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81.2 Million Filipinos
The National Statistics Office (NSO) placed the Philippine population at 79.5 million at the start of 2002. This number is expected to grow by 1.7 million or over 2 percent annually to 81.2 million by the end of 2002. This makes the Philippines the world's 14th most populous country in the world behind China, with 1.3 billion people; India, 1 billion; United States, 288 million; Indonesia, 218 million; Brazil, 176 million; Pakistan, 149 million; Nigeria, 147 million; Russia, 143 million; Bangladesh, 136 million; Japan, 127 million; Mexico, 100 million; Germany 82 million; and Vietnam, over 81 million. About 93 percent of the Philippine population is Christian, while the rest belongs to Islam and other religions. In 1799, Spanish historians said there were only 1,502,574 people living in the Philippines.

Population To Double in 28 Years
The Makati Business Club said that with an annual population growth rate of 2.36 percent, the total number of Filipinos would climb from 80 million at present to 97 million by 2010 and double to 160 million in 28 years.

34 Million Voters
As of 1998, there were 34.2 million registered Filipino voters who were grouped into 174,420 polling precincts in the whole country.

Half A Million More Men
Contrary to popular beliefs that women were as twice as many as men in the Philippines, the NSO said there are in fact more men than women in the country. In its latest estimate for 2002, the NSO said there were some 40 million Filipino men and 39.5 million Filipino women, resulting in a population discrepancy in sex of half a million.

Women Live Longer
Life expectancy is estimated at 72.2 years for Filipino women and 66.9 years for Filipino men. Around 38 percent of the population is younger than 15 years old and 28 percent belongs to the 15 to 24 age bracket. Population experts claim it would take 25 years before the Philippine population reaches its peak.

More Single Men Than Single Women
In the 2000 population census, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said that nearly 53 percent of the 25 million single people in the Philippines were males while only 47 percent were females. However, around 76 percent of the 2.6 million widowed persons were females and only 24 percent were males.

Half of Women Use Contraceptives
In its Family Planning Survey in 2001, the NSO said about 49.8 percent of married Filipino women, aged 15 to 49 years old, was using contraceptives. The NSO concluded that women in poor households were less likely to practice family planning than those in higher income families in the same manner that women who lacked formal education were less likely to observe birth control practices than those who at least had some schooling.

Majority of Filipinos Oppose Divorce

A survey conducted by local poll firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) in the fourth quarter of 2002 showed that 50 percent of its 1,200 respondents nationwide were opposed to divorce while only 36 percent agreed that divorce "is usually the best solution when a couple can't seem to work out their marriage problems."

The same survey showed that 50 percent of the respondents disapproved of cohabitation before marriage while only 35 percent agreed with the statement "It's a good idea for a couple who intend to get married to live together first."

At the same time, 61 percent of the respondents agreed while only 19 percent disagreed with the statement "Married people are generally happier than unmarried people." Around 93 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement "Watching children grow up is life's greatest joy."

91 Percent Proud to Be Filipinos
In a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in November 2001, 57 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they were very proud to be Filipinos while 34 percent claimed they were proud of their national identity. Only 9 percent said they were not proud and 1 percent claimed they were not proud at all of becoming Filipinos. The respondents also cited the following qualities of the Filipinos: God-centered, industrious, faithful, has convictions, responsible, peaceful and law-abiding, and loving and caring.

Happiest People in Asia
Despite the many problems hounding the Philippines, Filipinos still consider themselves as among the happiest people in the world. Results of regional surveys conducted by MTV-Asia, ACNielsen and the Economist magazine have indicated that Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia.

But in the World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998, the Philippines was ranked 12th among 54 countries in the world in terms of happiness index. Among Asian countries, it was ranked first. According to the survey, the top ten happiest nations in the world were Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela.

World's 5th Largest Christian Population
According to the book Top 10 of Everything, the Philippines had the world's 5th largest Christian population. As of 2000, the Philippines reportedly had 72.225 million Christians, comprising 93 percent of its total population then. Countries with larger Christian populations than the Philippines were the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and China. Most Filipinos remain Catholics. The Protestants comprise only 8 percent of the population although they were growing at a faster rate than any other religion in the country.

32,000 Evangelical Churches
The Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches said that it had around 32,000 member-churches in the 1990s, which were expected to have risen to 50,000 by the end of 2000. About 27,000 of these evangelical churches have been established only in the past 25 years. About 1,400 American Christian missionaries were in the Philippines to help propagate the Gospel.

