174-479: There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines , depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called Chavacano along with some local varieties of Chinese are also spoken in certain communities. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog , as
348-513: A dialect , the chart shows that most have similarities, yet are not mutually comprehensible. These languages are arranged according to the regions where they are natively spoken (from north to south, then east to west). There is a language spoken by the Tao people (also known as Yami) of Orchid Island of Taiwan which is not included in the language of the Philippines. Their language, Tao (or Yami)
522-597: A madrasa or Islamic school) and rarely for official events or daily conversation. In this respect, its function and use is somewhat like the traditional roles of Latin and Spanish in Filipino Catholicism vis-à-vis other currently spoken languages. Islamic schools in Mindanao teach Modern Standard Arabic in their curriculum. The first significant exposure of Filipinos to the English language occurred in 1762 when
696-470: A shootout with MILF rebels in Mamasapano delayed passage of the law. Growing public frustration with post- EDSA governance led to the 2016 election of populist Rodrigo Duterte , whose presidency saw the decline of liberalism in the country albeit largely retaining liberal economic policies. Among Duterte's priorities was aggressively increasing infrastructure spending to spur economic growth;
870-533: A ₱4 million budget. Upon the recommendation of the National Economic Council, agricultural colonies were established in Koronadal , Malig, and other locations in Mindanao . The government encouraged migration and settlement in the colonies. The Agricultural and Industrial Bank was established to aid small farmers with convenient loans and affordable terms. Attention was paid to soil surveying and
1044-589: A " de facto dictatorship " and described him as "the first Filipino politician to integrate all levels of politics into a synergy of power" after removing his term limits as president and turning the Senate into an extension of the executive through constitutional amendments. In 2015, the Board of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation bestowed a posthumous Wallenberg Medal on Quezon and
1218-469: A 17th-century war against the Dutch , 18th-century British occupation of Manila , and conflict with Muslims in the south. Administration of the Philippines was considered a drain on the economy of New Spain, and abandoning it or trading it for other territory was debated. This course of action was opposed because of the islands' economic potential, security, and the desire to continue religious conversion in
1392-601: A Government Survey Board to study existing institutions and, in light of changed circumstances, make necessary recommendations. Early results were seen with the revamping of the executive department; offices and bureaus were merged or abolished, and others were created. Quezon ordered the transfer of the Philippine Constabulary from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Finance . Other changes were made to
1566-518: A bicameral legislature, the presidential term (four years, with one re-election, and the establishment of an independent Commission on Elections . The amendments were overwhelmingly ratified. Speaker José Yulo and Assemblyman Dominador Tan traveled to the United States to obtain President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's approval, which they received on 2 December 1940. Two days later, Quezon proclaimed
1740-454: A cabinet meeting with Osmeña, Resident Commissioner Joaquín Elizalde , Brigadier General Carlos P. Romulo and his cabinet secretaries, Andrés Soriano and Jaime Hernandez. After a discussion, the cabinet supported Elizalde's position in favor of the constitution, and Quezon announced his plan to retire in California. After the meeting, Osmeña approached Quezon and broached his plan to ask
1914-402: A claim on eastern North Borneo . In 1965, Macapagal lost the presidential election to Ferdinand Marcos . Early in his presidency , Marcos began infrastructure projects funded mostly by foreign loans; this improved the economy, and contributed to his reelection in 1969 . Near the end of his last constitutionally-permitted term, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972 using
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#17328847536002088-571: A cooperative system of agriculture among owners of the subdivided estates to increase their income. Quezon desired to follow the constitutional mandate on the promotion of social justice. When the Commonwealth was created, its economy was stable and promising. With foreign trade peaking at ₱ 400 million , the upward trend in business resembled a boom. Export crops were generally good and, except for tobacco, were in high demand. The value of Philippine exports reached ₱320,896,000 ,
2262-474: A law which would make a contract automatically renewable as long as tenants fulfilled their obligations. The act was amended to eliminate this loophole in 1936, but it was never carried out; by 1939, thousands of peasants in Central Luzon were threatened with eviction. Quezon's desire to placate both landlords and tenants pleased neither. Thousands of tenants in Central Luzon were evicted from their farmlands by
2436-511: A major non-NATO ally. Under President Duterte , ties with the United States weakened in favor of improved relations with China and Russia . The Philippines relies heavily on the United States for its external defense; the U.S. has made regular assurances to defend the Philippines, including the South China Sea . Since 1975, the Philippines has valued its relations with China —its top trading partner, and cooperates significantly with
2610-612: A member of Quezon's wartime cabinet. Other cabinet appointees were Brigadier-General Carlos P. Romulo as Secretary of the Department of Information and Public Relations and Jaime Hernandez as Auditor General. Sitting under a canvas canopy outside the Malinta Tunnel on 22 January 1942, Quezon heard a fireside chat during which President Roosevelt said that the Allied forces were determined to defeat Berlin and Rome, followed by Tokyo. Quezon
2784-488: A message to Roosevelt saying that he and his people had been abandoned by the U.S. and it was Quezon's duty as president to stop fighting. MacArthur learned about the message, and ordered Major General Richard Marshall to counterbalance it with American propaganda whose purpose was the "glorification of Filipino loyalty and heroism". On 2 June 1942, Quezon addressed the United States House of Representatives about
2958-507: A minority of Chinese Filipinos whose ancestral roots trace all the way back from the Guangdong or Guangxi provinces of Southern China . Most Chinese Filipinos raised in the Philippines, especially those of families of who have lived in the Philippines for multiple generations, are typically able and usually primarily speak Philippine English , Tagalog or other regional Philippine languages (e.g., Cebuano , Hiligaynon , Ilocano , etc.), or
3132-635: A more capable defense system. The Philippines has long struggled against local insurgencies , separatism , and terrorism . Bangsamoro 's largest separatist organizations, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front , signed final peace agreements with the government in 1996 and 2014 respectively. Other, more-militant groups such as Abu Sayyaf and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters have kidnapped foreigners for ransom, particularly in
3306-670: A plan for a joint commission to study the post-war Philippine economy. Eighteen months later, the United States Congress passed an act creating the Philippine Rehabilitation Commission. By 1943, the Philippine government in exile was faced with a crisis. According to the 1935 constitution, Quezon's term would expire on 30 December 1943 and Vice-President Sergio Osmeña would succeed him as president. Osmeña wrote to Quezon advising him of this, and Quezon issued
3480-421: A press release and wrote to Osmeña that a change in leadership would be unwise at that time. Osmeña then requested the opinion of U.S. Attorney General Homer Cummings , who upheld Osmeña's view as consistent with the law. Quezon remained adamant, and sought President Roosevelt's decision. Roosevelt remained aloof from the controversy, suggesting that the Philippine officials resolve the impasse. Quezon convened
3654-520: A six-year term ) and the House of Representatives , the lower house , with members elected to a three-year term. Senators are elected at-large , and representatives are elected from legislative districts and party lists . Judicial authority is vested in the Supreme Court , composed of a chief justice and fourteen associate justices , who are appointed by the president from nominations submitted by
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#17328847536003828-427: A three-tier social structure: nobility, freemen, and dependent debtor-bondsmen. Among the nobility were leaders known as datus , who were responsible for ruling autonomous groups ( barangays or dulohan). When the barangays banded together to form a larger settlement or a geographically looser alliance, their more-esteemed members would be recognized as a " paramount datu ", rajah or sultan , and would rule
4002-399: A tropical maritime climate which is usually hot and humid. There are three seasons: a hot dry season from March to May, a rainy season from June to November, and a cool dry season from December to February. The southwest monsoon (known as the habagat ) lasts from May to October, and the northeast monsoon ( amihan ) lasts from November to April. The coolest month is January, and
