Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and is an archipelago with over 7,100 islands and islets lying about 800 km off the coast of Vietnam.
The country’s capital is manila and its geography is mountainous with narrow coastal lowlands. The most populated city in Philippines is Quezon City.
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The country boasts of beautiful beaches and delicious fruit.
Mindanao is the largest island located in the Southeast. Philippines head of government is the President.
It’s home to world’s longest underground river.
The river, the Puerta Princesa Subterranean is located Deep underneath the St Paul’s Mountain Range in the island of Palawan.
The river stretches 24km beneath the mountains and is longest navigable underground river. The river is recognized as one of the seven wonders of nature.
Philippines was named after King Philip II of Spain
The country was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain in the 1540s after explorer Ruy López de Villalobos arrived in the Islands.
After the country was claimed by the Spain, it was named Las Felipinas. The official name of Philippines has however changed several times until the recent one.
Coconuts
Philippines is one of the world’s largest producer of coconut. Nonetheless, fruits like Mangosteens, papayas and bananas are also found in the country. It produced 19.5 million tons of the fruit in 2010.
Sports
Basketball stands as the national sport in Philippines. However, other sports like boxing, tennis, football, billiards, and volleyball are still major.
Basketball became predominant on the country during the American Colonial rule.
The game was introduced into the public school system as a women’s game. The game is now widely played in the country by men and women.
The Philippines basketball league is Asia’s first and also one of the oldest in the world and second in the NBA.
Jeepneys
This are colourful painted buses which stand as iconic symbol in the country.
During world war II, Americans left behind the jeeps which Filipinos collected and fixed them into vehicles which carrying 20 passengers.
One can spot them easily as they are painted in bold colours and have large slogans written on them.
The government is however phasing out the jeepneys slowly and replacing them with modern vehicle in a bid to ease congestion in the roads.
Island with more volcanos than towns.
The country’s boasts of the it’s island, the Camiguin which is has more volcanoes than towns. It has more volcanoes per square mile than any other island in the world.
The volcanos have been dormant since 1950s and there is no reason to worry.
They have on the great hotsprings and white-sand beaches and cheerful locals making it a tourist destination.
Language
There are over 175 languages spoken in Philippines. Four out of the 175 language are tribal dialects which speakers haven’t been established while the rest is considered as living.
The country’s official language is Filipino and English which are mostly popular. Over 50 million people in the country speak English making it the fifth largest English-speaking nation in the world.
Other languages spoken are, Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and Bicolano, as well as four tribal dialects that are not known to have any living speakers.
Largest suppliers of nurses
The Philippines is the largest supplier of nurses worldwide. This is because the country is a job-scarce environment.
It is reported that even those employed complain poor working conditions which push them to seeking job opportunities overseas.
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The first LGBTQ political party in the world
Philippines is first ever nation in the world to permit an LGBTQ political party.
This happened in the country in 2003 and was named , the Ang Ladlad meaning “out of the closet” started by writer Danton Remoto.
The party has however failed to bag political seats due to luck of funding for campaign. In 2010, the managed to get 0.38% votes while in 2013 they got 0.37% votes.
Due to the poor performances, the party was disqualified in 2016 elections.
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