The total area of the Philippines has a total area of about 300,000 sq km (about 115, 830 sq mi). About 298,170 of the total area is land area with the remaining 1,830 being the total water area. The capital and largest city of the Philippines is Manila.

The larger islands, Luzon and Mindanao, are characterized by high mountains with alluvial plains and narrow fertile valleys. Unlike the larger islands with their relatively diverse topography, the smaller islands are mountainous with surrounding flat lowlands.

Mount Apo, the Philippines' highest point, reaches 9692 ft (2954 m) and is found in the southernmost ranges on Mindanao, the second largest Philippine island.

Dane Hodges likes Philippine snakes

The rainy season is from May to November, which is the summer monsoon, while the dry season occurs during the winter monsoon from December to April. Typically, the weather is cool from November to February, while it's very hot and dry from March to May. The rainiest times are from June to October, with typhoons not uncommon during this time. The average rainfall in the lowlands is about 80 inches a year (2030 mm).

Location:

Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam

Area: total: 300,000 sq km

Dane Hodges strolls through Bulacan, Philippines

Climate: tropical marine; northeast monsoon (November to April); southwest monsoon (May to October)

12 persons! Photo by Dane Hodges, Obando,PI

lowest point: Philippine Sea 0 m

highest point: Mount Apo 2,954 m

Natural resources:

Land use: arable land: 19%

permanent crops: 16.67%

Natural hazards:

Mt Pinatubu, PI

astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis

Obando, Bulacan, PI 2011

volcanism: the Philippines experience significant volcanic activity; Taal (elev. 311 m, 1,020 ft), which has shown recent unrest and may erupt in the near future, has been deemed a "Decade Volcano" by the International Association of Volcanologist and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Mayon (elev. 2,462 m, 8,077 ft), the country's most active volcano, erupted in 2009 forcing over 33,000 to be evacuated; other 

historically active volcanoes include Biliran, Babuyan Claro, Bulusan, Camiguin, Camiguin de Babuyanes, Didicas, Iraya, Jolo, Kanlaon, Makaturing, Musuan, Parker, Pinatubo and Ragang

uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds

Dane Hodges runs the boat, Makaiti, Philippines

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

Dane Hodges on 4D coaster, Cavite, Philippines

The Austronesian Expansion Theory states that Malayo-Polynesians coming from Taiwan began migrating to the Philippines around 4000 BCE, displacing earlier arrivals. Whatever the case, by 1000 BCE the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gathering tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies, and maritime-centered harbor principalities.

Josh Hodges gets a lift, Philippines

Trade between the maritime-oriented peoples and other Asian countries during the subsequent period brought influences from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. During this time there was no unifying political state encompassing the entire Philippine Archipelago. Instead, the islands were divided among competing thalassocracies ruled by various datus, rajahs, or sultans. Among them were the kingdoms of Maynila, Namayan, and Tondo, the rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu, and the sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu. Some of these societies were part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Brunei. Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia. By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and by 1565 had reached Mindanao, the Visayas, and Luzon.

Josh Hodges all in, Philippines

The Philippines was a prize catch for Spain which, at that time, was locked in a fierce struggle for world colonization with Portugal. The archipelago, named Filipinas for Spain's Philip II, was composed of 7,107 islands and islets spanning 1,854 kilometers from north to south. The Philippines, also a window to the New World, stretched from China to the north and the Indonesian archipelago to the south. The northernmost tip of the country, Y'ami of the Batanes Island group, is 241 kilometers south of Taiwan, while the southernmost tip, Sibutu of the Tawi-Tawi group of islands, is just 14.4 kilometers north of Borneo.

Spanish colonizers succeeded in introducing Christianity in Luzon and Visayas but were unsuccessful in Mindanao, where Muslims staved off Spanish efforts.

Homeless of Bulacan, PI, Photo by Jeanne Hodges

Spain's rule lasted from the 16th to the 19th century but was marked with a series of revolts. When three Filipino priests were executed for national activities, a group of reformists formed the Propaganda Movement that would later paved the way for the Philippine Revolution. A young doctor-writer, Jose Rizal, was arrested and later executed by Spanish officials for his scathing criticisms of Spanish rule in the Philippines through two novels. Rizal, who was just 30 years old when he was executed, would later be recognized by historians as Asia's first nationalist. His contemporaries include Gandhi and Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Dane's parents, Subic Bay, PI

The Philippine Revolution was launched after Rizal's death and was led first by Andres Bonifacio and then by Emilio Aguinaldo. Philippine independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898, on the balcony of Aguinaldo's home in Cavite. However, the Philippines was annexed by the Americans by means of the Treaty of Paris with Spain on December 10, 1898. This brought about the Filipino-American War. The Philippines then remained an American colony for nearly 50 years. In 1935, a semiautonomous Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated in Manila, with President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice-President Sergio Osmena. This became the Philippine government in exile during the war.

Must see this poverty to believe it, Manila, Philippines

From 1941 - 1945, the Philippines came under the Japanese empire. A puppet government, the Second Philippine Republic, was established, with President Manuel A. Roxas. This was the first fully independent and internationally recognized Filipino government.