97 Percent of Filipinos Believe in God
A survey, mentioned by the Economist magazine, showed that 97 percent of Filipinos believe in God while 65 percent feel extremely close to Him. "This is more than double the percentage of the two runners-up in the survey - America and Israel," the Economist said. (Source: The Economist)

562,808 Marriages
According to the NSO, 562,808 Filipino couples were married in 1997 alone. In the same year, 339,400 people died while 1,653,236 babies were born in the country.

412 Annulment Suits Every Week
As of 2002, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said it was receiving 412 marriage annulment suits every week.

28,563 Died of Accidents
The Department of Health (DoH) reported that in 1997, 49,962 people died of heart diseases while 28,563 people died because of accidents. The other leading causes of death during that year were tuberculosis and pneumonia. The most common diseases in the country were diarrhea, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, hypertension and tuberculosis.

17,493 Government Positions
The Commission on Election (COMELEC) said that as of June 2002, there were 17,493 elective government positions in the country, with only about 15 percent held by women. The bureaucracy, however, had more women employees. As of 1997, there were 741,808 Filipino women working for the government, compared with only 636,836 men.

The Department of Labor and Employment said that in January 2001, the overall unemployment rate was higher among women at 10.3 percent compared with 9.4 percent among men. But if women were serving as heads of families, they were earning higher at P135,400 annually, compared with P121,003 received by men.

218 Congressmen
The head of government is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who ascended to presidency via a military-backed people's revolt on January 21, 2001. She appointed Senator Teofisto Guingona as her vice-president.

The Philippine Congress has two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 24 seats while the House of Representatives has 218 members, five of whom are party list representatives.

The bureaucracy also employs 79 provincial governors and an equal number of vice governors, 114 city mayors and the same number of city vice mayors, 730 provincial board members, 1,496 municipal mayors and an equal number of town vice mayors, and 12,240 municipal councilors. The numbers exclude barangay officials. The next national elections will be held in May 2004.

30.2 Million Jobs
Of the 50.2 million people aged 15 years old and above, 35.052 million or 69.9 percent belong to the labor force. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), there were 30.186 million Filipino workers as of April 2002, 11 million of whom were employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector; 14.3 million in the services sector; and 4.82 million in the industrial sector.

1.2 Million Fishermen
In particular, 9.788 million were employed in agriculture, hunting and forestry; 1.237 million in fishing; 136,000 in mining and quarrying; 2.904 million in manufacturing; 114,000 in electricity, gas and water sector; and 1.67 million in construction.

301,000 Bankers
Some 1.445 million Filipinos were employed in government; 5.77 in wholesale, retail and repair; 2.104 million in transportation, storage and communication; 680,000 in hotels and restaurants; 913,000 in education; 301,000 in banks and financial institutions, 355,000 in hospitals and social institutions; 552,000 in real estate, renting and business activities; 877,000 in personal services; and 1.339 million in household services

14.7 Million Salary Earners
In terms of source of income, about 14.711 million Filipinos were salary-earners while 11.379 million others were self-employed. Another 4.096 million were considered unpaid family workers.

1.4 Million Professionals
In terms of occupation, there were 9.227 million laborers and unskilled workers; 6.17 million farmers, forestry workers and fishermen; 3.175 million officials of government institutions and executives, managers and supervisors of private companies; 3.107 million workers in retail and wholesale trade; 2.677 service workers and shop and market sales workers; 2.147 million plant and machine operators; 1.367 million professionals; 1.335 million clerks; 850,000 technicians and associate professionals; and 130,000 others in special occupations.

290,000 IT Professionals
According to the government, there were 290,000 professionals working for the country's information and technology (IT) sector as of 2002.

113,743 Policemen
As of 2002, the Philippine National Police had an authorized strength of 113,743 members, including 69 chief superintendents (one-star general); 11 police directors (two-star), 3 police deputy director-generals (three-star), and 1 police director-general (four-star).

330,000 New College Graduates
The Commission on Higher Education reported that as of 1998, there were 1,185 universities and colleges in the country serving more than 2 million students. In 1998, some 331,827 students graduated from college; 90,880 of them with a degree in Business Administration; 40,611 in Engineering; 36,181 in Medical Science; and 25,038 in Mathematics and Computer Science. They were supposed to join the labor force but not all of them ended up getting the jobs they have been trained for.

2 Million College Students
As of 1998, 2,067,965 students were enrolled in Philippine colleges and universities. These included 620,681 students who were enrolled in Business and related courses; 299,226 in Engineering; 316,293 in Education; and 166,329 in Mathematics and Computer Science. Students who were enrolled in two- or three-year technical or vocational courses were not included in the counting.

