Philippines

Pictures taken from: www.flagsofallcountries.com

Have you ever seen the Chocolate Hills, a church made of steel or have you ever been to the sandy beaches that stretch to one end to the other. All these places belong to one country in Asia. This country is the Philippines.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific Ocean in Asia. The capital of the Philippines is Manila and the money or currency that the Philippines use is Pesos. Filipinos speak in English, Filipino and other local languages. Most of the people that live there are Roman Catholics. Their national symbol is a FIlipino eagle. Did you know that the Filipino flag stands for something? The blue side of the flag stands for peace and truth, the red side stands for patriotism, the 3 stars stands for the major islands of the Philippines, the sun stands for unity and freedom and each ray of the sun stands for the 8 islands that started the colony against the Spaniards. The philippines was once governed or belonged by the Spaniards until the year 1898. The Philippines was then given to the United States. But in 1946, the Philippines was free. During the time the Philippines was free, they built a democratic government and a woman named Corazon Aquino became president. The Philippines is a country that is an archipelago of 7,000 islands. Did you know only one third of the Filipinos live in the islands?

There are many attractions in the Philippines from beaches, churches and landscapes. One of the popular attractions in the Philippines are the Chocolate Hills. The chocolate hills are in the middle of  Bohol which is one of the provinces of the Philippines. Why are these mountains called Chocolate Hills? Well, they are called Chocolate hills because the top of the hills are brown, just like chocolate! There are about 1,776 mountains that spread over 50 kilometres of land but they are not sure if there is more mountains. It’s too much to count!

Another tourist attraction in the Philippines is a Roman Catholic church which was built totally with steel. The only things that aren’t steel are the stained glass windows. It even has 2 towers! This church is called San Sebastian Church and it was built 124 years ago (1891) in Manila. It is said that this church was built when the Philippines was still under the rule of the Spaniards. This church was especially made for Saint Sebastian. Mactan is an island that tourists usually stay for a holiday in the hotels. This island is a part of Cebu which is another province of the Philippines.

By: Liezl