if you don't know anything about Asia
the Philippines is like the jolliest of
them all they're just happy fun jolly
people and you know what it's been three
years I'm not taking this anymore I've
been pushed around I've been threatened
I've been thrown into dungeon I've been
the butt of all the jokes I'm the
Filipino one this is my time
welcome to the Philippines my turn okay
[Music]
hey everyone I'm Ken and as you know I'm
half Filipino years ago I was looking
for a job and I saw this ad asking for a
motion graphics animator on Craigslist
Paul and I literally met up at a
Jollibee for my interview he said I was
his top three candidates in reality
there were only three candidates that
applied so technically I didn't lie but
yeah the other two people kind of sucked
so yeah oh and back then I had this
weird mustache and Paul's hair was
basically this thing Ken and I have been
talking for a long time and we agreed
Ken definitely has to be in this episode
you've come so far from that Craigslist
jollibee interview you've earned this
Thanks I'm Donna Maxime Ola the
Philippines is an interesting country
because there's sort of a dichotomy
between labels maybe you ask a Filipino
if they consider themselves Asian or
Pacific Islanders you might get
contrasting answers what do you consider
yourself Ken yeah I always thought
Pacific Islanders sounded kind of cool
so I usually stuck with that so first of
all the Philippines is a tropical
archipelago of over 7,000 islands about
2,000 of which are inhabited and it is
the largest island nation without any
land borders or shared island territory
with another nation the country is
located in Southeast Asia straddling the
Philippine Sea in the north the South
China Sea in the West and the Sulu and
celibacy in the South just to skip away
lies the island of Borneo which is split
amongst three nations at the closest
point only about 22 miles or 40
kilometers away from the nearest island
that belongs to the Philippines now in
general many people will refer to one of
the three main island cluster regions
that people are part of their Arles own
in the north where you can find the
capital Manila and where the half of the
population lives Bisaya in the center
and Mindanao in the South otherwise the
nation is made up of 17 regions one of
which is autonomous the Bangsamoro
autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao
this place has a high level of self-rule
and on
ami appointed by the government we'll
explain more about this later if you
want to be absolutely technical guessing
city a bit north of Manila is the
largest city in the Philippines
however the surrounding sixteen towns
and cities by Manila are called Manila
Metro or the National Capital Region and
they basically act as one unit otherwise
the largest city outside of the NCR are
Davao City in Mindanao and Cebu in the
Visayas Manila has the largest and
busiest airport Ninoy Aquino
International Airport which is basically
the hub that services the entire NCR
they also have the busiest shipping port
at the port of Manila otherwise the
second-largest Airport is cebu mactan
International and rounding up for third
place is de Valle City Francisco bangoy
International in terms of land transport
though the Philippines is well-connected
amongst the islands in fact the longest
highway is the Pan Philippine Highway
that stretches about 3,500 kilometers
across the country and connects listen
Samar Liat and Mindanao with underground
tunnels connecting them finally the
Philippines has only two territorial
disputes the state of Sabah in Malaysia
on North Borneo the territory once had
been part of the sultanate of sulu a
muslim state that existed the 15th
century to the 20th century and that's a
whole other story as for the others
dispute as we mentioned quite a few
times already this whole area known as
the Spratly Islands is a complete mess
if you don't know anything about this
place it basically goes like this yeah
it's pretty crazy this is the map
showing what everyone claims in the area
this big one right here is China's like
yeah they just kind of pretty much went
for all of it this has even led to a few
skirmishes between nations that have
built patrol stations on the islands and
when they spot a ship that gets too
close
things could get kind of ugly it's kind
of like this hey hey what are you doing
this is my area I'm just doing some
fishing and research here you know why
do you have a shovel then are you
building something
well technically there's old land
portunity from this reef so there's no
land claim so you're just gonna build
your own land for research anyway here
are some notable spots of interest fort
santiago Magellan's cross san agustin
church
Segarra hanging coffins Aguinaldo shrine
Sabu's philippine taos temple shrine
imam Ameri in Tagaytay the lapu-lapu
shrine Luneta Park MacArthur landing
site whanau a rice terraces on malecon
yang palace vegan has many historical
and colonial buildings the various
national museums of
three and arts tons of amusement park
and that's not even including all the
natural wonders of the Philippines they
have an underground river the most
amazing beautiful beaches in the
universe those that look like lumps of
chocolate and there's an island in a
lake in an island in a lake in an island
we should hang out sometime yeah when
you have 7,000 tropical islands on a
volcanic archipelago chances are things
can get pretty crazy landscape wise
which brings us to the actual physical
land of the Philippines is the biggest
treasure you will find here for sure
anyway the Philippines lies on the Ring
of Fire and is specifically on a
tectonic plate named after them the
Philippine plate and about 95 percent of
the land is made up of the 11 largest
islands the country was essentially
formed through the tectonic activity
