Basic Info

Country Name

What the People are Called

Filipino

Ethnic Groups

According to the 2000 census, 28.1% of Filipinos are Tagalog, 13.1% Cebuano, 9% Ilocano, 7.6% Bisaya/Binisaya, 7.5% Hiligaynon, 6% Bikol, 3.4% Waray, and 25.3% as "others", which can be broken down further to yield more distinct non-tribal groups like the Moro, the Kapampangan, the Pangasinense, the Ibanag, and the Ivatan. There are also indigenous peoples like the Igorot, the Lumad, the Mangyan, the Bajau, and the tribes of Palawan. Negritos, such as the Aeta and the Ati, are considered among the earliest inhabitants of the islands.

Filipinos generally belong to several Asian ethnic groups classified linguistically as part of the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian speaking people. It is believed that thousands of years ago Austronesian-speaking Taiwanese aborigines migrated to the Philippines from Taiwan, bringing with them knowledge of agriculture and ocean-sailing, eventually displacing the earlier Negrito groups of the islands. The two most important non-indigenous minorities include the Chinese and the Spaniards. Chinese Filipinos, mostly descendants of immigrants from Fujian-China after 1898, number 2 million, although there is an estimated 18 million Filipinos who have partial Chinese ancestry, stemming from precolonial Chinese migrants. Intermarriage between the groups is evident in the major cities and urban areas. Furthermore, at least, one-third of the population of Luzon as well as a few old settlements in the Visayas and Zamboanga City at Mindanao, have Hispanic ancestry (From varying points of origin; ranging from Latin-America and Spain). Descendants of such mixed couples are known as mestizos.

U.S. Embassy

U.S. Embassy 1201 Roxas Boulevard Manila, Philippines 1000

Canadian Embassy

Embassy of Canada in Manila Levels 6-8, Tower 2 RCBC Plaza 6819 Ayala Avenue Makati City 1200

Postal Address P.O. Box 2168 Makati Central Post Office Philippines 1261

Currency

Peso (Filipino: piso)

Time Zone

PST (UTC+8) Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+8)

Phone/Internet Information

Calling code +63 Internet TLD .ph

Major Languages Spoken

Ethnologue lists 175 individual languages in the Philippines, 171 of which are living languages, while 4 no longer have any known speakers. Most native languages are part of the Philippine branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is itself a branch of the Austronesian language family. The only non-Austronesian language indigenous to the Philippines is Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole. According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is a standardized version of Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and other urban regions. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business. The constitution mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.

Nineteen regional languages act as auxiliary official languages used as mediums of instruction: Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray-Waray, and Yakan. Other indigenous languages such as, Cuyonon, Ifugao, Itbayat, Kalinga, Kamayo, Kankanaey, Masbateño, Romblomanon, and several Visayan languages are prevalent in their respective provinces. The Chavacano language, a creole language born from Spanish (of the Mexican and Peruvian strain), is also spoken in Cavite and Zamboanga. Languages not indigenous to the islands are also taught in select schools. Mandarin is used in Chinese schools catering to the Chinese Filipino community. Islamic schools in Mindanao teach Modern Standard Arabic in their curriculum. French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish are taught with the help of foreign linguistic institutions. The Department of Education began teaching the Malay languages Indonesian and Malaysian in 2013.

Alphabet

Before the Spanish arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, the people of the islands used a writing script called baybayin or alibata. It was the Spaniards who introduced Western letters to the Philippines.

In the 1930s, the renowned scholar Lope K. Santos developed the abakada which is an alphabet representing the sounds in the Tagalog language. It consists of twenty letters (five vowels and fifteen consonants).

In 1976, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) of the Philippines issued a revised alphabet which added the letters c, ch, f, j, ll, ñ, q, rr, v, x and z.

The official Filipino alphabet of 28 letters that is currently being taught in Philippine schools was instituted in 1987 during the Aquino presidency. It is called Makabagong Alpabetong Filipino (Modern Filipino Alphabet).

28 letters consisting of:

20 letters of abakada

8 letters from the Spanish alphabet (c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, z)

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, ng, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Major holidays

January 1 New Year's Day April 9 Day of Valor April 17 Maundy Thursday April 18 Good Friday May 1 Labor Day June 12 Independence Day July 28 Eid'l Fitr August 25 National Heroes' Day October 5 Eid'l Adha November 30 Bonifacio Day December 25 Christmas Day December 30 Rizal Day

Source: Wikipedia Philippines Source: Public Holidays Philippines Source: Filipino Alphabet

Philippines Fact Sheet

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