2. Traveling by air There are 254 airports in Philippines, 85 of which are paved. There are 2 heliports in Philippines
3. Traveling by car There are 213,151 Km of highways in Philippines.
4. Geography Major cities (2007 estimate): Capital--Manila (pop. 11.55 million in metropolitan area); other cities--Davao City (1.36 million); Cebu City (0.80 million).Terrain: Islands, 65% mountainous, with narrow coastal lowlands.Climate: Tropical, astride typhoon belt.
6. Economy GDP (2010): $188.7 billion.Annual GDP growth rate (2010): 7.3% at constant prices.GDP per capita (2010): $2,007.Natural resources: Copper, nickel, iron, cobalt, silver, gold.Agriculture: Products--rice, coconut products, sugar, corn, pork, bananas, pineapple products, aquaculture, mangoes, eggs.Industry: Types--textiles and garments, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, paper and paper products, tobacco products, beverage manufacturing, food processing, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, electronics and semiconductor assembly, mineral products, hydrocarbon products, fishing, business process outsourcing services.Trade (2010): Exports--$50.7 billion. Imports--$61.1 billion.
7. PEOPLE Popular belief holds that the majority of Philippine people are descendants of migrants from Indonesia and Malaysia who came to the islands in successive waves over many centuries and largely displaced the aboriginal inhabitants. Modern archeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence, however, strongly suggests that those migrants originated in Taiwan and went on from the Philippines to settle Indonesia and Malaysia. The largest ethnic minority now is the mainland Asians (called Chinese), who have played an important role in commerce for many centuries since they first came to the islands to trade. Arabs and Indians also traveled and traded in the Philippines in the first and early second millennium. As a result of intermarriage, many Filipinos have some Asian mainland, Spanish, American, Arab, or Indian ancestry. After the mainland Asians, Americans and Spaniards constitute the next largest minorities in the country.
8. Post-Independence Period The assassination of opposition leader Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino upon his return to the Philippines in 1983 after a long period of exile coalesced popular dissatisfaction with Marcos and set in motion a succession of events that culminated in a snap presidential election in February 1986. The opposition united under Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, and Salvador Laurel, head of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO). The election was marred by widespread electoral fraud on the part of Marcos and his supporters. International observers, including a U.S. delegation led by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), denounced the official results. Marcos was forced to flee the Philippines in the face of a peaceful civilian-military uprising that ousted him and installed Corazon Aquino as president on February 25, 1986.
9. Transportation from one island to another Most of the time Filipinos will take the boat to travel from one island to another island in the Philippines . The relative short distance between islands and the price of the ticket makes that understandable. For this reason even tourists will make use of the boat. Moreover, for tourists travelling by boat from one island to another island, "island hopping", is attractive because it offers more possibilities to communicate with Filipinos and Filipinas. Once decided to make a trip through the Philippines, the choice has to be made which boat and which company (or still airplane?) you want to make use of!
10. Island hopping by boat There are three types of boats. The traditional type is the pump- boat. Nowadays most bigger pump-boats are motorized. The pump-boats are normally used for the shorter distances. The price of the ticket is cheap. For really short distances between islands close to each other, the smaller un-motorized pump boat is used. These un-motorized boats are mostly used for fishing.
