County Profile
Location
The Philippines comprises
an archipelago of some 7,107 islands
located off Southeast Asia, between
the South China Sea on the west and
the Philippine Sea on the east. The
major islands are Luzon in the north,
the Visayan Islands in the middle, and
Mindanao in the south.
Size
The total area is about 300,000 square kilometers, including about 298,000 square kilometers of land and about 2,000 square kilometers of water. The Philippines stretches about 1,850 kilometers from Y'Ami Island in the north to Sibutu Island in the south and is about 1,000 kilometers at its widest point east to west. The bulk of the population lives on 11 of the 7,107 islands.
Population
The total population of the Philippines was 76.5 million, evenly divided between males and females, at the last census in May 2000. The Philippine National Statistics Office projected the total population at 82.7 million in 2004, and 84.2 million in 2005. The U.S. estimate for total population was 86.2 million in July 2004. The annual population growth rate from 1995 to 2000 was nearly 2.4 percent but was projected to decrease to less than 1.9 percent during the 20002005 period. There has been a continuing trend of internal migration from rural to urban areas since at least 1991. According to the 2000 census, 52 percent of the population lived in rural areas and 48 percent in urban areas, including about 12 percent who lived in the National Capital Region, or Metropolitan Manila. The Philippines has a negligible loss of population as a result of emigration, which was estimated at 1.5 migrants per 1,000 population in 2004.
Flag
The flag of the Philippines has two equal horizontal bands of blue (top) and red with a white equilateral triangle based on the hoist side; in the center of the triangle is a yellow sun with eight primary rays (each containing three individual rays), and in each corner of the triangle is a small yellow five-pointed star.
Languages
The Philippines has two official languages, Filipino (or Pilipino) and English. Filipino has eight major dialects, in order of use: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense. Filipino, based on Tagalog, is related to Malay and Indonesian, and is part of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Filipino is the common language used between speakers of different native languages, which are closely related but not mutually intelligible. English is used in government and as the medium of instruction in higher education.
Major Cities
Located on Luzon Island, Metropolitan Manila, including the adjacent Quezon City and surrounding suburbs, is the largest city in the Philippines, with about 12 million people, or nearly 14 percent of the total population. Other large cities include Cebu City on Cebu Island and Davao City on Mindanao Island.
Capital
Manila.
Topography
The Philippines consists of volcanic islands, including active volcanoes, with mostly mountainous interiors surrounded by flat lowlands and alluvial plains of varying widths along the coasts. The elevation ranges from sea level to the highest point of Mount Apo on Mindanao Island, at 2,954 meters above sea level.
Climate
The Philippines has a tropical marine climate, with the northeast monsoon, which produces a cool, dry season from December to February, and the southwest monsoon, which brings rain and high temperatures from May to October. Between March and May, hot, dry weather prevails. Temperatures in Manila range from 21°C to 32°C, with an average annual temperature of 27°C.Temperatureselsewhere in the Philippines have been recorded at more than 37°C. The average monthly humidity ranges from 71 percent in March to 85 percent in September. Annual rainfall is heavy but varies widely throughout the Philippines, ranging from 965 millimeters in some sheltered valleys and the southern tip of the island of Mindanao to 5,000 millimeters along the mountainous east coasts of the islands of Luzon, Samar, and the northern tip of Mindanao. The Philippines lies astride the typhoon belt and experiences 15 to 20 typhoons a year from July through October, of which five or six may cause serious destruction and death.
Environmental Factors
The Philippines is prone to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, lying as it does astride the typhoon belt, in the active volcanic region known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," and in the geologically unstable region between the Pacific and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Philippines also suffers major human-caused environmental degradation aggravated by a high annual population growth rate, including loss of agricultural lands, deforestation, soil erosion, air and water pollution, improper disposal of solid and toxic wastes, loss of coral reefs, mismanagement and abuse of coastal resources, and over fishing.
Land Use
Out of a total land area of about 300,000 square kilometers, about 92,000 square kilometers are farmland, and about 72,000 square kilometers are forest land, including 65,000 square kilometers of public land and 7,000 square kilometers of privately owned land. Forest area fell steadily from 270,000 square kilometers in 1900 to 80,000 square kilometers in 1970 and 54,000 square kilometers in 1985. Although forest area subsequently grew from its low in 1985 to its current level in 2004, deforestation is still a major problem. According to the agricultural census of 2002, the number of farms decreased from 4.6 million in 1991 to 4.5 million in 2002, and farm area declined during the same period, from about 100,000 square kilometers in 1991 to its current level.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Overview: In February 1987, the Philippines adopted a new constitution that instituted the presidential-style republican form of democracy, which resembles the U.S. model much more than the European parliamentary system. One key difference between the Philippine and U.S. systems is that the Philippines is a unitary republic, whereas the United States is a federal republic, with significant powers reserved for the states. In the Philippines, by contrast, the national government is not challenged by local authority. The ratification of the 1987 constitution--the fourth in the nation's history--by national referendum signaled the country's return to democracy following the autocratic rule of Fernando Marcos (196586).
