|
| Officially, Republic of the Philippines, republic (1995 est.
pop. 73,265,000),
115,830 sq mi (300,000 sq km), SW Pacific, in Malay Archipelago off the
SE Asia mainland. It comprises over 7,000 islands and rocks, of which
only
c.400 are permanently inhabited. The 11 largest islands—Luzon,
Mindanao, Samar, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol,
and
Masbate—contain about 95% of the total land area. The northernmost
point
of land, the islet of Y’Ami in the Batan Islands, is separated from
Taiwan
by the Bashi Channel (c.50 mi/80 km wide). Manila, on Luzon, is the
capital,
the largest city, and the heart of the country. |
1 |
| |
| Land |
| The Philippines extend 1,152 mi (1,855 km) from north to
south, between
Taiwan and Borneo, and 688 mi (1,108 km) from east to west, and are
bounded
by the Philippine Sea on the east, the Celebes Sea on the south, and
the
South China Sea on the west. They comprise three natural divisions—the
northern, which includes Luzon and attendant islands; the central,
occupied
by the Visayan Islands and Palawan and Mindoro; and the southern,
containing
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. |
2 |
| The Philippines are chiefly of volcanic origin. Most of the
larger
islands are traversed by mountain ranges, with Mt. Apo (9,690 ft/2,954
m), on Mindanao, the highest peak. Narrow coastal plains, wide valleys,
volcanoes, dense forests, and mineral and hot springs further
characterize
the larger islands. Earthquakes are common. Of the navigable rivers,
Cagayan,
on Luzon, is the largest; there are also large lakes on Luzon and
Mindanao. |
3 |
| The Philippines are entirely within the tropical zone.
Manila, with
a mean daily temperature of 79.5°F (26. 4°C), is typical of the
climate of the lowland areas—hot, humid, and enervating. The highlands,
however, have a bracing climate; e.g., Baguio,
the summer capital, on Luzon, has a mean annual temperature of 64°F
(17.8°C). |
4 |
| Administratively, the republic is divided into 72 provinces
and 61
chartered cities. In addition to Manila, other important centers are Quezon
City, also on Luzon; Cebu, on Cebu Island; Iloilo,
on Panay; Davao
and Zamboanga,
on Mindanao; and Jolo, on Jolo Island in the Sulu Archipelago. |
5 |
| |
| People |
| The great majority of the people of the Philippines belong to
the Malay
group and are known as Filipinos. Other groups include the Negritos
(negroid
pygmies) and the Dumagats (similar to the Papuans of New Guinea), and
there
is a small Chinese minority. The Filipinos live mostly in the lowlands
and constitute one of the largest Christian groups in Asia. Roman
Catholicism
is professed by over 80% of the population; 5% are Aglipayans, members
of the Philippine Independent Church, a nationalistic offshoot of
Catholicism
(see Aglipay,
Gregorio); 5% are Muslims
(concentrated on Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago; see Moros);
and 4% are Protestants. |
6 |
| Some 70 native languages are spoken in the Philippines. The
official
national language is Pilipino, a form of Tagalog. A considerable number
of Filipinos speak English, the nation’s second language. |
7 |
| |
| Economy |
| With their tropical climate, heavy rainfall, and naturally
fertile
volcanic soil, the Philippines are predominantly agricultural. Rice,
corn,
and coconuts take up about 80% of all cropland. Sugarcane, sweet
potatoes,
manioc, bananas, hemp, tobacco, and coffee are also important crops.
Carabao
(water buffalo), pigs, chickens, goats, and ducks are widely raised,
and
there is dairy farming. Fishing is a common occupation; the Sulu
Archipelago
is noted for its pearls and mother-of-pearl shell. |
8 |
| The islands have one of the world’s greatest stands of
commercial timber.
There are also mineral resources such as nickel, zinc, copper, cobalt,
gold, silver, iron ore, and chromite. Nonmetallic minerals include rock
asphalt, gypsum, asbestos, sulfur, and coal. Limestone, adobe, and
marble
are quarried, and petroleum is mined. |
9 |
| Manufacturing is concentrated in metropolitan Manila, near
the nation’s
prime port, but there has been considerable industrial growth on Cebu,
Negros, and Mindanao in recent years. Textiles, pharmaceuticals, and
chemicals
are manufactured, and the assembly of electronics and automobiles is
important.
Other industries include food processing and petroleum refining. The
former
U.S. military base at Subic Bay was redeveloped in the 1990s as a
free-trade
zone. Chief exports are electronics and telecommunications equipment,
lumber
and plywood, machinery, garments, coconut products, copper, and sugar.