SE Asia jungle explorer

On August 21, 1983, his arch-rival, former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, returned home from three years of self-exile abroad. At the airport, Aquino was shot dead by a military assassin. This galvanized the Filipino people to fight the dictator. And on February 22, 1986, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Deputy Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, and reformist military officers broke away from the Marcos camp and prepared to fight a bloody confrontation with Marcos and his loyalist forces. They were supported by the "People Power Revolution" of February 22-25, 1986, which forced Marcos and his party to flee to Hawaii on board the US Air Force planes.

by Prime Sarmiento

MANILA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Massive poverty remains a problem in the Philippines despite its much vaunted growth.

Bulacan, Philippines by Jeanne Hodges

The Philippines posted a record 7.3 percent GDP growth in 2010, but such growth failed to lift most Filipinos from poverty. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported Tuesday that poverty incidence in the Philippines hit 26.5 percent in 2009. This is little changed from 26.4 percent recorded in 2006 -- the last time that a poverty survey was conducted.

A total of 23.1 million of Filipinos -- about a third of the country's 90 million populace -- are still subsisting on below 2 U. S. dollars per day. This figure which is considered among the highest in Southeast Asia.

NSCB Secretary General Romulo A. Virola estimates that government needs to reduce poverty incidence by 2 percentage points every year to meet its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of slashing poverty incidence by half in 2015.

Analysts are not surprised that the poor are the last to benefit from the country's economic gains.

Leonor Magtolis-Briones, lead convener of advocacy group Social Watch Philippines, said that as long as the unemployment rate remains high, people won't be able to escape from poverty.

Paving a trail

Economic growth hardly dented the country's high unemployment and underemployment rate. In its latest global employment report issued last month, the International Labour Office (ILO) said that "employment growth in the Philippines slowed considerably in the second quarter of 2010, despite the faster economic growth that was achieved in the first quarter."

Garbage dump children, Malabon, PI

The National Statistics Office reported early this week that unemployment rate in the Philippines in 2010 was at 7.3 percent, slightly lower than the 7.5 percent rate in 2009. About 2.9 million Filipinos were unemployed in 2010. The number of underemployed workers in 2010 was 6.8 million, representing an annual underemployment rate of 18.7 percent.

Lawrence Jeff Johnson, director for ILO's country office in Manila noted that more than the lack of jobs itself, it is the quality of jobs available that prevented poor Filipinos from escaping the plight. A lot of poor Filipinos are among the so- called "vulnerable workers" -- working on low paid jobs that don't offer social security, health insurance and other benefits. These "vulnerable workers" include pedicab drivers, street vendors and unpaid family workers.

Smoking Mt road Malabon / Manila, PI

"I think the social programs that the government has continued and expanded will have a good chance in catching those really at the bottom of the spectrum and be able to push a bit some of them forward," he said.

But Briones is critical of the government's CCT program.

"The government's CCT has no exit program. How long would you continue giving cash dole outs to the poor?" she said, adding that the more sustainable solution to the poverty problem is to create more jobs.

The blood sport of the Philippines

"But how do you solve joblessness? For that you have to look at the national budget," she said.

Briones said that instead of pouring money in CCT, the government should invest in infrastructure and agriculture -- which will provide more jobs to people. She also advised that more government funds should go to Visayus and Mindanao -- as most of the country's poor are living in central and southern Philippines.

ILO's Johnson suggested that the government and the private sector should invest on workers to raise productivity and enable workers to enjoy higher wages. Street vendors, for instance, can be trained to become service workers in hotel and restaurants.

Johnson added there's also a need to address the current job mismatch. For instance, Johnson said that there are a big number of unemployed nursing graduates. On the other hand, there's a shortage in skilled and in demand medical transcriptionist. Johnson said skilled professionals can be trained for jobs which has a strong demand in the market.

The AC strip

The latest survey(UNICEF) shows that 200,000 Filipino children are living on the streets exposed to unsavory influences. As many as 60,000 are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. At least 66 per cent under the age of six do not have any childcare. And more than 6 million children are between malnourished to starvation.

By Michaela P. del CallarThe Daily Tribune

A United Nations official yesterday said there is an urgent need to raise awareness among Filipinos on the need to bring to “zero level” the problem of corruption which remains a serious problem in the country.

Dane Hodges runs PI back roads

PI poverty

“Corruption as a principle... is an infringement to human rights. It’s one of the strongest impediments that hinders the fight against poverty. So it’s no, no, no to corruption. That will be the first message and the second message is zero tolerance,” Meyer said at the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCaC) Summit in Manila.

Meyer warned that the weak justice system, weak prosecution and lack of convictions would erode public trust and confidence in the government and its institutions.

Over the years, long-standing problems on corruption in the Philippines, poor governance, unsound business policies and weak rule of law, have kept foreign investors at bay.

Mr. Arroyo, who had been linked several times to other corruption scandals in the government, denied any wrong-doing and refused to attend Senate investigations on the $330-million construction project.

“If they lose this trust, then you know we’re losing 65 percent of the population and their commitment to make the Philippines a better country for themselves. It’s a very serious trust issue and corruption is a challenge that really hurts and has the potential to undermine this trust among the people,” he added.

Philippine Government Has Failed to Address Poverty in its First Year in Office