the Conservation International.
The Philippines is considered as a mega diversity country and a global biodiversity hotspot. In the 2000 Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 418 of the country’s 52,177 species were listed as threatened. The country is home to about 9,000 species of flora, a third of which is said to be endemic to the country. It hosts 165 species of mammals, 121 of which can be found only in this part of the world. The Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priority-setting Program (PBCPP) described these 165 endemic mammal species as endangered or critically endangered.
There are also 332 species of reptiles and amphibians living in the country, 215 of them endemic to the archipelago. It is said that less than 14 of the 114 total species of snakes in the country are poisonous. Several species of frogs and other reptiles remain to be documented. Unfortunately, several species were believed to have vanished without being studied.
In 1953, Albert Herre identified 2,117 species of fish in Philippine waters. These included 330 species of endemic freshwater fish. Whales, dolphins and whale sharks have also been visiting Philippine waters near the islands, allowing sightings by both marine scientists and commercial fishermen. About 500 of the 800 known coral reef species in the world are found in Philippine waters.
The country also has the highest concentration of birds and butterflies in the world. There are some 86 species of birds and 895 species of butterflies in the country. About 352 species of butterflies are endemic to the Philippines.
Many of these biological wonders are now in danger. The main culprit is human’s indiscriminate use of the country’s natural resources, resulting in an unabated denudation of the Philippine rainforests. In the last 500 years, the Philippines saw the destruction of over 93 percent of its original forest cover. Only about 5 percent of the country’s 27,000 square kilometers of coral reefs were in excellent condition.
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the country’s total forest size dwindled to 6.7 million hectares in 1990 from 30 million hectares in 1930. At the same time, the forest-to-man ratio shrank to 0.1 hectare per Filipino in 1990 from 1.13 hectares per Filipino in 1930. By 1996, experts claimed that only 1.8 million to 2.4 million hectares or 6 to 8 percent of original vegetation were remaining.
A study by the Philippine Congress said that 123,000 hectares of the country’s forest cover are lost every year. The study added that by 2036, there would be no forest left in the Philippines, unless reforestation is started.
In January 2003, a study by the Green Tropics International (GTI) claimed that the Philippines would need P30 trillion to reforest country’s denuded mountains in over 85 years.
Rhinoceros and Elephants
With the discovery of different animal fossils in the past century, scientists believed that elephants, rhinoceros and stegodons used to live in the Philippines. Two species of elephants and one species of rhinoceros were identified, namely: Elaphas beyeri, Elaphas cf. namadicus and Rhinoceros philippinensis. Four species of stegodons were also listed by scientists, namely: Stegodon cf. trigonocephalus, Stegodon luzonensis, Stegodon cf. sinensis and Stegodon mindanensis. All of them are now believed extinct.
One of the World’s Largest Eagles
Also known as the monkey-eating eagle, the endangered Philippine eagle is one of the largest in the world. With scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi, the Philippine eagle lives in the rainforests of Isabela, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. It has similarities with Papua New Guinea’s Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguinea).
Measuring about one meter in height, the average Philippine eagle has a 76-centimeter highly arched, powerful bill. It lives on large snakes, hornbills, civet cats, flying lemurs and monkeys - the reason why it is also called monkey-eating eagle. It creates its nests in large trees some 30 meters from the ground.
With an estimated population of 100 to 300 today, the Philippine eagle is in danger of extinction. It is one of the 400 exotic bird species in the Philippines, which, if not protected, would disappear from the face of the Earth. Along with the Philippine cockatoo, Palawan peacock pheasant, Mindoro imperial pigeon, Sulu hornbill and Cebu black shama, the Philippine Eagle might follow the Cebu flowerpecker which is now presumed extinct.
The Philippine Eagle has come to symbolize all efforts by the Filipino people to save the remaining rainforests in the country and preserve the wealth of the nation for the future generation.
Flying Lemur
One of the most distinct creatures on Earth lives in the Philippines. It doesn’t have wings but it can glide across 100 meters of space in a single leap. Like the lemurs of Asia, it moves around at night. Its head resembles that of a dog while its body has similarities with the flying squirrel of Canada.
In Mindanao, people call it “kagwang”. Around the world, it is known as colugo or the flying lemur. Zoologists, however, claim that it doesn’t fly and it is not a lemur, a large-eyed nocturnal mammal found only in Madagascar and Comoro Islands. The truth is that kagwang or Cynocephalus volans is one of only two species belonging to the primitive order Dermoptera. The other species is the Cynocephalus variegatus or the flying lemur of Malaysia.
