The Philippines is readily accessible from the travel capitals of the world. Travelling time to Manila from Hongkong is 2 hours; from Singapore 3 hours and 25 minutes; Bangkok 3 hours and 15 minutes; Tokyo 4 hours and 15 minutes; Sydney 9 hours and 35 minutes, London 14 hours; Paris 14 hours and 45 minutes; Frankfurt 14 hours and 10 minutes; San Francisco 11 hours and 50 minutes; Los Angeles 12 hours and 35 minutes; and New York 18 hours.

The Philippines: An archipelago of 7,107 islands, the Philippines stretches from the south of China to the northers tip of Borneo. It has a total area of 300,000 sq km, 298,170 sq km is on land and 36,289 km of coastline. There are 14 regions, 73 provinces and 60 cities across the archipelago. The country has over a hundred ethnic groups and a mixture of foreign influences which have molded a unique Filipino culture.

Before the Spanish explorers came, Indo-Malays and Chinese merchants had settled here. In 1521 the Spaniards, led the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, discovered the islands. The spanish conquistadores established a colonial government in Cebu in 1565, They transfered the seat of government to Manila in 1571 and proceeded to colonize the country, The filipinos resisted and waged Asia's first nationalist revolution in 1896. On June, 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent from Spain and proclaimed himself president.
After ruling for 333 years, the spaniards finally left in 1898 and were replaced by Americans who continued to colonize the country for another 48 years. The Americans brought over their educational system, their legal system, and their democratic forms of government. On July 4, 1946, the Americans finally recognized Philippine Independence.

Considered as the third largest-English speaking country in the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom. The Philippines has world-class facilities and services such as excellent accomodations, fine restaurants, modern shopping centers and communications services, efficient congress and exhibition organizers, and reliable tour operators.

The Philippines is divided into three geographical areas; Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The country has 378 km of railroads, 157,450 km of highways and 3,219 km of inland waterways. The ports are "Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Guimaras, Iloilo, Legaspi, Manila and Subic Bay. There are about 240
(mostly small) airports.....

Philippines has a total population of 87,857,473 (July 2005 est.) The main ethnic group is the Christian Malays (91,5%) and the predominant religion is Roman Catholic (83%).

The Philippine National language are Filipino (Tagalog) and most Filipinos speak Filipino (again Tagalog); and English language for commercial and Legal Transactions. Literacy rate is high 96%. Approximately 111 languages and dialects are spoken in the country and most people who lives in "MANILA"
(Philippines Capital City, which has a total population of 10 millions and growing every year) speak at least one other dialect besides Filipino.

The Philippines has a tropical marine climate - northeast monsoon from November to April and southwest monsoon from May to October. It is astride the typhoon belt and usually stuck by five to six cyclones storms per year. Average temperatures: 78 F/25c to 90F/32c; humidity: 77 %

Philippines is a member of the United Nations and the Association of the South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Currency; Unit currency: Peso (P) =100 centavos. Bank notes: P10, P20, P50, P100, P500, P1000.
Coins; 5c, 10c, 25c, P1, P5, P10.

The Philippine flag has the unique ability to display a state of war. If the blue panel is above the red, the Philippines is at peace, in the red above blue indicates a state of war. In the vertical position, blue on the right means peace and opposite means otherwise. The dark blue is a change after the authorization of the flag for the American authorities in March 1920.......... But in 25 February 1985 President Marcos changed the blue color of the flag to light blue, but after his fall "Cory Aquino" abolished the change.... read more about the Philippines flag.