Facts About The Philippines

Philippines
Potential Market: 86 Million jolly & hospitable Filipinos
Land type: An archipelago
Location in this Globe: Between Taiwan and Indonesia right smack in the heart of Southeast Asia
Area: 300,000 square kilometers in 7,107 islands creating one of the longest coastlines with the most exciting beaches!
Major Island Groups: Luzon (where you find the Capital, City of Manila), Visayas (where bustling Cebu City is located) and Mindanao (where Davao City stands majestic)
Number of Regions: Seventeen (17) of them to explore, each culturally different
Provinces: Seventy Nine (79) in the 17 Regions and growing!
Cities: One Hundred Sixteen (116) in the same Regions filled with Urbanites!
Municipalities: One Thousand Five Hundred Sixteen (1,516) of them just waiting to turn into cities some day!
Arable Land: 18.4% of land area
Total Forest Area: 6,766,000 hectares or 22.7% of land area
Natural Forest Area: 6,563,000 hectares
Life Expectancy: 67 years of age
Adult Literacy: 94.4% of the population and English-speaking at that!
Urban Population: 55% of the total population; that's 47.3 Million shopaholics!
Religion: Predominantly Catholic
Human Dev't. Index: 0.672 in a scale of 1
20 Hottest Cities for Investment:
Marikina Davao
Makati Las Pinas
Muntinlupa Bacolod
Batangas Iligan
Iloilo San Fernando, Pampanga
Dagupan Koronadal
Legaspi Naga
Olongapo San Fernando, La Union
Sta. Rosa Surigao
Tagbilaran Tagum
(Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project 2005 by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center)
20 Hottest Places to See:
Boracay Beaches Baguio, Mountain Province
Cebu Beaches Tagaytay & Taal Volcano
El Nido, Palawan Banawe Rice Terraces
Cagayan de Oro Farm Cities of Bacolod/Iloilo
Angeles, Pampanga Chocolate Hills of Bohol
Mt. Mayon, Albay Beaches of Puerto Galera
Pagsanjan Water Falls  Petroglyphs of Angono
Intramuros, Manila Historic Corregidor Island
Siargao Surfing Cagayan WhiteWater Rafting
Donsol Whale Watch Century-old Vigan, IlocosSur
Foreign Embassies:
Argentina Australia
Austria Bangladesh
Belgium Brazil
Brunei Cambodia
Canada            Chile
China Colombia
Cuba Czech
Egypt Finland
France Germany
Holy See India
Indonesia Iran
Iraq Israel
Italy Japan
Korea Kuwait
Laos Libya
Malaysia Sovereign Mil.Order of Malta
Mexico Myanmar
Netherlands New Zealand
Nigeria Norway
Pakistan Panama
Palau Papua New Guinea
Peru Portugal
Qatar Romania
Saudi Arabia Singapore
Spain Sri Lanka
Sweden Switzerland
Thailand Turkey
United Arab Emirates   U.K. of Great Britain
United States of America Venezuela
Vietnam European Union
Foreign Chambers of Commerce:
American Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce
British Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
European Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
Fed. of Fil.-Chinese Cham. of Commerce&Industry
Fil.-Indian Chamber of Commerce (Phils.), Inc.
Japanese Chamber of Commerce&Ind. of the Phils.
Korean Chamber of Commerce Phils., Inc.
French Chamber of Commerce of the Phils.
Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Navigation in the Phils.
Taiwan Chamber of Commerce & Industry
African Chamber of Commerce in the Phils.
Foreign Banks:
ANZ Banking Group, Ltd.
Bangkok Bank Public Company, Ltd
Bank of America, N.A.
Bank of China
Citibank, N.A.(Phils.)
Deutsche Bank, AG
ING Bank, N.V.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
Korea Exchange Bank
Mizuho Corp. Bank, Ltd.
Standard Chartered Bank
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.
The HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Ltd.
The International Commercial Bank of China
International Civic Organizations:
Kiwanis International
Knights of Columbus
Mason’s Club of the Philippines
Phil. Jaycees, Inc.
Red Cross International
Rotary Club International
The International Assn. of Lions Clubs