An ordinary kagwang weighs from 1 to 1.7 kilogram and ranges in length from 14 to 17 inches. It has a wide head with small ears and big eyes. Its 12-inch tail is connected by a patagium, a membrane stretching from forelimbs to tail. This well-developed membrane enables kagwang to glide to a distance of 100 meters or more to escape from predators like the Philippine Eagle.
The continuous denudation of tropical forests in the country threatens the remaining population of kagwang, which used to abound in the wilderness of Basilan, Leyte, Samar, Bohol and Mindanao. The exact number of the remaining kagwangs remains to be determined. Alarmed by the situation, the Philippine government declared kagwang as an endangered species and banned its commercial exploitation.
Largest and Smallest Bats
The Philippines has at least 56 species of bats. It is home to the smallest and the largest bats among the 1,000 known species in the world.
The smallest bat in the world is the Philippine bamboo bat (vespertilionid), which belongs to the vespertilionid family. This bat measures about four centimeters (1 1/2 inches) in length and has a wingspan of 15 cm. Approximately, it weighs 1.5 grams (1/20 ounce).
The three-layered virgin forest of Subic Bay and Bataan is home to the world’s largest bats: the giant flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) and the golden crown flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus). Over the years, these two species of giant fruit bats have roamed around the 10,000-hectare Subic Forest National Protected Area, which is considered the biggest roosting site of bats in the world.
An ordinary giant flying fox weighs up to 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms), heavier than a golden crown flying fox. The golden crown measures six feet in wingspan, the largest among all bats. The giant flying fox and the golden crown are just two of the 15 species of fruit bats in the country.
In other parts of the country, several bat species are now believed extinct. Among them were bare-backed fruit bat or Dobsonia chapmani, which reportedly disappeared from the forests of Negros and Cebu in 1964 and the Panay fruit bat or Acerodon Lucifer which was last seen in 1892. The Philippine tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene rabori of Negros is considered highly endangered. Scientists warned that this breed would disappear before 2015 unless action is taken to protect its remaining population.
Last Remnants of Dinosaur Age
Scientists call sea turtles as the only living remnants of the dinosaur age, but maybe not for long. Unless sincere efforts are undertaken, sea turtles might follow dinosaurs into extinction.
Sea turtles, popularly known in the Philippines as pawikan, belong to the sub-order Cryptodira, and to the families Dermochelyidae and Cheloniidae. There are more than 220 species of turtles in the world, but only seven are considered marine (saltwater). Five of these species are present in the Philippines, namely: Green (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).
A typical Philippine Sea Turtle weighs between 180 to 210 kilograms and, unlike land turtles, cannot retract its head and limbs under its streamlined shell. The most common species in the Philippines is the Green Sea Turtle, which grows up to 1.5 meters long and weighs up to 185 kilograms. The largest species is the Leatherback Turtle, which grows more than two meters in length.
World’s Smallest Hoofed Mammal
South of Palawan, lies the Balabac Island, home of the world’s smallest hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer. Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans), this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters at the shoulder level.
In other countries, it is called chevrotain, or simply mouse deer. Contrary to its name, pilandok is not a member of the deer family. It belongs to the family Tragulidae in the mammalian order Artiodactyla. The male species has no antlers like those of a real deer. Instead, it uses its large tusk-like canine teeth on its upper jaw for self-defense; in the same way a deer uses its antlers.
Aside from the Pilandok, other mouse deer species include the Malay mouse deer or napu and the African water chevrotain. They are found in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and India. While the mouse deer are widely distributed across Asia, their dwindling population has alarmed the World Conservation Union, which declared them as endangered in 1996.
Most Endangered Deer
One of the world’s rarest mammals lives in the dwindling forest of Panay Island. It is the Philippine spotted deer (Cervus alfredi), considered by many as the most endangered deer in the planet.
The Philippine spotted deer is only about 80 centimeters in height (shoulder) and has soft and moderately long hair covering its spotted dark brown body. Its most distinct physical characteristic is its oval yellowish white spots on its back and sides. This species has long been classified as endangered, which means they have been reduced in number to a critical level, or whose habitats have been damaged, altered or reduced.
By 1985, a survey reported that only a small population of the Philippine spotted deer was found in the remote regions of Panay.