2,323 Foreign Students
According to the Commission on Higher Education, there were 2,323 foreign students enrolled in Philippine schools in the school year 2000-2001, down from 5,284 enrollees five years ago. Most of these foreign students were Americans, Koreans and Taiwanese.

17.3 Million Public School Students
According to Senator Ralph Recto, the public education system would be lacking some 49,212 teachers and 44,716 classrooms by 2003 to accommodate some 536,000 new students and fill the void in the previous years. Total enrollment in 36,234 public elementary schools and 4,422 public high schools is expected to reach 17.335 million students by 2003. There were only 375,952 public classrooms by the end of 2002.

12.7 Million Elementary School Students
As of 2001, some 12.7 million students were enrolled in elementary schools; 11.8 million of them in public schools and only 927,289 in private schools. Some 5.4 million students were enrolled in high schools; 4.2 million of them in public schools and 1.2 million in private schools.

440,000 Teachers
As of 2001, there were 331,827 elementary school teachers and 109,845 high school teachers.

7 Million Filipinos Abroad
According to the Philippine Senate, some 7 to 8 million Filipinos live and work abroad, 2.5 million of them in the United States. There were 105,000 Americans in the Philippines in 1999.

The Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) said that in 2001 alone, 866,590 Filipinos left the country on legitimate working visas to work abroad. This translates to 2,374 Filipinos leaving the country each day. OFWs sent a total of US$6.23 billion in dollar remittances to the Philippines in 2001.

2.4 Million Filipino-Americans
According to the US Census 2000, there were 2.4 million Filipino Americans in the US, comprising the second largest Asian group next only to the Chinese Americans. However, there are some who say that the actual number of Filipino-Americans could exceed 3 million. More than 1 million Filipino Americans live in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles in the west coast.

192,000 Tourists to the US
According to the US embassy in Manila, some 192,000 Filipinos visited the US on non-immigrant visas in 2001 alone. A number of Filipino tourists tried to stay there and find work but were deported back to the Philippines.

19 Percent of Filipinos Want to Migrate
A survey conducted by Pulse Asia in March and April 2002 showed that 19 percent of its 1,200 respondents wanted to migrate to another country because opportunities were lacking in the Philippines. The desire to migrate from the Philippines was stronger among upper classes. The survey said that 31 percent of its respondents belonging to ABC wanted to live in another country.

1.2 Million Passports Annually
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issues about 1.2 million passport booklets annually. In the first quarter of 2002, there was a shortage of passports because the number of Filipinos who went abroad for work suddenly surged. The POEA said that from around 2,300 in the previous quarters, the number of OFWs leaving the country each day surged to 2,700 in the first quarter of 2002. The DFA imposes a daily quota of 2,000 passports for individual applicants and 1,500 passports for travel agencies.

204,900 Seafarers
Of the total number of Filipinos who left the country on working visas in 2001, 661,639 were land-based workers while 204,951 were seafarers. Filipino seafarers man about 20 percent of international vessels in the world.

Top destinations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are Saudi Arabia, which hired 190,732 Filipinos in 2001; Hong Kong, 113,583; Japan, 74,093; Singapore, 26,305; Kuwait, 21,956; and Italy, 21,641. Only 10,000 Filipinos were hired in the US but the number excluded 2.5 million Filipino immigrants who were already there.

2.7 Million Filipino Immigrants
A Commission of Overseas Filipinos study showed that there were 2.7 million Filipino immigrants around the world as of 2002. The figure includes 1.89 million immigrants in the US; 200,000 in Canada; 170,000 in Japan; and 70,000 in the United Kingdom.

51,031 Migrants in 2000
According to the Bureau of Immigration, 51,031 Filipinos migrated to other countries in the year 2000 alone. Of this number, 31,324 Filipinos went to the US; 8,245 to Canada; 6,468 to Japan; 2,298 to Australia; 522 to Germany; 174 to the United Kingdom; and 1,970 to other countries.

US$6.2 Billion Remittances
Dollar remittances sent by OFWs amounted to US$6.235 billion in 2001. About US$5.142 billion of the total amount was sent by land-based OFWs while US$1.093 billion came from Filipino seafarers. Some US$3.2 billion or over half of total remittances came from the United States. The figure excluded dollar remittances that were not sent through the regular banking system.

Richest in New York
According to the 1990 United States Census, the Filipino-Americans living in New York (perhaps the world's most prosperous city) had the highest median income among all ethnic groups. The census revealed that in 1990, there were 43,229 Filipino Americans in New York who had a median income of about US$45,000, surpassing those of European-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Afro-Americans.