4176-644: A tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship in a nonviolent revolution . The Philippines is an emerging market and a newly industrialized country , whose economy is transitioning from being agricultural to service- and manufacturing-centered. It is a founding member of the United Nations , the World Trade Organization , ASEAN , the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and
4350-466: A typical year, usually from July to October; eight or nine of them make landfall . The wettest recorded typhoon to hit the Philippines dropped 2,210 millimeters (87 in) in Baguio from July 14 to 18, 1911. The country is among the world's ten most vulnerable to climate change . The Philippines has a democratic government, a constitutional republic with a presidential system . The president
4524-782: A vote of 181 to 107 on 10 November 1943. He was inaugurated for the third time on November 15, 1943 in Washington, D.C. The oath of office was administered by US Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter . Quezon had developed tuberculosis and spent his last years in hospitals, including a Miami Beach Army hospital in April 1944. That summer, he was at a cure cottage in Saranac Lake, New York . Quezon died there at 10:05 a.m. ET on 1 August 1944, at age 65. His remains were initially buried in Arlington National Cemetery , but his body
4698-467: Is Quezon City . Both are within Metro Manila . Negritos , the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by waves of Austronesian peoples . The adoption of animism , Hinduism with Buddhist influence, and Islam established island-kingdoms ruled by datus , rajas , and sultans . Extensive overseas trade with neighbors such as the late Tang or Song empire brought Chinese people to
4872-442: Is head of state and head of government , and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces . The president is elected through direct election by the citizens of the Philippines for a six-year term. The president appoints and presides over the cabinet and officials of various national government agencies and institutions. The bicameral Congress is composed of the Senate (the upper house , with members elected to
5046-658: Is a founding and active member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and a member of the East Asia Summit , the Group of 24 , and the Non-Aligned Movement . The country has sought to obtain observer status in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation since 2003, and was a member of SEATO . Over 10 million Filipinos live and work in 200 countries , giving the Philippines soft power . During
5220-745: Is a priority hotspot for biodiversity conservation ; it has more than 200 protected areas , which was expanded to 7,790,000 hectares (30,100 sq mi) as of 2023 . Three sites in the Philippines have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List: the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River , and the Mount Hamiguitan Wildlife Sanctuary. The Philippines has
5394-405: Is an official language of education, but less important than English as a language of publication (except in some domains, like comic books ) and less important for academic-scientific-technological discourse. Filipino is used as a lingua franca in all regions of the Philippines as well as within overseas Filipino communities, and is the dominant language of the armed forces (except perhaps for
Languages of the Philippines - Misplaced Pages Continue
5568-437: Is between the regional languages and the minority languages. Here, we label the regional languages as acrolects while the minority languages as the basilect . In this case, the minority language is spoken only in very intimate circles, like the family or the tribe one belongs to. Outside this circle, one would speak in the prevalent regional language, while maintaining an adequate command of Filipino for formal situations. Unlike
5742-643: Is part of the Batanic languages which includes Ivatan , Babuyan, and Itbayat of the Batanes . Below are the numbers of Filipinos who speak the following 20 languages as their native languages based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing by the Philippine Statistics Authority . The number of speakers of each language is calculated from the reported number of households by assuming an average household size of 4.1 persons as of 2020. Native languages in
5916-515: Is the prevalence of code-switching to English when speaking in both their first language and Tagalog. The Constitution of the Philippines provides for the use of the vernacular languages as official auxiliary languages in provinces where Filipino is not the lingua franca . Filipinos by and large are polyglots ; in the case where the vernacular language is a regional language, Filipinos would speak in Filipino when speaking in formal situations while
6090-521: Is the sentence "Were you there at the market for a long time?" translated into certain varieties of Bikol. The translation is followed by dialect and corresponding language , and a city/town in Bicol where they are spoken. The final translation is in Tagalog. Below is a chart of Philippine languages. While there have been disagreements on which should be classified as a language and which should be classified as
6264-662: Is used in official documents of business, government, the legal system, medicine, the sciences and as a medium of instruction. Filipinos prefer textbooks for subjects like calculus, physics, chemistry, biology, etc., written in English rather than Filipino. However, the topics are usually taught, even in colleges, in Tagalog or the local language. By way of contrast, native languages are often heard in colloquial and domestic settings, spoken mostly with family and friends. The use of English attempts to give an air of formality, given its use in school, government and various ceremonies. A percentage of
6438-558: The Reconquista . The Spanish–Moro conflict lasted for several hundred years; Spain conquered portions of Mindanao and Jolo during the last quarter of the 19th century, and the Muslim Moro in the Sultanate of Sulu acknowledged Spanish sovereignty. Philippine ports opened to world trade during the 19th century, and Filipino society began to change. Social identity changed, with
6612-544: The 1st Philippine Legislature , where he was majority floor leader and chairman of the committees on rules and appropriations. Quezon told the U.S. House of Representatives during a 1914 discussion of the Jones Bill that he received most of his primary education at the village school established by the Spanish government as part of the Philippines' free public-education system. Months before his term ended, he gave up his seat at
6786-528: The 2022 election . Marcos's renewal of a pro-US foreign policy, however, has been viewed as a reversal of Duterte's cordiality with China, and territorial disputes in the South China Sea have since escalated. The Philippines is an archipelago of about 7,641 islands , covering a total area (including inland bodies of water) of about 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi). Stretching 1,850 kilometers (1,150 mi) north to south, from
6960-565: The Batanes Islands (where they built stone fortresses known as ijangs ) and northern Luzon . Jade artifacts have been dated to 2000 BC, with lingling-o jade items made in Luzon with raw materials from Taiwan. By 1000 BC, the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four societies: hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, highland plutocracies , and port principalities. The earliest known surviving written record in
7134-567: The British invaded Manila during the Seven Years' War , but this was a brief episode that had no lasting influence. English later became more important and widespread during American rule between 1898 and 1946, and remains an official language of the Philippines. On August 22, 2007, three Malolos City regional trial courts in Bulacan decided to use Filipino, instead of English , in order to promote
Languages of the Philippines - Misplaced Pages Continue
7308-705: The Colegio de San Juan de Letran , where he graduated from secondary school in 1894. In 1899, Quezon left his law studies at the University of Santo Tomas to join the Filipino war effort, and joined the Republican army during the Philippine–American War . He was an aide-de-camp to Emilio Aguinaldo . Quezon became a major, and fought in the Bataan sector. After surrendering in 1900, he returned to university and passed
7482-468: The Commonwealth era . As a result of prolonged debate between proponents and opponents of women's suffrage, the constitution provided that the issue be resolved by women in a plebiscite . If at least 300,000 women voted for the right to vote, it would be granted. The plebiscite was held on 30 April 1937; there were 447,725 affirmative votes, and 44,307 opposition votes. The Philippines' national language
7656-671: The Coral Triangle ecoregion, Philippine waters have unique, diverse marine life and the world's greatest diversity of shore-fish species. The country has over 3,200 fish species (121 endemic). Philippine waters sustain the cultivation of fish, crustaceans, oysters, and seaweeds. Eight major types of forests are distributed throughout the Philippines: dipterocarp , beach forest, pine forest, molave forest, lower montane forest , upper montane (or mossy forest ), mangroves , and ultrabasic forest. According to official estimates,
