Welcome to the Philippines Portal / Maligayang pagdating sa Portal ng Pilipinas
The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia . In the western Pacific Ocean , it consists of 7,641 islands , with a total area of 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country , with diverse ethnicities and cultures . Manila is the country's capital , and its most populated city is Quezon City . Both are within Metro Manila .
Negritos , the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by waves of Austronesian peoples . The adoption of Animism , Hinduism with Buddhist influence, and Islam established island-kingdoms ruled by datus , rajas , and sultans . Overseas trade with neighbors as early as the late Tang or Song empire brought Sinitic -speaking Chinese to the archipelago, which would gradually settle in and intermix over the centuries. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan , a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Castile , marked the beginning of Spanish colonization . In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip II of Castile . Spanish colonization via New Spain , beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Crown of Castile , as part of the Spanish Empire , for more than 300 years. Catholic Christianity became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade . Hispanic immigrants from Latin America and Iberia would also selectively colonize. The Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War . Spain ceded the territory to the United States, and Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic . The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II . After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese , the Philippines became independent in 1946. The country has had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship in a nonviolent revolution .
The Philippines is an emerging market and a newly industrialized country , whose economy is transitioning from being agricultural to service- and manufacturing-centered. It is a founding member of the United Nations , the World Trade Organization , ASEAN , the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit ; it is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Its location as an island country on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes it prone to earthquakes and typhoons . The Philippines has a variety of natural resources and a globally-significant level of biodiversity . (Full article... )
The Manila Hotel is a 550-room, historic five-star hotel located along Manila Bay in Manila , Philippines . The hotel is the oldest premiere hotel in the Philippines built in 1909 to rival Malacañang Palace , the official residence of the President of the Philippines and was opened on the commemoration of American Independence on July 4, 1912. The hotel complex was built on a reclaimed area of 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft) at the northwestern end of Rizal Park along Bonifacio Drive in Ermita . Its penthouse served as the residence of General Douglas MacArthur during his tenure as the Military Advisor of the Philippine Commonwealth from 1935 to 1941.
The hotel used to host the offices of several foreign news organizations, including
The New York Times . It has hosted world leaders and celebrities, including authors
Ernest Hemingway and
James A. Michener ; actors
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and
John Wayne ; publisher
Henry Luce ; entertainers
Sammy Davis, Jr. ,
Michael Jackson and
The Beatles ;
Charles, Prince of Wales (now
King Charles III ); and U.S. President
Bill Clinton . (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
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Vicente Castelo Sotto III (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈsɔtɔ] ; born August 24, 1948), professionally known as Tito Sotto and also known as Tito Sen , is a Filipino politician, entertainer and athlete who served as Senate President from 2018 to 2022. Before that, he had two stints each as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader . He served a total of four terms in the Senate : 1992 to 2004 and 2010 to 2022, tying the record for the longest-serving Senator with Lorenzo Tañada and Franklin Drilon . In between his stints in the Senate, he led the Dangerous Drugs Board for a year. He became the Vice Mayor of Quezon City from 1988 to 1992, and later unsuccessfully ran for vice president in the 2022 elections as Panfilo Lacson 's running mate.
Beyond politics, Sotto is an accomplished songwriter, known for founding the iconic musical group
VST & Co. alongside his brothers
Vic and
Val Sotto , which is considered one of the best Filipino bands of all-time and the "pioneer of the
Manila sound ". (
Full article... )
List of selected biographies
The following are images from various Philippines-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 2 An
Itneg shaman offering pigs to
anito spirits, 1922 (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 3 Bahay na bato , a traditional Filipino house (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 4 A performer depicting a
babaylan (shaman) (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 5 The
University of Santo Tomas , located in
Manila , was established in 1611. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 6 Tortoise -shell and silver Salakot (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 7 Villa Escudero exhibit depicting 19th century Filipino family in traditional attire (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 8 Kalesa , a traditional Philippine urban transportation, in front of
Manila Cathedral entrance (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 9 Filipino traditional dance at a festival (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 11 Pineapple fiber is used to create traditional Philippine garments. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 15 Parol (Christmas lanterns) being sold during the Christmas season (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 17 The Kutkut art from Samar (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 19 Carabao is a major symbol of Filipinos hard labor. And is known to be the "Filipino farmer's bestfriend". (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 25 Sungka , a traditional Filipino game. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 27 Old Senate Hall with
Estilo Tampinco style of carving and ornamentation (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 29 Manny Pacquiao , the only
8-division world boxing champion in history. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 30 Filipina in traditional attire (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 31 A grandmaster of
Arnis . (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 33 Dominant ethnic groups by province. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 37 Mila del Sol starred in one of the earliest Filipino movies,
Giliw Ko (1939), along with
Fernando Poe Sr. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
30 April 2024 – China–Philippines relations
China's coast guard expels a Philippine Coast Guard ship and another vessel from the waters near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea . (Reuters)
29 April 2024 – ISIL insurgency in the Philippines
Five Dawla Islamiya militants are killed and three soldiers are wounded during two shootouts in Munai , Lanao del Norte , Philippines . The military were hunting the group's leader, Nasser Daud, who however escaped from the scene. (MindaNews)
28 April 2024 –
The Philippines announces that it will close all schools on Monday and Tuesday, due to an extreme heat wave currently affecting the country. (The Straits Times )
26 April 2024 – Moro conflict
The Philippine Army announces that it has killed Nawapi Abdulsaid, an Abu Sayyaf militant, during a shootout two days ago in Hadji Mohammad Ajul , Basilan , Philippines . Abdulsaid was involved in fifteen beheadings as well as in attacks against security forces. (AP)
22 April 2024 – Moro conflict
Twelve Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters militants are killed and seven soldiers are wounded during a shootout in Datu Saudi Ampatuan , Maguindanao del Sur , Philippines . (AP)
...that José Rizal was a polyglot who mastered 22 languages including Catalan , Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Malay , Sanskrit , Spanish, Tagalog , and other Philippine languages ?
...that Enrique of Malacca (aka Henry the Black ), the interpreter of Ferdinand Magellan , may be historically significant as the first person to circumnavigate the world?
...that Malacañang Palace comes from a Tagalog phrase May lakan diyan , which means "there is a rich man there" for it was once the home of a wealthy Spanish merchant before it hosted the nation's chief executive ?
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