between the Philippine Manila and the
MENA now trenches the Mindanao being the
second deepest in the world
this makes the country susceptible to
small earthquakes and minor volcanic
activity about 53 active volcanoes can
be found in all of these largest islands
except for palawan the most famous and
picturesque
of these include these three see this
island here coming green it actually has
more volcanoes than towns on it seven
versus five making it the place with the
most number of volcanoes per square
kilometer in the world in fact the
tallest peak in the Philippines is a
potentially active volcano Mount Apple
located in the south mindanao area the
country has numerous mountain ranges and
highlands that dip into the fertile
valleys the largest range being the
Cordillera range in the north busan area
hooking into the sierra madre range on
the east side which feeds the longest
river of the country the Cagayan that
flows into the cagayan valley this
valley along with the central asan
valley are the largest arable cropland
and produced nearly all the rice in the
Philippines the Bisaya
are known for growing the most sugarcane
whereas mindanao specializes heavy in
coconut and fruit production back in
listen though you can find the largest
lake in the country Lake Laguna de Bie
which is actually in the caldera of a
dormant volcano the lake has a weird
detached island called column and is
actually drained by the Pasig River that
flows through the capital Manila and
finally the country is the heart of
typhoon territory they can comment
almost any time of the year the nation
will experience on average about 20 of
the turbulent storms annually which
often flood - there are many river
systems but yeah if anything Filipinos
are the most cyclone adapted people on
earth they're used to it the water has
always been kind of their thing so
sailing fishing just not exactly quite
diving into it otherwise the Philippines
is one of the seventeen mega-diverse
nations on earth they actually have the
largest level of marine biodiversity in
the world within their waters and the
highest rate of animal discovery on the
planet with 16 new mammal species that
were discovered in the past decade alone
they have everything from the longest
snake in the world the reticulated
python the largest fish in the world
whale sharks
seven of the eight known species of
giant clam are found in the Philippines
the world's smallest hoofed animal the
philippine mouse deer and their national
bird is the largest eagle in the world
economically speaking the Philippines is
considered a newly industrialized nation
it is transitioning out of becoming
agricultural based system to a service
and manufacturing base one they have
like three of the top ten largest malls
on earth oh just you wait I'm taking the
top spot soon
they're one of the fastest growing
economies in Asia and as the thirty
fourth largest economy in the world
their GDP purchasing power parity has
surpassed the two trillion dollar mark
basically the Philippines is definitely
becoming a key power player in the world
stage it's like someday for what it's
worth though mining fishing and
agriculture are strong industries as
well they are currently the world's
largest nickel and abaca or Manila home
producers and a second largest coconut
producer after Indonesia tourism though
is another important industry taking up
about 8 percent of their GDP employing
over 3 million people and now food now
in the Philippines every region has
their own specialty in culinary strange
yeah every dish looks like a fairy
exploded lots of dishes you could eat
from a guy in kamae or eat with their
hands yeah pretty much everything has
rice and then you're gonna get a lot of
grease and salt and vinegar and a lot of
like I don't care if that looks like it
goes there or not I'm still gonna eat it
anyway right Ken
yeah that's Filipino food yeah there's
really no official national dish but 3
meals that are well known for our adobo
lumpia and sinigang and in the
non-muslim parts Letran is a huge deal
there are also dishes like tagalog steak
teen ola conceit blue blue karikari 60
top silho balut Guinea Lau and my
favorite Filipino dish
Paula Bock put some nice little lemon
juice on it actually got this at
jollibee if you don't know what jollibee
is it's like the most popular fast-food
chain in the philippines it's like if
McDonald's and KFC adopted a Filipino
baby and they even added spaghetti to
their menu for some reason otherwise
Filipinos are dessert experts they love
their ube ooh
everything will be ice cream booby bread
ooh beep I do bake cakes oh they also
have like subpoena subpoena and cassava
cakes those are the best desserts in my
opinion they also have hollow hollow
legit flat throne buko pandan and puto
don't you call me if you're either Latin
American or Spanish you may notice some
of those foods are also found in Latin
cuisines and there's a reason for that
yeah we'll explain that in now only in
the Philippines can you find people that
have spanish names speak English
celebrate an Austronesian culture and
cook Chinese General MacArthur once said
give me a thousand Filipino soldiers and
I will conquer the world yeah for some
reason Filipinos are like the best
friends of Asia
Filipinos still have the best attitudes
and smiles they even give time off
felony sentences if the prisoners
volunteered to take part in a Michael
Jackson dance performance to the public
but we're getting ahead of ourselves
first the graph the country is about a
hundred and ten million people and is
the eighth most populated country in
Asia and the 12th most populated country
in the world there are about 175
ethno-linguistic people groups in the
Philippines the majority of whose
languages are Austronesian of these
groups the largest ones are the Tagalog