7830-492: The East Asia Summit ; it is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Its location as an island country on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes it prone to earthquakes and typhoons . The Philippines has a variety of natural resources and a globally-significant level of biodiversity . During his 1542 expedition, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named
8004-504: The Judicial and Bar Council . Attempts to change the government to a federal , unicameral , or parliamentary government have been made since the Ramos administration . Philippine politics tends to be dominated by well-known families , such as political dynasties or celebrities , and party switching is widely practiced. Corruption is significant , attributed by some historians to
8178-546: The Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The following are the four Philippine languages with more than five million native speakers: In addition, there are seven with between one and five million native speakers: One or more of these is spoken natively by more than 90% of the population. A Philippine language sub-family identified by Robert Blust includes languages of north Sulawesi and
8352-477: The Moro Gulf and in 1990 on Luzon . The Philippines has 23 active volcanoes ; of them, Mayon , Taal , Canlaon , and Bulusan have the largest number of recorded eruptions. The country has valuable mineral deposits as a result of its complex geologic structure and high level of seismic activity. It is thought to have the world's second-largest gold deposits (after South Africa), large copper deposits, and
8526-527: The Nacionalista Party . He received nearly 68 percent of the vote against his two main rivals, Emilio Aguinaldo and Gregorio Aglipay . Quezon, inaugurated on November 15, 1935, is recognized as the second President of the Philippines . In January 2008, however, House Representative Rodolfo Valencia ( Oriental Mindoro – 1st ) filed a bill seeking to declare General Miguel Malvar the second Philippine President; Malvar succeeded Aguinaldo in 1901. Under
8700-615: The National Defense , Agriculture and Commerce , Public Works and Communications , and Health and Public Welfare departments. New offices and boards were created by executive order or legislation. Among these were the Council of National Defense , the Board of National Relief , the Mindanao and Sulu Commission, and the Civil Service Board of Appeals. Pledging to improve
8874-635: The Philippine–American War . The war resulted in the deaths of 250,000 to 1 million civilians, primarily due to famine and disease. Many Filipinos were transported by the Americans to concentration camps , where thousands died. After the fall of the First Philippine Republic in 1902, an American civilian government was established with the Philippine Organic Act . American forces continued to secure and extend their control of
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#17328847536009048-582: The Republic of the Philippines , is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia . In the western Pacific Ocean , it consists of 7,641 islands , with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to
9222-518: The Sino-Japanese War , was passed in 1940. Since the law affected foreign relations, it required the approval of the U.S. president. When the 1939 census was published, the National Assembly updated the apportionment of legislative districts; this became the basis for the 1941 elections . On 7 August 1939, the United States Congress enacted a law in accordance with the recommendations of
9396-518: The South China Sea to the Celebes Sea , the Philippines is bordered by the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Sulu Sea to the southwest. The country's 11 largest islands are Luzon , Mindanao , Samar , Negros , Palawan , Panay , Mindoro , Leyte , Cebu , Bohol and Masbate , about 95 percent of its total land area. The Philippines' coastline measures 36,289 kilometers (22,549 mi),
9570-478: The Taft Commission ; the 1934 Tydings–McDuffie Act granted a ten-year transition to independence through the creation of the Commonwealth of the Philippines the following year, with Manuel Quezon president and Sergio Osmeña vice president. Quezon's priorities were defence, social justice, inequality, economic diversification, and national character. Filipino (a standardized variety of Tagalog) became
9744-423: The Tejeros Convention , at which Bonifacio lost his position and Emilio Aguinaldo was elected the new leader of the revolution. The 1897 Pact of Biak-na-Bato resulted in the Hong Kong Junta government in exile. The Spanish–American War began the following year, and reached the Philippines; Aguinaldo returned, resumed the revolution, and declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. In December 1898,
9918-429: The United States , assuring protection of the rights of the Japanese who resided in the Philippines. Quezon's visits may have signalled the Philippines' inclination to remain neutral in the event of a Japanese-American conflict if the U.S. disregarded the country's concerns. In 1938, Quezon expanded the Council of State in Executive Order No. 144. This highest of advisory bodies to the president would be composed of
10092-417: The Yami language of Taiwan , but excludes the Sama–Bajaw languages of the Tawi-Tawi islands, as well as a couple of North Bornean languages spoken in southern Palawan . Eskayan is an artificial auxiliary language created as the embodiment of a Bohol nation in the aftermath of the Philippine–American War . It is used by about 500 people. A theory that the Brahmic scripts of Sumatra, Sulawesi and
10266-510: The code-switching or code-mixing of these such as Taglish or Bislish , but Philippine Hokkien is typically or occasionally used within Chinese Filipino households privately amongst family or acts a heritage language among descendants of such. Hokaglish is the code-switching equivalent of the above languages. Philippines in ASEAN (dark grey) – [ Legend ] Pinoy ( colloquial neutral ) Pinay ( colloquial feminine ) The Philippines , officially
10440-408: The national language and an official language along with English . Filipino is regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language and serves as a lingua franca used by Filipinos of various ethnolinguistic backgrounds. Republic Act 11106 declares Filipino Sign Language or FSL as the country's official sign language and as the Philippine government's official language in communicating with
10614-404: The regional languages are spoken in non-formal settings. This is evident in major urban areas outside Metro Manila like Camarines Norte in the Bikol -speaking area, and Davao in the Cebuano -speaking area. As of 2017, the case of Ilocano and Cebuano are becoming more of bilingualism than diglossia due to the publication of materials written in these languages. The diglossia is more evident in
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#173288475360010788-404: The 135 living languages in the country, (2) "video documentation" of all Philippine languages, (3) "revival of the ancient scripts of the Philippines" where each ethnic group's own script shall be revived and used in schools along with the currently-used Roman script in communities where those script/s used to be known, (4) "teaching of ethnic mother languages first" in homes and schools before
10962-409: The 1990s, the Philippines began to seek economic liberalization and free trade to help spur foreign direct investment . It is a member of the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation . The Philippines entered into the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement in 2010 and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement (FTA) in 2023. Through ASEAN,
11136-410: The Commission on the Filipino Language , reporting directly to the President and tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote research for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages . On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92–1, specifying that Filipino is the ...indigenous written and spoken language of Metro Manila and other urban centers in
11310-540: The Filipino Deaf. While Filipino is used for communication across the country's diverse linguistic groups and in popular culture , the government operates mostly using English. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Filipino than English in the Philippines. The other regional languages are given official auxiliary status in their respective places according to the constitution but particular languages are not specified. Some of these regional languages are also used in education. The indigenous scripts of
11484-440: The Joint Preparatory Commission on Philippine Affairs. Because the new law required an amendment of the Ordinance appended to the Constitution, a plebiscite was held on 24 August 1939. The amendment received 1,339,453 votes in favor, and 49,633 against. Quezon had established the Institute of National Language (INL) to create a national language for the country. On 30 December 1937, in Executive Order No. 134 , he declared Tagalog
11658-474: The Muslim minority in the Philippines; concerns have been raised about domestic abuse and war affecting the approximately 2.5 million overseas Filipino workers in the region. The Philippines has claims in the Spratly Islands which overlap with claims by China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The largest of its controlled islands is Thitu Island , which contains the Philippines' smallest town . The 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff , after China seized