The main imports are raw materials, production equipment, and
intermediate
goods for processing. The chief trading partners are the United States
and Japan. |
10 |
| |
| Government |
| The Philippines is governed under the constitution of 1987.
The president,
who is both chief of state and head of the government, is elected by
popular
vote for a six-year term. The bicameral legislature consists of a
24-seat
senate and a 204-seat house of representatives, both of whose members
are
popularly elected. There is an independent judiciary headed by a
supreme
court. |
11 |
| |
| History |
| |
| Early History to World War II |
| The Negritos are believed to have migrated to the Philippines
some
30,000 years ago from Borneo, Sumatra, and Malaya. The Malayans
followed
in successive waves. These people belonged to a primitive epoch of
Malayan
culture, which has apparently survived to this day among certain groups
such as the Igorots. The Malayan tribes that came later had more highly
developed material cultures. |
12 |
| In the 14th cent. Arab traders from Malay and Borneo
introduced Islam
into the southern islands and extended their influence as far north as
Luzon. The first Europeans to visit (1521) the Philippines were those
in
the Spanish expedition around the world led by the Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan. Other Spanish expeditions followed, including one
from
New Spain (Mexico) under López de Villalobos, who in 1542 named
the islands for the infante Philip, later Philip II. |
13 |
| |
| Spanish Control |
| The conquest of the Filipinos by Spain did not begin in
earnest until
1564, when another expedition from New Spain, commanded by Miguel
López
de Legaspi,
arrived. Spanish leadership
was soon established over many small independent communities that
previously
had known no central rule. By 1571, when López de Legaspi
established
the Spanish city of Manila on the site of a Moro town he had conquered
the year before, the Spanish foothold in the Philippines was secure,
despite
the opposition of the Portuguese, who were eager to maintain their
monopoly
on the trade of East Asia. |
14 |
| Manila repulsed the attack of the Chinese pirate Limahong in
1574.
For centuries before the Spanish arrived the Chinese had traded with
the
Filipinos, but evidently none had settled permanently in the islands
until
after the conquest. Chinese trade and labor were of great importance in
the early development of the Spanish colony, but the Chinese came to be
feared and hated because of their increasing numbers, and in 1603 the
Spanish
murdered thousands of them (later, there were lesser massacres of the
Chinese). |
15 |
| The Spanish governor, made a viceroy in 1589, ruled with the
advice
of the powerful royal audiencia. There were frequent uprisings by the
Filipinos,
who resented the encomienda
system.
By the end of the 16th cent. Manila had become a leading commercial
center
of East Asia, carrying on a flourishing trade with China, India, and
the
East Indies. The Philippines supplied some wealth (including gold) to
Spain,
and the richly laden galleons plying between the islands and New Spain
were often attacked by English freebooters. There was also trouble from
other quarters, and the period from 1600 to 1663 was marked by
continual
wars with the Dutch, who were laying the foundations of their rich
empire
in the East Indies, and with Moro pirates. One of the most difficult
problems
the Spanish faced was the subjugation of the Moros. Intermittent
campaigns
were conducted against them but without conclusive results until the
middle
of the 19th cent. As the power of the Spanish Empire waned, the Jesuit
orders became more influential in the Philippines and acquired great
amounts
of property. |
16 |
| |
| Revolution, War, and U.S. Control |
| It was the opposition to the power of the clergy that in
large measure
brought about the rising sentiment for independence. Spanish
injustices,
bigotry, and economic oppressions fed the movement, which was greatly
inspired
by the brilliant writings of José Rizal.
In 1896 revolution began in the province of Cavite, and after the
execution
of Rizal that December, it spread throughout the major islands. The
Filipino
leader, Emilio Aguinaldo,
achieved considerable
success before a peace was patched up with Spain. The peace was
short-lived,
however, for neither side honored its agreements, and a new revolution
was brewing when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898. |
17 |
| After the U.S. naval victory in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898,
Commodore
George Dewey supplied Aguinaldo with arms and urged him to rally the
Filipinos
against the Spanish. By the time U.S. land forces had arrived, the
Filipinos
had taken the entire island of Luzon, except for the old walled city of
Manila, which they were besieging. The Filipinos had also declared
their
independence and established a republic under the first democratic
constitution
ever known in Asia. Their dreams of independence were crushed when the
Philippines were transferred from Spain to the United States in the
Treaty
of Paris (1898), which closed the Spanish-American War. |
18 |
| In Feb., 1899, Aguinaldo led a new revolt, this time against
U.S. rule.
