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The high-rise buildings of Manila's financial district loom over a landscape of smaller houses. |
Comprising more than 7,000 islands with a population of over 85 million, Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country. As much of the country is mountainous, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions from active volcanoes batter the country often.
In the space of 15 years, People Power has forced two presidents out of office. Mass demonstrations in 1986 forced President Ferdinand Marcos to step down after allegations of electoral manipulation. In 2001, Joseph Estrada surrendered his powers after months of protests. He was found guilty of massive corruption and jailed for life in September 2007, only to walk free shortly after with a presidential pardon.
Rebels on the southern island of Mindanao have been fighting for a separate Islamic state within the mainly-Catholic country and this decade-long clash has left more than 120 thousand people dead. Despite a 2003 ceasefire and peace talks, the country is still hit with sporadic violence. The biggest threat in that region comes from the militant separatist group, Abu Sayyaf which the country has declared an all-out war on.
Philippines suffers from a large national debt and its economy is heavily reliant on the billions of dollars sent home yearly by more than the 11 million Filipinos working overseas. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute, in a recent report, identified the Philippines as one of the country's in ASEAN which was in need for large-scale reform espeically in the area of institutional and governance reforms and restoration of good investment climate.
The Philippines has the highest birth rate in Asia and it has been predicted that the population could double within the next three decades. The government has avoided imposing strong measures to curb the rising birth rate so as not to provoke the Catholic Church, which opposes artificial methods of contraception.
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