I’ve learned a lot about the history and situation in this wonderful country in the past month. Most of these things I didn’t really know before I arrived, thanks to our wonderful educational system that does nothing in terms of informing us of US involvement in countries that used to be colonies. For this reason, I will try to put the country into a context so that it is easier for you, the readers, to understand what I am experiencing and why certain parts of this experience are so significant. These facts and figures come from various orientations with United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and Farmers Development Center (FARDEC), as well as what I learned in Handbook Philippines: Society, Politics, Economy, and Culture.
• Population: 96 million
• 7,107 islands
• 880 inhabited islands
• 8-number of islands I have visited so far
• 3 groupings of islands (north-Luzon, central-Visayas, south-Mindanao)
• 22 active volcanoes
• 200 km-farthest you will ever be from the coastline in the country
• 80°F average year-round temperature
• 20 typhoons enter the Philippines yearly, 8-9 make landfall in populated places
• 70% of world’s species can be found in the Philippines (5,000 animal species, 13,000 plant species, ⅔ of which are only found here)
• 20,000 square kilometers of coral reefs
• 170 different languages
• 3.5 million are unemployed
• 18.6 million are underemployed
• 12 million are registered Overseas Filipin@ Workers (OFW) (an estimated 6 million more are unregistered)
• 91% of Filipin@s identify as Christian (81% of these are Catholic, 19% are Protestant
• 5% identify as Muslim/Moro (derogatory word used by the Spanish but reclaimed in the second half of the 20th century)
• 4% identify as Iglesia ni Cristo, Buddhist, Hindu, or animistic religions
• 343,448 square kilometers of land, 48% of which is agricultural
• 66% of population live in urban areas, farms, 34% live in rural areas
• 70% of farmers do not own the land they work
• ¼-¾ typical landlord/tenant farmer split of harvest (can be up to half and half)
• 5% of farmers in Central Visayas have access to tractors
• 14% of country’s rice is imported
• Philippines is the largest exporter of labor in Asia
• 71.6 years-average life expectancy at birth (68.7 years-men, 74.7 years-women)
• 22.9 years-median age
• 19.3 infants per 1,000 live births-infant mortality rate
• US$188 billion GDP (2009-2010)
• 0.448% GINI coefficient (poorest 20% have 5.8% share in GNI)
• US$1=PhP44 (Philippine Peso)
• 27.2% poverty rate (26.1 million people live on less than PhP52=US$1.18/day)
• 70% more appropriate poverty rate (67.2 million people live on less than PhP104=US$2.36/day)
• US$26.8 billion revenue US$33.8 billion expenditures-national budget
• US$110 billion-public debt
• US$46.5 billion-external debt
• 1% of the population hold 30% of country’s wealth
• PhP45 billion-net worth of 10 wealthiest people in the country=net worth of 74 million poorest people in the country
• 169 victims of extrajudicial killings since 2010
• 23 victims of extrajudicial killings were church workers
• 19 victims of enforced disappearances since 2010
• 427 political prisoners since 2010
• 17 open cases of farmers accused of theft, trespassing, death threats, attempted murder, and murder in FARDEC areas
• 1 case of landgrabbing involved 300 police officers who arrested and imprisoned 39 people (36 elderly women, 3 students)
• 500 US troops rotate through the Philippines to find al Qaeda operatives and protect from an attack by the Chinese government, but no one has been arrested yet
• Oldest remains of humans found in the Philippines date back to 67,000 BCE
• 600 BCE-began trade with China and Japan
• 1380 CE-Muslim empire reaches the Philippines
• 1521-Magellan lands in the Philippines and is killed in battle, the Philippines defeats a potential colonizer
• 1565-Miguel López de Legazpi lands and begins the colonization of the Philippines
• June 12, 1898-declaration of independence from Spain
• December 1898-US pays US$20 million to Spain as compensation for losing the Philippine colony, beginning of US colonial rule
• December 8, 1941-Japan begins attack on the Philippines
• January 2, 1942-beginning of Japanese colonial era
• August 1945-end of Japanese colonial rule
• July 4, 1946-end of US colonial rule