Defeated on the battlefield, the Filipinos turned to guerrilla warfare,
and their subjugation became a mammoth project for the United
States—one
that cost far more money and took far more lives than the
Spanish-American
War. The insurrection was effectively ended with the capture (1901) of
Aguinaldo by Gen. Frederick Funston, but the question of Philippine
independence
remained a burning issue in the politics of both the United States and
the islands. The matter was complicated by the growing economic ties
between
the two countries. Although comparatively little American capital was
invested
in island industries, U.S. trade bulked larger and larger until the
Philippines
became almost entirely dependent upon the American market. Free trade,
established by an act of 1909, was expanded in 1913. |
19 |
| When the Democrats came into power in 1913, measures were
taken to
effect a smooth transition to self-rule. The Philippine assembly
already
had a popularly elected lower house, and the Jones Act, passed by the
U.S.
Congress in 1916, provided for a popularly elected upper house as well,
with power to approve all appointments made by the governor-general. It
also gave the islands their first definite pledge of independence,
although
no specific date was set. |
20 |
| When the Republicans regained power in 1921, the trend toward
bringing
Filipinos into the government was reversed. Gen. Leonard Wood, who was
appointed governor-general, largely supplanted Filipino activities with
a semimilitary rule. However, the advent of the Great Depression in the
United States in the 1930s and the first aggressive moves by Japan in
Asia
(1931) shifted U.S. sentiment sharply toward the granting of immediate
independence to the Philippines. |
21 |
| |
| The Commonwealth |
| The Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, passed by Congress in 1932,
provided for
complete independence of the islands in 1945 after 10 years of
self-government
under U.S. supervision. The bill had been drawn up with the aid of a
commission
from the Philippines, but Manuel L. Quezon,
the leader of the dominant Nationalist party, opposed it, partially
because
of its threat of American tariffs against Philippine products but
principally
because of the provisions leaving naval bases in U.S. hands. Under his
influence, the Philippine legislature rejected the bill. The
Tydings-McDuffie
Independence Act (1934) closely resembled the Hare-Howes-Cutting-Act,
but
struck the provisions for American bases and carried a promise of
further
study to correct “imperfections or inequalities.” |
22 |
| The Philippine legislature ratified the bill; a constitution,
approved
by President Roosevelt (Mar., 1935) was accepted by the Philippine
people
in a plebiscite (May); and Quezon was elected the first president
(Sept.).
When Quezon was inaugurated on Nov. 15, 1935, the Commonwealth of the
Philippines
was formally established. Quezon was reelected in Nov., 1941. To
develop
defensive forces against possible aggression, Gen. Douglas MacArthur
was
brought to the islands as military adviser in 1935, and the following
year
he became field marshal of the Commonwealth army. |
23 |
| |
| World War II |
| War came suddenly to the Philippines on Dec. 8 (Dec. 7, U.S.
time),
1941, when Japan attacked without warning. Japanese troops invaded the
islands in many places and launched a pincer drive on Manila.
MacArthur’s
scattered defending forces (about 80,000 troops, four fifths of them
Filipinos)
were forced to withdraw to Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island,
where
they entrenched and tried to hold until the arrival of reinforcements,
meanwhile guarding the entrance to Manila Bay and denying that
important
harbor to the Japanese. But no reinforcements were forthcoming. The
Japanese
occupied Manila on Jan. 2, 1942. MacArthur was ordered out by President
Roosevelt and left for Australia on Mar. 11; Lt. Gen. Jonathan
Wainwright
assumed command. |
24 |
| The besieged U.S.-Filipino army on Bataan finally crumbled on
Apr.
9, 1942. Wainwright fought on from Corregidor with a garrison of about
11,000 men; he was overwhelmed on May 6, 1942. After his capitulation,
the Japanese forced the surrender of all remaining defending units in
the
islands by threatening to use the captured Bataan and Corregidor troops
as hostages. Many individual soldiers refused to surrender, however,
and
guerrilla resistance, organized and coordinated by U.S. and Philippine
army officers, continued throughout the Japanese occupation. |
25 |
| Japan’s efforts to win Filipino loyalty found expression in
the establishment
(Oct. 14, 1943) of a “Philippine Republic,” with José P. Laurel,
former supreme court justice, as president. But the people suffered
greatly
from Japanese brutality, and the puppet government gained little
support.
