Collected Philippine Trivia II.

1· The exotic jeepney is a post-war creation inspired by the GI jeeps that the American soldiers brought to the country in the 1940s. Enterprising Filipinos salvaged the surplus engines and came out unique vehicles of art.

2· Short distance and feeder trips could not be more exciting than via Philippine quick transports – the tricycle, a motorcycle with a sidecar, and the pedicab, a bicycle with a sidecar.

3· The world’s longest underground river system accessible to man can be found at the St. Paul National Park in the province of Palawan.

4· The largest Philippine wild animal, the tamaraw, is a species of the buffalo that is similar to the carabao. It is found only in the island of Mindoro.

5· The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, a dormant volcano found in Mindanao, at 2,954 meters (9,689 feet). Mt. Pulog in Luzon is the second highest at 2,928 meters (9604 feet).

6· Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno was the first bowler to be elevated to the International Bowling Hall of Fame based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The Philippine Congress has named him “Greatest Filipino Athlete of All Time.”

7· Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? “Consummatum est!” (“It is done!”)

8· The largest city in the Philippines is Davao City. With an area of 2,211 sq. km., it is about three times the size of the national capital, Metro Manila.

9· Cebu is the oldest Philippine city.

10· Negros Occidental has the most cities among Philippine provinces.

11· Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds and Christmas carols start filling the air, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.

12· Paskuhan Village in the province of Pampanga is Asia’s only Christmas theme park and the third of its kind in the world.

13· The great Christmans lanterns of San Fernando, Pampanga can reach as big as 40 feet in diameter, using as many as 16,000 glowing bulbs.

14· The exotic jeepney is the Filipino version of the jitney, the taxi/minibus that travels along a fixed route, found in many countries.

15· The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.

16· The word “boondocks,” which is now a part of the English language, dictionary, and vocabulary, comes from the Tagalog word “bundok,” meaning “mountain.”

17· The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.

Collected Trivia About the Philippines

1. Doctrina Christiana is the first book published in the Philippines, was published in 1593, by the Dominican press. Because of the monopoly of printing presses by religious orders prior to the 19th century, early written literature was predominantly religious in content and in purpose.

2. The first women’s magazine in the Philippines was El Hogar (The Home), which first came out in 1893.

3. The first Filipino immigrants to the United States (1850) settled in Louisiana.

4. Emilio Aguinaldo lost to Manuel L. Quezon in the country’s first presidential elections in 1935.

5. The largest crocodile ever captured in the Philippines (1823) was found in Laguna de Bay.

6. Fort San Pedro was the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

7. Farmers’ Market Foodome is the largest restaurant in the Philippines (in Quezon City).

8. Cesar Virata is the first and last Prime Minister of the Philippines after WW II.

9. The Cagayan River, the Philippines longest river, originates in Nueva Vizcaya.

10. Aimee Carandang is the first Filipina to become a commercial plane pilot.

11. The oldest Philippine university for women is Centro Escolar University.

12. Jose P. Laurel has the most children (7) among the Philippine presidents.

13. Eva Estrada Kalaw is the first Filipina to be elected senator twice, in 1965 and in 1971.

14. The first modern building in the Philippines is considered to be the Crystal Arcade in Escolta, completed in 1932.

15. Aurora is the only Philippine province named after a first lady.

Oldest school in the Philippines

Excerpt:

The University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City is considered as the oldest school in the country and in Asia. Formerly known as the Colegio de San Ildefonso, it was founded by the Spanish Jesuits on August 1, 1595. This makes the Cebu-based university older than the University of Santo Tomas (1611) in Manila and Harvard University (1636) in the United States.

The University of Santo Tomas, however, contests this title. Formerly known as the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, UST was the first school, which got a university status in 1645. USC became a university in 1948. UST also claimed that the original USC was closed in 1769 as a result of the expulsion of the Jesuits. It reopened in 1783 under a new name and ownership. But the USC officials stick to their claim. The university observed its 400th foundation day on August 21, 1995.

Tamaraw

The Tamaraw, scientifically known as Bubalus mindorensis is the only native bovid to the Philippines, and is the countries largest native land animal. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro. Belonging to the family of buffalos, the same categorical group of the Philippine carabao, the Tamaraw is the largest endangered land animal in the Philippines today. In 1996, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed it as one of the ten most endangered species in the world.

People used to call Mindoro as the “Land of the Tamaraws”. About 10,000 heads of these unique pygmy water buffalos were roaming around the island-province of Mindoro in the 1900s.

Excerpt:

The tamaraw is a small wild buffalo weighing about 300 kg (660 lb). It lives in dense forest with open glades for grazing, such as are created by fires or landslides. At one time it was found from sea level to 2000 m (6600′). It also prefers to be close to water for wallowing. The tamaraw feeds on grasses, bamboo shoots and aquatic vegetation. Its small size and great strength enables it to push through dense jungle and climb steep mountains. Tamaraw apparently associate in pairs, rather than herds, except when the cows are about to give birth.

