http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/Philippine-Travel-blog.html Philippine Travel Updates to tropical vacations on beaches, mountains, diving, treking adventures, surfing and more. en-us Philippine Travel Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:30:05 GMT Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:30:05 GMT phil-ip-pines.com http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/index.html Everything you want to know about Philippine Travel and a very personal tourism guide for hotels, destinations, scuba diving, beach vacations, mountain climbing, whitewater adventure, hiking and trekking, heritage trails, ecotourism, exciting festivals, etc. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:43 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/antipolo-festivals.html The most colorful celebrations may be witnessed in the Antipolo Festivals. Among the festivals are the Palaspas, Domingo De Ramos Festival, Cenaculo, Penitencia, Pabasa, Giwang-Giwang, Subok, Salubong, Santakrusan Festival, Flores de Mayo Festival, Paalay Festival, Tayo na Antipolo Festival,San Isidro Festival, Carabao Festival, Higantes Festival, Santo Entierro, and San Clemente Festivals. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:41 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/anilao.html Anilao Diving Guide - combines crystal clear waters, sugary beaches and lush landscapes into an idyllic tourist haven that is guaranteed to fascinate and lull visitors into tranquil harmony with its simplistic beauty. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:39 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/bocaue-pagoda-festival.html The Bocaue River Festival is held in honor of the Holy Cross of Bocaue Bulacan or Krus ng Wawa. The Bocaue river festival is every first Sunday of July. It features the procession down the river by hundred?s devotes. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:38 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/black-nazarene.html The Black Nazarene Festival centers on the image of the Black Nazarene. The highlight of the festival is an afternoon procession by thousands of devotees. Other millions of the Black Nazarene devotees will watch or join the procession. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:36 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/baguio-city.html Baguio City - Situated in the heart of the Cordilleras and about 250 km north of Manila, Baguio City is blessed with a cool temperature all through out the year. A "must see place" away from the scourging lowland heat especially on the summer months of March to May. Baguio City does not boast of many famous monuments nor historical buildings for it was destroyed during the world war II and the earthquake in 1990 leaving behind thousands of lives lost. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:35 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/ati-atihan.html No one remains a spectator at Ati-Atihan for long. Many travelers join in the celebration by painting their faces and wearing costumes. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:33 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/bohol.html A1 Bohol Philippine Travel and Tourism Vacation Guide: news, beach, diving, hiking, trekking, mountain climbing, surfing, ecotourism, heritage tours, festivals, etc. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:31 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/cabilao-diving.html Cabilao Diving Guide - Diving Vacation Philippines. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:29 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/camiguin-island.html If you have explored all the nooks, crannies and the splendour of Bohol then it is high time that you venture into another paradise island, Camiguin Island Philippines. Camiguin may surpass Bohol in one aspect: it is home to 7 volcanoes! No other island in Southeast Asia has this number of volcanoes . . . and active at that!. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:17:27 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippine-beaches.html Philippine Beach Vacations to boracay, pagudpud, mactan, camiguin, dakak, honda bay, el nido, pearl farm, siargao Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:06:29 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/about-philippines.html Studies and articles about Philippines History, geography, society, economy, government, politics, church and state, etc. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:06:27 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/apo-island.html Take a magical diving trip in the underwater world of Apo Island Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:49:50 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/boracay-map.html Boracay Map -seven kilometers long and one kilometer wide at its narrowest point and is located just off the northern tip of Panay Island. The northern and southern parts of the island rise with elevations of 100 meters above sea level. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:59:36 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-war-of-resistance.html Philippines War of Resistance Hostilities broke out on the night of February 4, 1899, after two American privates on patrol killed three Filipino soldiers in a suburb of Manila. Thus began a war that would last for more than two years. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:41:24 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-usa-rule.html Philippines under the United States On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), a five-person group headed by Dr. Jacob Schurman, president of Cornell University, and including Admiral Dewey and General Otis, to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:40:59 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-usa-relations.html Philippines Relations with the United States In the late 1980s, Philippine-United States relations were bedeviled by a new problem: heightened concern for the safety of United States military and civilian personnel in the Philippines. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:40:32 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-usa-dependence.html Philippines after USA Independence If the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in November 1935 marked the high point of Philippine-United States relations, the actual achievement of independence was in many ways a disillusioning anticlimax. