| The symbols on the white triangle of the Philippine flag are an eight rayed sun and three stars in gold. The sun represents the dawning of a new era of self determination that was desired in 1897. The 3 stars stand for the 3 principal geographic areas of the country, Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. To complete the symbolism of the flag, the red stripe represents courage and bravery and the blue stripe is for noble ideals. (Smith: 1976, p 360 (1)) |
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Dialling codes
- From the UK - 00 63
- From the Philippines to the UK – 00 44
Languages
- More than 170 languages are spoken throughout the Philippines.
- Filipino – (the first National Assembly created the National Language institute, which selected Tagalog as the basis of this new language; initially named Pilipino was renamed Filipino and is now the countries official language.)
- English (A predominant language in government and business. Is recognised, according to the 1987 constitution, as an official language)
- Tagalog (the basis of Filipino, predominant language of media and education. Geographic distribution of the language covers much of the central to southern parts of the island of Luzon – particularly Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Querzon and Rizal)
- Resources for learning Tagalog
http://www.foreignword.com/dictionary/Tagalog/
http://forum.epinoycentral.com/
http://www.yeepe.com/dictionary/wordsdiclist.asp - The twelve major regions have auxiliary languages of their respective regions, each with over one million speakers.
- Other major languages are Arabic and Spanish.
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Currency – online currency converter click here
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_peso
Geography
- Located in Southeast Asia between the Philippine Sea and the Southeast China Sea, east of Vietnam.
- Philippine archipelago is made of 7107 islands (1000 of which are inhabited)
- Geographic coordinates 13°00 N, 122°0 E (Manila 14°35 N, 121°0 E)
- Area - Total = 300 176 sq. km
- Coastline = 36 289 sq. km
- Islands are mainly mountainous with several active volcanoes.
- Much of the land is fertile with narrow coastal plains giving way to forest, 33% of the island is forest.
- Climate is tropical marine, with abundant rainfall and gentle winds.
- 3 main seasons – wet/rainy season June-October
Cool/dry season November-February
Hot/dry season March-May - Manila temp 21°C - 32°C (average 27°C)
- Coolest – January
- Hottest - May
www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rp.html
Time zones
http://www.timeanddate.com/ Whitney Smith |
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