INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT PHILIPPINES

The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It
has an area of 300,000 square km. Manila is its capital, and Quezon City is its largest city. Filipino and
English are their official languages. Peso (PHP) is its official currency. The Philippines is the third-largest
English-speaking country in the world. 

From beautiful emerald rice fields to sunny sandy beaches, tropical forests filled with wildlife to teeming
mega-cities, the Philippines is a paradise with friendly people and rich cultural experiences just waiting
to be explored.

PHILIPPINE FLAG

Filipino soldiers raise a Philippine flag during ceremonies to mark the Independence Day at the Rizal
National Monument in Manila, Philippines, 12 June 2012. The Philippines marks its 114th Independence
Day on 12 June to remember the country's declaration of freedom from Spanish rule in 1898.

Every Filipino knows the Philippine flag, but not everyone is familiar with its symbolism and history. Here
are some facts that you might not have known about our national emblem:

 The Philippine flag was heavily inspired by the U.S. Flag. 

The similarity between the two flags is not a mere coincidence. As a form of “profound gratitude,” the
flag designers decided to honor the U.S. for its “disinterested protection” of the Philippines, thus the
red, blue, and white theme and the use of stars.

 The three stars denote Luzon, Mindanao, and Panay

The three stars signify Luzon, Panay, and Mindanao and not Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The
Proclamation of Independence in 1898 referred to these as “the archipelago’s three principal islands.”
The stars, it added, commemorate the places where the Spanish revolution started.

 The white triangle represents the Katipunan.

As the Philippines ’ most dominant and influential force during the Spanish revolution, the society
sparked the masses into fighting for their rights and our country’s sovereignty. Furthermore, the triangle
also refers to the “Eye of Providence,” which was adopted by freemasonry and later inspired the
Katipunan’s ideologies, traditions, and rituals.

 The sun combines two representations.

The rays indicate the eight provinces – Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna,
and Batangas – as the foremost regions that supported the revolt. Still, the sun also embodies the
"gigantic steps made by the country's sons along the path of progress and civilization."

 The shades of red and blue used by the flag were revised.

In 1985, former President Ferdinand Marcos attempted to change the shades of these two colors, but
they ultimately rejected his proposal after the EDSA revolution. However, during the centennial year of
the proclamation of independence in 1998, navy blue was replaced with royal blue.
  The flag was once banned in the Philippines.

In 1907, Act No. 1697 or the Flag Law of 1907 was passed. It prohibited displaying the Philippine flag,
which replaced by the stars and stripes of the U.S. After 11 years and upon liberation from the U.S.,
what repealed this law. The Philippine flag was reinstated as the nation’s official standard.

 The Philippine, Cuban, and Puerto Rican flags are strikingly similar.

If you put these three flags side by side, you would notice the physical aspects that they share. Aside
from these striking resemblances, these three countries were also former Spanish colonies in the 19th
century.

 When the Philippine flag is raised with the red side on top, it means the country is under war.

HISTORY

 The Philippines was named after King Phillip II of Spain.

 Spain ruled the Philippines for more than 300 years (1565-1898).
 Tomas Claudio from Morong, Rizal is the first Filipino- American war hero and also the only
Filipino casualty of World War I.
 The Philippines is the first Southeast Asian country that became independent after World War II.
 Another trivia about history of the Philippines that will shock you: Dr. Jose Rizal is considered
widely as the national hero of the Philippines. However, the Philippine government has not yet
proclaimed Rizal as the official national hero of the Philippines. According to the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA), there is no law, executive order, or proclamation
that has been enacted or issued proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero.
 Former Dictator Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for 21 years (1965-1986) and was
ousted through the EDSA People Power Revolution.
 The world’s biggest pair of shoes was made in Marikina City in 2002. The wingtips measured
about 17.4 feet (5.3 m) in length, 7.9 feet (2.4 m) in width, and almost 6.6 feet (2 m) in height.
Their cost was 2 million Philippine pesos.