at about 28% 13% are sea bwando 9% are
Ilocano and 8% are Bisaya the rest are
made up of other groups plus a small
minority of non-native citizens mostly
Asians and Americans it's important to
note though that the Philippines has
about ten point two million people
overseas worldwide it is one of the
largest diaspora populations spanning
over 100 countries the US alone has
about four million I mean they were at
one point colonized by the US so go
figure they use the filipino peso as
their currency these types a BNC plug
outlets and they drive on the right side
of the road oh and keep in mind the word
Pinoy is synonymous with something that
is Filipino you might see that use a lot
now back to the ethnic groups thing
since there are over 175 of them you
would think how do they all communicate
well the Philippines has two official
languages English which makes in the
fifth most english-speaking nation on
earth and Filipino which is the
standardized version of the gallop the
Philippine Tagalog language spoken today
is a very different from pure Tagalog it
actually has about 14% Spanish 10% malai
and 7% English mixed into it with a slew
of other borrowed loan words you can see
the influence in words like menthol
adorn Guapo zapatos and Pamelia
often Filipinos will substitute an F
with the P or a V with a b or a V with a
B yeah same with Koreans actually yeah
high five with min
more consonants hey-oh and fun fact ken
taught me this in Tagalog you can
actually say an entire conversation just
using the syllable ba for example ba ba
ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
ba well that was fun otherwise in the
Visayas and Mindanao area cebuano is a
common language as well as the other
regional tongues like what I and da Boa
know they even have the only
spanish-based creole in asia java condo
located in sub Ohana
City now the Philippines is unique in
that over a past few centuries they've
gone through three periods that shape
their identity before European
intervention the Philippines has had a
multitude of early civilizations that
built kingdoms and dynasties like the
Tonto enemy on the pangasinan and the
Sulu Sultanate many of these kingdoms
had their own indigenous writing system
such as the ba bian qu he s cayenne and
colita genetically Filipinos are
classified as belonging to the broader
Austronesian people group with their
closest cousins being the Micronesians
like the Mariana Islands Guam and Palau
although over the years many people have
mixed and today it is speculated that
somewhere around one-fifth or more the
population may have some kind of Chinese
ancestry after the Spanish came in they
adopted many of the customs traditions
and cultural traits which have Spanish
roots their own countries named after
Spanish King Phillip the biggest trait
though would be the fact that they are
predominantly Catholic at about eighty
one percent of the population adhering
to the faith the rest are mostly
Protestant with a small Muslim minority
in the south mindanao area the
Philippines is the largest Christian
nation in Asia fifth largest Christian
nation on earth and third largest
Catholic nation after Brazil and Mexico
they have so many holidays and festivals
devoted to Catholic themes like All
Saints Day Holy Week and Easter and of
course the largest one Christmas the
Philippines has the longest Christmas
season out of anywhere else on her okay
so now we're just gonna rapid-fire a
list of 12 fun cultural facts for the
Philippines Filipinos have a ton of
superstitions for example whistling at
night will turn you to a werewolf for
formal occasions you may see Filipinos
wearing traditional borrowings for men
and Maria Clara or misty so dresses for
women there are many other traditional
costumes and customs for the other 170
ethnic groups too many to cover but it
goes everywhere from feathers coconut
fibers hair dresses tribal tattoos and
so on speaking of which the Philippines
dominates major international beauty
pageants with a grand total of 15
victories at the Miss Universe Miss
world miss international and miss earth
competitions basketball and boxing are
the most popular sport by far they have
the oldest basketball league in Asia and
the second oldest in the world after the
United States and come on we all know
Pacquiao the Philippines is the leading
nation to train and export nurses abroad
it's been said at one point every
Filipino has their should I just drop
everything and become a nurse moment in
their life crisis that's a fact I've had
those and the word balikbayan means
returner or returning family it is used
when someone comes back from expat work
abroad
you might hear the honorific title of
pull or opal for elders and a lot of
people often raise the back to the hands
of their elders to their forehead as a
sign of respect and say bless in the
Philippines you have your name and you
have your panini nickname and they get
really weird and creative Pepsi
bing-bong jelly boy pinky bum bum and
Earl every Filipino on every island in
every region can tell you Filipinos are
obsessed with karaoke the first karaoke
machine was actually patented by a
Filipino Roberto del Rosario even though
some Japanese do it invented it but he
patented it obviously that means music
is a big deal in the Philippines besides
taking modern cues from American pop
they also have traditional style
instruments include things like good
yuppie Gillick dong gimble Koo Bing Anto
Valley in addition there are many
different styles of dance but the most
famous one considered the national dance
is denying a dance done between two
pairs of perpendicular bamboo poles that
are clapped together as percussion tools
and the dancers must weave their feet in
and out in the spaces before getting hit
or tripped now on a bit of a more
objective note we do have to talk about
some of the controversies the
