[REPORT ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES; HISTORY,

CULTURE, FOOD, TOURIST DESTINATIONS]

THE RICH PHILIPPINE HISTORY
The Early Philippines
The Philippines is named after King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) and it was a
Spanish colony for over 300 years.
Today the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,000 islands. However it is
believed that during the last ice age they were joined to mainland Asia by a
land bridge, enabling human beings to walk from there.
The first people in the Philippines were hunter-gatherers. However between
3,000 BC and 2,000 BC people learned to farm. They grew rice and
domesticated animals. From the 10th AD century Filipinos traded with China
and by the 12th Century AD Arab merchants reached the Philippines and
they introduced Islam.
Then in 1521 Ferdinand Magellan sailed across the Pacific. He landed in the
Philippines and claimed them for Spain. Magellan baptized a chief called
Humabon and hoped to make him a puppet ruler on behalf of the Spanish
crown. Magellan demanded that other chiefs submit to Humabon but one
chief named Lapu Lapu refused. Magellan led a force to crush him. However
the Spanish soldiers were scattered and Magellan was killed.
The Spaniards did not gain a foothold in the Philippines until 1565 when
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led an expedition, which built a fort in Cebu. Later,
in 1571 the Spaniards landed in Luzon. Here they built the city of Intramuros
(later called Manila), which became the capital of the Philippines. Spanish
conquistadors marched inland and conquered Luzon. They created a feudal
system. Spaniards owned vast estates worked by Filipinos.
Along with conquistadors went friars who converted the Filipinos to
Catholicism. The friars also built schools and universities.
The Spanish colony in the Philippines brought prosperity - for the upper class
anyway! Each year the Chinese exported goods such as silk, porcelain and
lacquer to the Philippines. From there they were re-exported to Mexico.

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[REPORT ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES; HISTORY,

CULTURE, FOOD, TOURIST DESTINATIONS]
The years passed uneventfully in the Philippines until in 1762 the British
captured Manila. They held it for two years but they handed it back in 1764
under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1763.
The Philippines in the 19th Century
In 1872 there was a rebellion in Cavite but it was quickly crushed. However
nationalist feeling continued to grow helped by a writer named Jose Rizal
(1861-1896). He wrote two novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch me Not) and El
Filibusterismo (The Filibusterer) which stoked the fires of nationalism.
In 1892 Jose Rizal founded a movement called Liga Filipina, which called for
reform rather than revolution. As a result Rizal was arrested and exiled to
Dapitan on Mindanao.
Meanwhile Andres Bonifacio formed a more extreme organisation called the
Katipunan. In August 1896 they began a revolution. Jose Rizal was accused of
supporting the revolution, although he did not and he was executed on 30
December 1896. Yet his execution merely inflamed Filipino opinion and the
revolution grew.
Then in 1898 came war between the USA and Spain. On 30 April 1898 the
Americans defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Meanwhile Filipino
revolutionaries had surrounded Manila. Their leader, Emilio Aguinaldo
declared the Philippines independent on 12 June. However as part of the
peace treaty Spain ceded the Philippines to the USA. The Americans planned
to take over.
War between American forces in Manila and the Filipinos began on 4
February 1899. The Filipino-American War lasted until 1902 when Aguinaldo
was captured.
The Philippines in the 20th Century
American rule in the Philippines was paternalistic. They called their policy
'Benevolent Assimilation'. They wanted to 'Americanize' the Filipinos but they
never quite succeeded. However they did do some good. Many American
teachers were sent to the Philippines in a ship called the Thomas and they
did increase literacy.

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[REPORT ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES; HISTORY,

CULTURE, FOOD, TOURIST DESTINATIONS]
In 1935 the Philippines were made a commonwealth and were semiindependent. Manuel Quezon became president. The USA promised that the
Philippines would become completely independent in 1945.
However in December 1941 Japan attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. On
10 December 1941 Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. They captured
Manila on 2 January 1941. By 6 May 1942 all of the Philippines were in
Japanese hands.
However American troops returned to the Philippines in October 1944. They
recaptured Manila in February 1945.
The Philippines became independent on 4 July 1946. Manuel Roxas was the
first president of the newly independent nation.
Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) was elected president in 1965. He was reelected in 1969. However the Philippines was dogged by poverty and
inequality. In the 1960s a land reform program began. However many
peasants were frustrated by its slow progress and a Communist insurgency
began in the countryside.
On 21 September 1972 Marcos declared martial law. He imposed a curfew,
suspended Congress and arrested opposition leaders.
The Marcos dictatorship was exceedingly corrupt and Marcos and his cronies
enriched themselves.
Then, in 1980 opposition leader Benigno Aquino went into exile in the USA.
When he returned on 21 August 1983 he was shot. Aquino became a martyr
and Filipinos were enraged by his murder.
In February 1986 Marcos called an election. The opposition united behind
Cory Aquino the widow of Benigno. Marcos claimed victory (a clear case of
electoral fraud). Cory Aquino also claimed victory and ordinary people took
to the streets to show their support for her. Marcos's cronies deserted him
and he bowed to the inevitable and went into exile.
Things did not go smoothly for Corazon Aquino. (She survived 7 coup
attempts). Furthermore the American bases in the Philippines (Subic Bay
Naval Base and Clark Air Base) were unpopular with many Filipinos who felt
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[REPORT ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES; HISTORY,

CULTURE, FOOD, TOURIST DESTINATIONS]
they should go. In 1992 Mount Pinatubo erupted and covered Clark in
volcanic ash forcing the Americans to leave. They left Subic Bay in 1993.
In 1992 Fidel Ramos became president. He improved the infrastructure in the
Philippines including the electricity supply. Industry was privatized and the
economy began to grow more rapidly.
However at the end of the 1990s the Philippine economy entered a crisis.
Meanwhile in 1998 Joseph Estrada, known as Erap became president. Estrada
was accused of corruption and he was impeached in November 2000.
Estrada was not convicted. Nevertheless people demonstrated against him
and the military withdrew its support. Estrada was forced to leave office and
Vice-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo replaced him. She was re-elected in
2004.
The Philippines in the 21st Century
Today poverty in the Philippines is still common. However in the first years of
the 21st century the Philippine economy grew at about 5% a year. The
Philippines suffered with the recession of 2009. However the Philippines
recovered and today there is reason to be optimistic for the future.
In 2012 Philippine legislators voted for an important reform. They voted for
government funding of contraceptives and sex education in schools despite
bitter opposition from the Catholic Church.
Today the population of the Philippines is 103 million.
The rules of the Presidents:

Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules

in
in
in
in

Agriculture
Religion
Taxes
Crimes

These are the Foods that are in the Philippines:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Pakbet
Adobo
Tilapia
Tuyo
Sisig
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[REPORT ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES; HISTORY,

CULTURE, FOOD, TOURIST DESTINATIONS]

Top 10 Countriesby growth in Tourist Receipts

50
40
30
20
10
0

Percent Change on tourist receipts

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