Calamian Deer
Calamian Islands, north off Palawan province, keep a species of deer that cannot be found elsewhere. Scientists referred to the hog deer in the islands as Calamian deer in order to distinguish them from other hog deer in the world.
An ordinary Calamian deer measures 105 to 115 centimeters in length and 60 to 65 centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs about 36 to 50 kilograms. It is said to have longer and darker legs, compared with other hog deer. From a relatively large number in the 1940s, the population of Calamian deer dropped to “dangerously low levels” in the 1970s. By 1996, its population further declined to only about 900, prompting conservationists to declare it as an endangered species.
Largest Endangered Animal
People used to call Mindoro as the “Land of the Tamaraws”. About 10,000 heads of these unique pygmy water buffalos were roaming around the island-province of Mindoro in the 1900s. But that was a century ago. Today, the Tamaraws in the province are in danger of extinction, and Mindoro might lose the symbol that it once proudly introduced to the world.
The Tamaraw, scientifically known as Bubalus mindorensis, is endemic to Mindoro. Belonging to the family of buffalos, the same categorical group of the Philippine carabao, the Tamaraw is the largest endangered land animal in the Philippines today. In 1996, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed it as one of the ten most endangered species in the world.
The Tamaraw measures between five to six feet in length and weighs about 300 kilograms. While it shares many similarities with the carabao, the Tamaraw is most known for its horns, with a “V” form, unlike the horns of the carabao, which take a curved shape. The Tamaraw’s horns grow about 14 to 20 inches long.
From 10,000 heads in the 1900’s, the Tamaraw population went down to 369 heads in the late 1980’s. Today, reports say there are as few as 20 heads roaming in the wild.
World’s Smallest Monkey
In many respects, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is different from other animals. Considered as the world’s smallest primate, it measures only about twelve centimeters in length. Its two big eyes cannot move and do not have a tapetum - the upper protective tissue. Because of this, the Philippine tarsier has learned to turn its head 180 degrees. It has also two grooming claws on each foot and an almost bald tail extending about nine inches.
Found in the islands of Samar, Leyte, Bohol and Mindanao, the Philippine tarsier got its name from its elongated tarsus bone. An ordinary tarsier weighs between 117 and 134 grams. It is able to move between trees by leaping as far as three meters. It also has keen senses of hearing and sight.
Today, there are only about 1,000 tarsiers inhabiting the wilds of Corella town in Bohol province where the biggest concentration of these rare animals was once reported. Ensuring the continued existence of the Philippine tarsiers is the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc.
Neither A Bear Nor A Cat
Palawan bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Known in Southeast Asia as binturong, the bearcat is a species of its own, with population in the forests of Palawan, Borneo, Burma and Vietnam. It belongs to the family of Viverridae (civets).
The Palawan bearcat has a long body and a pointed face leading to the nose. Its head and body measure 61 to 96 centimeters in combined length while its tail is almost as long. It weighs 9 to 14 kilograms and lives up to 20 years.
It has thick black fur, which hunters use for making clothes and caps. It is usually awake at night when it finds food and uses its tail to climb tall trees where it hides among the leaves. Like other wild animals, Palawan bearcat’s population is threatened by human activities.
Endangered Cockatoos
The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most exotic birds. Scientists have documented 577 bird species around the Philippine archipelago. Of this number, 185 species are endemic to the country. The Bird Life International listed 116 of them as “threatened” or “near-threatened”.
One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram.
The remaining population of kalangays, between 1,000 and 4,000, is now restricted to Palawan, particularly in St. Paul’s Subterranean River National Park, Pandanan Island and El Nido Marine Reserve.
World’s Largest Fish
Donsol, a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a sanctuary to a group of 40 whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which are considered as the largest fish in the world.
Locally known as “butanding”, whale sharks visit the waters of Donsol from November to May. They travel across the oceans but nowhere else have they been sighted in a larger group than in the waters of Sorsogon. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in length and weigh about 20 tons. In 1996, a marine biologist discovered that whale sharks are ovoviviparous, which means that the females produce live offspring from eggs hatched in the uterus.
The Philippine government declared whale sharks as endangered species in 1998, thereby banning its plunder and exploitation. Right now, the Department of Tourism is promoting eco-tourism to protect the whale sharks in Donsol.
World’s Smallest Fish
The world’s smallest freshwater fish is found in the Philippines. The dwarf goby (Pandaka pygmaea) measures 1.2 centimeters or less than half of an inch, the tiniest known vertebrate. American Ichthyologist Albert Herre first discovered it in Malabon River in 1925.
