Welcome To The Philippines
                                  =====================
                                  BY :  TSURTIDOGNI
                                            032508
                                            TUESDAY

Welcome !
Travel at your own time among the Filipinos. That is the only way you can really
discover the Philippines.
Have a wonderful journey through a country of  7,100 islands.

LANGUAGE

The Philippines has a national language called Pilipino. English is the language of
instruction and is almost universally understood. There are 11 linguistic, cultural groups in the Philippines with a total of about 70 dialects. The major groups are
the following : Tagalog or Pilipino, Cebuano, Ilocano,Bicol, Waray, Ilonggo, Pampango, Pangasinan and Maranao.
Spanish, Arabic, Chinese,Japanese are spoken by some.

CLIMATE

The Philippines has a tropical climate with high humidity, mild temperature, abundant rainfall and winds. Three seasons are as follows:
1)  The wet or rainy season is from the month of June to October.
2)  The cool dry season is from the month of November to February
3)  The hot dry season is from March to May ( We call that Summertime)

GEOGRAPHY

The total land area of the country is about 115,880 square miles or 300,439 square
kilometers, with its coastline of 10,850 miles or 17,465 kilometers. It is composed of
7,100 islands, scattered all over an area of approximately 500,000 square miles
(1,285,000 square kilometers).Its length measures 1,150 miles about 1,850 kilometers, starting from the point near the southern tip of Taiwan and ending close
to northern Borneo.
The Pacific Ocean on the east, the South China on the west and the north, and the
Celebes Sea on the south. Most of the islands in the country are tips of extinct
volcanoes and ridges of underwater mountain ranges that surround the western side
of the Pacific.
The country is actually divided into three big islands called Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao.
These three islands plains, narrow valleys, rolling hills and high mountains. The shorelines of both large and small islands are irregular.

EDUCATION

School calendar for Philippines starts in June and ends in March.Colleges and
universities follow the semestral calendar from June-October,and November-March.
Philippines education is patterned after the American system, with English as the
medium of instruction. Schools are classified into public(government schools) and
private(non-government schools).
The school has the following four stages:
1)  Pre-primary level    -  nursery and kindergarten
2)  Elementary            -  six years from grade 1 to grade 6
3)  Secondary            -  four years from first year to fourth year high school
4)  College                  -  usually takes four or five years and in some cases as
                                    much as 8 years not including the review like the 
                                    physicians(doctor of medicine) and legal studies for
                                    lawyers that takes 8 long college years.


HISTORY

Ferdinand Magellan a Portuguese sailor discovered the Philippines in March 16, 1521. The Philippines was named after King Philip of Spain at that time.The Spanish
called it Las Islas Pilipinas. The country was under Spanish for a long period of time
and the Spaniards were taken over by the Americans in the year 1898 .
The Philippines National Hero, Jose Rizal(1861-1896), was a linguist, artist, writer
and a doctor. For his leadership in the reform movement, he was arrested and later
executed by the Spaniards.

The declaration of freedom or the Independence Day was on June 12, 1898. As early
as the 1920's, more than a third of the population of school age went to school.

RELIGION

Christianity was introduced as early as the 16thcentury. The teachings were based
on Roman Catholicism.Islam was introduced earlier during the 14th century. Protestantism was introduced to the country in 1899, the Baptists in1900,
Iglesia Ni Kristo in 1902.

GOVERNMENT

The unit of society starts with a barangay run by a barangay captain,municipalities
run by town mayors, provincial government run by a provincial governor and mayor
of a city run by a city mayor, then we have the Congress and the Senate and lead
by the national governance of the President of the Republic of the Philippines.

HOW TO GET THERE

BY AIR
There are daily flights from the major cities of Europe, Asia, Middle East and the
United States  Philippine Airlines operates international and domestic routes as well
as Cebu Pacific Airlines.
There are also major airlines all over the world serving the Philippines.

DOCUMENTS

It is necessary to have a valid passport before entering the Philippines.

CURRENCY
The official monetary unit is the PESO.
The exchange rate is liable to fluctuation, as a guide one US$1 is approximately
equal to forty pesos P40.00
Mastercards and Visa cards are acceptable while travellers checks may be
encashed in all commercial banks and are accepted in most hotels and restaurants
and some shops.

WHAT TO WEAR

Light casual clothes are recommended for travel in the Philippines. Informal clothes
are generally acceptable everywhere.However, international hotels, insist on a jacket
and tie in the evenings. The long-sleeved Barong Tagalog is considered an
appropriate formal wear.

ELECTRICITY

The power supply is 220 volts.

INTERNETS

Internets available in major cities and some resorts in the countryside.

TIPPING

Tipping is an accepted practice especially in the hotel and restaurants.

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

Available upon requests. Mostly hotels have their free newspapers placed in their
main lobby and restaurants.