15,000 Nurses in the UK
According to British Ambassador to the Philippines Paul Dimond, there were 15,000 Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom as of June 2002. The number is growing, he added. He also disclosed that the British embassy has issued 30,000 visas to Filipinos in 2001 alone, with an acceptance rate of 95 percent among applicants. About 300,000 Filipino nurses reportedly left the country to work abroad in 2001.

150,000 Entertainers in Japan
As of 1998, there were 150,000 Filipino women working as entertainers in Japan. Many of them were vulnerable to abuse and some driven to prostitution.

154,000 Household Maids in Hong Kong
According to The Economist magazine, Filipino women were serving as domestic helpers or "amahs" in 154,000 households in Hong Kong as of 1998. The report added that Filipino women comprised 40 percent of non-Chinese amahs in Hong Kong. Over half of Filipino amahs in Hong Kong have college degrees, and some even hold master's degree in education.

Filipino household maids are also present in Singapore, Taiwan, and the Middle East. Filipino caregivers are in the United States and Canada.

32,000 Teachers as Household Helps
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that as many as 32,000 Filipino teachers had left their profession in the country to work as household maids and nannies abroad.

389,818 American Tourists
Data from the Department of Tourism showed that in 2001 around 1.671 million foreign travelers visited the country, 44 percent of whom went here for holiday, 25 percent to visit friends and relatives, 18 percent on business, and the rest to attend conventions and for other purposes.

By country of residence, the US topped the list, with 389,818 travelers accounting for 23 percent of all tourists. The US was followed by Japan with 343,021 travelers; South Korea, 205,788; Hong Kong, 134,254; Taiwan, 84,644; Australia, 68,253; United Kingdom, 59,100; Canada, 54,851; Singapore, 44,010; Germany, 40,286; Malaysia, 29,564; South Asian countries, 20,114; Middle East countries, 18,480; China, 14,533; Thailand, 14,472; France, 13,847; Netherlands, 13,422; Indonesia, 12,630; and Switzerland, 12,204.

Italy sent 8,962 visitors; New Zealand, 7,768; Denmark, 7,741; Sweden, 7,296; Norway, 6,589; Austria, 6,531; Spain, 5,614; Belgium, 5,432; South American countries, 3,083; Vietnam, 3,058; Guam, 2,746; Ireland, 2,306; Eastern European countries, 2,189; Finland, 2,009; Brunei, 1,783; and African countries, 1,631. The number of visitors from other countries was less than 1,000 each.

Average Age of Tourists - 40
Almost 55 percent of all foreign tourists in 2001 had visited the country in the past. Stating that they were in repeat visits were nearly 76 percent of all Singaporean, 69 percent of Australian, 67 percent of American and British, 64 percent of German and 57 percent of Japanese travelers.

Nearly 65 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were male and the rest female. Of the group, only Canada had more female visitors, accounting for 50.3 percent. Female visitors from Japan comprised only 19.7 percent while female American visitors accounted for 44.3 percent.

The average age of foreign tourists in the Philippines in 2001 was 40 years old. Visitors from the US had an average age of 45; Canada, 43; Australia, 42; UK, 42; Japan, 41; Germany, 41; Taiwan, 40; Singapore, 39; Hong Kong, 37; and Korea, 34.

By age group, foreign visitors aged under 15 years old in 2001 comprised 8.8 percent of the total; 15 to 19, 2.3 percent; 20 to 24, 4.2 percent; 25 to 34, 19.9 percent; 35 to 44, 24 percent; 45 to 54, 21.9 percent; 55 to 64, 11.1 percent; 65 and above, 6 percent. Others did not state their age.

About 64 percent of all foreign visitors were independent travelers and only 19 percent went on package tours. The rest did not state their travel arrangements. Only 2 percent of Singaporean; 4 percent of American, Canadian and Australian; 10 percent of German; 26 percent of Japanese; 33 percent of Taiwanese; 38 percent of Hong Kong; and 45 percent of Korean visitors went to the Philippines on package tours.

8 Percent of Tourists - Students
In terms of occupation, nearly 33 percent of the foreign visitors were engaged in professional, managerial and administrative services; 7 percent in clerical or sales services; 1 percent in military or public services; and 1 percent in industry sector. About 8 percent of the foreign visitors in 2001 were students; 4, percent housewives; and 3 percent, pensioners or retirees. Over 41 percent of the tourists did not state their occupation.

Only 31 percent of the foreign guests checked in at hotels, 12.5 percent rented houses or apartments, and 18 percent stayed with relatives and friends. A significant 38 percent of the tourists did not state their type of accommodation in the country.

Among top foreign visitors, about 39 percent of the American tourists stayed with relatives and friends, 15.6 percent rented houses and apartments, and only 9 percent stated that they checked in at hotels. About 36 percent did not state their type of accommodation. Like the American visitors, many Canadian, European and Australian tourists stayed with relatives and friends or rented houses and apartments.

