The People

The Philippines' almost 100 million people must be among the friendliest on the face of this Earth, never shy to welcome visitors, always ready with a smile. Despite the difficult conditions that many Filipinos live under, there seems to be an almost universally positive outlook on life, something that even some Filipinos - let alone foreigners- find difficult to fathom, they certainly have a great capacity to live in and enjoy the moment, without worrying about what the future will bring. It is undoubtedly true that the strenght of their extended families contributes hugely to a sense of personal security and belonging.

They also know how to party. Celebrations of all kinds figure large in Filipino life, Providing regular opportunities to break off from the hard graft of daily toil. Every community,  from the largest city to the smallest village, or barangay, has at least one annual fiesta to celebrate perhaps the harvest, an important historical event or a local patron saint,

Above:  The Philippines is a densely populated country, making the cities' streets often rather crowded, though almost always colourful and lively

Filipino teenagers everywhere, wanting to be cool and
fashionable. Here some are seen hanging out at a
beachsidecafe in Miagao, near Iloilo.

providing regular opportunities for everyone to let their hair down. Some fiestas have become huge events with nationwide frame, the most important including Ati-Atihan in Kalinbo, Dinagyang in Iloilo and Sinulog in Cebu City.  Unlike many Asian Countries, women figure large in the Philippines' public life, taking a wide range of prominent roles from managing small family-run businesses up to position in local and national government. It is no coincidence that the Philippines has has two female president in the pas 25 years, Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The origin of this female equality is rather unclear, but there is evidence that it is buried deep in Philippine history, reaching back to matriarchal practices predating the 16th - century arrival of the Spanish.

Below right: A Festival Musicians complete with homemade drums, take moment to relax between performances

Below Left: Vast Numbers of Vibrant, Colourful festivals are held across the country, one of the most famous being Iloilos's Dinagyang Festival, held each January.

It is generally believed that most Filipinos are descendant mainly from Austronesian people who arrived about 5,000 years ago from their homeland in Taiwan and Southern China. Over this settlement has been laid a more modern input from Malay peoples arriving from the Indonesian island on an number of occasion over the past 1,000 years. Those human migration have created a patchwork of ethnic and cultural diversity, with about 90 per cent of Filipinos conforming to the mixed Austronesian-Malay description, often known locally as Pinoy. The remaining 10 per cent consist of quite mixture of peoples ranging from those who are much more strongly Malay, generally living in the far south, to those with little or no Malay ancestry and so boasting almost pure Austronesian heritage. These people live mainly in the north, Either in remote islands such as Batanes, or high in northern Luzon's Sierra Madre and Cordillera Central Mountain ranges.

The plethora of cultural minority groups include such peoples as the Ifugao and Igorot in Luzon's mountains, the Ivatan in the Batanes Island, or the T'boli, Badjao, Monobo and Yakan living in Mindanao and the Sulo Island of the far south. In addition to all these groups there is one more, known by variety of names, most commonly Negrito, Aeta, Ati or Agta. Often considered the Philippines' aboriginals, the Aeta too are thought to be immigrants, though ones who arrive about 20,000 years ago. Still living a largely hunter-gatherer existence in the country's forests, their numbers are in decline, at least in part due to the shrinking forest environment that sustains their lifestyle.

Above: The Ifugao are one of the most well known of the Philippines' minorities living in northern Luzon's mountains, particularly around the town of Banaue. These days they rarely wear traditional clothing, seen here, generally reserving it for festivals and certain tourist locations.

Below left: An Aeta man seen building a bamboo wall at a forest village near Subic Bay, northern Luzon.

A Tagbanua fisherman,with
one of this granddaughters,
sits mending his fishing net in
the village of Cabugao, on
Coron Island Palawan.

Right below: A Mangyan man cutting open a coconut, in the forests of  Mount Malasimba, near Puerto Galera, northern Mindoro.

Evidence of this cultural and ethnic diversity is found in the huge range of languages spoken across the country estimated to be as many as 100. Most are used by the cultural minority groups, with just eight languages shared across the main Filipino population. Of these, two dominate: Tagalog and Cebuano, the former the language of northwestern Luzon, particularly around Metro Manila, and the latter prevalent across the Visayas. English has been grafted onto this as a lingua franca. It is always surprisingly that, After 350 years of rule by Spain, the Spanish languages is not more widespread. in fact, fragments of it are frequently heard in two main ways: firstly as words and expressions that have become integrated into the Filipino languages and secondly as names, both of places and of people.

The in which foreign influences are readily absorbed by Philippine Culture is one the country's great wonders. It seems that few are ever completely rejected; most are sbsorbed, spun around a few times, slotted in all among the customs and then expressed in daily life with a uniquely Filipino Slant. Perhaps the most dramatic is the fervent devotion of the Filipino population to catholicism. One of only two Christian countries in Asia, over 80 per cent of the population is Catholic, most regularly attending mass, with about another 10 per cent adhering to other Christian denominations. Not surprisingly, Catholicism has left a very visible mark upon the landscape in the form of now quite ancient and historic spanish churches, fortress-like building dotted across the country. Most of the Philippines' festivals have a strongly Catholic slant, including processions devoted to local or national saints, particularly the Santo Niño, a very popular nationwide theme.

Above: The interior of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, a church that is much more important to the Cebuano people than the newer Cebu Cathedral. The 18th century basilica houses a statue of Christ as a child, brought to the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan

Left: The facade of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, dating from the 19th century, is typical of Spanish colonial architecture, marking both the dominance of Spain and Catholicism in the Philippines

Above: Residents of remote island in the Siargao Island, demonstrate their religious devotion by bringing their icons to be blessed at the cathedral in General Luna, Sirgao's main town.


Left: Even the most riotous festival usually has a serious religious element, often the presentaion of Santo Niño statues, as seen here at Dinagyang festival, in Iloilo.

About half of the remaining 10 percent of the population is Muslim, living mostly in the south of Mindanao and Palawan, as well as in the Sulu Islands. Almost all of these Muslims belong to one or another of the region's cultural minority groups, though far from all of the minorities here are Muslim. Known collectively as Lumad, the Mindanao-based non-muslim cultural minorities are either Christian or animist in their beliefs. This is also true for most of the cultural minorities living across other parts of the Philippines.