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:40:01 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-urban-social.html Urban Social Patterns Because of its fine colleges and universities, including the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University, some of the best in Southeast Asia, the Manila area was a magnet for the best minds of the nation. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:39:35 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-tribal-groups.html Another minority, the more than 100 upland tribal groups, in 1990 constituted approximately 3 percent of the population. As lowland Filipinos, both Muslim and Christian, grew in numbers and expanded into the interiors of Luzon, Mindoro, Mindanao, and other islands, they isolated upland tribal communities in pockets. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:39:09 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-trapo.html Old-Style Politics Philippine politics, along with other aspects of society, rely heavily on kinship and other personal relationships. To win a local election, one must assemble a coalition of families. To win a provincial election, the important families in each town must be drawn into a wider structure. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:38:45 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-tourism.html Political instability in the country during the 1980s also was a deterrent to tourism. The Medium-Term Development Plan called for promotion of both domestic and international tourism. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:38:21 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-sugar.html From the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-1970s, sugar was the most important agricultural export of the Philippines, not only because of the foreign exchange earned, but also because sugar was the basis for the accumulation of wealth of a significant segment of the Filipino elite. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:37:57 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-society.html Philippines Society primarily a rural society in 1990, despite increasing signs of urbanization. The family remained the prime unit of social awareness, and ritual kin relations and associations of a patron-client nature still were the basis for social groupings beyond the nuclear family, rather than horizontal ties forged among members of economically based social classes. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:37:32 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-social-values.html Social Values and Organization The great majority of the Philippine population is bound together by common values and a common religion. Philippine society is characterized by many positive traits. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:37:07 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-social-patterns.html Rural Social Patterns In the rural Philippines, traditional values remained the rule. The family was central to a Filipino's identity Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:36:43 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-security-aggreements.html Security Agreements The Philippines became an integral part of emerging United States security arrangements in the western Pacific upon approval of the Military Bases Agreement in March 1947. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:36:18 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-religion.html Religion holds a central place in the life of most Filipinos, including Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants, and animists. It is central not as an abstract belief system, but rather as a host of experiences, rituals, ceremonies, and adjurations that provide continuity in life, cohesion in the community, and moral purpose for existence. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:35:50 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-religion-history.html Historical Background Spanish colonialism had, from its formal inception in 1565 with the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, as its principal raison d'etre the conversion of the inhabitants to Christianity. When Legazpi embarked on his conversion efforts, most Filipinos were still practicing a form of polytheism, although some as far north as Manila had converted to Islam. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:35:25 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-reform.html Coconut Industry Reform The Philippines is the world's second largest producer of coconut products, after Indonesia. In 1989 it produced 11.8 million tons. In 1989, coconut products, coconut oil, copra (dried coconut), and desiccated coconut accounted for approximately 6.7 percent of Philippine exports. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:34:58 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-protestants.html Philippines Protestantism From the start, Protestant churches in the Philippines were plagued by disunity and schisms. At one point after World War II, there were more than 200 denominations representing less than 3 percent of the populace. Successful mergers of some denominations into the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the formation of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) brought a degree of order. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:34:22 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-poverty.html Poverty and Welfare In 1990 the Philippines had not yet recovered from the economic and political crisis of the first half of the 1980s. At P18,419, or US$668, per capita GNP in 1990 remained, in real terms, below the level of 1978. A major thrust of Aquino's 1986 People Power Revolution was to address the needs of impoverished Filipinos. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:33:57 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-population.html The Philippine population in the early 1990s continued to grow at a rapid, although somewhat reduced rate from that which had prevailed in the preceding decades. In 1990 the Philippine population was more than 66 million, up from 48 million in 1980. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:33:31 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-politics.html In 1991 Philippine politics resembled nothing so much as the "good old days" of the pre-martial law period--wide-open, sometimes irresponsible, but undeniably free. Pre-martial law politics, however, essentially were a distraction from the nation's serious problems. