Past Facts
2008-2009
05/18/2008
Philippine cuisine is Malay in origin with a predominant Hispanic base, and has received varying degrees of influence from Chinese, American, and other Asian cuisine.
05/11/2008
The Philippines is one of two countries in Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region with Roman Catholic as the major religion, the other being East Timor
05/04/2008
The largest city in the PI is Quezon City.
04/27/2008
The Philippines has one of the most sophisticated cellular phone industry in the world, and one of the highest concentration of users.
04/20/2008
In spite of the mountainous terrain, approximately 14 percent of the 158,810 kilometers (98,110 miles) of roads in the Philippines are paved.
04/13/2008
The Philippines has a tropical marine climate, and is usually hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5°C (79.7°F).
04/06/2008
Most of the mountainous islands were covered in tropical rainforest, and are volcanic in origin. The highest mountain is Mount Apo located in Mindanao measuring at 2,954 meters (9,692 ft) above sea level.
03/30/2008
The Philippines is divided into three island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. These are divided into 17 regions, 80 provinces, 120 cities, 1,511 municipalities, and 42,008 barangays.
03/23/2008
The Philippines has a presidential, unitary form of government (with some modification; there is one autonomous region largely free from the national government), where the President functions as both head of state, and head of government, and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote to a single six year term, during which time she or he appoints, and presides over the cabinet.
03/16/2008
In the 1700s, the Philippines opened its forts to world trade. The economy increased, and both criollos, and mestizos in the Philippines became wealthy.
03/09/2008
In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines, and claimed the islands for Spain.
03/02/2008
The Philippines is divided into three island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. These are divided into 17 regions, 81 provinces, 136 cities, 1,494 municipalities, and 41,995 barangays or barrios.
02/23/2008
Adobo is the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade.
02/16/2008
As of 2003, the Phillipines has an average literacy rate of 93.4%
02/09/2008
During the Philippine Revolution, the Philippines was officially called República Filipina or Philippine Republic
02/02/2008
The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country.
01/26/2008
The islands of Luzon and Mindanao account for two-thirds of the land area in the Phillipines
01/19/2008
Population as of August 2007 (according to the NSO) is 88.57M and a projected population of 90.4M for 2008
01/12/2008
A total of 2,843,335 tourists from all over the world visit the Philippines.
01/05/2008
The name Philippines was derived from King Philip II of Spain in the 16th century.
12/29/2008
When the Spaniards arrived in to the Phillipines the 16th century, the majority of the estimated 500,000 people in the islands lived in independent settlements.
12/22/2008
The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country with a population of about 90 million people.
12/15/2008
The Philippines is considered to be the largest producer of coconuts in the world
11/8/2008
Filipino writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2, and grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French and Chinese. What were his last words? "Consummatum est!" ("It is done!").
12/1/2008
The Philippines, in southeastern Asia, consists of 7,107 islands lying between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
11/24/2008
Two Filipina beauties, Gloria Diaz and Margie Morgan, chosen as Miss Universe in 1969 and 1973.
11/17/2008
Who was the Filipino-American dancer who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT? Joyce Monteverde of California.
11/10/2008
What antibiotic did Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar co-discover? Hint: Brand is Ilosone, named after Iloilo. Erythromycin.
11/3/2008
The one-chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz, a Filipino inventor from New Jersey.
10/27/2008
The USA bought the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain in 1898. The Filipino-American Independence War from 1898 to 1902 ensued, killing 4,234 Americans and how many Filipinos? 16,000 were killed in action and 200,000 died from famine and pestilence. (The Philippines lost and was colonized until 1946.)
10/20/2008
What is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the U.S.A. and the UK? The Philippines.
10/13/2008In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.
10/06/2008Founded in 1595 by Spaniard, the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City, Philippines is older than Harvard and is the oldest university in Asia.