The Philippines is also the home of sinarapan, the world’s smallest commercial fish. Sinarapan, scientifically known as Mistichthys luzonensis, is a goby found only in Lakes Bato and Buhi in Camarines Sur province. Sinarapan grows to an average length of 1.25 centimeters, only slightly longer than the dwarf goby. Today, unabated fishing in the two lakes threatens the population of sinarapan.
Herbivorous Marine Mammal
Dugongs or sea cows, the only herbivorous marine mammals, are often sighted in Philippine waters, particularly near Palawan province and southern Mindanao.
According to marine scientists, an ordinary dugong grows up to three meters in length and weighs 400 kilograms. It feeds on sea grass so it always reaches for the bottom of the sea. Whether dugong’s appetite has something to do with its long life remains to be verified. It is said that a dugong can live more than 70 years. The Philippine government has banned the commercial exploitation of dugong since 1991.
Exotic Seahorses
More than 500 of the world’s 700 coral species are found under the waters of the Philippines, which is a part of the Coral Triangle - a region in the Pacific Ocean.
Seahorses are small saltwater fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family (order Gasterosteiformes), which also includes pipefish and sea dragons. Most seahorse species, probably the most peculiar creatures in the water, live in the Coral Triangle. There are at least 50 known seahorse species in the world. They inhabit temperate and tropical waters but most of them are concentrated in the warm coastal waters of the Philippines.
The seahorse’s scientific genus name, Hippocampus is a Greek word, which means, “bent horse.” Seahorses range in length from about 2 inches to 14 inches. They are known for their small compressed body covered with 50 rectangular body plates. At least 47 nations and territories around the world are involved in buying and selling seahorses. The largest known importers are China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Among the largest exporters is the Philippines.
Largest and Smallest Shells
Both Tridacna gigas, one of the world’s largest shells, and Pisidum, the world’s tiniest shell, can be found under Philippine waters. Tridacna gigas grows as large as one meter in length and weighs 600 pounds while Pisidum is less than 1 millimeter long. A shell called glory of the sea (Connus gloriamaris) is also found in the Philippines and considered as one of the most expensive shells in the world.
World’s Largest Reptile
The saltwater crocodile, which can be found in the Philippines and other Asian countries, is considered as the world’s largest reptile. Scientifically known as Crocodylus porosus, it is different from Mindoro’s freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis), which is a relatively smaller species.
An adult saltwater crocodile measures between six to seven meters (20-23 feet) and weighs about two to three tons. There were tales that a 27-foot saltwater crocodile was killed near Lake Taal in Batangas in 1823. It reportedly took 40 men to bring the body ashore. When the men cut the crocodile’s body open, they found the body of a horse in seven pieces. The largest crocodile ever sighted was a 33-footer in Borneo in 1920. It was believed to be 200 years old.
Endemic Plants
The Philippine archipelago also teems with different types of plants. It is said that as many as 9,000 flowering plants can be found in the country, including 200 fruit trees. Among the endemic fruit trees in the Philippines are durian, mabolo, pili and bignay.
They Were Vanishing
Vanishing were not only the animals endemic to the Philippines, but also several things and cultural traditions that Filipinos in the 1950s grew up with. Among the items that are no longer found in the Philippine market are bakya, banig and salakot (If you still remember them). Bahay kubo is also disappearing in towns and barangays and it would be hard to find a house, with a batalan today. Who still observe cultural traditions like harana, bayanihan and balagtasan. And where did the makata go?
Do You Know That…
The Bible Also Mentions the Philippines
It can be easily understood that no verse in the Bible carried the term Philippines, since the Bible was written two thousand years ago or centuries before the Spaniards came here. However, there are verses in the Bible that prophesy about the Philippine archipelago and other islands in the Pacific. In the chapter 24 of the Book of Isaiah, verses 15 to 16 read “Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’” The Philippines is the only Christian archipelago in the Pacific covering East Asia.
Arroyo and Sukarnoputri Share Similarities
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia have remarkable similarities. Both are 54-year-old women who had been vice-presidents before becoming presidents in place of their predecessors who were ousted in the year 2001. Both of them were daughters of former presidents of the world’s two largest archipelagos who lost the presidency in 1965 to dictators. Both women have three children and their husbands were being pursued by controversy. Both visited Washington in their first year as presidents and met US President George W. Bush, another offspring of a former president who also assumed power in 2001. Arroyo and Sukarnoputri are not entirely similar though. The former is a Catholic Christian from the world’s fifth largest Christian country while the latter is a Muslim from the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.