11,784 Hotel Rooms in Metro Manila
In 2001, the average occupancy rate among DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila was 55.85 percent. The 15 deluxe hotels had an average occupancy rate of 58.4 percent; six first class hotels, 54.3 percent; 32 standard hotels, 52.5 percent; and six economy hotels, 41.1 percent.

These DOT-endorsed hotels in Metro Manila had combined 11,784 rooms in 2001. In particular, deluxe hotels had a total of 6,874 rooms; first class hotels, 1,779 rooms; standard hotels, 2,770 rooms; and economy hotels; 361 rooms. Guests spent an average of 2.73 nights at these hotels.

Foreign backpackers could be classified among the 1.106 million independent travelers who came to the Philippines without package tours or among the 728,545 tourists who traveled for holiday. They were among the 439,855 travelers aged 15 to 35 years old or 139,590 foreign students and minors. They were also among the 208,418 foreign travelers who rented houses and apartments or 301,294 who stayed with relatives and friends.

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The Leaf Musician
He became famous around the world for his distinct talent. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Filipino National Artist Levi Celerio as the only man who could play beautiful music with a leaf.

Celerio appeared in "That's Incredible" and the Mel Griffin show where he played music with a leaf. The Guinness Book of World Records said: "The only leaf player in the world is in the Philippines". As a composer and lyricist, Celerio wrote more than 4,000 songs.

The Woman With 3,400 Shoes
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the woman with the largest collection of shoes. Reports said that when the Marcos family fled to Hawaii during the People's Power Revolution in 1986, around 3,400 pairs of shoes were discovered in one room at Malacanang Palace. They were the First Lady's collection.

In 1987, Mrs. Marcos denied this and claimed she had only 1,060 pairs of shoes. The former First Lady has an eight-and-a-half inch footwear size. She said her having many shoes is not a symbol of extravagance but an expression of love and appreciation for Filipino-made shoes. Most of her shoes, she added, were bought from Marikina, the shoe capital of the Philippines. For this, Marikina City had acquired 200 pairs of the Marcos shoes and put them on display at the city's shoe museum.

Largest Loot in History
Much has been said about the late President Ferdinand Marcos being the world's richest man. While this title was not officially designated to Marcos, the late dictator, however, was known as the man who took away the largest loot in history. While deposed President Joseph Estrada faces plunder charges for allegedly amassing some US$82 million in kickbacks and payoffs during his 31-month stint at Malacanang Palace, Marcos had reportedly stolen billions of dollars. There were different versions of the fabled Marcos wealth.

The fabled Marcos wealth reportedly consists of billions of dollars and tons of gold bullions deposited in several banks in Switzerland. Government lawyers claimed that Marcos had used dummy foundations to hoard his wealth. Among such foundations that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had identified are Sandy, Xandy, Wintrop, and Rayby.

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga, who served as the first PCGG chairman under the Aquino administration said the agency had identified 51 Marcos bank accounts in Switzerland, 23 of which are in Credit Suisse; 3 at Swiss Bank Corporation in Fribourg; 15 in Swiss Bank Corporation in Geneva; 6 at Banque Paribas in Geneva; 3 at Hoffman in Zurich; and one each at Lombard Odeii and Trade Development Bank in Geneva.

According to former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, the Marcos family still keeps some US$13.4 billion in deposits at the Union Bank of Switzerland under the account of Irene Marcos-Araneta, on top of a hoard of 1.241 tons of gold at an underground bunker at Kloten Airport in Zurich. Chavez also disclosed that former First Lady Imelda Marcos has 800,000 ounces of gold in unfrozen accounts in Switzerland.

Before this, Australian private investigator Reiner Jacobi, who served as a PCGG consultant in 1989, had unraveled the so-called Irene Araneta account and even went to the extent of claiming that the Marcoses had a US$250-billion gold hoard in Switzerland. The PCGG, however, described Jacobi's claims as exaggerated and too fantastic.

In October 1999, Filipino businessman Enriquez Zobel, a known crony of the late president told a Senate committee that the Marcos wealth could have swollen to US$100 billion in gold and dollar deposits, the bulk of which is deposited with the US Treasury. In his sworn testimony, Zobel said the Marcos wealth is distributed to gold deposits, dollar accounts, and real estate properties located in various parts of the world.

