- History

Declared Independence from Spain June , 1898 after the United States bought the Islands following the Spanish-American War. In 1935, the U.S. recognized the Filipinos' desire for independence. Manuel L Quezon was sworn in as President of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935 as part of a transitional phase pending full independence. The Japanese would interrupt this process by invading the Philippines in 1942 after defeating McArthur. In 1944 McArthur would return for round two and take back that Philippines. Two years later the Philippines was granted full independence.

Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965 and ruled as a dictator until 1986. Marcos was accused of ballotrigging and fraud, and was attacked by muslim and communist guerrillas. An assasination attempt on a prominent,Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino Jr in 1983 sparked massive anti-government protests. In 1986 a snap election was called and opposition parties rallied around Aquino's window. Both parties claimed victory, but it was said that Aquino acquired the most votes. Aquino initiated a program for non violent civil unrest, which resulted in Marcos fleeing the country. Aquino failed to tackle economic issues and gain the strength of the military and would eventually be replaced by her defense minister Fidel Ramos in 1992. Ramos made attempts to revitalize the economy, attract foreign investment, cleanse corruption and expand provision of utilities. In 1998 Ramos was replaced by a former movie star Joseph Estrada. Estrada was one of the most crooked presidents the Philippines has seen. Estrada promised promised a lot economically, but all the gains that came from those promises went right into his pockets. Estrada would eventually be impeached in 2000, and would be brought on charges of taking bribes from gambling syndicates, and using the proceeds to line his own dens and to build extravagant houses for his mistresses. Estrada tried to derail the trial by blocking prosecutors' access to his back accounts. This caused masses to rally and hold demonstrations. In 2001 Estrada finally gave up and the Current president, Gloria Arroyo, who was also Vice President was sworn into office. For further information click hereHistory

-Government:

Philipines has a republic type of government. The administration is diveded into 73 provinces and 61 chartered cities. Its legal system is based on Spanish and Anglo-American law.

The executive branch comprises of the chief of state, head of government and the cabinet. The president acts as both the chief of state and head of government. The cabinet is appointed by the president with the consent of the Commision of Appointments. The president and the vice president are elected on separate tickets by popular votes for six year terms.

The judicial branch has the Supreme Court as the highest court. Justices are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council. For more information on the government of the Philippines click here..Government

- The constitution

The Philippines constitution was first modeled after those of France, Belgium, and some South American republics. This constitution was know as the Malolos constitution and was only in effect for a short time until U.S. troops installed a colonial government, which remain in effect until the establishment of the Philippine Commonweatlh in 1935.

The 1935 constitution was drawn up under the terms of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which created the Philippine Commonwealth. This also served as the basis for an independant Government from 1946 until 1973. The framers of the constitution were not completely free to choose any type of government, since anything they chose had to be accepted by U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The framers eventually drew up a constitution and was modeled after the U.S. Constitution, but with two differences. One the government was unitary instead of federal, and two, local governments were subject to general supervision by the president, and the president could declare and emergancy and temporarily exercise near-dictatorial power. The 1935 constitution gave the country twenty-six years of stable, constitutional government during a time when most Asian countries were coming under the rule of communism or dictator rulership. The system seemed to cloak an oligarchic society and delagates were selected to rewrite the constitution, making it more unique to the Philippines. Before this could be completed, Marcos declared martial law and abolished congress, ruling from presidential decree from 1972 to 1978.Marcos manipulated the system and formed a constitution that met Marcos needs. The 1973 constitution was a deviation from the Philippines' commitment of democratic ideas. In 1978 a parlamentary government with a legislature called the National Assembly, replaced the presidential system. Marcos would continue to exercise his presidential powers under the old system, and use the powers he had from his position as prime minister under the new system. Marcos ruled this way until 1986,when he was finally driven from office, and the 1973 constitution was also thrown out with him.

In 1986, Cory Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation No.3 that pretty much gave her more ruling power than that of Marcos. Aquino vowed to only use her emergency powers to restore democracy, not to propel herself into power. She argued that she needed a free hand to revive the economy and to gain control over the armies. To make a long story short, on May 25, 1986, Aquino elected forty eight delegates from wealthy educated backgrounds to draw up a new constitution. On October 15, 1986, the final version of the constitution was drawn up by the University of the Philippines Law School and given to Aquino. There were some groups who had opposed the new constitution, so before Aquino could have the new constitution voted upon she toured the country with a yes campaign in favor of the new constitution. In the end Aquino would prevail, and with a three to one vote the Constitution of 1986 went into effect on Febuary 11, 1986. To take a look at the current constitution and past constitutions click here..Constitution

Demographics:

In May 2000, the ranking of Philippines as a country was number 14 on the list of the countries with a population of 50 million inhabitants or more. Its stands at 84,619,974 million as of July 2003. The age structure gives 36.2 percent as children below 14 years, 59.9 percent are between the ages of 14 and 64 while 3.9 percent are 65 years and over.

