At The Present Moment...

photo from www.asianjournal.com

The Philippines is composed of 7,107 islands and is divided into three main island groups, namely: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The country is mostly mountainous with coastal lowlands. Based on the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, around 46% of the land mass of the Philippines are considered to be forests and woodlands. However, this percentage has slowly declined over the years due to illegal logging and the transformation of forests and woodlands into commercial and agricultural lands. The country has 2,229,438 square kilometers of territorial waters rich in aquatic life, and 36,289km of coastline. Our country is known to have some of the best beaches in Southeast Asia. A lot of these beaches attract domestic and foreign travelers as well as investors from all over the world. 

There are two seasons, the dry season “El Niño” and the wet season “La Niña”. Due to global warming, it’s been warmer and at the same time colder in the Philippines. The hottest temperature recorded was at 38.4ᴼC in General Santos City and the coldest temperature was at 0ᴼC in Mt. Pulag, Kabayan, Benguet. It has also been noticeable that typhoons and other calamities have become stronger due to climate change. We can cite Ondoy, Pepeng and Yolanda as examples of how typhoons have become stronger and more destructive over the years.

photo from www.filipinowomen.com

The population keeps on increasing every year and it’s statistically shown that we will have more than 110 million people by 2020. The Philippines is a melting pot of different nationalities. A lot of Filipinos have Spanish, Chinese, American, Japanese roots and others because we have been colonized by other countries in the past. We have one national language but there are a lot of distinct native dialects for each region in the Philippines. Nowadays, a lot of Filipinos are more fluent in speaking English than speaking in Tagalog especially for the people who live in the cities.

photo taken by me at Hapao, Hungduan, Ifugao

Agriculture was one of the main sources of income since the Philippines is considered to be an agricultural country. We were known to export rice, sugar and coconut and other products. But times have changed and our neighboring countries are far more advanced in terms of their agricultural sector and they now offer better products than we do. Because of this, our country now focuses on other areas such as tourism and information and technology. Eco-tourism and agri-tourism now plays a big part in the countries’ economic development because it provides employment opportunities for locals. The availability of information and technology in the country has also changed how Filipinos view things. A lot of people have shifted from manual labor or blue collar jobs to office work or white collar jobs. Our country has now become a hub for call centers or business process outsourcing companies. This made our current work culture more westernized since a lot of companies are from the US or Canada. A lot of Filipinos work overseas and they contribute greatly in the Philippine’s economy. However, due to the large number of people going abroad the number of our professionals here in the country are declining and a lot of them eventually migrate for greener pastures.

photo from www.theweek.com

photo from www.calleuno.ph

photo from www.rappler.ph

Filipinos nowadays are now more connected than ever. We have shifted from the traditional ways of communication such as sending and receiving letters to sending and receiving information through electronic mails, texts and calls. Telecom companies such as Globe and Smart/PLDT and others offer a wide range of promos and bundles that offer unlimited calls, texts and mobile data connectivity. The internet has made local and international communication more efficient especially for the people who are living in the cities. We are still trying to expand the availability of internet connectivity in provinces so that they could also take advantage of the opportunities it gives. However, internet connectivity comes with a high price. If you would like to get fast and unlimited internet connection it will cost you about 3500 to 5000 php per month. With the emerging presence of information and technology a lot of Filipinos have taken advantage of online learning and entrepreneurship. The internet has given Filipinos endless choices to learn, share and earn money online.

The Philippines is slowly transitioning to a more technologically advanced country. However, it's been quite a challenge for us comparing to other South East Asian countries who were able to progress at a shorter amount of time such as South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. There are other issues and problems such as corruption and terrorism that needs to be dealt with first before we could really progress as a nation . The Filipino culture is not something distinct but instead it's a result of a smorgasbord of past influences, present events and ideas of what the Philippines must be in the future. A lot of our culture is hugely influenced by western countries such as the US and other European countries.