The Marcos gold deposits alone, Zobel said, may have reached US$35 billion. Zobel had also mentioned the US$13.4 billion Irene Marcos Araneta account at the Union Bank of Switzerland. The gold bars are allegedly kept in various banks in Portugal, Vatican City, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Solomon Island, and the US. Zobel said Marcos obtained the gold bars after the Liberation (1946) from the Yama$hita treasure and from soldiers who sold their gold bars for only US$20 per bar. Another version was that of Rogelio Roxas who claimed that Marcos' men seized the real golden buddha from his house at Aurora Hills in Baguio City on April 5, 1971. The buddha reportedly costs billions of dollars.

In February 2001, the Philippine Daily Inquirer disclosed the alleged attempt of Irene Marcos Araneta to launder billions of dollars in deposits under the 885931 accounts from Union Bank of Switzerland to Deutsche Banks in Dusseldorf, Germany. Aside from the Marcos family and the Philippine government, the 9,539 victims of human rights under the Marcos regime have interest in the Marcos wealth.

World's Largest Shoes
In December 2002, the Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Marikina City for crafting the world's largest pair of shoes - each measuring 5.5 meters (18.2 feet) long, 2.25 meters (7.4 feet) wide and 1.83 meters (six feet) high. The materials for the P1.2 million pair of shoes could produce 250 pairs of regular shoes.

World's Largest Golf Event
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest amateur golf tournament takes place in Baguio City, Philippines every year. Dubbed as the Fil-Am Golf Championship since 1949, the 72-hole golf tournament attracts close to 1,000 amateur golfers from all over the archipelago. The sites of the prestigious event are the challenging par-69, 5,001-yard Camp John Hay golf course and the par-61, 4,038-yard Baguio Country Club. Among the top contending teams in the event are the Canlubang, Southwoods, Calatagan, and Wack Wack.

World's Largest Synchronized Aerobics Exercises
On February 16, 2003, some 107,000 Filipinos joined a 30-minute aerobics exercise supervised by the Department of Health (DOH) at Rizal Park in Manila, which could be the largest synchronized exercise in the world. Thousands of people also gathered at different venues in Cebu City and Davao City to participate in the exercise simultaneous with the Manila event. The new record broke the previous Guinness Book of World Records set at a park in Guadalajara, Mexico by some 38,633 people who joined the massive aerobics exercises in June 1998.

World's Largest Lantern
On December 24, 2002, the city of San Fernando in Pampanga province switched on the world's largest Christmas lantern - a P5-million structure with 26.8 meters in diameter.

World's Fastest Reader
As a student at the Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, Maria Teresa Calderon became the world's fastest reader. She set the record of having read 80,000 words per hour.

Sili King
The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes Eriberto Gonzales of Camalig, Albay as the fastest chili eater. In the Philippines, he is known as the "Sili King". Gonzales accomplished his feat in the "Sili-Eating Challenge 1999" in Bicol where he ate 350 pieces of sili in three minutes. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)

World's Best Finance Minister
In 1997, Roberto de Ocampo who was serving in the Cabinet of former President Fidel Ramos, was recognized as the "World's Best Finance Minister" for overhauling the country's tax system through the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package.

World's Best Central Bank Governor
In October 2002, international magazine Global Finance named Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Carlos B. Buenaventura as one of the world's two best central bankers for "his remarkable skill in guiding" the Philippine economy under a trying year. The other central banker named was Reserve Bank of Austalia (RBA) Governor Ian MacFarlane.

World Young Business Achievers
In 1995, Joseph Donato Pangilinan, president of Manila Pearl, won the World Young Business Achiever Award (WYBA) in London. In 1997, Renato Pangilinan, chief executive officer of Juventus International won the Entrepreneurship Award in Newfoundland, Canada. In 1998, Andrew James Masigan, founder of Dimsum n' Dumpling won the Award of Excellence in Business Strategy.

World's Sweetest Fruit
What can be considered as the world's sweetest mango is produced in the island province of Guimaras. While other countries have different varieties of the tropical mango (Mangifera indica), none of them tastes like the superbly delicious Guimaras mango, which is a variety of the popular Carabao Mango (Manginera indica).

In 1995, the Guinness Book of World records listed the Carabao Mango as the sweetest fruit in the world. In the Philippines, mango ranks third among fruit crops in production, next to banana and pineapple. The country supplies mangoes to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and recently the United States. In 1995, the Philippines produced 432,322 metric tons of mangoes, with an average production of 6.35 metric tons per hectare and 250 kilograms per tree from a total production area of 68,056 hectares.

World's Largest Legal Tender
In 1998, during the Philippine Centennial celebration of independence, the Central Bank asked the Guinness Book of World Records to accredit its P100,000 commemorative bills, measuring 8 ½ inches wide and 14 inches long, as the world's largest legal tender. The commemorative bills were called Brobdingnagian bills.