11832-488: The Nacionalistas. José Yulo , Quezon's Secretary of Justice from 1934 to 1938, was elected speaker. The Second National Assembly intended to pass legislation strengthening the economy, but the Second World War clouded the horizon; laws passed by the First National Assembly were modified or repealed to meet existing realities. A controversial immigration law which set an annual limit of 50 immigrants per country, primarily affecting Chinese and Japanese nationals escaping
12006-410: The National Economic Council was created. It advised the government about economic and financial questions, including the promotion of industries, diversification of crops and enterprises, tariffs , taxation, and formulating an economic program in preparation for eventual independence. The National Development Company was reorganized by law, and the National Rice and Corn Company (NARIC) was created with
12180-402: The Philippine Assembly upon being appointed as one of the Philippines' two resident commissioners . Serving two terms from 1909 to 1916, he lobbied for the passage of the Philippine Autonomy Act (the Jones Law ). Quezon returned to Manila in 1916, and was elected senator from the Fifth Senatorial District . He was later elected Senate President and served continuously until 1935 (19 years),
12354-537: The Philippine Autonomy Act and the Jones Law . The official title "Republic of the Philippines" was included in the 1935 constitution as the name of the future independent state, and in all succeeding constitutional revisions. There is evidence of early hominins living in what is now the Philippines as early as 709,000 years ago. A small number of bones from Callao Cave potentially represent an otherwise unknown species, Homo luzonensis , who lived 50,000 to 67,000 years ago. The oldest modern human remains on
12528-549: The Philippines Below are the country's top ten languages by the number of households in which they are spoken, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. There are a total of 26,388,654 households in the country. ^Boholano, Tausug/Bahasa Sug, Maranao, Karay-a/Kinaray-a, Bukidnon/Binukid-Akeanon/Aklanon, Masbateño/ Masbatenon, Surigaonon, and Zamboagueño-Chavacano Endangered and extinct languages in
12702-718: The Philippines (AFP) consist of three branches: the Philippine Air Force , the Philippine Army , and the Philippine Navy . Civilian security is handled by the Philippine National Police under the Department of the Interior and Local Government . The AFP had a total manpower of around 280,000 as of 2022 , of which 130,000 were active military personnel, 100,000 were reserves, and 50,000 were paramilitaries . In 2023, US$ 477 million (1.4 percent of GDP)
12876-565: The Philippines (such as the Kulitan , Tagbanwa and others) are used very little; instead, Philippine languages are today written in the Latin script because of the Spanish and American colonial experience . Baybayin , though generally not understood, is one of the most well-known of the Philippine indigenous scripts and is used mainly in artistic applications such as on current Philippine banknotes , where
13050-590: The Philippines are based on the 3rd world volume released by UNESCO in 2010. Degree of endangerment (UNESCO standard) In a separate study by Thomas N. Headland, the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Dallas, and the University of North Dakota called Thirty Endangered Languages in the Philippines , the Philippines has 32 endangered languages, but 2 of the listed languages in the study are written with 0 speakers, noting that they are extinct or probably extinct. All of
13224-794: The Philippines are descended from an early form of the Gujarati script was presented at the 2010 meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. Philippine languages are often referred to by Filipinos as dialects , partly as a relic of the inaccurate vocabulary used in literature during the American period (1898–1946). While there are indeed many hundreds of dialects in the Philippines, they represent variations of no fewer than 120 distinct languages, and many of these languages maintain greater differences than those between established European languages like French and Spanish. The vast differences between
13398-764: The Philippines as soldiers and colonists. Spanish Manila became the capital of the Captaincy General of the Philippines and the Spanish East Indies in 1571, Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. The Spanish invaded local states using the principle of divide and conquer , bringing most of what is the present-day Philippines under one unified administration. Disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns , where Catholic missionaries could more easily convert their inhabitants to Christianity , which
13572-585: The Philippines becoming ruled by the Crown of Castile, as part of the Spanish Empire , for more than 300 years. Catholic Christianity became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade . Hispanic immigrants from Latin America and Iberia would also selectively colonize. The Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War . Spain ceded
13746-543: The Philippines during the 14th century, via the Indianized Hindu Majapahit Empire . By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there. Polities founded in the Philippines between the 10th and 16th centuries include Maynila , Tondo , Namayan , Pangasinan , Cebu , Butuan , Maguindanao , Lanao , Sulu , and Ma-i . The early polities typically had
13920-521: The Philippines had 7,000,000 hectares (27,000 sq mi) of forest cover in 2023. Logging had been systemized during the American colonial period and deforestation continued after independence, accelerating during the Marcos presidency due to unregulated logging concessions. Forest cover declined from 70 percent of the Philippines' total land area in 1900 to about 18.3 percent in 1999. Rehabilitation efforts have had marginal success. The Philippines
14094-429: The Philippines has signed FTAs with China , India , Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The country has bilateral FTAs with Japan , South Korea, and four European states : Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Philippines has a long relationship with the United States , involving economics, security , and interpersonal relations. The Philippines' location serves an important role in
14268-512: The Philippines is the early-10th-century AD Laguna Copperplate Inscription , which was written in Old Malay using the early Kawi script with a number of technical Sanskrit words and Old Javanese or Old Tagalog honorifics . By the 14th century, several large coastal settlements emerged as trading centers and became the focus of societal changes . Some polities had exchanges with other states throughout Asia. Trade with China began during
14442-665: The Philippines of Jewish refugees fleeing fascist regimes in Europe and took on critics who were convinced by propaganda that Jewish settlement was a threat to the country. Quezon and McNutt proposed 30,000 refugee families on Mindanao and 30,000-40,000 refugees on Polillo . Quezon made a 10-year loan to Manila's Jewish Refugee Committee of land adjacent to his family home in Marikina to house homeless refugees in Marikina Hall (the present-day Philippine School of Business Administration ), which
14616-553: The Philippines used as the language of communication of ethnic groups . In 2013, President Noynoy Aquino 's government launched the country's mother tongue -based multi-lingual education program for students in kindergarten to Grade 3, effectively reviving the usage and proliferation of various indigenous languages in the country. The program also strengthened the Filipino language and English language learning capabilities of students. In 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11106, declaring Filipino Sign Language (FSL) as
14790-481: The Philippines' national language; it was taught in schools during the 1940–1941 academic year. The National Assembly later enacted Law No. 570, making the national language an official language with English and Spanish; this became effective on 4 July 1946, with the establishment of the Philippine Republic. With the 1940 local elections, plebiscites were held for proposed amendments to the constitution about
14964-523: The Philippines. Rizal was executed on December 30, 1896, for rebellion, and his death radicalized many who had been loyal to Spain. Attempts at reform met with resistance; Andrés Bonifacio founded the Katipunan secret society, which sought independence from Spain through armed revolt, in 1892. The Katipunan Cry of Pugad Lawin began the Philippine Revolution in 1896. Internal disputes led to
15138-494: The Philippines. A National Script bill has been filed in Congress in support of the third and fifth proposal, however, the bill only mandates the usage of the ancient script compatible with the national language, which is Filipino. Arabic is used by some Filipino Muslims in both a liturgical and instructional capacity since the arrival of Islam and establishment of several Sultanates in the 14th century. Along with Malay , Arabic
15312-485: The Pilipino language to be co-official, along with English, and mandated the development of a national language , to be known as Filipino . In addition, Spanish regained its official status when President Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 155, s. 1973. The 1987 Constitution under President Corazon Aquino declared Filipino to be the national language of the country. Filipino and English were named as
15486-581: The President, Vice President , Senate President , House Speaker , Senate President pro tempore , House Speaker pro tempore , the majority floor leaders of both chambers of Congress , former presidents, and three to five prominent citizens. The elections for the Second National Assembly were held on 8 November 1938 under a new law which allowed block voting and favored the governing Nacionalista Party . As expected, all 98 assembly seats went to