PHILIPPINE ISLAND

The Philippines is known worldwide as one of the best travel destinations for having pristine beaches
and historical places.

 The Philippines made up of 7,641 islands.

 Only 2,000 of these islands are inhabited, and nearly 5,000 still unnamed on global maps.
 The Philippines' fertile land accounts for the more than 900 species of orchids representing 100
genera that have been found.
 The Sampaguita is the national flower.
 There are more than 200 volcanoes in the Philippines; 24 are active.
 In the island province of Camiguin, there are more volcanoes (7) than towns (5), and Camiguin
has the most number of volcanoes per square kilometer in the world. It is another mind-blowing
historical fact about the Philippines.
CULTURE AND PEOPLE

What is it about the Philippines that makes it different from the rest of the world? Well, for one thing, it
is all about their culture and it’s people.

 Filipinos are very resilient.

In times of calamities and catastrophes, Filipinos always manage to rise above the challenge. Instead of
wallowing, they manage to pick themselves up and smile.

 Filipinos take pride in their families.

In the Philippines, it is family first. So, whether you are part of the immediate family or belong to the
third or fourth generation, you are treated as a family member. Sometimes, even the closest of friends
are considered family, too.

 Filipinos are very religious.

In all corners of a Filipino house, you can find brazen images of crosses and other religious
paraphernalia. They go to church every Sunday, or sometimes even twice or three times a week.

 Filipinos are very respectful.

From the moment they are born into this world, they are already taught how to be respectful by using
these simple catchphrases—po and opo, words that end sentences when addressing elders. They have a
culture of pagmamano, which is where they raise the backs of the hands of their elders to their
foreheads as a sign of respect.

 Filipinos help one another.

More popularly known as bayanihan, Filipinos help one another—without expecting anything in return

—so that undertaking their tasks and responsibilities become much easier. Sometimes this is called
“community spirit.”

 Filipinos value traditions and culture.

For Filipinos, traditions in their home and in their family are important. They usually set aside a specific
day for a certain celebration like festivals, birthday parties, reunions, etc. And of course, every gathering
is dedicated to keeping up with each other over sumptuous food.

 Filipinos loves to party.

Yes, Filipinos love to hold celebrations and fiestas. Bacolod has its MassKara Festival, Davao has its
Kadayawan Festival, and Marinduque has its Moriones Festival.

 Filipinos have the longest Christmas celebrations—ever.

Even as early as August, you can hear Christmas songs and jingles being played in the malls or in the
restaurants in the Philippines. The mood becomes festive, with many people shopping and in good
spirits. Christmas celebrations last until around the first or second week of January.
  Filipinos love to eat.

Aside from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Filipinos manage to squeeze in a little meal in between, too.
Whether they eat every hour or every three hours, they savor every bite. Oh, and they do love going to
buffets!

 Filipinos love to sing.

This is the reason why karaoke has become so prevalent. As part of their recreation, Filipinos spend
some quality time with their families or friends singing or belting out new and old songs.

 Filipinos love art and architecture.

Just look at the massive and tall buildings everywhere. Filipinos have a penchant for bringing art and
architecture to a whole new level. They love to design creatively, to think intuitively, and have a passion
for anything different and unique.

LANGUAGE

The Philippines has two official languages, Filipino and English. Before anything else, What should know
that Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. A citizen of the Philippines is also known as
Filipino, although some use the term Pilipino from Pilipinas, the country's name in the local language. On
the other hand, it lists Tagalog as one of the principal languages of the Philippines, together with Filipino
and English.

The Philippines is a diverse country with several ethnic and immigrant communities. Right now, 183
languages and dialects are spoken in the country. Out of the estimated 2019 Philippine population of
108.2 million, 45 million speak Filipino.

The Filipino language is a member of the Austronesia language family, including Malay, Māori, and
Hawaiian. It belongs to the subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian languages typically spoken by people in
several island nations in the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia.