World's Largest Bamboo Organ
The bamboo organ at St. Joseph Church in Las Pinas City is arguably the world's largest bamboo organ. The centuries-old musical instrument was constructed between 1792 and 1819. It has 174 bamboo pipes, 122 horizontal reeds of soft metal, a five-octave keyboard, and 22 stops arranged in vertical rows.

World's Largest City
The residents of Davao City claim they live in the world's largest city. They are talking about the land size of the city that covers 2,212 square kilometers. Most of these areas, however, are distributed as forests, coconut groves and rice fields. In comparison, New York, the largest city in the United States, has an area of only 787 square kilometers while the whole of Metro Manila covers only 636 square kilometers.

Davao City lies at the mouth of the Davao River near the head of Davao Gulf. It encompasses about 50 small ports in its commercial sphere. Davao has large banana plantations, whose produce are exported to Japan and other countries. The city also boasts of a modern international airport. Puerto Princesa City, a chartered city of Palawan province, is disputing Davao City's title. It claims to have a total land area of 2,539 square kilometers encompassing 66 barangays.

In terms of population and land area, the world's truly largest cities are Tokyo, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, New York City, Bombay, Shanghai and Los Angeles.

World's Largest Volume of Text Messages
Smart Communications, one of the two giant mobile phone networks in the country, claimed that the volume of text messages passing through its network reached 240 million daily as of 2001. This excluded text messages sent via the other networks. Such volume of text messages is said to be larger than those sent in the entire European continent during the same year.

World's Largest High School
The Rizal High School in Caniogan, Pasig City (eastern Metro Manila) is said to be the world's largest high school in terms of student population. The school has more than 20,000 students.

World's Longest Barbecue
On April 30, 2002, about 50,000 people participated in the "Kalutan ed Dagupan" festival in Dagupan City (Pangasinan province, Northern Luzon, Philippines) to help grill and partake of the 1,001-meter long barbecue, that broke the previous World Record of 613 meter-long barbecue grilled in Canchia, Peru on November 13, 1999.

The people of the city used hundreds of grills, each measuring 1.2-meter long, to cook the barbecue. The grills' total measure was about 800 meters long, enough to surpass the Peruvian record. The barbecue consisted of bangus (milkfish), pork, chicken, vegetables and cold cuts. A video footage was sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for validation. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)

World's Largest Flower
In February 2002, an environmental organization discovered what could be one of the world's largest flowers in the 5,511-hectare Sibalom National Park in Antique province. Measuring about 22 inches in diameter, the endangered flower, locally named as "Uruy", (Rafflesia sp.) has no stem and leaves. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)

World's Largest Salad
The residents of Baguio City took pride in having tossed what was believed to be the world's largest salad - a three-ton mix of assorted vegetables.

On September 29, 2002 during the Tossed Salad Festival in commemoration of the city's 93rd charter anniversary, 67 students and members of the Baguio Association of Hotels and Inns (Bahai) mixed 2,976 kilograms of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and other vegetables in a tin and wrought iron bowl measuring 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

Some 13,657 people were able to partake of the P1.5 million mixtures. They paid P20 for each serving of the tossed salad with Thousand Island dressing and another take-out bowl of salad with a gourmet vinaigrette dressing consisting of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

The city broke its own record set a year earlier. On September 16, 2001, a 917-kilogram of salad was able to feed 4,861 residents and tourists of Baguio City. On September 14, 2002, a religious group prepared a giant Caesar's salad that fed only 1,000 people in Salt Lake City, Utah.

World's Largest Durian Candy Bar
On March 15, 2002, 25 people in Davao City spent six hours to cook, mold and roll the world's largest durian candy bar - a 6-meter, 200-kilogram delicacy made of durian, a smelly but sweet fruit commonly associated with the name of the city. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)

World's Longest Mat
The people of the agricultural town of Basey, Samar own the distinction of having weaved the world's longest mat, or "banig" in the local parlance. During the town's Banigan-Kawayan Festival on September 29, 2000, hundreds of people paraded the mat, which extended for more than a kilometer.

The one-meter wide mat has been weaved for several weeks by groups of people from the different barangays of Basey. While the mat was not submitted as an entry to the Guinness Book of World Records, Basey Mayor Wilfredo Estorninos described the feat as a source of pride for all Basaynons.

Each year, the town, which has weaving as its prime industry, comes to life when it celebrates outlandishly the feast of St. Michael, its patron saint. The highlight of the feast is the Banigan-Kawayan Festival, where the women of Basey weave a variety of intricately designed mats from sedge grass locally known as tikog (Fimbristylis milliacea). This tradition was handed down from many generations. The Church of Basey was built in 1864.