Philippines is beautiful but if you've
been keeping up with current events they
do have their fair share of issues that
have made headlines we don't sugarcoat
everything here human trafficking
whether in the sex industry slavery or
organ smuggling has been a problem in
certain areas and even though anti
trafficking acts have been passed by the
government enforcement has not always
been on par drug trade has also been a
major inconvenience for decades
affecting millions of people in the
country this has led to the new
controversial laws instituted by
President Duarte which encouraged the
public to seek bounty in exchange for
hunting down drug pushers many have died
in the process and finally you have the
motor-oil conflict and insurgency in the
predominantly muslim mindanao region
which sought to take parts of Eastern
Malaysia and break away through conflict
the fight has been going on for nearly
half a century and now it's just ending
at the turn of the 21st century and for
what it's worth though in the
Philippines everyone is family at the
end you don't have to be related
to anyone to call someone out there or
Kuya there's even a word bayanihan which
means something like helping one another
through community spirit without
expecting anything in return in any case
we got to finish off the segment with
history austronesians tribal kingdoms
and Sultanate this guy came to the
islands Catholicism comes in lapu-lapu
and Magellan dies in battle five Spanish
dudes followed through
they finally become a colony of Spain
the galleon trade British Philippines
and then back to Spain the Treaty of
Paris philippine revolution the
spanish-american war first Philippine
Republic philippine-american war
American occupation World War 2 Japan
invades American pushes them back
finally Philippine Independence
Ferdinand Marcos turned from President
to dictator martial law this guy gets
killed because he was against the regime
people power revolution in 1986 growth
from agricultural society to an
industrial one and here we are today and
now we finish off with the notable
famous people condensed some famous
people you guys the Pinoy geography
police arrested we mentioned in this
episode include lapu-lapu jose resolved
these two saints Melkor aquino manuel/oh
Kazon Lakan Dula
Josefa Yanis Skoda and Vicente Lim
Carlos Pena Romulo and all the Miss
Universe winners and there's a ton of
Americans with Filipino or partial
Filipino descent yeah you can see
there's lots of American Filipinos those
two get along pretty tight we'll explain
more on how that happened
because of the long history in the
Philippines being colonized by two major
Western powerhouses it would make sense
that it would have ties with the outside
world in many different ways for friends
the Philippines is generally close with
all the ASEAN nations and does great
business with them particularly
Indonesia and Malaysia their closest
neighbors the Marshall Islands Palau and
the federal States of Micronesia are all
cousin countries many of which have
Filipino microts in them and they all
share the same history of being former
US territories and US influence States
of course Spain will always be in the
back of their minds as the former
colonizer that they gained much
influence from although Filipinos are
not considered Latino the Spanish and
many Latin Americans kind of see them as
like the adopted Asians that totally fit
in their family it's like come on you're
Catholic you eat flan every fifth word
you speak is Spanish you're basically
one of us interestingly enough the
relationship with Mexico has
historically had been always strong the
Philippines was ruled under a Mexico
based Viceroyalty of New Spain the
Manila galleons were Spanish trading
ships which for two and a half centuries
linked the Philippines with Mexico
across the Pacific Ocean making one or
two round-trip voyages per year between
the ports of Acapulco and Manila and
Mexican traditions were brought in like
the day of the Dead and champurrado when
it comes to their best friends however
most Filipinos would probably say even
though colonial years were a little bit
bumpy
ultimately the USA and South Korea South
Korea was one of their closest best
friends from the 20th century on world
war ii really bonded with them after the
Japanese occupation year and they
supported each other diplomatically
Koreans are the top number one tourist
demographic that visit the Philippines
Koreans kind of admire the fact that
even though they were both influenced by
the u.s. Filipino speak better English
whereas Filipinos practically obsessed
over Korean products and media ah US for
the USA ties were close ever since they
became their colony in 1898 the u.s.
also had the largest number of oversea
filipinos at over four million most of
whom live on the west coast eights like
Hawaii and California they are one of
the oldest Asian partners of the u.s.
they have a mutual defense treaty and
they are the largest export partner and
second largest import after China
American pop culture dominates much of
the youth influence Hollywood studios
love filming there and Gallup polls have
shown that the USA is favored on average
by over 90% of the people asked making
it one of the most
American countries on the planet and can
you take the conclusion in conclusion if
you enter a room full of Asians you
definitely know who the Filipinos are
while everyone's so uptight
we're the ones who can karaoke and
somersaulting you could just feel the
energy of a Filipino there's a touch of
Latin flavor with American pop
undertones but in the end no matter what
island you're immediately considered
part of the panel Jen one of my best
friends I love you man I'm so proud of
you
Thanks stay tuned Poland it's coming up
next
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