15660-485: The Reorganization Act, Quezon was given the power to appoint the first all-Filipino cabinet in 1935. From 1901 to 1935, a Filipino was chief justice but most Supreme Court justices were Americans. Complete Filipinization was achieved with the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935. Claro M. Recto and José P. Laurel were among Quezon's first appointees to replace the American justices. Membership in
15834-627: The Spanish colonial period's padrino system . The Roman Catholic church exerts considerable but waning influence in political affairs, although a constitutional provision for the separation of Church and State exists. A founding and active member of the United Nations, the Philippines has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council . The country participates in peacekeeping missions, particularly in East Timor . The Philippines
16008-680: The Spanish to refer to islands in the region before Spanish rule was established. During the Philippine Revolution , the Malolos Congress proclaimed it the República Filipina (the Philippine Republic ). American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands (a translation of the Spanish name). The United States began changing its nomenclature from "the Philippine Islands" to "the Philippines" in
16182-528: The Sulu Archipelago and Maguindanao , but their presence has been reduced. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA), have been waging guerrilla warfare against the government since the 1970s and have engaged in ambushes, bombings, and assassinations of government officials and security forces; although shrinking militarily and politically after
16356-601: The Supreme Court increased to 11: a chief justice and ten associate justices, who sat en banc or in two divisions of five members each. To meet the demands of the newly-established government and comply with the Tydings-McDuffie Act and the Constitution , Quezon, – true to his pledge of "more government and less politics," – initiated a reorganization of the government . He established
16530-486: The United States Congress to suspend the constitutional provisions for presidential succession until after the Philippines had been liberated; this legal way out was agreeable to Quezon and his cabinet, and steps were taken to carry out the proposal. Sponsored by Senator Tydings and Congressman Bell, the resolution was unanimously approved by the Senate on a voice vote and passed the House of Representatives by
16704-566: The United States' island chain strategy in the West Pacific; a Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries was signed in 1951, and was supplemented with the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement and the 2016 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement . The country supported American policies during the Cold War and participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 2003, the Philippines was designated
16878-517: The United States. Indicating the Philippine government's cooperation with the war effort, he offered the U.S. Army a Philippine infantry regiment which was authorized by the War Department to train in California. Quezon had the Philippine government acquire Elizalde's yacht; renamed Bataan and crewed by Philippine officers and sailors, it was donated to the United States for use in the war. In early November 1942, Quezon conferred with Roosevelt on
17052-504: The amendments. Quezon was originally barred by the Philippine constitution from seeking re-election. In 1940, however, a constitutional amendment was ratified which allowed him to serve a second term ending in 1943. In the 1941 presidential election , Quezon was re-elected over former Senator Juan Sumulong with nearly 82 percent of the vote. He was inaugurated on December 30, 1941 at the Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor . The oath of office
17226-900: The archipelago as a whole may go as far back as the early 10th century during the Song dynasty . Mandarin Chinese is the medium of instruction and subject matter being taught for Chinese class in Chinese schools in the Philippines . However, the Lan-nang-ue variant of Hokkien Chinese is the majority household and heritage language of the Chinese Filipinos who, for generations, mostly trace roots from Southern Fujian province in China . Other varieties of Chinese such as Yue Chinese (especially Taishanese or Cantonese ), Teochew , and Hakka are spoken among
17400-446: The archipelago as well, which would also gradually settle in and intermix over the centuries. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan , a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Castile , marked the beginning of Spanish colonization . In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip II of Castile . Spanish colonization via New Spain , beginning in 1565, led to
17574-457: The bar examination in 1903. Quezon worked for a time as a clerk and surveyor, entering government service as treasurer for Mindoro and (later) Tayabas. He became a municipal councilor of Lucena , and was elected governor of Tayabas in 1906. Quezon was elected in 1907 to represent Tayabas 's 1st district in the first Philippine Assembly (which later became the House of Representatives) during
17748-538: The basis that it was the most widely spoken and developed local language. Quezon himself was born and raised in Baler, Aurora , which is a native Tagalog-speaking area. In 1939, President Manuel L. Quezón renamed the Tagalog language as Wikang Pambansa ("national language" in English translation). The language was further renamed in 1959 as Pilipino by Secretary of Education José E. Romero . The 1973 constitution declared
17922-547: The capital city of Manila , is connected to Laguna de Bay (the country's largest lake ) by the Pasig River . On the western fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire , the Philippines has frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The region is seismically active, and has been constructed by plates converging towards each other from multiple directions. About five earthquakes are recorded daily, although most are too weak to be felt. The last major earthquakes were in 1976 in
18096-522: The case of other languages such as Pangasinan , Kapampangan , Bikol , Waray , Hiligaynon , Sambal , and Maranao , where the written variant of the language is becoming less and less popular to give way to the use of Filipino. Although Philippine laws consider some of these languages as "major languages" there is little, if any, support coming from the government to preserve these languages. This may be bound to change, however, given current policy trends. There still exists another type of diglossia, which
18270-460: The case of the regional languages, these minority languages are always in danger of becoming extinct because of speakers favoring the more prevalent regional language. Moreover, most of the users of these languages are illiterate and as expected, there is a chance that these languages will no longer be revived due to lack of written records. In addition to Filipino and English, other languages have been proposed as additional nationwide languages. Among
18444-742: The community. Population density is thought to have been low during the 14th to 16th centuries due to the frequency of typhoons and the Philippines' location on the Pacific Ring of Fire . Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521, claimed the islands for Spain, and was killed by Lapulapu 's men in the Battle of Mactan . Unification and colonization by the Crown of Castile began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from New Spain ( Spanish : Nueva España ) in 1565. Many Filipinos were brought to New Spain as slaves and forced crew. Whereas many Latin Americans were brought to
18618-490: The conditions of the Philippine working class and inspired by the social doctrines of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XI and treatises by the world's leading sociologists, Quezon began a program of social justice introduced with executive measures and legislation by the National Assembly . A court for industrial relations was established to mediate disputes, minimizing the impact of strikes and lockouts. A minimum-wage law
18792-585: The constitution, Filipino is in practice almost completely composed of the Tagalog language as spoken in the capital, Manila; however, organizations such as the University of the Philippines began publishing dictionaries such as the UP Diksyonaryong Filipino in which words from various Philippine languages were also included. The present constitution is also the first to give recognition to other regional languages. Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, by President Corazon Aquino, created
18966-462: The country (3,500 of which are endemic), Philippine rain forests have an array of flora: about 3,500 species of trees, 8,000 flowering plant species, 1,100 ferns , and 998 orchid species have been identified. The Philippines has 167 terrestrial mammals (102 endemic species), 235 reptiles (160 endemic species), 99 amphibians (74 endemic species), 686 birds (224 endemic species), and over 20,000 insect species. As an important part of
19140-497: The country and opening many more. There were 6,511 primary schools, 1,039 intermediate schools, 133 secondary and special schools, and five junior colleges by this time. Total enrollment was 1,262,353, with 28,485 teachers. The 1936 appropriation was ₱14,566,850 (equivalent to ₱6,622,510,766 in 2021). Private schools taught over 97,000 students, and the Office of Adult Education was created. Quezon initiated women's suffrage during