The tamaraw was first documented by Western science in 1888. It has never been recorded from any area other than the island of Mindoro (Philippines). Prior to about 1900, most people had avoided settling on Mindoro, since it harbored a particularly virulent strain of malaria. Thus human impact on the tamaraw had been slight. At one time the tamaraw lived throughout most of the island. With the advent of anti-malarial medicines near the turn of the century, Mindoro became more accessible to human settlement. Since that time, the tamaraw’s population has been reduced from abundance to a critically low level. By 1966 its range had been reduced almost entirely to 3 principal areas: Mt. Iglit, Mt. Calavite, and the vicinity of the Sablayon Penal Settlement. By 2000, reports suggested that tamaraw were restricted to just 2 areas: the Iglit Ranges, in Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park, and Aruyan, with very few data about numbers in either site.

The tamaraw has declined mainly because of hunting, especially after the introduction of modern firearms after WWII and the Vietnam war; and habitat loss, due to settlement, logging and ranching, after malaria was brought under control around 1900. Disease (rinderpest) caught from domestic cattle introduced to the island in the 1930’s has also had a serious impact

Apolinario Mabini

Born of a poor family, Apolinario Mabini was always studious. He was always sad and silent and liked to sit alone to meditate.

Mabini studied at San Juan de Letran where he got his Bachelor of Arts degree and Professor of Latin. He also finished Law. He was a spokesman of the Congress, and a notary public.

In early 1896, he contracted a severe fever which paralyzed him for the rest of his life. He was later called the Sublime Paralytic.

Mabini was most active in the revolution in 1898, when he became the chief adviser of Gen. Aguinaldo during the revolution. He drafted decrees and proposed a constitution for the Philippine Republic. He made the plans for the revolutionary government.

In 1899, he was captured by the Americans but was later set free. In 1901, he was exiled to Guam but returned to the Philippines in 1903 after agreeing to take an oath of allegiance to the US. He took his oath on February 26, 1903 before the Collector of Customs.

On May 13, 1903, he died of cholera in Manila.

Excerpt from Talambuhay ng mga Bayani by Rene Alba

Highest Water falls in the Philippines

The highest waterfall in the country is the 388-meter-high Aliwagwag Falls, in Cateel town, Davao Oriental province. The cascade has 13 rapids and looks like a stairway with 84 steps of varying heights and among the steps hanging from 6 ft. to 100 ft. and 20 meters in width.

Located in the middle of the forest at Brgy. Aliwagwag, Cateel, it is considered as one the most beautiful waterfalls in the country. Its towering waterfalls are considered by hydraulic engineers as the highest in the country.

The second highest waterfall is located in Barangay Rogongon, 54 kilometers from Iligan City. Limunsudan Falls, a two-tiered fall, has a combined height of 870 feet. Its lower cascade alone measures 400 feet, higher than the entire height of Maria Cristiana Falls.

Maria Cristina Falls, also in Iligan City (Lanao del Norte), towers at 320 feet. Also known as the “Mother of Industry”, Maria Cristina Falls supplies 80 percent of the total energy requirement of the Mindanao region. Another breathtaking waterfall in Iligan City is the Tinago Falls, located 13 kilometers from the city proper. As its name implies, this 420-foot waterfall lies hidden in a deep ravine. The world’s highest waterfall is the Angel Falls in Venezuela. As a tributary of Caroni River, this waterfall has a total elevation of 3,281 feet.

7 New Wonders of the Nature II.

I’m posting again about the 7 new wonders of the World.. Just want to give update on the latest ranking..
The Philippines Tubbataha Reefs is already on the 6th place! (Wow!! Thanks to all the people who voted for the nominees of the Philippines)
Philippines Chocolate hills is currently on the 8th place while Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is on its 10th place!

To view the latest ranking and to vote for your nominees proceed here.
To view some places in the Philippines proceed here.

Most Populated City in the Philippines

Quezon City in northern Metro Manila is the country’s most populated city. With a total population of 2.17 million as of 2000, Quezon City is composed of numerous subdivisions and has the highest concentration of urban poor residents in Metro Manila. Other highly populated cities in the country are Manila, with 1.58 million residents; Caloocan, 1.18 million and

Largest City in the Philippines

Davao City is the largest city in the country. Its land area covers 2,212 square kilometers. Most of these areas, however, are distributed as forests, coconut groves and rice fields. In comparison, Metro Manila covers only 636 square kilometers.

Davao City lies at the mouth of the Davao River near the head of Davao Gulf. It encompasses about 50 small ports in its commercial sphere. Davao has large banana plantations, whose produce are exported to Japan and other countries. The city also boasts of a modern international airport. Puerto Princesa City, a chartered city of Palawan province, is disputing Davao City’s title. It claims to have a total land area of 2,539 square kilometers encompassing 66 barangays.

Philippine Trivia

Filipino Women Live Longer

Life expectancy is estimated at 72.2 years for Filipino women and 66.9 years for Filipino men. Around 38 percent of the population is younger than 15 years old and 28 percent belongs to the 15 to 24 age bracket. Population experts claim it would take 25 years before the Philippine population reaches its peak.