The people of the Philippines are called Filipinos. Most Filipinos are descended from the indigenous Austronesian-speaking peoples, but there are also some Filipinos of mixed descent, known as mestizos, through intermarriage with the Chinese, Spanish or other nationalities.

The country was named "Las Islas Filipinas" by Ruy López de Villalobos after King Philip II of Spain. A Spanish colonial rule through Mexico began in 1565 and lasted for about three centuries until the Philippine Revolution of 1896. The United States gained possession of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1898 and ruled the country for about five decades. Philippine culture has many affinities with the West. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and English is an official language, along with Tagalog.

The Philippines is a significant source of migrant workers; there are over 9 million overseas Filipinos and their remittances exceed $12 billion a year, an amount that forms a significant portion of the Philippines' gross national product. Moreover, the country exports more than one million of its nationals abroad annually through its overseas employment program. Due to this, the Filipino diaspora has become the third largest among overseas ethnicities.

History

Archeological and paleontological evidence suggests that Homo sapiens existed in Palawan about 50,000 years ago. An Austronesian-speaking people settled in the Philippines and maintained a maritime trading network with the rest of Southeast Asia as early as 5,000 B.C.E.

Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese) was the first European to visit the archipelago, arriving in 1521. Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in 1565 and formed the first Spanish settlements, and paved the way for colonization. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the inhabitants. In the next 300 years, the Spanish military fought off various local indigenous revolts and various external colonial challenges. Such challenges came from the British, Chinese, Dutch, French, Japanese, and Portuguese. The most significant loss for Spain was the temporary occupation of the capital by the British during the Seven Years' War. The Philippines was ruled as a territory of New Spain from 1565 to 1821, before it was administered directly from Spain. Manila Galleon began in the late 16th century. The Philippines opened itself to world trade on September 6, 1834. A propaganda movement began in the Spanish mainland, which included José Rizal. This was done in order to inform the government of the injustices of the administration in the Philippines as well as the abuses of the friars. In the 1880s and the 1890s, the propagandists clamored for political and social reforms, which included demands for greater representation in Spain. Unable to gain the reforms, Rizal returned to the country, and pushed for the reforms locally. Rizal was subsequently arrested, tried, and executed for sedition on December 30, 1896. Earlier that year, the Katipunan, led by Andrés Bonifacio already started a revolution, which was eventually continued by Emilio Aguinaldo, who established a revolutionary government, although the Spanish governor general Fernando Primo de Rivera proclaimed the revolution was over in May 17, 1897.

The Spanish-American War began in 1898 and reached the Philippines when Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish squadron at the Manila Bay. Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898, and was proclaimed head of state. Spain ceded the Philippines, together with Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. By 1899, the Philippine-American War ensued between the two, which continued the violence of the previous years. That war ended when Aguinaldo was captured by American troops on March 23, 1901. The colonial administration of the Americans introduced democracy in the Philippines. The status was turned into that of a commonwealth in 1935, which provided for more self-governance. Plans for independence in the next decade were underway, although this was interrupted by World War II, when Japan invaded the country. Independence was granted on July 4, 1946.

Since 1946, the newly independent Philippine state has faced economic and political instability and various rebel groups. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the rise of student activism and civil unrest. Ferdinand Marcos was then, the elected president. Disbarred from seeking a third term, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, ruled the country by decree, and extended both his power and tenure by force. His authoritarian rule became marred with unmitigated, pervasive corruption, cronyism and despotism. In 1981, martial law was lifted, and Marcos remained as president after an election in 1981.

Opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning from exile. In January 1986, Marcos allowed for "snap" elections, after large protests. The election was believed to be fraudulent, and resulted in a standoff between military mutineers and the military loyalists. Protesters supported the mutineers, and was accompanied by resignations of prominent cabinet officials. Corazon Aquino, the recognized winner of the snap election, took over government, and drafted a new constitution, after the 1986 EDSA Revolution. Marcos, his family, and along with some of his allies were exiled to Hawaii.

The return of democracy and government reforms after the events of 1986 was hampered by massive national debt, government corruption, coup attempts, a communist insurgency, and a Muslim separatist movement. The economy improved during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos, who was elected in 1992. However, the economic improvements were negated at the onset of the East Asian financial crisis in 1997. The 2001 EDSA Revolution led to the downfall of the following president, Joseph Estrada. The current administration of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been hounded by allegations of corruption and election rigging.

Economy

The Philippines is a developing country with an agricultural base, light industry, and service-sector economy. The Philippines has one of the most vibrant business process outsourcing (BPO) industries in Asia. Numerous call centers and BPO firms have infused momentum into the Philippine market, generating thousands of jobs, including Fortune 500 companies.

The resiliency of the Philippine economy due to low foreign inflows and an agriculture-based economy allowed it to snap back from international crises as evidenced by 3 percent growth in 1999 and accelerated to 4 percent in 2000. By 2004, the Philippine economy catapulted to over 6 percent growth after the East Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

Government initiatives are designed to match the pace of development in the newly industrialized countries (NICs) of East Asia. Economic strategies are implemented to manage a public debt comprising 93 percent of the GDP. This priority manifests as a budget allocation set higher than the budget for education and defense combined. The Philippine middle class is essential to economic prosperity. Although proportionately smaller, the Philippine middle class is scheduled to grow.

Strategies for streamlining the economy include improvements of infrastructure, more efficient tax systems to bolster government revenues, furthering deregulation and privatisation of the economy, and increasing trade integration within the region and across the world.

On November 1, 2005, a newly expanded value added tax (E-VAT) law was instituted as a measure to bridle the rising foreign debt and to improve government services such as education, healthcare, social security, and transportation. As of 2006, The Philippines' economic prosperity also depends in large part on how well its two biggest trading partners' economies perform: the U.S. and Japan.

The Philippines is a member of the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other international economic associations, such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Colombo Plan, and the G-77.

In 2005, the Philippine peso was said to be Asia's best-performing currency.[2] The Philippines' 1st quarter GDP growth was within the government's programmed growth of 5.5% buoyed by the rebound of the agriculture sector and a strong service sector performance however, the economy is still vulnerable to high world oil prices and political instability. There are few promising developments though: one is the strong fiscal performance that the government has put in place; another is the mining boom, which will help generate additional revenues and additional jobs but may permanently damage the environment. The country’s export rose by more than 15 percent in January-April this year, while investments increased by $2 billion over that of the same four-month period last year.

Despite the growing economy, the Philippines will have to address several chronic problems in the future. Income inequality remains persistent; about 30 million people lived on less than $2 per day in 2005. China and India have emerged as major economic competitors, siphoning away investors who would otherwise have invested in the Philippines, particularly telecom companies. Regional development is also somewhat uneven, with the main island Luzon and Metro Manila gaining most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other regions.

Demographics

The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country, with a population of over 89 million as of 2006[3]. Roughly two-thirds reside on the island of Luzon. Manila, the capital, is the eleventh most populous metropolitan area in the world. The literacy rate was 92.5% in 2003[4], and about equal for males and females[5]. Life expectancy is 69.91 years, with 72.28 years for females and 66.44 years for males. Population growth per year is about 1.92 percent, with 26.3 births per 1,000 people. In the 100 years since the 1903 Census, the population has grown by a factor of eleven. This represents a much faster rate of growth than other countries in the region (Indonesia has grown five-fold over the same period).