the Republic of the Philippines

Republic of the Philippines

General information: The Philippines is an island state located on over 7,100 islands in western Pacific. Less than 300 of these islands are populated. The largest of these are Cebu, Luzon, Leyte, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Palawan, Panay, and Samar. The Philippines has a subequatorial maritime climate with monsoons, equatorial in the south and tropical in the mountains. The Philippines experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity. According to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the Philippines is the 4^th most disaster-prone country in the world. Fifteen natural disasters, including typhoons, floods and landslides, hit the Philippines in 2016 alone.

Area: 300,800 square kilometres.

Population: 104 million (annual increase 2 percent). Urban population: 65 percent. There are some 180 ethnic groups in the countries, the largest of which are Tagalog (28.1 percent), Visayans (31 percent), Moro (10 percent), and Ilocano (9 percent). There are some 2 million ethnic Chinese, as well as many Koreans, Japanese and Americans.

Capital: Metropolitan Manila (population 15 million) on Luzon Island. Officially known as the National Capital Region (NCR), it comprises 17 municipalities.

Political system: Under the 1987 Constitution, the Philippines is a unitary presidential constitutional republic. The President is elected for six years in direct general elections without the right of extension or re-election. The President is also head of the cabinet of ministers (government) and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The latest presidential and parliamentary elections were held on May 9, 2016.

Supreme legislative authority: The Congress. It consists of the Senate (upper house, 24 seats) and the House of Representatives (lower house, 252 seats). Senators are elected for a term of six years (12 Senators every three years, with a maximum of two consecutive terms). Representatives, or Congressmen/Congresswomen, are elected for a three-year term but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms. The current President of the Senate is Aquilino Pimentel III, and the current Speaker of the House of Representatives is Pantaleon Alvarez.

The current head of state, President Rodrigo Duterte, assumed office on June 30, 2016. His Vice President is Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo. Perfecto Yasay Jr. held the post of Secretary of Foreign Affairs ad interim between June 30, 2016 and March 8, 2017. On March 9, 2017, his appointment was not confirmed due to questions about his Philippine citizenship status after a period of United States citizenship (prior to his appointment he denied that he was an American citizen and held a US passport). On May 10, 2017, President Duterte appointed Alan Caetano to the post.

Religion: Over 70 percent of population are Catholic, 12 percent Protestant and over 10 percent Muslim. There are also Buddhists and the followers of Animism. Over 2.5 million people constitute the congregation of the Adventist church Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ).

Official languages: Filipino and English.

National language: Filipino (based on the Tagalog language). There are also over 100 local languages.

National holiday: Independence Day marked on June 12, when independence from Spain was declared in 1898.

Currency: Philippine peso (PHP). On February 1, 2017, 1 USD equalled 49.80 PHP, 1 EUR equalled 53.70 PHP.

History: The Philippines was a colony of Spain for over 300 years (1571-1898) and then of the United States (1898-1946). On July 4, 1946, the United States recognised it as an independent state.

Most people in the Philippines are of Austronesian ancestry, which means that they descended from Austronesians, who lived in a vast area of Southeast Asia. Islam reached the Philippines from Indonesia and Malaya at the turn of 14^th century and is mostly widespread on the Sulu Archipelago and the Mindanao Island.

The colonisation of the Philippines began in 1521 with the arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition. The first Spanish settlement was formed on Cebu Island in 1565. In 1896, a secret society called the Katipunan launched armed resistance against the Spanish authorities that eventually developed into a liberation revolution. Independence was declared on June 12, 1896, and the Constitution of the First Philippine Republic was adopted in December. In 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for a compensation of $20 million under the Treaty of Paris.

