Philippines is a sovereign island country in southeast Asia located in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7.107 islands that are categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south; Luzon, Visaya, and Mindanao (Travel in Holiday Blog). The capital city of the Philippines is Manila, and the most populous city is Quezon city.
Politics
Philippines has a democratic government in the form of a constitutional republic with presidential system. The president functions as both head of the state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Education
Formal education in the Philippines can be categorized as follows:
Six years of primary school education.
Four years of secondary school education.
Four years of higher education crowned with a bachelor degree. Schooling is compulsory for six years, beginning at the age seven and culminating at the age twelve. Filipino and English are the official languages of instruction and communication.
Population
Over 102 million people live in the Philippines. Of these people: about 28.1 percent are Filipinos, 13.1 percent are Cebuanos, 9 percent are Llocanos, 7.6 percent are Bisayans, 7.5 percent are Hiligaynons, 6 percent are Bikolanos, and 3.4 percent are warays.
History
Colonization of the Philippines started in 1565 when Miguel Lo Pezde Legazpi a Spanish explorer arrived the islands from Mexico.
From 1762 to 1764, Manila was occupied by British forces. However, Spain regained its rule over the country as a result of 1763 Treaty of Paris.
Philippines Revolution started in 1896
In 1898, the Spanish-American War started in Cuba, and the United States of America won the War.
In 1941, Japan invaded the country.
On October 24, 1945, The Philippines became one of the founding members of the United Nations, and on July 9, 1946, the United States recognized the country as sovereign during the Presidency of Manual Roxas.
language
Filipino (Tagalog) and English are the official languages of the Philippines. These latter are both used in government, education, print, broadcast, media, and business.Therefore, people who are uneducated or have little exposure to media, often don't speak English.
Religion
Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia. 82.9 percent of the population are Christian (80.9 percent belong to the Roman Catholic church while 2 percent belong to Aglipayan). Islam is the second largest religion (The Muslim population of the Philippines is reported as 5 percent of the total population).
Tourism
The travel and tourism sectors are major contributors to the economy of the Philippines. This is due to the country's biodiversity including mountains, beaches, rein-forests, islands and so an. The video below is an introduction and tourism promotion to the Philippines.