Bulacan Produced Queens
Marcelo del Pilar, the father of Philippine journalism; Francisco Balagtas, the father of Philippine literature; Jose Corazon de Jesus, father of balagtasan; Nicanor Abelardo, father of kundiman; Francisca Reyes-Aquino, mother of Philippine dances; Gerry de Leon, a father of Philippine movies; Guillermo Tolentino, one of the fathers of Philippine arts; Jose Reyes, a father of Philippine medicine; and Dely Magpayo, a mother of Philippine broadcasting, were all born in Bulacan province. Atang dela Rama, the mother of Philippine theater, lived in Bulacan. Aside from national fathers and mothers, Bulacan also produced queens, namely: Lydia de Vega, Asia’s former sprint queen; Regine Velasquez, Asia’s song bird; and Michelle Aldana, Miss Asia-Pacific beauty queen.
Babe Ruth Scored Homeruns in RP
Babe Ruth, the American baseball legend who had over 200 homeruns in his professional career, once played in the baseball field of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. In 1934, Ruth and another baseball great, Lou Gehrig, selected an All-Star team that toured Asia where they played 18 games. The All-Star selection stopped in the Philippines and played at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex from December 2 to December 9. Gehrig beat Ruth when he scored the first recorded homerun at the Rizal complex on December 2. Ruth scored the 2nd homerun on the same day and 4th homerun on December 9. The other players of the same selection who also scored homeruns at the Rizal complex were Earl Averill and C. Gehringer.
7 Cabinet Officials Were from Harvard
In a speech before an American delegation early in 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has claimed that her Cabinet officials include seven Harvard graduates and three Wharton alumni. The 54-year-old president added that four of her economic managers had been top executives on Wall Street prior to joining government service in the Philippines. President Arroyo, herself, has a Ph. D. in Economics, which she earned from the University of the Philippines (UP). Before this, she had studied for two years at the Georgetown University where she had former US President Bill Clinton as a classmate.
Manila Played Host To Big Events
Manila served as a host to some of the world’s biggest events in the past several decades. On November 22, 1995, the country hosted 21 world leaders, including former US President Bill Clinton, during the 4th Economic Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 1974, Former First Lady Imelda Marcos ordered the construction of the Folk Arts Theater to be the site of the 23rd annual Miss Universe beauty pageant on July 19. The prestigious beauty contest was held again in the country in 1994. On October 1, 1975, the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City was the venue of the infamous “Thrilla in Manila”, the thrilling boxing match between Heavyweight champions, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Manila also hosted other international sports events such as the Asian Games in 1954 and the Southeast Asian Games in 1981 and 1991. In 1980, the Marcos administration ordered the construction of the grand Coconut Palace to host John Paul II during his Manila visit. The head of the Vatican state visited Manila again in January 1995.
Sabah Once Belonged to Sultan of Sulu
Sabah, an oil-rich region forming the northern part the great Borneo Island, used to be a property of the Sultan of Sulu. Its 73,620-square-kilometer land area is about twice the size of Switzerland and teems with incomparable natural resources. The territory is still being claimed by the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III. The Sulu sultanate was founded by Rajah Baginda in 1430. According to the present sultan, his claim goes as far back as 1704 when the Sultan of Brunei ceded part of then North Borneo which now comprises Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines for his help in suppressing a rebellion. There are about 500,000 Filipinos, most of them Muslims, living in Sabah. They fled to the territory in the 1970s during heavy fighting between Muslim rebels and the government troops. Sabah is only four hours by boat from the southernmost island-province of Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines.
Coconut Workers Own San Miguel Corp.
There are 3 million hectares planted to coconut trees, the second largest agricultural area after rice fields (4 million hectares). The coconut industry employs about 3.4 million Filipinos. Some 18 to 20 million more Filipinos depend on the industry for their livelihood, according to the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP). About 90 percent of those employed in the coconut industry are small farmers, who earn P10,000 a year or P25 a day.
Coconut farmers are among the most exploited segments of Philippine society. Driven to squalor by Marcos cronies who thrived on the so-called coconut levies, the coconut farmers represent the oldest sector of the domestic economy. In 1642, the Spanish colonial government forced each Filipino to plant 200 coconut trees, because Spanish shipbuilders had a large need for charcoaled coconut shells and coconut husks. Coconut products have gradually become the country’s top export, accounting for 35 percent of all exports in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, coconut products were the country’s leading exports of raw materials. New economic policies initiated under the Aquino administration led to a slow-phased shift to industries, which eventually put the coconut industry at the tailend of government priorities. In 2001, coconut exports represented only 1.6 percent of the country’s total exports.
