In the southern part of Taiwan, there is a country famous for Filipino maids. It was once known as the "Little America" of Asia and the "paradise" that everyone in Southeast Asia yearns for. However, when it comes to the Philippines now, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is "the world of mango, coffee, and cocoa", and they are particularly fond of tossing. What is the strength now?
The Philippines, a country located on the western edge of the Pacific Tectonic Plate, has a land area of only 29970,000 square kilometers, but it is remarkable for its unique geographical structure. It stretches 1,851 kilometers from north to south and 1,107 kilometers from east to west, but it has a coastline of 18,533 kilometers, as if it is the darling of the ocean, and is affectionately embraced by the sea.
Looking at the map of the Philippines, you will be surprised to see that it is like a broken building block, densely scattered with 7,107 islands. Among them, 11 large islands, such as Luzon, Mindanao and Samar, are like giants in the archipelago, accounting for 96% of the country's land. They are like two kings, dividing the north and south ends of the land respectively, and the only connection between them is the magnificent sea route. Despite its small size, the Philippines has a sizable population, one of the twelve countries in the world with a population of over 100 million. These populations are scattered across thousands of islands, each with a unique culture and story. Due to the large number and scattered islands, and the rugged terrain, even if the islands are not far apart, they form a distinct regional character. The diversity of languages in this land is even more breathtaking. According to statistics, the Philippines has 182 independent languages, but only 19 are officially recognized as the language of instruction. This makes communication between citizens particularly difficult, as if each island is telling a different story in its own language. And in this colorful land, religious belief is also a unique landscape. The Philippines is arguably the only Catholic country in Southeast Asia, with Catholics accounting for about 80% of the total population. In the southern Philippines, however, there are about 5% of the country's population of Muslims, mainly in Mindanao. Some of the islands in the middle of the country still retain their own primitive tribal beliefs, which are in stark contrast to the development of modern society. In this fascinating land, the diversity of languages, religions and cultures creates a colorful picture. Every island, every language, every faith tells the story of the Philippines. The history of the Philippines is not very long, nor is it very remarkable, and there is no clear concept of a unified country in history.
According to records, the earliest country to reach the Philippines was the state of Wu at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the king of Wu, Sun Quan, sent ** to Funan, passed through and landed in the present-day Philippine Islands, and carried out cultural exchanges with the local residents.
After the Song and Yuan dynasties, a number of divisive kingdoms consisted of indigenous tribes and Malay immigrants emerged in the Philippines. Two of the most famous of these are the Kingdom of Luzon in the north, where Zheng He appointed Xu Chailao as the governor of Luzon during his voyage to the West; The other was the Sulu Sultanate in the south, which also had close ties to ancient China. In 1417, the three kings of Sulu had led hundreds of their families to Beijing to pay tribute, and on the way back through Dezhou, the king of the east, Batu Ge Horn Tala, died of illness, and the Yongle emperor buried the king of the east with the gift of a vassal king, and personally wrote an inscription on the tomb of the king of Sulu.
During the Great Voyage, the famous Portuguese navigator Magellan landed on the Philippine Islands for the first time as a European, but he also died on Mactan Island in the Philippines.
And the chief Rapp Rapp, who killed Magellan, became the first national hero of the Philippines to successfully resist the invaders. But unfortunately, then the Spanish fleet landed in the Philippines and soon occupied the Philippines, and named the Philippines after Felipe, the Prince of Spain at the time, which is the country of the Philippines. The name of the country itself is so colonial that the former Philippines Duterte has repeatedly publicly proposed changing the name of the country.
In 1564-1565, a Spanish expedition led by Legazpi came to the Philippines again, this time with the aim of occupying it. It successively eliminated the kingdom of Cebu Lajia in the south and the Kingdom of Luzon in the north, and began to colonize the Philippines for more than 300 years. Like Latin America, Spain completely transformed the country, and since then the Philippines has become a country with a predominantly Asian blood, mixed race, and Latin American heart.
After the Spanish-American War, the United States took over the Philippines and made it a colony of the United States, which was formed"First Republic of the Philippines"。It was also during this period that the United States, in order to deepen the ideological and cultural colonization of the Philippines, required schools to teach in English. It is for this reason that the Philippines has become one of the best English-speaking countries in Asia. It was also colonized by Little Japan during World War II.
The people of the Philippines have experienced more than 300 years of colonial oppression, and are the country that has been colonized by the West for the longest time among Asian countries, devastated by two world wars, and many national liberation movements and social revolutions. It can be said that it is a story full of legends and tragedies.
After the end of World War II, the United States handed over sovereignty to the Philippines, and since then the Philippines can be regarded as an independent country, but the United States is still bound.
In the 50s of the last century, the Philippine sugar industry, tobacco industry, food industry, etc., began to develop rapidly. In addition, U.S. companies continue to enter the Philippines to invest in the market, driving the secondary development of the Philippine economy. The Philippines' economy is booming, with a GDP per capita that ranks second in Asia after Japan, and a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita that is four times that of Thailand, three times that of Malaysia, twice that of Indonesia, and even more than that of China and India. The first airline in Asia with an aviation business was Philippine Airlines, and even the first aircraft of Japan Airlines at that time was destined for Philippine Airlines**.
At that time, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was known as the "Pearl of the Orient" and was one of the most prosperous and modern cities in Asia, as well as the most advanced and perfect in Southeast Asia. At that time, the financial center of Asia was not Singapore and Hong Kong, but Manila in the Philippines, where the Asian Development Bank and many multinational companies had their Asia-Pacific headquarters.
However, this glory did not last long. Since the 60s of the 20th century, the Philippine economy has experienced a significant decline and stagnation. Today, the total GDP of the Philippines is about the same as that of a province in China, far lower than that of Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and other countries.
When we talk about the Philippines today, no one will talk about wealth and prospects, and most people's impressions are bananas, mangoes, Filipino maids, seafarers, poverty, drugs, gambling, corruption, and poor public order.
Manila is not only the capital of the Philippines, but also the largest slum in the world. Manila has even been described as "a villa for the dead, a hell for the living". According to official figures, 35 percent of Manila's 16 million people live in such dumps. In such an environment, they don't know what it means to enjoy life and what happiness is, they only know that they have to survive.
According to a 2022 World Bank** article, the 1 percent of the Philippines earns 17 percent of the country's national income, while the bottom 50 percent share only 14 percent of the national income. According to the latest survey results released by the Social Weather Station (SWS), a polling agency in the Philippines, the number of Filipino households that experienced "involuntary hunger" in December last year increased from 98% increased to 126%。So much so that many nationals are fleeing the Philippines.
Despite this miserable situation, the Philippines has a great covet for the Malaysian state of Sabah and has always wanted to get its hands on the land. Recently, a number of opposition parties in the Philippines have joined forces, and the old Dura banner of independence, where will the Philippines go?
Without a definitive solution to the monopoly of the gatekeepers under the cloak of democracy, it is almost impossible for the Philippines to improve its own economic situation.
But these people in power in the Philippines have vested interests, and I am afraid that very few will make up their minds to change. As a result, the future of the Philippines remains uncertain.