 Since 1897, Tagalog was the official language in the land. Filipino, on the other hand, became
the official language in 1987. One of the reasons why people, Filipinos, and foreigners alike, are
confused about which term to use for the language.
 The term Tagalog came from "taga- ilog," meaning the river dwellers along the Pasig River
during Spain's occupation of the Philippines.

The term was complex for the Spaniards to pronounce, so what reduced it to "Tagalog," the
language, which became the basis of Filipino and other local languages. Aside from the original speakers
of Tagalog who resided along the Pasig River, Tagalog speakers originated in the provinces of Tarlac and
Nueva Ecija and Quezon, Palawan Mindoro, Romblon, Marinduque, and Batangas. All of these places are
on the island of Luzon.

Some of the Tagalog languages include Pangasinan, Zambales, Bicolano, Ilokano, and Pampango
(all spoken in Luzon) and Cebuano Hiligaynon, and Waray (spoken in the Visayas).
  Tagalog and Filipino have distinct differences, such as:

Structure. Tagalog's vocabulary is more extensive than Filipino. It is stricter in the formation of
sentence structures and includes several rules. The rules for Filipino are lesser, and sentence structuring
is more straightforward, and rules are more lenient.

Origin. Tagalog is an ethnic language. Filipino, which stemmed from Tagalog, is a blend of eight
language variants spoken in the country and Spanish, Chinese, and English.

The number of letters. Filipino has 28 letters, combining the 26 letters of the English alphabet
plus NG and Ñ. Tagalog only has 27 letters as it does not have the letter Ñ. In the older version of
Tagalog, however, there are only 20 letters: A, B, K, D, E, G, H, I, L, M, N, NG, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, and Y.

 In 1937, former Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon proclaimed Tagalog as the national
language. But what's more interesting is that the push to have a native national language came
from foreigners. The call for a national language came ahead of the proclamation of President
Quezon, which the Institute of National Language supported.
 In 1924, a naturalized American citizen of Lebanese heritage named Najeeb Saleeby suggested a
national language institution from one of the languages spoken in the country. Saleeby was
working in the Philippines to teach Filipinos about self-governance. He was against English as the
medium of instruction in the Philippines and pushed for Tagalog. According to him, it has more
advantages over other local languages since it is related to many Philippine heroes and used in
the national capital, which was Manila. However, the petition did not push through since many
regional representatives were opposed to it. They wanted to maintain the use of Spanish and
English as the official languages of the country.

 The Filipino language serves to establish the identity of the Filipinos. The Philippines had been
under several rulers. It was under Spanish rule for 333 years before it came under the rule of the
Americans from 1899 to 1902. Japan occupied the Philippines from 1942 to 1945. But before
these three colonizers of the Philippines came, Chinese immigrants from the Ming dynasty were
already in the Philippines. Thus, when the Spaniards came, a significant number of Chinese-
Filipinos used to be called Sangleys.

Given these facts, you can see the Filipino people are of mixed heritage and do not have a
specific identity. Thus, the Filipino language uniquely defines the Filipino identity.

 The precursor of Filipino, the Tagalog language, is not a pure language. It developed from
various influences.

The early ancestors of the Filipinos were Negritos or Aetas from Asia who came to the
Philippines through land bridges. They were small people with broad noses, black skin, thick lips, and
kinky hair. Two types of Indonesians followed them. The first to arrive was tall, with thin lips, high noses,
large foreheads, and light skin. The second wave of Indonesian immigrants was shorter, with darker
skins, heavy jaws, thick lips, and large noses. After the Indonesians, Malays migrated to the Philippines
as well. It is one of the reasons why it is difficult to define the Filipino identity through physical looks,
unlike the Chinese or Japanese.

These groups of people influenced the early development of the Tagalog language. Researchers
found evidence of Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, and even Sanskrit. Later, the language replaces by Castilian
Spanish. It was used as a medium of instruction for the elite, while the rest are unauthorized from
learning Spanish. Later, Tagalog became peppered with loan words from Spanish and loan words from
Chinese and English.

 Lope K. Santos, a Filipino grammarian, writer, and senator, introduced the Abakada alphabet,
adapted from the Latin alphabet.