19314-511: The country's official language for the Filipino deaf community. Filipino is a standardized version of Tagalog , spoken mainly in Metro Manila. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business, with third local languages often being used at the same time. Filipino has borrowings from, among other languages, Spanish, English, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, and Nahuatl . Filipino
19488-463: The country's official languages, with the recognition of regional languages as having official auxiliary status in their respective regions (though not specifying any particular languages). Spanish and Arabic were to be promoted on an optional and voluntary basis. Filipino also had the distinction of being a national language that was to be "developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages." Although not explicitly stated in
19662-411: The country. Japan is the biggest bilateral contributor of official development assistance to the Philippines; although some tension exists because of World War II , much animosity has faded. Historical and cultural ties continue to affect relations with Spain . Relations with Middle Eastern countries are shaped by the high number of Filipinos working in those countries, and by issues related to
19836-466: The disposition of public land. When the commonwealth government was established, Quezon implemented the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 to regulate share-tenancy contracts by establishing minimum standards. The act provided a better tenant-landlord relationship, a 50–50 sharing of the crop, regulation of interest at 10 percent per agricultural year, and protected against arbitrary dismissal by
20010-452: The early 1940s, and the rural conflict was more acute than ever. During the Commonwealth period, agrarian problems persisted. This motivated the government to incorporate a social-justice principle into the 1935 Constitution . Dictated by the government's social-justice program, expropriation of estates and other landholdings began. The National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) began an orderly settlement of public agricultural lands. At
20184-431: The east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country , with diverse ethnicities and cultures . Manila is the country's capital , and its most populated city
20358-571: The economy contracted by 7.3 percent annually in 1984 and 1985. On August 21, 1983, opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. (Marcos's chief rival) was assassinated on the tarmac at Manila International Airport . Marcos called a snap presidential election in 1986 which proclaimed him the winner, but the results were widely regarded as fraudulent. The resulting protests led to the People Power Revolution , which forced Marcos and his allies to flee to Hawaii . Aquino's widow, Corazon ,
20532-624: The enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law; an intensified crackdown on crime and communist insurgencies; and an anti-drug campaign that reduced drug proliferation but that has also led to extrajudicial killings . In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reached the Philippines, necessitating nationwide lockdowns that caused a brief but severe economic recession . Under a promise of continuing Duterte's policies, Marcos's son, Bongbong Marcos , ran with Duterte's daughter, Sara , and won
20706-565: The existing native languages." On November 12, 1937, the First National Assembly created the National Language Institute. President Manuel L. Quezón appointed native Waray speaker Jaime C. De Veyra to chair a committee of speakers of other regional languages . Their aim was to select a national language among the other regional languages . Ultimately, Tagalog was chosen as the base language on December 30, 1937, on
20880-460: The greatest President of The Philippines, and the quintessential Filipino statesman. Known as "The Father of The National Language", and "The Father of the modern Republic of The Philippines". He was also known as "One of the Finest Statesmen in the world" during his time. During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants. Other major decisions included the reorganization of
21054-541: The highest since 1929. Government revenue in 1936 was ₱76,675,000 (equivalent to ₱34,858,669,716 in 2021), compared to the 1935 revenue of ₱65,000,000 (equivalent to ₱28,793,209,590 in 2021). Government companies, except for the Manila Railroad Company , earned profits. Gold production increased about 37 percent, iron nearly doubled, and cement production increased by about 14 percent. The government had to address some economic problems, however, and
21228-481: The islands are from the Tabon Caves of Palawan , U/Th-dated to 47,000 ± 11–10,000 years ago. Tabon Man is presumably a Negrito , among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants descended from the first human migrations out of Africa via the coastal route along southern Asia to the now-sunken landmasses of Sundaland and Sahul . The first Austronesians reached the Philippines from Taiwan around 2200 BC, settling
21402-471: The islands of Leyte and Samar " Felipinas " after the Prince of Asturias , later Philip II of Castile . Eventually, the name " Las Islas Filipinas " would be used for the archipelago's Spanish possessions. Other names, such as " Islas del Poniente " (Western Islands), " Islas del Oriente " (Eastern Islands), Ferdinand Magellan's name, and " San Lázaro " (Islands of St. Lazarus), were used by
21576-481: The islands were ceded by Spain to the United States with Puerto Rico and Guam after the Spanish–American War. The First Philippine Republic was promulgated on January 21, 1899. Lack of recognition by the United States led to an outbreak of hostilities that, after refusal by the U.S. on-scene military commander of a cease-fire proposal and a declaration of war by the nascent Republic, escalated into
21750-478: The islands' military defense, approval of a recommendation for government reorganization, the promotion of settlement and development in Mindanao , dealing with the foreign stranglehold on Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land reform, and opposing graft and corruption within the government. He established a government in exile in the U.S. with the outbreak of World War II and the threat of Japanese invasion . Scholars have described Quezon's leadership as
21924-563: The islands, suppressing an attempted extension of the Philippine Republic , securing the Sultanate of Sulu , establishing control of interior mountainous areas which had resisted Spanish conquest, and encouraging large-scale resettlement of Christians in once-predominantly-Muslim Mindanao. Cultural developments in the Philippines strengthened a national identity, and Tagalog began to take precedence over other local languages. Governmental functions were gradually given to Filipinos by
22098-556: The landlord. Because of a major flaw in the act, however, no petition to apply it was ever presented. The flaw was that it could be used only when the majority of municipal councils in a province petitioned for it. Since landowners usually controlled such councils, no province ever asked that the law be applied. Quezon ordered that the act be mandatory in all Central Luzon provinces. However, contracts were good for only one year; by refusing to renew their contract, landlords could eject tenants. Peasant organizations clamored in vain for
22272-514: The languages can be seen in the following translations of what has been asserted to be the Philippine national proverb: The amount of dialectal variation varies from language to language. Languages like Tagalog, Kapampangan and Pangasinan are known to have very moderate dialectal variation. For the languages of the Bicol Region , however, there is great dialectal variation. There are cities and towns which have their own dialects and varieties. Below
22446-502: The late Tang dynasty , and expanded during the Song dynasty . Throughout the second millennium AD, some polities were also part of the tributary system of China . With extensive trade and diplomacy, this brought Southern Chinese merchants and migrants from Southern Fujian , known as "Langlang" and "Sangley" in later years, who would gradually settle and intermix in the Philippines. Indian cultural traits such as linguistic terms and religious practices began to spread in
22620-486: The listed languages are Negrito languages, the oldest languages in the Philippines. There have been numerous proposals to conserve the many languages of the Philippines. According to the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino , there are 135 ethnolinguistic groups in the country, each having their own distinct Philippine language. Among the proposals include (1) "establishing a dictionary & sentence construction manual" for each of
22794-494: The longest tenure in history until Senator Lorenzo Tañada 's four consecutive terms (24 years, from 1947 to 1972). Quezon headed the first independent mission to the U.S. Congress in 1919, and secured passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act in 1934. In 1922, he became leader of the Nacionalista Party alliance Partido Nacionalista-Colectivista. In 1935, Quezon won the Philippines' first national presidential election under
22968-400: The lowest in English out of all of the subjects on their licensing exams. A large influx of English ( American English ) words have been assimilated into Tagalog and the other native languages called Taglish or Bislish . There is a debate, however, on whether there is diglossia or bilingualism, between Filipino and English. Filipino is also used both in formal and informal situations. Though