Meanwhile, President Quezon, who had escaped with other high officials
before the country fell, set up a government-in-exile in Washington.
When
he died (Aug., 1944), Vice President Sergio Osmeña
became president. Osmeña returned to the Philippines with the
first
liberation forces, which surprised the Japanese by landing (Oct. 20,
1944)
at Leyte, in the heart of the islands, after months of U.S. air strikes
against Mindanao. The Philippine government was established at
Tacloban,
Leyte, on Oct. 23. |
26 |
| The landing was followed (Oct. 23–26) by the greatest naval
engagement
in history, called variously the battle of Leyte Gulf and the second
battle
of the Philippine Sea. A great U.S. victory, it effectively destroyed
the
Japanese fleet and opened the way for the recovery of all the islands.
Luzon was invaded (Jan., 1945), and Manila was taken in February. On
July
5, 1945, MacArthur announced “All the Philippines are now liberated.”
The
Japanese had suffered over 425,000 dead in the Philippines. |
27 |
| The Philippine congress met on June 9, 1945, for the first
time since
its election in 1941. It faced enormous problems. The land was
devastated
by war, the economy destroyed, the country torn by political warfare
and
guerrilla violence. Osmeña’s leadership was challenged (Jan.,
1946)
when one wing (now the Liberal party) of the Nationalist party
nominated
for president Manuel Roxas, who
defeated
Osmeña in April. |
28 |
| |
| The Republic of the Philippines |
| Manuel Roxas became the first president of the Republic of
the Philippines
when independence was granted, as scheduled, on July 4, 1946. In Mar.,
1947, the Philippines and the United States signed a military
assistance
pact (since renewed) and the Philippines gave the United States a
99-year
lease on designated military, naval, and air bases (a later agreement
reduced
the period to 25 years beginning 1967). The sudden death of President
Roxas
in Apr., 1948, elevated the vice president, Elpidio Quirino,
to the presidency, and in a bitterly contested election in Nov., 1949,
Quirino defeated José Laurel to win a four-year term of his own. |
29 |
| The enormous task of reconstructing the war-torn country was
complicated
by the activities in central Luzon of the Communist-dominated
Hukbalahap
guerrillas (Huks), who resorted to terror and violence in their efforts
to achieve land reform and gain political power. They were finally
brought
under control (1954) after a vigorous attack launched by the minister
of
national defense, Ramón Magsaysay.
By that time Magsaysay was president of the country, having defeated
Quirino
in Nov., 1953. He had promised sweeping economic changes, and he did
make
progress in land reform, opening new settlements outside crowded Luzon
island. His death in an airplane crash in Mar., 1957, was a serious
blow
to national morale. Vice President Carlos P. García succeeded
him
and won a full term as president in the elections of Nov., 1957. |
30 |
| In foreign affairs, the Philippines maintained a firm
anti-Communist
policy and joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in 1954. There
were difficulties with the United States over American military
installations
in the islands, and, despite formal recognition (1956) of full
Philippine
sovereignty over these bases, tensions increased until some of the
bases
were dismantled (1959) and the 99-year lease period was reduced. The
United
States rejected Philippine financial claims and proposed trade
revisions. |
31 |
| Philippine opposition to García on issues of
government corruption
and anti-Americanism led, in June, 1959, to the union of the Liberal
and
Progressive parties, led by Vice President Diosdad Macapagal,
the Liberal party leader, who succeeded García as president in
the
1961 elections. Macapagal’s administration was marked by efforts to
combat
the mounting inflation that had plagued the republic since its birth;
by
attempted alliances with neighboring countries; and by a territorial
dispute
with Britain over North Borneo (later Sabah), which Macapagal claimed
had
been leased and not sold to the British North Borneo Company in 1878. |
32 |
| |
| Marcos and After |
| Ferdinand E. Marcos, who
succeeded
to the presidency after defeating Macapagal in the 1965 elections,
inherited
the territorial dispute over Sabah; in 1968 he approved a congressional
bill annexing Sabah to the Philippines. Malaysia suspended diplomatic
relations
(Sabah had joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963), and the matter
was
referred to the United Nations. (The Philippines dropped its claim to
Sabah
in 1978.) The Philippines became one of the founding countries of the
Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. The continuing need for
land
reform fostered a new Huk uprising in central Luzon, accompanied by
mounting
assassinations and acts of terror, and in 1969, Marcos began a major
military
campaign to subdue them. Civil war also threatened on Mindanao, where
groups
of Moros opposed Christian settlement. In Nov., 1969, Marcos won an
unprecedented
reelection, easily defeating Sergio Osmeña, Jr., but the
election
was accompanied by violence and charges of fraud, and Marcos’s second
term
began with increasing civil disorder. |
33 |
| In Jan., 1970, some 2,000 demonstrators tried to storm
Malcañang
Palace, the presidential residence; riots erupted against the U.S.
embassy.
