Philippines (Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Republika ng Pilipinas; RP), is an island nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine Archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean and primarily divided into three major islands as Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
As a former colony of Spain and the United States, the Philippines has many affinities with the Western world including Spain and Latin America due to three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Roman Catholicism is the most predominant religion consisting of more than 80% of the population, making it the 4th largest Catholic nation in the world. Muslims, on the other hand, are major non-Hispanicized population, concentrated in the Sulu archipelago and in central and western Mindanao, and the mountain groups of northern Luzon.
With more than 180 native languages and dialects are spoken, all belonging to the Malay-Polynesian linguistic family, Tagalog is considered as national language and Cebuano is the second predominant. However, only Tagalog and English are used as the official media of instruction within the whole archipelago.
As a democratic country its government body is composed of president who mainly governs as the head of the state, elected by popular vote to a six-year term, during which they appoint and preside over the cabinet. The bicameral Congress is composed of a Senate, serving as the upper house, whose members are elected nationally to a six-year term, and a House of Representatives serving as the lower house whose members are elected to a three-year term and are elected from legislative districts and through sectoral representation. The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a Chief Justice as its presiding officer and fourteen associate justices, all appointed by the President from nominations submitted by the Judicial Bar and Council.
With its land area 40% of its comprised to agricultural and forestry which produce food crops for domestic consumption and cash crops for export and with its 7,107 islands it is expected that it has a very wide range for fishing activities.
Industrial production is centered on the processing and assembly operations of the following: food, beverages, tobacco, rubber products, textiles, clothing and footwear, pharmaceuticals, paints, plywood and veneer, paper and paper products, small appliances, and electronics. Heavier industries are dominated by the production of cement, glass, industrial chemicals, fertilizers, iron and steel, and refined petroleum products.
The Philippines also has significant deposits of mineral wealth such as gold, clay, limestone, marble, silica, and phosphate. The discovery of natural gas reserves off Palawan has been brought on-line to generate electricity.
Talking about foreign tie ups, the government also engage on import-export activities which also give a big contribution to the country’s economic income which the U.S. traditionally has been the Philippines' largest foreign investor.
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