2. PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT The Politics of the Philippines takes place in an organized framework of a presedential,representative, and democratic republic whereby the president is both the head of state and the head of government within a pluriform multi-party system. This system revolves around three separate and sovereign yet interdependent branches: the legislative branch (the law-making body), the executive branch (the law-enforcing body), and the judicial branch (the law-interpreting body). Executive power is exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two-chamber congress—the Senate(the upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.
3. President of the Philippines Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, Known as Noynoy Aquino or Pnoy, born on February 8, 1960. A Filipino politician who has been the 15th and the current President of the Philippines since June 2010. Born in Manila, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was subsequently re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004.[3] In 2007, having been barred from running for re-election to the House due to term limits, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th Congress of the Philippines. Following the death of his mother on August 1, 2009, many people began calling on Aquino to run for president.[3] On September 9, 2009, Aquino officially announced he would be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election, held on May 10, 2010.
4. Philippine Culture This is the one thing that separates us from the rest of the world - our colorful and lively culture that makes us distinctly Filipino. This includes traditions, language, arts, etc. which are found in museums, churches and galleries, found within the heart of the key cities. Most provinces have their own identifying folk dances too wherein they showcase the elegance and beauty of the way we do things, the way we dress, the way we see things as shown in different paintings, as we have been influenced by events that happened in our history.That’s not all. When you have lived in the Philippines long enough, you’ll know that it’s not an exaggeration to say there is a town that’s celebrating its fiesta every single day.
5. Philippine - Climate The Philippines has a tropical marine climate dominated by a rainy season and a dry season. The summer monsoon brings heavy rains to most of the archipelago from May to October, whereas the winter monsoon brings cooler and drier air from December to February. Manila and most of the lowland areas are hot and dusty from March to May. Even at this time, however, temperatures rarely rise above 37° C. Mean annual sea-level temperatures rarely fall below 27° C. Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters in the mountainous east coast section of the country, but less than 1,000 millimeters in some of the sheltered valleys. Monsoon rains, although hard and drenching, are not normally associated with high winds and waves. But the Philippines does sit astride the typhoon belt, and it suffers an annual onslaught of dangerous storms from July through October. These are especially hazardous for northern and eastern Luzon and the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, but Manila gets devastated periodically as well.
6. ECONOMY OF THE PHILIPPINES The economy of the Philippines is the 12th largest economy in Asia and the 32nd largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity according to the International Monetary Fund in 2010. It was the 5th largest economy in South East Asia. A newly industrializedemerging market economy, it posted a real GDP growth rate of 5.3% in 2006 and 7.1% in 2007. Growth slowed to 3.8% in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis. In 2009, the real growth rate was 1.1% despite of global economic recession.[12] The Philippine economy grew by 7.6% in 2010,[1] which several reports described as the fastest growth in 34 years.[3]According to Goldman Sachs, the Philippine economy will become the 14th largest economy in the world by 2050.[13][14] Important sectors of Philippine industry include food processing, textiles and garments, and electronics assembly. Most industries are concentrated in the urban areas around Metro Manila, while Metro Cebu is also becoming an attraction for foreign and local investors. Mining also has great potential in the Philippines, which possesses significant reserves of chromite, nickel, and copper. As of 2008 it was reported to be ranked as one of the five most mineral-rich countries in the world by the Fraser Institute, with the Philippine Government estimating mineral wealth at $1 trillion, however with investment being discouraged by excessive and slow regulatory procedures, along with laws that give local governments significant power over the exploitation of mineral resources.[15] Recent natural gas finds off the islands of Palawan add to the country's geothermal, hydro, coal, and oil exploration energy reserves.
7. In its foreign policy, the Philippines cultivates constructive relations with its Asian neighbors, with whom it is linked through membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The Philippines chaired ASEAN from 2006 to 2007, hosting the ASEAN Heads of State Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum. The Philippines is a member of the UN and some of its specialized agencies, and served a 2-year term as a member of the UN Security Council from 2004-2005, acting as UNSC President in September 2005. Since 1992, the Philippines has been a member of the Non-Aligned Movement. The government is seeking observer status in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The Philippines has played a key role in ASEAN in recent years, ratifying the ASEAN Charter in October 2008. The Philippines also values its relations with the countries of the Middle East, in no small part because hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are employed in that region. The welfare of the some four million to five million overseas Filipino contract workers is considered to be a pillar of Philippine foreign policy.The Philippines signed its first bilateral free trade agreement in 2006 with Japan under the Japan Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The Philippines has also begun implementing preferential rates under the ASEAN trade in goods agreement (ATIGA), ASEAN-China, ASEAN-Korea, and ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Areas. FOREIGN RELATIONS