In 1971, the dictatorial government of the late President Ferdinand Marcos established the Coconut Investment Fund (Cocofund) by imposing a levy of P15 per 100 kilograms of copra for nine years between 1973 and 1982. Supposedly, the fund should serve as subsidy to coconut products for domestic consumption. However, the cocofund, which amounted to a total of P9.695 billion by August 1982, was turned into a private fund used to finance three financial institutions, including the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB). The cocofund was also used to acquire the majority shares of San Miguel Corporation, the country’s largest food and beverage conglomerate. A known Marcos crony, Danding Cojuangco, still retains the chairmanship of both UCPB and San Miguel until today. The fund, which is estimated at over P100 billion today, has yet to be transferred to the accounts of the coconut farmers. (Source: http://www.virtual-asia.com/ph)
A Mayor Held Office for 5 Decades
No other local official had the distinction of serving an elective post for almost half a century. Pablo Cuneta, the late mayor of Pasay City and father of popular actress, Sharon Cuneta, died at 90 on September 27, 2000 after serving the government for 50 years. In 1947, then President Elpidio Quirino appointed him vice mayor of Pasay City. In 1955, he was elected mayor, a post which he held until 1967 when he lost to Jovito Claudio in the mayoralty election. He emerged victorious in the 1972 elections and served his constituents in Pasay City until 1986 when he was ordered ousted by the Aquino administration. Cuneta won in the 1988 mayoralty election and served his post uninterrupted until 1997 when his health began to fail. He was awarded a golden trophy for his 50th year in public service in the same year.
A Priest Took Up Arms Against Americans
From 1900 to 1902, Catholic priest Gregorio Labayan Aglipay took up arms against American soldiers in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Aglipay founded the Liwanag branch of the Katipunan in Victoria, Tarlac, attended the Malolos Congress and became the ecclesiastical governor of Nueva Segovia (Ilocos) in 1899. In his religious role, Aglipay is considered as the Martin Luther of the Philippines for founding the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or the Philippine Independent Church, which celebrated its centenary on August 3, 2002. A century earlier, the Union Obrera Democratica, a confederation of 10 labor organizations headed by Isabelo de los Reyes, broke ties with the Vatican and designated Aglipay as the Obispo Maximo (supreme bishop) of their new religion. The Catholic Church then excommunicated Aglipay. An American general called Aglipay a better soldier than a bishop. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
The Osmena Clan Is the Oldest Political Dynasty
The Osmena clan is perhaps the oldest and the most dominant political dynasty in the country. This political dynasty began when Sergio Osmena Sr. replaced Manuel Quezon as president of the Commonwealth government during the war. His son, Osmena Jr. became a senator and his grandson, Osmena III is now an incumbent senator. John Osmena, a former mayor of Cebu City, is also a senator today. Lito Osmena, a long-time governor of the province of Cebu, vied for the presidency in the 1998 presidential election. Tomas Osmena was a mayor of Davao City.
Six Vice-Presidents Became Presidents
Six former vice-president became presidents, namely: Sergio Osmena, Elpidio Quirino, Carlos Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Three Senate Presidents Became Presidents
Three former senate presidents became presidents, namely Manuel Quezon, Manuel Roxas, and Ferdinand Marcos.
Two Speakers Became Presidents
Two former House speakers became presidents, namely: Sergio Osmena Sr. and Manuel Roxas.
Three Presidents Died in Office
Three Philippine presidents were not able to finish their terms of office. They were Manuel Quezon who died in New York City on August 1, 1944; Manuel Roxas who died of a heart attack on April 15, 1948; and Ramon Magsaysay who died in an air accident on March 17, 1957.
First 3 Beauty Queens Married Pinoys
The first Miss Universe, Armi Kuusela of Finland won the crown in 1952 and married Virgilio Hilario of Tarlac the following year. The first Miss International (1961), Maria Stella Marquez Zawadsky of Colombia, married Filipino millionaire, Jorge Araneta. The first Miss Asia (1965), Angela Filmer of Malaysia, married Jose Faustino, also a Filipino.
A Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus
In May 2000, the so-called “love bug” computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the “love bug” wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.