23142-552: The masses would prefer to speak in Filipino, government officials tend to speak in English when performing government functions. There is still resistance to the use of Filipino in courts and the drafting of national statutes. In parts of Mindanao, English and Tagalog blend with Cebuano to form "Davao Tagalog". Diplomatic ties with the Ming dynasty among some established states or kingdoms in Luzon and direct interactions and trade overall within
23316-529: The media such as cable television and newspapers are also in English; major television networks such as ABS-CBN and GMA and all AM radio stations broadcast primarily in Filipino, as well as government-run stations like PTV and the Philippine Broadcasting Service . However, a 2009 article by a UNICEF worker reported that the level of spoken English language in the Philippines was poor. The article reported that aspiring Filipino teachers score
23490-467: The medium of instruction. Around 600 educators (called " Thomasites ") who arrived in that year aboard the USAT Thomas replaced the soldiers who also functioned as teachers. The 1935 Constitution added English as an official language alongside Spanish. A provision in this constitution also called for Congress to "take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of
23664-402: The most prominent proposals are Spanish and Japanese . According to Ethnologue , a total of 182 native languages are spoken in the nation and four languages have been classified as extinct: Dicamay Agta, Katabaga, Tayabas Ayta and Villaviciosa Agta. Except for English , Spanish , Chavacano and varieties of Chinese ( Hokkien , Cantonese and Mandarin ), all of the languages belong to
23838-560: The national language would become effective in two years. With presidential approval, the INL began work on a Tagalog grammar text and dictionary. As Imperial Japan encroached on the Philippines, Quezon antagonized neither the American nor the Japanese officials. He travelled twice to Japan as president, from 31 January to 2 February 1937 and from 29 June to 10 July 1938, to meet with government officials. Quezon emphasized that he would remain loyal to
24012-641: The national language, women's suffrage was introduced , and land reform was considered. The Empire of Japan invaded the Philippines in December 1941 during World War II , and the Second Philippine Republic was established as a puppet state governed by Jose P. Laurel . Beginning in 1942, the Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by large-scale underground guerrilla activity . Atrocities and war crimes were committed during
24186-478: The national language. Twelve stenographers from Branches 6, 80 and 81, as model courts, had undergone training at Marcelo H. del Pilar College of Law of Bulacan State University College of Law following a directive from the Supreme Court of the Philippines . De la Rama said it was the dream of former Chief Justice Reynato Puno to implement the program in other areas such as Laguna , Cavite , Quezón , Nueva Écija , Batangas , Rizal , and Metro Manila. English
24360-514: The necessity of relieving the Philippine front. He did the same to the Senate, urging the senators to adopt the slogan "Remember Bataan ". Despite his declining health, Quezon traveled across the U.S. to remind the American people about the Philippine war. Quezon broadcast a radio message to Philippine residents in Hawaii, who purchased ₱4 million worth of war bonds , for his first birthday celebration in
24534-518: The official language of the First Philippine Republic . National hero José Rizal wrote most of his works in Spanish. Following the American occupation of the Philippines and the imposition of English, the use of Spanish declined gradually. Spanish then declined rapidly because of the Japanese occupation in the 1940s. Under the U.S. occupation and civil regime, English began to be taught in schools. By 1901, public education used English as
24708-556: The outbreak of the Second World War, settlement areas covering over 65,000 hectares (250 sq mi) had been established. With his Executive Order No. 19, dated 19 February 1936, Quezon created the National Council of Education. Rafael Palma , former president of the University of the Philippines , was its first chairman. Funds from the early Residence Certificate Law were devoted to maintaining public schools throughout
24882-560: The parish priest. Quezon is Chinese mestizo surname originally from a Spanish romanization of Hokkien Chinese , possibly from the Hokkien word, Chinese : 雞孫 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : ke-sun / koe-sun , with Chinese : 雞 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : ke meaning "outer city" or "strongest" and Chinese : 孫 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : sun meaning "grandson"; many Filipino surnames that end with “on”, “son”, and “zon” are of Chinese origin, Hispanized version of 孫 ( sun ). He later boarded at
25056-533: The people of the Philippines for reaching out to victims of the Holocaust from 1937 to 1941. President Benigno Aquino III and then-94-year-old Maria Zenaida Quezon-Avanceña, the daughter of the former president, were informed of this recognition. Quezon was born on 19 August 1878 in Baler in the district of El Príncipe, then the capital of Nueva Ecija (now Baler, Aurora ). His parents were Lucio Quezon y Vélez (1850–1898) and María Dolores Molina (1840–1893). Both were primary-school teachers, although his father
25230-400: The region. The colony survived on an annual subsidy from the Spanish crown averaging 250,000 pesos, usually paid as 75 tons of silver bullion from the Americas. British forces occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764 during the Seven Years' War , and Spanish rule was restored with the 1763 Treaty of Paris . The Spanish considered their war with the Muslims in Southeast Asia an extension of
25404-745: The return of democracy in 1986, the CPP-NPA, through the National Democratic Front of the Philippines , continues to gather public support in urban areas by setting up communist fronts , infiltrating sectoral organizations, and rallying public discontent and increased militancy against the government. The Philippines ranked 104th out of 163 countries in the 2024 Global Peace Index . Manuel L. Quez%C3%B3n Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina GCGH KGCR ( UK : / ˈ k eɪ z ɒ n / , US : / ˈ k eɪ s ɒ n , - s ɔː n , - s oʊ n / , Tagalog: [maˈnwel luˈis ˈkɛson] , Spanish: [maˈnwel ˈlwis ˈkeson] ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ ,
25578-456: The shoal from the Philippines, led to an international arbitration case which the Philippines eventually won; China rejected the result, and made the shoal a prominent symbol of the broader dispute. China has rejected new Philippine maritime laws aimed at strengthening sovereignty in the South China Sea, stating they infringe on Chinese territorial claims and vowing to defend its interests in contested areas. The volunteer Armed Forces of
25752-440: The small part of the commissioned officer corps from wealthy or upper-middle-class families) and of a large part of the civil service , most of whom are non-Tagalogs. There are different forms of diglossia that exist in the case of regional languages . Locals may use their mother tongue or the regional lingua franca to communicate amongst themselves, but sometimes switch to foreign languages when addressing outsiders. Another
25926-594: The specter of communism and began to rule by decree ; the period was characterized by political repression , censorship , and human rights violations . Monopolies controlled by Marcos's cronies were established in key industries, including logging and broadcasting; a sugar monopoly led to a famine on the island of Negros . With his wife, Imelda , Marcos was accused of corruption and embezzling billions of dollars of public funds. Marcos's heavy borrowing early in his presidency resulted in economic crashes , exacerbated by an early 1980s recession where
26100-410: The teaching of Filipino and foreign languages (English, Spanish and Arabic), and (5) "using the ethnic mother language and script first in public signs" followed by Filipino and foreign languages (English, Spanish and Arabic) and scripts, for example, using Cebuano first followed by Filipino and English underneath the sign. Currently, only the fourth proposal has been made by the national government of
26274-493: The term Filipino encompassing all residents of the archipelago instead of solely referring to Spaniards born in the Philippines . Revolutionary sentiment grew in 1872 after 200 locally recruited colonial troops and laborers alongside three activist Catholic priests were executed on questionable grounds . This inspired the Propaganda Movement , organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar , José Rizal , Graciano López Jaena , and Mariano Ponce , which advocated political reform in
26448-401: The territory to the United States, and Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic . The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II . After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese , the Philippines became independent in 1946. The country has had
26622-420: The war, including the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre . The Philippine resistance and Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1944 and 1945. Over one million Filipinos were estimated to have died by the end of the war. On October 11, 1945, the Philippines became a founding member of the United Nations . On July 4, 1946, during the presidency of Manuel Roxas , the country's independence