It consisted of 20 letters and was officially adopted in 1940 to be used for the new national
language, Filipino, based on Tagalog. He published the Balarila ng Wikang Pambansa (Grammar of the
National Language), the first local grammar book. It was replaced in 1987 by the modern alphabet with
28 letters.

 Spanish priests did most of the early studies on the Tagalog language. Clergy members and
Spanish missionaries were the ones who collected the grammatical rules of the language and its
vocabulary.

In 1613, Pedro de San Buena Ventura, a Franciscan priest, published the "Vocabulario de la
Lengua Tagala" (Vocabulary of the Tagalog Language) Spanish-Tagalog dictionary. It is now considered a
scarce book. It receives regular editing, with the 2013 edition being the latest version.

 About 33% of the Filipino word roots came from Spanish.

The Filipino names for the months of the year came from Spanish, i.e., Enero (Enero), Pebrero
(Febrero), Marso (Marzo), Abril (Abril), Mayo (Mayo), Hunyo (Junio), Hulyo (Julio), Agosto (Agosto),
Setyembre (Septiembre), Oktubre (Octubre), Nobyembre (Noviembre) and Disyembre (Diciembre). The
same applies to the days of the week, namely, Lunes (Lunes), Martes (Martes), Miyerkoles (Miércoles),
Huwebes (Jueves), Biyernes (Viernes) and Sabado (Sábado). Sunday is "Domingo" in Spanish and many
believe that the Filipino word for Sunday, which is "Linggo" is a shortened version of the Spanish term.

English is a prominent part of Filipino that is used in everyday life. Many words appear as
phonetic spellings of the English terms, such as drayber (driver), basketbol (basketball), bistek
(beefsteak), boksing (boxing), iskul (school), iskolar (scholar), cabinet (cabinet), and many more.

You'll also find Filipino versions of Malay words, such as bilanggo (prisoner), from the Malay
word belenggu, kanan (right) from kanan, kawal (soldier) from kawal, kulambo (mosquito net) from
kelambu, etc. Filipino has several words derived from Sanskrit, Tamil, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese,
and even Nahuatl.

 Filipino has a long list of words with repeating syllables. Here are some examples:

· óo – yes

· an-án – tinea versicolor (a skin infection)

· is-ís – to scrub, something with a rough surface used for scrubbing

· bábà – chin or lowness

· babâ – to go down

· bóbo – stupid

· dadâ – to chatter, chitchat

· gága – idiot, stupid (who used feminine form; gágo for males)

· lalâ – severity (of a condition)

· lólo – grandfather

· mámà – a middle-aged man

· ngángà – a kind of gum made from the combination of betel leaf and Areca nut, with or without
tobacco

· ngangá – to open your mouth

· pípi – mute

· pipî – to flatten something, a thing that has been flattened

The Filipino language might be a tongue twister for some, and many people seem to find it
challenging to learn, maybe because of the influences from other languages. Still, Filipino is a fascinating
language, and learning few Filipino phrases such as kumusta ka (how are you), magandang umaga (good
morning), magandang tanghali (said at noontime), magandang hapon (good afternoon), magandang gabi
(good evening) and Salamat po (thank you), could be the icebreakers you need.

The Philippines is an archipelago found in Southeast Asia comprised of more than 7,000 islands

dotting the Pacific Ocean. With its long coastline, the Philippines is gifted with stretches of pristine white
sand beaches surrounded by crystal clear waters. In fact, several Philippine islands and beaches,
like Boracay, Palawan, and Siargao, have been consistently named as the best in the world by major
travel publications. But there’s more to the Philippines than just being an idyllic tropical destination
for island-hopping getaways and beach adventures.  

The Philippines is also home to world-renowned natural wonders like an underground river and
rice terraces, incredible diving spots rich in biodiversity, colorful public transportation, unique
cuisine, vibrant festivals that showcase its colorful culture, and friendly locals regarded as some of the
happiest in the world.