Caloocan City Has Two Separate Parts
Caloocan City is the only city in the Philippines with two areas set apart from each other by other towns and cities. Its first area, known as the urban portion, covers Monumento and is bounded on the south by Manila, on the west by Navotas and Malabon and on the north by Valenzuela City. Its second area, known as Caloocan II, is a hilly portion between Bulacan province and Quezon City.
Orchids Breeds Were from RP
Waling-waling or Vanda sanderiana, is described as the “Queen of Philippine Orchids”. One of the largest species in the world, waling-waling was discovered by German Taxonomist Heinrich Gustav Reicheinback in Mindanao in 1882. Since then, it has become the most sought-after flower in Mindanao and helped in the flourishing of the world’s multibillion-dollar orchid and cutflower industry. The massive deforestation in Mindanao threatens the region’s wildlife, including waling-waling which used to abound in the tropical forest of Mount Apo and its surrounding areas. Today, it is believed that Waling-Waling has more species abroad, particularly in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Hawaii. Of the 9,000 flowering plants in the world, about 3,500 are endemic to the Philippines. Human activities, however, pose a great threat to their existence.
Romulo Coined “I Shall Return”
It was Carlos P. Romulo, who coined the famous phrase “I shall return” by General Douglas MacArthur. Romulo was MacArthur’s press officer at that time.
Romulo Put RP in UN Map
According to Beth Day Romulo, Carlos P. Romulo literally put the Philippines on the world map. “When the UN official seal which depicts the world was being selected, Romulo asked ‘Where is the Philippines?’
The answer came, ‘It’s too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.’
‘I want that dot,’ Romulo insisted.” The UN seal now has a tiny dot for the Philippines.
MacArthur Was Field Marshall of Philippine Army
Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon appointed American four-star Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur as Field Marshall of the Philippine Army in 1935. Attached with the appointment was MacArthur’s extra monthly pay of US$3,980 that made him the highest paid military officer in the world, according to American historian Carlos D’Este in his book “Eisenhower, A Soldier’s Life”.
Eisenhower Wrote Quezon’s Speeches
In the book “Eisenhower, A Soldier’s Life”, American historian Carlos D’Este claimed that Dwight Eisenhower became an adviser and speechwriter of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in the Philippines. When Quezon sought an exile in the US, he met Eisenhower in Washington D.C. and offered him “a lavish stipend of some one hundred thousand dollars for services rendered the Philippines during his four years there, which Eisenhower courteously rejected.” This was before Eisenhower was appointed as the supreme commander of all allied forces and planned the now infamous Normandy Invasion in Europe during World War II. Eisenhower later became a US president.
Filipinos Had Headed International Organizations
Carlos P. Romulo became president of the United Nations 4th General Assembly; Cesar Bengzon, president of the World Court Justice; Blas Ople, president of International Labor Organization; Jose Aspiras, president of World Tourism Organization; Jesus Tamesis, president of World Medical Association; Arturo Tanco, president of World Food Council; Florencio Campomanes, president of International Chess Federation; Justiniano Montano, president of World Boxing Council; Gonzalo Puyat II, president of International Amateur Basketball Federation; Ramos del Rosario, president of World Jaycee International;
Jolly Bugarin, president of International Criminal Police Organization; Mercedes Concepcion, president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population; Lolita Delgado-Fransler, president of Association of International College of Women; Modesto Farolan, president of International Union of Official Tourist Organizations; Florencio Moreno, president of World Highway Engineers Association; Quintin Gomez, president of the 8th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists; Cielito del Mundo, president of World Family Institute Inc.;
Fe del Mundo, president of International Women’s Medical Association; Amelito Mutuc, president of World Association of Lawyers; John Choa, president of Y’s Men International; Roman Cruz, president of Orient Airlines Association; Manuel Nieto, president of Oriental Boxing Federation; Rufus Rodriguez, president of World Association of Law Students; Edward dela Rosa, president of World Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors; Esther Vibal, president of International Inner wheel;
Antonio Delgado, chairman of Boy Scouts World Conference; Marcelo Fernan, secretary general of the Academy of American and International Law Alumni; Norman Certeza Sr., governor of Kiwanis International; Eduardo Chuidian, general manager of Association of International Shipping Lines; Rafael Salas, executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities; and Dioscoro Umali, assistant director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Tolentino and Amorsolo Were Classmates
Guillermo Tolentino and Fernando Amorsolo, both national artists in arts, were classmates at the UP School of Fine Arts. Guillermo Tolentino was the one who carved the UP Oblation while Amorsolo was known for his paintings about barrio life and women.