• May 25, 1948-foundation of United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) (167 representatives from Presbyterian, United Church of the Brethren, Congregational, Church of Christ-Disciples, and Philippine Methodist Church unite to form UCCP)
• ~4,000 UCCP churches today
• Esther 4:15-16 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
• 1 day until I travel to my site placement in Kananga, Leyte
• Population: 96 million
• 7,107 islands
• 880 inhabited islands
• 8-number of islands I have visited so far
• 3 groupings of islands (north-Luzon, central-Visayas, south-Mindanao)
• 22 active volcanoes
• 200 km-farthest you will ever be from the coastline in the country
• 80°F average year-round temperature
• 20 typhoons enter the Philippines yearly, 8-9 make landfall in populated places
• 70% of world’s species can be found in the Philippines (5,000 animal species, 13,000 plant species, ⅔ of which are only found here)
• 20,000 square kilometers of coral reefs
• 170 different languages
• 3.5 million are unemployed
• 18.6 million are underemployed
• 12 million are registered Overseas Filipin@ Workers (OFW) (an estimated 6 million more are unregistered)
• 91% of Filipin@s identify as Christian (81% of these are Catholic, 19% are Protestant
• 5% identify as Muslim/Moro (derogatory word used by the Spanish but reclaimed in the second half of the 20th century)
• 4% identify as Iglesia ni Cristo, Buddhist, Hindu, or animistic religions
• 343,448 square kilometers of land, 48% of which is agricultural
• 66% of population live in urban areas, farms, 34% live in rural areas
• 70% of farmers do not own the land they work
• ¼-¾ typical landlord/tenant farmer split of harvest (can be up to half and half)
• 5% of farmers in Central Visayas have access to tractors
• 14% of country’s rice is imported
• Philippines is the largest exporter of labor in Asia
• 71.6 years-average life expectancy at birth (68.7 years-men, 74.7 years-women)
• 22.9 years-median age
• 19.3 infants per 1,000 live births-infant mortality rate
• US$188 billion GDP (2009-2010)
• 0.448% GINI coefficient (poorest 20% have 5.8% share in GNI)
• US$1=PhP44 (Philippine Peso)
• 27.2% poverty rate (26.1 million people live on less than PhP52=US$1.18/day)
• 70% more appropriate poverty rate (67.2 million people live on less than PhP104=US$2.36/day)
• US$26.8 billion revenue US$33.8 billion expenditures-national budget
• US$110 billion-public debt
• US$46.5 billion-external debt
• 1% of the population hold 30% of country’s wealth
• PhP45 billion-net worth of 10 wealthiest people in the country=net worth of 74 million poorest people in the country
• 169 victims of extrajudicial killings since 2010
• 23 victims of extrajudicial killings were church workers
• 19 victims of enforced disappearances since 2010
• 427 political prisoners since 2010
• 17 open cases of farmers accused of theft, trespassing, death threats, attempted murder, and murder in FARDEC areas
• 1 case of landgrabbing involved 300 police officers who arrested and imprisoned 39 people (36 elderly women, 3 students)
• 500 US troops rotate through the Philippines to find al Qaeda operatives and protect from an attack by the Chinese government, but no one has been arrested yet
• Oldest remains of humans found in the Philippines date back to 67,000 BCE
• 600 BCE-began trade with China and Japan
• 1380 CE-Muslim empire reaches the Philippines
• 1521-Magellan lands in the Philippines and is killed in battle, the Philippines defeats a potential colonizer
• 1565-Miguel López de Legazpi lands and begins the colonization of the Philippines
• June 12, 1898-declaration of independence from Spain
• December 1898-US pays US$20 million to Spain as compensation for losing the Philippine colony, beginning of US colonial rule
• December 8, 1941-Japan begins attack on the Philippines
• January 2, 1942-beginning of Japanese colonial era
• August 1945-end of Japanese colonial rule
• July 4, 1946-end of US colonial rule
• May 25, 1948-foundation of United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) (167 representatives from Presbyterian, United Church of the Brethren, Congregational, Church of Christ-Disciples, and Philippine Methodist Church unite to form UCCP)
• ~4,000 UCCP churches today
• Esther 4:15-16 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
• 1 day until I travel to my site placement in Kananga, Leyte
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