World's Largest Pearl
A Filipino diver discovered what is now described as the world's largest pearl in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the "Pearl of Lao-Tzu", the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 ½ inches long and 5 ½ inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old.

World's Largest Covered Coliseum
At the time it was completed in 1959, the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City was touted as the world's largest covered entertainment center. Otherwise known as the Big Dome, it has a floor area of 2,300 square meters and a seating capacity of 33,000 people.

One of the World's Best Hotels
In 1983, British magazine Executive Travel named Manila Hotel as one of the ten best in the world while Business Traveler, another British publication named it as one of the top ten business hotels in the world in 1986. In 1992, the Institutional Investor magazine called Manila Hotel as the world's best hotel and in 1993, the Vienna-based Treasury Publishing included it in the list of the most famous hotels in the world.

Among the many political luminaries and celebrities who have stayed at the Manila Hotel were Ernest Hemingway, General Douglas McArthur, Marlon Brando, Helen Keller, John Wayne, Rocky Marciano, Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Emperor Akihito, John Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, Neil Armstrong, Anatoly Karpov, Bob Hope, Henry Kissinger, Princess Margaret, Brooke Shields, John Denver, Bon Jovi, Ben Kingsley, Richard Attenborough, Julio Iglesias, Richard Cheney, Garri Kasparov, Sultan Bolkiah, Rod Stewart, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Arnold Parmer, Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, Nelson Mandela and Prince Charles. (Source: Panorama magazine)

One of the Best Banks
Global Finance, a financial magazine in the US, named the Bank of Philippine Islands, the oldest bank in the country, as the best domestic bank in emerging markets in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Emerging markets refer to developing economies, mostly in Asia.

Asia's Best Business School
The Makati-based Asian Institute of Management (AIM) is richly considered as one of the top business schools in Asia. In the year 2001, it received the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Award for having MBA programs that integrate social, environmental and sustainability topics into business training. The award is a joint project of The Aspen Institute Initiative for Social Innovation through Business (Aspen ISIB) and World Resources Institute.

Influential Businesswoman
In its 2002 list, US-based Fortune Magazine ranked Teresita Sy-Coson, a daughter of Filipino-Chinese tycoon Henry Sy Sr. and executive vice president of SM Prime Holdings, as the world's 39th most influential woman in international business outside the United States. The SM Prime Holdings is a conglomerate engaged in retail, real state, manufacturing, banking and finance.

World's Second Most Devastated City
The late US President and General Dwight Eisenhower described Manila as the world's second most devastated city during World War II, next to Warsaw, Poland which was reduced to ruins by the Nazi's attack. Before he became president, Eisenhower served in the Philippines under General Douglas Macarthur from 1935 to 1939.

Second Largest Geothermal Power Source
As of 2002, the Philippines was producing about 1,765 megawatts of geothermal energy, making it the world's second largest geothermal power user after the United States. The Department of Energy said the country could edge out the US at the top by installing a new geothermal power plant with a 900-megawatt capacity.

World's Third Largest Banana Producer
The Philippines is considered as the world's third largest producer of bananas, after Costa Rica and Ecuador. Large plantations in southern Mindanao produce most bananas exported by the Philippines. Some 30,000 hectares in the region are planted to bananas.

The Philippines is also one of the largest producers of coconut, cassava, mango, pineapple, tilapia, tuna, shrimps, and prawns.

This post has been edited by Kanlungan: Dec 19 2004, 07:11 PM

[Fil-Am]

Thats cool, 91% proud to be filipino, hell yeah. Pinoy pride baby. (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggthumpup.gif)

This post has been edited by Fil-Am: Dec 19 2004, 07:53 PM

[flipcombatmedic]

what i noted first was the worlds second most devastated city. i really think that all the bad things of manila today resulted in the rape and battle of manila with the japanese. i think manila would have been a very very nice city if it wasn't for taht.

secodn is the best financier. that guy under ramos, didn't he instituted the vat.

fourth biggest coliseum. araneta is that big. i think we should have the asean games soon then.

best bank is the bank of the philippine islands? i never heard of that.


the best hotel, is that hotel manila by intramuros?

[Kanlungan]

Happest people in Asia..? I believe so.. Many people can still smile and laugh despite our material inadequaices and economic woos/woes(how the hell do you spell that?)

[Ek-ek]

The Philippines is now the world's 12th in terms of population

87million.

[Kanlungan]

Small country, huge population...jeez

[Ek-ek]

Yup! But I think we had to update some of the facts here!

[Kanlungan]

Post niyo nalang yung updates