Executive Branch: Embracing the concept of separation of powers, the constitution provides for a president, who is simultaneously head of the government and chief of state, a separately elected vice president, a bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary. The president is elected to a single six-year term by direct universal suffrage; the vice president can be elected to a maximum of two consecutive six-year terms. The vice president may be appointed to the cabinet without legislative confirmation. The current Philippine president is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who originally took office in January 2001, when she succeeded Joseph Estrada, who was impeached in November 2000. In May 2004, Arroyo was elected to a full term. The vice president, since June 2004, is Noli de Castro. The executive functions of the government are carried out through the Cabinet of Ministers. The cabinet, which in 2005 consisted of heads of 22 departments and offices, is appointed by the president with the consent of the Commission of Appointments.
Legislative Branch: The bicameral Congress of the Philippines consists of the Senate (upper chamber) and House of Representatives (lower chamber). Members of the 24-seat Senate are elected at large to six-year terms and are limited to no more than two consecutive terms. The current president of the Senate (since 2000) is Franklin M. Drilon. The House is limited by the constitution to no more than 250 members. In 2005 there were 238 members, of whom 214 (80 percent) were elected for three-year terms from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the population, on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio. The other 24 members (limited by the constitution to 20 percent of the total) are presidential appointees elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations. House members are limited to no more than three consecutive terms. The current speaker of the House (now in his third term as speaker, most recently since 2004) is José de Venecia. By means of a two-thirds majority vote, Congress can override presidential vetoes and declare a state of war.
Judicial Branch: The Philippines has an independent judiciary, with the Supreme Court as the highest court of appeal. The Supreme Court also is empowered to review the constitutionality of presidential decrees. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and 14 associate justices. It is not necessary for the entire court to convene in all cases. Justices are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council and serve until 70 years of age. The current chief justice, since 1998, is Hilario G. Davide, Jr. Lower-level courts include the Court of Appeals, regional trial courts, metropolitan trial courts, and various courts at the municipal level. A special court--the Sandiganbayan or anti-graft court--focuses exclusively on investigating charges of judicial corruption.
Administrative Divisions: Administrative divisions consist of regions, provinces, chartered cities, municipalities, and barangays (villages). Chartered cities stand on their own; they are not part of any province and do not elect provincial officials. The Philippines has 17 regions, 79 provinces, 117 cities, 1,500 municipalities, and 41,975 barangays. Metropolitan Manila, which is regarded as a region, consists of 14 cities, 3 municipalities, and 1,694 barangays.
Provincial and Local Government: Governors and vice governors are elected to lead provinces, the largest local administrative unit. Appointed functionaries responsible for managing offices concerned with finance, tax collection, audit, public works, agricultural services, health, and schools are subordinate not just to the governor, but also to national ministries. Because the Philippines is a unitary republic, local government has less power than it would have in a federal system. In fact, according to the constitution, the president oversees local government. The single biggest problem for local government has been inadequate funding.
Although local government is permitted to levy taxes, such taxes are subject to restrictions by the national Congress, and they have been difficult to collect in practice.
Judicial and Legal System: The basis of the Philippines legal code is Spanish and Anglo-American law. The judiciary is said to suffer from corruption and inefficiency. As a result, the Supreme Court has undertaken a five-year program to speed up the judicial process and crack down on corruption. Defendants enjoy the presumption of innocence and have the right to confront witnesses, present evidence, and appeal convictions. In 1985 a separate court system founded on Islamic law (sharia) was established in the southern Philippines. Three district magistrates and six circuit judges oversee the Islamic law system.
Electoral System: The Philippines has universal direct suffrage at age 18 and older to elect the president, vice president (who runs independently), and most of the seats in the bicameral legislature, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate; a minority of House members known as sectoral representatives are appointed by the president. In the last elections on May 10, 2004, some 74 percent of eligible voters participated. Elections are held not just for national leadership, but also for representation at the provincial and local levels. Provinces are led by elected governors and vice governors.
Politics and Political Parties: President Arroyo represents the conservative Lakas-Christian Muslim Democratic Party (Lakas-CMD), since the May 2004 election the largest faction in the House of Representatives (100 seats). Lakas-CMD has formed a governing coalition with the Liberal Party (32 seats). Others parties in the House are the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (47 seats); Struggle for Democratic Filipinos (9 seats); Nationalista Party (6 seats); Akbayan (3 seats); Association of Philippine Electric Co-operatives (3 seats); Bayan Muna (3 seats); Power of the Filipino Masses (3 seats); Aksyon Demokratiko, Promdi, and Reporma, which have formed an alliance (2 seats); Philippine Democratic Party (2 seats); and Philippines Democratic Socialist Party (2 seats). Personalities are more important than parties in Philippine politics. Movie stars and other celebrities have enjoyed considerable success. In addition, several prominent families play a disproportionate role in politics.
Time Zone
The Philippines is in one time zone (Asia/Manila), 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Source: Library of Congress Federal Research Division