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:33:07 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-political-parties.html Philippine political parties are essentially nonideological vehicles for personal and factional political ambition. The party system in the early 1990s closely resembled that of the premartial law years when the Nacionalista and Liberal parties alternated in power. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:32:41 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-political-economy.html Economic Development In the mid-nineteenth century, a Filipino landowning elite developed on the basis of the export of abaca (Manila hemp), sugar, and other agricultural products. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:31:46 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-people-power.html People Power Many of the government troops defected, including the crews of seven helicopter gunships, which seemed poised to attack the massive crowd on February 24 but landed in Camp Crame to announce their support for People's Power. Violent confrontations were prevented. The Philippine troops did not want to wage war on their own people. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:31:18 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-national-gov.html National Government Under the Constitution, the government is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial departments. The separation of powers is based on the theory of checks and balances. The presidency is not as strong as it was under the 1973 constitution. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:30:52 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-muslims.html Muslims, about 5 percent of the total population, were the most significant minority in the Philippines. Although undifferentiated racially from other Filipinos, in the 1990s they remained outside the mainstream of national life, set apart by their religion and way of life. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:30:25 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-mining.html Philippines Mining The 1980s were difficult for mining in the Philippines. In 1990 the mining and quarrying sector contributed 1.5 percent of GNP, approximately half the percentage it had accounted for ten years earlier. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:30:02 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-media.html The Constitution guarantees freedom of the press and also provides free access to records, documents, and papers pertaining to official acts. Government officials, however, tended to be leery of reporters, who sometimes ran stories gathered from a single source or based on hearsay. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:29:25 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-martial-law.html On September 21, 1972, Marcos issued Proclamation 1081, declaring martial law over the entire country. Under the president's command, the military arrested opposition figures, including Benigno Aquino, journalists, student and labor activists, and criminal elements. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:28:51 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-marial-law-aftermath.html Philippines Martial Law and its Aftermath It was in this environment in August 1983 that President Marcos's foremost critic, former Senator Benigno Aquino, returned from exile and was assassinated. The country was thrown into an economic and political crisis that resulted eventually, in February 1986, in the ending of Marcos's twenty-one-year rule and his flight from the Philippines. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:27:23 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-marcos.html Marcos dominated the political scene for the next two decades, first as an elected president in 1965 and 1969, and then as a virtual dictator after his 1972 proclamation of martial law. Marcos and the Road to Martial Law Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:26:56 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-magsaysay.html Ramon Magsaysay, a member of Congress from Zambales Province and veteran of a non-Huk guerrilla unit during the war, became secretary of defense in 1950. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:26:32 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-lowlands.html Although lowland Christians maintained stylistic differences in dress until the twentieth century and had always taken pride in their unique culinary specialties, they continued to be a remarkably homogeneous core population of the Philippines. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:26:06 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-local-government.html The 1987 Constitution retains the three-tiered structure of local government. There were seventy-three provinces in 1991. The province was the largest local administrative unit, headed by the elected governor and aided by a vice governor, also elected. Other officials were appointed to head offices concerned with finance, tax collection, audit, public works, agricultural services, health, and schools. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:25:41 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-livestock.html Philippines Livestock In 1990 the livestock industry, consisting primarily of cattle, carabao (water buffalo), hogs, and chickens, accounted for almost 20 percent of value added in the agricultural sector, up from 12 percent in 1980. Much of the growth came from the rapid expansion of poultry raising, which had begun to develop as a commercial industry in the 1960s. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:14:05 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-leadership.html The policy of attraction ensured the success of what colonial administrators called the political education of the Filipinos. It was, however, also the cause of its greatest failure. Osme?a and Quezon, as the acknowledged representatives, were not genuinely interested in social reform, and serious problems involving land ownership, tenancy, and the highly unequal distribution of wealth were largely ignored. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:13:30 GMT http://www.phil-ip-pines.com/philippines-language.html Some eleven languages and eighty-seven dialects were spoken in the Philippines in the late 1980s. Eight of these--Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicolano, Waray-Waray, Pampangan, and Pangasinan--were native tongues for about 90 percent of the population. All eight belong to the Malay-Polynesian language family and are related to Indonesian and Malay, but no two are mutually comprehensible. Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:12:51 GMT