When Pope Paul VI visited Manila in Nov., 1970, an attempt was made on
his life. In 1971, at a Liberal party rally, hand grenades were thrown
at the speakers’ platform, and several people were killed. President
Marcos
declared martial law in Sept., 1972, charging that a Communist
rebellion
threatened. The 1935 constitution was replaced (1973) by a new one that
provided the president with direct powers. A plebiscite (July, 1973)
gave
Marcos the right to remain in office beyond the expiration (Dec., 1973)
of his term. Meanwhile the fighting on Mindanao had spread to the Sulu
Archipelago. By 1973 some 3,000 people had been killed and hundreds of
villages burned. Throughout the 1970s poverty and governmental
corruption
increased, and Imelda Marcos, Ferdinand’s wife, became more influential. |
34 |
| Martial law remained in force until 1981, when Marcos was
reelected,
amid accusations of electoral fraud. On Aug. 21, 1983, opposition
leader
Benigno Aquino was assassinated at Manila airport, which incited a new,
more powerful wave of anti-Marcos dissent. After the Feb., 1986,
presidential
election, both Marcos and his opponent, Corazon Aquino
(the widow of Benigno), declared themselves the winner, and charges of
massive fraud and violence were leveled against the Marcos faction.
Marcos’s
domestic and international support eroded, and he fled the country on
Feb.
25, 1986, eventually obtaining asylum in the United States. |
35 |
| Aquino’s government faced mounting problems, including coup
attempts,
significant economic difficulties, and pressure to rid the Philippines
of the U.S. military presence (the last U.S. bases were evacuated in
1992).
In 1990, in response to the demands of the Moros, a partially
autonomous
Muslim region was created in the far south. In 1992, Aquino declined to
run for reelection and was succeeded by her former army chief of staff
Fidel Ramos.
He immediately launched
an economic revitalization plan premised on three policies: government
deregulation, increased private investment, and political solutions to
the continuing insurgencies within the country. His political program
was
somethat successful, opening dialogues with the Marxist and Muslim
guerillas.
However, Muslim discontent with partial rule persisted, and unrest and
violence continued throughout the 1990s. In 1999, Marxist rebels and
Muslim
separatists formed an alliance to fight the government. |
36 |
| Several natural disasters, including the 1991 eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo
on Luzon and a succession of severe typhoons, slowed the country’s
economic
progress. However, the Philippines escaped much of the economic turmoil
seen in other East Asian nations in 1997 and 1998, in part by following
a slower pace of development imposed by the International Monetary
Fund.
Joseph Marcelo Estrada, a former movie actor, was elected president in
1998, pledging to help the poor and develop the country’s agricultural
sector. In 1999 he announced plans to amend the constitution in order
to
remove protectionist provisions and attract more foreign investment. |
37 |
| Late in 2000, Estrada’s presidency was buffetted by charges
that he
accepted millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling
operations.
Although his support among the poor Filipino majority remained strong,
many political, business, and church leaders called for him to resign.
In Nov., 2000, Estrada was impeached by the house of representatives on
charges of graft, but the senate, controlled by Estrada’s allies,
provoked
a crisis (Jan., 2001) when it rejected examining the president’s bank
records.
As demonstrations against Estrada mounted and members of his cabinet
resigned,
the supreme court stripped him of the presidency, and Vice President
Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as Estrada’s successor. |
38 |
| |
| Bibliography |
| See E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson, ed., The Philippine
Islands,
1493–1888 (55 vol., 1903–9; Vol. LIII, Bibliography); L.
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines (1953); T. Friend, Between
Two Empires:
The Ordeal of the Philippines, 1929–1946 (1965); E. G. Maring and
J.
M. Maring, Historical and Cultural Dictionary of the Philippines
(1973); B. D. Romulo, Inside the Palace: The Rise and Fall of
Ferdinand
and Imelda Marcos (1987); S. Burton, Impossible Dream: The
Marcoses,
the Aquinos, and the Unfinished Revolution (1988); D. J. Steinberg,
The Philippines (1988); D. Wurfel, Filipino Politics
(1988);
S. Karnow, In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines
(1989). |
39 |
| |