Mabuhay

The Philippines can be exciting, even flamboyant place, driven by the exuberant spirit of the Filipino people. Their hybrid culture derives from a unique mingling of Eastern and Western influences, from diverse Malay, Chinese, Spanish and American strains and bloodlines. Their special character was formed by “four centuries in the convent and four decades in Hollywood,” wrote historian Carmen Guerrero Nakpil. However one sees it, Filipinos have evolved a real cosmopolitan flair, topped by their national knack for song, dance and theater throughout seven regions. Welcome to the Philippine Islands’ abundance of natural attractions and rich archipelagic experiences beyond the urban centers.
OVER THE CENTURIES, both Spain and America have colonized this fragmented archipelago and left behind their traces – in staunch Roman Catholicism, the Spanish attitude of manana and the American-accented tounge and legislative system. Early Malay-Filipinos intermarried with Chinese and Arabs from the 10th century onwards and were colonized by the Spanish from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The Americans arrived in 1898 and occupied the islands for four decades. In 1946, after the devastation of World War II, the Philippines took its place as Asia’s first constitutional democracy. In 1896 and 2001, two popular uprisings called People Power ousted bad leaders, renewed the sense of national self and installed the best Filipinos – women – as Presidents!

By Elizabeth V. Reyes (Exciting Philippines, A Visual Journey)