In 2003, the estimated population growth rate was 1.92 percent. The birth rate is given as 26.3 births per 1000 population while the death rate is about 5.6 deaths per 1000 population. The life expectancy at birth for the total population is 69.29 years, 66.44 years for the males and 72.28 years for women.

The Philippines has some ethnic diversity with the dominant group being the Christian Malay(91.5%). The others are Muslim Malay 4%, Chinese 1.5 % and others account for about 3 percent.

The dominant religion is the Roman Catholics at 83 percent, then there is the Protestants( 9%), Muslim( 5%) while Bhuddhist and other religions account for about 3 percent.

There are two official languages. Filipino, which is based on Tagalog and English. The eight major dialects are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango and Pangasinense.

Literacy is defined as anybody age 15 and over who can read and write. The literacy rate for the entire population is 95.9%, 96% for the males and 95.8% for the women. For more information on he Philippines demographics click the link...Demographics

- Economy

In 1998, The Philippine economy began to decline due to the finalcial crisis in Asia. Along with the the financial crisis came non favorable weather conditions due to the El Nino weather patterns, which hurt the agricultural section. Growth fell from five percent in 1997, to -.05 percent in 1998. The Philippines was one of the only Asian countries that was not greatly effected by the the Asain Financial Crisis, but the effects they did feel were quite bad. The decline in growth gave way to declining stocks, and the strength of the Peso ( the currency used by the Philippines) began to weaken against the dollar. The industrial sectors didn't seem to be hurt all that bad, because industry still seemed to pull in its share of the weight with GDP. After the crisis in 1998 the country started to see some inprovement in growth, but the growth was not nearly as substancial as its neighboring Asian countries. Industry seemed to be one of the biggest reasons for the steady growth in the Philippines, because of the El Nino weather pattern, it made for moderate agricultural growth in 2002 until the present.The government has also taken steps to sell private organazations in hopes to revive the economy by attracting foreign investment. Also the government hope to reshape the tax system where there is just a flat tax rate and impose a sin tax. The economy is expected to see projected growth rates of about 4.6 percent in 2004 due to the economic reforms set in place by the government. There has been some increase in exports due to the rising demand of electronics, but a rise in inflation has a lot of people worried that the weak peso would push up prices.There is also an increase of overseas workers' remittances and the strengthening of food manufacturing. If the government can find a way to maintain the fiscal deficit then money can be used in areas of great need. Pharmaceuticals, electronics assembly, textiles, food processing, adn petroleum are some of the Philippines major sources of income. Imports are consisted of immediate resources that are not found in the Philippines.Economy

- Current Issues

Enviromentally in the Philippines right now there are current issues regarding uncontrolled deforestation in watershed areas, soil erosion, and an increase in pollution of mangrove swamps that are important breeding grounds for fish. The uncontrolled deforestaion and the pollution of the swamps used for breeding grounds for fish will in the long run hurt a portion of the countries economy in terms of products they produce. Wood and fish are just two of many products produced and exported by the Philippines.

Another issue that the Philippines has seemed to deal with for quite some time is terrorism. The Philippines have been dealing with terrorist acts from Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The group took hostage two american missionaries a couple of years ago and held the two hostage for quite some time. In June of 2002 during a rescue attempt to save the american missionaries, one of them was killed and the other let go. There have also been other accounts of groups being taken hostage, and horrifying details of how they behead their hostages. There are other groups though, that plague Manila and other sectors of the Philippines, even to this day it is a problem.

The Philippines are a haven for drug smugglers, and a good portion of illegal drugs come from the Philippines and are dealt in many countries. The source is said to be linked to the Abu Sayyaf group, where marijuana is produced in provinces they control. The Philippines is also seen as a major transhipment point for methamphetamines to Japan, Australia, Korea, the U.S., Guam and Saipan. For Further references click on the link..Current Issues

For more information on the Philippines click on the links below...

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