Japan occupied the Philippines in 1942-1945. The republic declared independence on July 4, 1946. Ferdinand Marcos, who was elected President in 1965, suspended the Constitution and declared martial law in 1972, which lasted until 1981. Corazon Aquino came to power in 1986 in a non-violent revolution. The current Constitution was adopted in 1987. The republic’s President in 2001-2010 was Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Domestic politics: Threats to internal security of the Philippines persist, and there is the unresolved problem of radical left-wing movements. Armed clashes between the government forces and Islamist and separatists groups continue in the southern regions. Piracy is a major problem near the Philippines, and the terrorist threat has not abated.

On May 23, 2017, a surge in tensions in the south of the Philippines led to fighting between government and law enforcement forces, on the one hand, and terrorists from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, on the other hand. President Duterte declared martial law on Mindanao Island and in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The President also launched a large-scale struggle against illicit drugs.

The government has resumed talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), a radical left-wing movement.

Economy: The Philippine economy is export-oriented and depends on demand in importing countries and on the import of components. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s GDP equalled $292 billion in в 2016, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2015. GDP by sector: services 58.8 percent; industry 30.9 percent; forestry, agriculture and fishing 10.3 percent. Per capita GDP was $1,917.

Foreign direct investment in the Philippine economy amounts to some $6 billion. The leading investors are the United States, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, South Korea and Great Britain.

In 2016, the Philippine foreign trade amounted to $122.1 billion (imports: $73.4 billion, exports: $48.7 billion). The republic mostly exports electronic goods, foods (fish and other seafood plus coconut oil), tobacco and clothes. Its imports comprise electronic components and materials, industrial raw materials, semi-finished goods and energy.

The Philippines’ largest trade partners are China, the United States and Japan.

The Philippines has a problem of social inequality: over 25 percent of Filipinos live below the poverty line on $2 per person per day, and 5.6 percent are jobless. The logical result of this is growing crime, especially in large cities.

The country’s economic growth is hindered by inadequate legislation, exorbitant energy prices and internal instability, as well as substandard transport infrastructure. Frequent natural disasters have a major negative impact on social wellbeing.

Money transfers from 2.3 million Filipinos who work abroad account for some 10 percent of GDP ($29.7 billion in 2016) and are a major factor stabilising the national economy.

Armed forces: The number of military personnel in the Philippines is 117,500, including 79,000 in the army, 22,500 in the navy and 16,000 in the air force. The current Secretary of National Defence is Maj. Gen. Delfin Lorenzana.

Foreign policy: The Philippines’ declared policy is based on the rule of international law and the coordinating role of the UN in the system of international relations and is aimed at strengthening the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in regional affairs. The country’s policy is focused on security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, sustainable economic growth, and the rights and legitimate interests of the Philippine diaspora abroad.

The country is involved in territorial disputes with China and Vietnam over part of Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. In January 2013, the Philippines filed a lawsuit against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. On July 12, 2016, the Hague tribunal overwhelmingly backed the Philippines in the case on the disputed waters of the South China Sea. The Duterte administration subsequently decided to work together with China to find mutually acceptable solutions to the territorial disputes. The Philippines also opted for gradually reducing joint patrols and naval exercises with the United States in the disputed South China Sea.

The country’s foreign policy priorities also include the strengthening of relations with ASEAN member states, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and EU countries.

The Philippines’ current administration has announced its intention to ease its focus on the United States and to diversify its foreign ties.

The Philippines held the rotating APEC chairmanship in 2015 and assumed the ASEAN chairmanship in January 2017. Between January 2015 and June 2016, the country chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming.

The Philippines is actively involved in the activities of the UN, regional organisations such as ASEAN, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit, as well as interregional organisations such as APEC and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). There are 922 Filipinos in the UN peacekeeping contingent. In October 2015, the country was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council for 2016-2018.

The protection of Filipinos working abroad is a major goal of the country’s foreign policy.

Media: The Philippines’ mainstream print media outlets are published in English. Their online versions are the country’s main online publications. The leading periodicals include newspapers Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Enquirer, The Philippine Star, The Manila Times, Manila Standard, Malaya Business Insight and Business Mirror, as well as current affairs magazine Philippines Graphic.