15 National Artists Were from Manila
Aside from Manila, there is no other city or province, which owns the distinction of having produced 15 national artists. Three of these national artists - Levi Celerio, Cesar Legaspi and Rolando Tinio - were born in Tondo, the same district that produced Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and yes, Juan Flavier. Other national artists who were born in Manila include Fernando Amorsolo, Francisco Arcellana, Ishmael Bernal, Gerardo de Leon, Nick Joaquin, Arturo Luz, Jose Maceda, Antonio Molina, Juan Nakpil, Andrea Veneracion, Jose Garcia Villa and Honorata “Atang” dela Rama. Coming far behind Manila in having produced a great number of national artists is Bulacan province, the birthplace of six national artists.
Bulacan Produced Great Musicians
Aside from producing heroes and poets, Bulacan is known as the birthplace of great Filipino composers, singers and dancers. Nicanor Abelardo, who is widely regarded as the father of kundiman, was born in San Miguel, Bulacan while Francisco Santiago, another pioneer of kundiman, grew up in Sta. Maria town. Noted composer Antonino Buenaventura was born in Baliuag town while contemporary composer Ernani Cuenco was born in the capital town of Malolos. Honorata “Atang” dela Rama, the great theater actress before the war, made Bulacan her home and married poet and national artist Amado Hernandez of San Miguel.
The father of Levi Celerio, the poet of Philippine music, was from Baliuag. Francisca Reyes Aquino, the mother of Philippine dances, was born in the town of Bocaue. Composer and singer Rey Valera was born in Meycauayan town. At present, three divas from Bulacan - Regine Velasquez, Jaimie Rivera and Claire dela Fuente own the finest voices that this country has ever heard.
A Filipino Supervised a Russian Orchestra
Redentor Romero had served as the conductor of the 100-member Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which received worldwide acclaim.
Pasyon Was a Poem
The long poem read and chanted by Catholic devotees during the Lent first appeared in 1704. Entitled Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Nation, the poem was written in octosyllabic verse by Gaspar Aquino de Belen.
Balagtas Had Other Works
Francisco dela Cruz Balagtas, the 19th Century poet from Bulacan, wrote more than 100 plays, comedies, awits and koridos. Most of these works, however, were burned in a fire that gutted his house in Udyong, Bataan in 1892. Fortunately, copies of three of his works were found elsewhere. Aside from the well-known awit Florante at Laura, other existing works of Balagtas were a short farce entitled La India Elegante y e! Negrito Amante and a full-length komedya entitled Orosman at Zafira.
A Filipino was Declared Emperor
In 1926, Florencio Intrencherado was proclaimed emperor of Negros Occidental province. In the 1900s, the people of Negros declared a republic in Panay, which was later abolished by the US government.
A Filipino Refereed Muhammad Ali
In October 1975, Carlos Padilla Jr. served as the referee in the world-boxing match between Ali and Frazier in what was dubbed as thrilla in Manila.
A Brazilian Became Filipinos’ Darling in 2000
Leila Barros, a fine-looking volleyball player from Brazil, became the Filipino crowd’s darling in the staging of World Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix in Manila in 1999 and 2000. Leila, a five-foot-eight player, led her team to the first runner-up finish in the 1999 event, which was won by Russia. Brazil won the crown in 1994, 1996 and 1998. The Filipino audience used to ignore the game of volleyball until they saw Leila spike the ball with the elegance and style no one else could show.
Inside the court, the 28-year-old Brazilian beauty was noted for her intensity and leaping ability, which enabled her to penetrate the stonewall defense of her six foot rivals. Behind the pretty face was her seriousness and sheer determination to win each game. She moves with the agility of Martina Hingis and the form of Anna Kournikova. Not a few Filipino men fell in love with her flash images on television. Some of those who were lucky to see her personally waved placards proposing marriage, not knowing that the young, otherwise innocent looking star player has been married for four years. How sad! Just the same, Leila moves and jumps with the charm of any 16-year-old girl “oozing with sensuality”, as one sports columnist put it. At a time the Philippines was troubled by many problems, all it needed was a little inspiration from someone like Leila, who reminded the Filipino men of the beauty of life.
Intel Chips Were Manufactured in RP
Intel Corp., the world’s largest corporation, has been operating in the Philippines for almost 30 years. Calling itself as the first multinational company that established a bran