MABUHAY!

"Mabuhay!" is a Filipino verb in the form of a command: "Live!" It is also a wish "May you live!" Whosoever says it wishes upon you a great gift of a long, full, and meaningful life. It is both a blessing and a lusty cheer. "Mabuhay" (ma-boo-high) is such a large word with varied meanings in English and lends itself to a number of secondary uses: welcome, congratulations, thanks, Godspeed, hello, good luck, cheers, prost, santé, viva, and many other expressions of good will. All these are part of life, but it is the gift of life that makes them possible. "Mabuhay" is an invocation and a celebration of life itself.

The Philippines consists of 7,107 islands, of which only 2,000 are inhabited. Only about 500 of the islands are larger than a square kilometer and 2,500 of them are not even named. The total area of the Philippines is 299,404 square kilometers. The highest mountain is Mt. Apo, near Davao in Mindanao, at 2,953 metres. The islands of the Philippines can be conveniently divided into three groups. First, there is Luzon, the largest and northernmost island and the site of the capital, Manila. The nearby islands of Mindoro and Marinduque are generally included with Luzon. At the other end of the archipelago is the second largest island, Mindanao. Third, there is the tightly packed island group known as the Visayas. There are seven major islands in this group - Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar and Masbate. Cebu is the central island of the group and Cebu City is a major tourist destination.

There are over 30 volcanoes in the Philippines, 10 of which are classified as being active. The longest rivers are the Cagayan River, the Rio Grande de Pampanga and the Agno in Luzon; the Rio Grande de Mindanao and the Agusan River in Mindanao.

Today, there are about 67 million Filipinos; approximately 8 million of whom live in Metro Manila. Filipinos are basically of Malay stock with Chinese and Spanish ancestries. Although an ever growing number of Filipinos are becoming urbanized, a great majority of Filipinos still till the land and live off it comfortably. Known for their hospitality, Filipinos are a warm and friendly people. Visitors are welcomed like members of the family and it is no surprise to find house guests being offered the best room in a Filipino home. Smiles are abundant in the islands.

There are 111 linguistic, cultural and racial groups in the Philippines speaking a total of about 70 languages. The major linguistic groups are the following: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, Pangasinan and Maranao. While the Philippines has a national language called Pilipino (also referred to as Tagalog), English remains the language of instruction in the secondary and tertiary schools and is spoken and understood throughout the country, in varying levels. The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world. Spanish, Arabic and Chinese are spoken by a small minority.

The Philippines was one of the earlier landfalls of the Western Voyagers. The Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan sighted Homonhon Island in the Western Visayas less than a generation after Vasco da Gama's breakthrough to southwestern India in 1498. From the time the conquistadores set up their capital in what is now Manila in 1571, the western presence in the archipelago was constant and pervasive. After ruling for over three centuries, the Spaniards were displaced by the Americans in 1898, who themselves stayed for 48 years. This protracted colonial experience imprinted itself deeply on Filipino religion, language and mass culture. The experts now concede that the state of Philippine culture at the coming of the Spaniards was generally higher than had been believed. There is evidence of Chinese trade. Hindu influences have been traced in Agusan and Palawan, while Islam had been introduced into the southern islands almost 200 years before Miguel de Legazpi's arrival at Manila Bay.

In general, the Philippines has a maritime and tropical climate with relatively high humidity, mild temperature, abundant rainfall and gently winds. Three main seasons describe the overall climatic pattern. The wet or rainy season is from June to October, the cool dry season is from November to February and the hot dry season is from March to May. Most visitors prefer the period from November to March to enjoy the natural beauty of the country.