26796-561: The warmest is May. Temperatures at sea level across the Philippines tend to be in the same range, regardless of latitude; average annual temperature is around 26.6 °C (79.9 °F) but is 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) in Baguio , 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) above sea level. The country's average humidity is 82 percent. Annual rainfall is as high as 5,000 millimeters (200 in) on the mountainous east coast, but less than 1,000 millimeters (39 in) in some sheltered valleys. The Philippine Area of Responsibility has 19 typhoons in
26970-570: The word "Pilipino" is inscribed using the writing system. Additionally, the Arabic script is used in the Muslim areas in the southern Philippines. Tagalog and Bisaya are the most commonly spoken native language groups. Filipino and English are the official languages of the Philippines. The official languages were used as the main modes of instruction in schools, allowing mother tongues as auxiliary languages of instruction. The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has put forth initiatives in using mother tongues as modes of instructions over
27144-401: The world's fifth-longest , and the country's exclusive economic zone covers 2,263,816 km (874,064 sq mi). Its highest mountain is Mount Apo on Mindanao, with an altitude of 2,954 meters (9,692 ft) above sea level. The Philippines' longest river is the Cagayan River in northern Luzon, which flows for about 520 kilometers (320 mi). Manila Bay , on which is
27318-466: The world's largest deposits of palladium . Other minerals include chromium , nickel , molybdenum , platinum , and zinc . However, poor management and law enforcement, opposition from indigenous communities, and past environmental damage have left these resources largely untapped. The Philippines is a megadiverse country , with some of the world's highest rates of discovery and endemism (67 percent). With an estimated 13,500 plant species in
27492-437: The years. Spanish was the official language of the country for more than three centuries under Spanish colonial rule, and became the lingua franca of the Philippines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1863, a Spanish decree introduced universal education , creating free public schooling in Spanish . It was also the language of the Philippine Revolution , and the 1899 Malolos Constitution effectively proclaimed it as
27666-406: Was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his death in 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines and is considered the second president of the Philippines after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901), whom Quezon defeated in the 1935 presidential election . He is often regarded as
27840-422: Was a member of the Pacific War Council , signed the United Nations declaration against the Axis powers and wrote The Good Fight , his autobiography. To conduct government business in exile, Quezon hired the entire floor of one wing of the Shoreham Hotel to accommodate his family and his office. Government offices were established at the quarters of Philippine Resident Commissioner Joaquin Elizalde, who became
28014-497: Was a retired sargento de Guardia Civil (sergeant of the Civil Guard ). According to historian Augusto de Viana in his timeline of Baler, Quezon's father was a Chinese mestizo who came from the Parián (a Chinatown outside Intramuros ) in Paco, Manila . He spoke Spanish in the Civil Guard and married María, who was a Spanish mestiza born of Spanish priest Jose Urbina de Esparragosa; Urbina arrived in Baler from Esparragosa de la Serena , Cáceres Province , Spain in 1847 as
28188-419: Was administered by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines José Abad Santos . Corregidor was chosen as the venue of the inauguration and temporary seat of the government in-exile to take refuge from the uninterrupted Japanese bombing raids during the Japanese invasion . As crises mounted in the Pacific, the Philippines prepared for war. Youth military training under General Douglas MacArthur
28362-446: Was another constitutional question. After a one-year study, the Institute of National Language recommended that Tagalog be the basis for a national language. The proposal was well-received, despite the fact that director Jaime C. de Veyra was Waray , this is because Baler, Quezon's birthplace, is a native Tagalog-speaking area. In December 1937, Quezon issued a proclamation approving the institute's recommendation and declaring that
28536-435: Was dedicated on 23 April 1940. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II, Quezon evacuated to Corregidor (where he was inaugurated for his second term ) and then to the Visayas and Mindanao. At the invitation of the U.S. government, he was evacuated to Australia, and then to the United States. Quezon established the Commonwealth government in exile , with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. He
28710-399: Was enacted, as well as a law providing an eight-hour workday and a tenancy law for Filipino farmers. The position of public defender was created to assist the poor. Commonwealth Act No. 20 enabled Quezon to acquire large, occupied estates to re-appropriate their lots and homes at a nominal cost and under terms affordable by their residents; one example was the Buenavista estate. He also began
28884-519: Was infuriated, summoned General MacArthur and asked him if the U.S. would support the Philippines; if not, Quezon would return to Manila and allow himself to become a prisoner of war. MacArthur replied that if the Filipinos fighting the Japanese learned that he returned to Manila and became a Japanese puppet, they would consider him a turncoat. Quezon then heard another broadcast by former president Emilio Aguinaldo urging him and his fellow Filipino officials to yield to superior Japanese forces. Quezon wrote
29058-613: Was initially Syncretist . Christianization by the Spanish friars occurred mostly across the settled lowlands over the course of time. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Mexico City -based Viceroyalty of New Spain; it was then administered from Madrid after the Mexican War of Independence . Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade by Manila galleons built in Bicol and Cavite . During its rule, Spain nearly bankrupted its treasury quelling indigenous revolts and defending against external military attacks, including Moro piracy ,
29232-421: Was installed as president and a new constitution was promulgated. The return of democracy and government reforms which began in 1986 were hampered by national debt , government corruption, and coup attempts . A communist insurgency and military conflict with Moro separatists persisted; the administration also faced a series of disasters, including the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. Aquino
29406-399: Was intensified. The first blackout practice was held on the night of 10 July 1941 in Manila. First aid was taught in all schools and social clubs. Quezon established the Civilian Emergency Administration (CEA) on 1 April 1941, with branches in provinces and towns. Air-raid drills were also held. In cooperation with U.S. High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt , Quezon facilitated the entry into
29580-474: Was marked by economic growth, but was tainted by corruption and political scandals, including electoral fraud allegations during the 2004 presidential election . Economic growth continued during Benigno Aquino III 's administration, which advocated good governance and transparency. Aquino III signed a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) resulting in the Bangsamoro Organic Law establishing an autonomous Bangsamoro region, but
29754-552: Was recognized by the United States with the Treaty of Manila . Efforts at post-war reconstruction and ending the Hukbalahap Rebellion succeeded during Ramon Magsaysay 's presidency, but sporadic communist insurgency continued to flare up long afterward. Under Magsaysay's successor, Carlos P. Garcia , the government initiated a Filipino First policy which promoted Filipino-owned businesses. Succeeding Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal moved Independence Day from July 4 to June 12—the date of Emilio Aguinaldo's declaration— and pursued
29928-423: Was spent on the Philippine military. Most of the country's defense spending is on the Philippine Army, which leads operations against internal threats such as communist and Muslim separatist insurgencies; its preoccupation with internal security contributed to the decline of Philippine naval capability which began during the 1970s. A military modernization program began in 1995 and expanded in 2012 to build
30102-482: Was succeeded by Fidel V. Ramos , who liberalized the national economy with privatization and deregulation . Ramos's economic gains were overshadowed by the onset of the 1997 Asian financial crisis . His successor, Joseph Estrada , prioritized public housing but faced corruption allegations which led to his overthrow by the 2001 EDSA Revolution and the succession of Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on January 20, 2001. Arroyo's nine-year administration
30276-428: Was the lingua franca of the Malay Archipelago among Muslim traders and the Malay aristocracy . The 1987 Constitution mandates that Arabic (along with Spanish) is to be promoted on an optional and voluntary basis. As of 2015 Arabic is taught for free and is promoted in some Islamic centres predominantly in the southernmost parts of Philippines. It is used primarily in religious activities and education (such as in
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