PHILIPPINES FIGURE 1 Relief map of the <strong>Philippines</strong> 12 Figure 1. Relief map of the <strong>Philippines</strong>.
COUNTRY REPORT ON THE STATE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE influence stressed the unification of various sectors of culture and combined to achieve a certain kind of unity for the islands. Yet the divisive character of an archipelagic environment and the essential duality of East and West have continually been there. 3. People and ethnic constitution The Filipinos are derived from diverse stocks, but majority share uniformly the Indonesian-Malayan ethnic element. The early Filipino ethnic mixture is classified into three racial stocks, namely: Aeta, proto-Malay and Malay. Other culture groups such as the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Spanish and American somehow contributed to the cultural blend. A member of the Negroid racial group, the Aetas are generally less than 155 cm (5 ft) in height, broad-headed, with kinky hair and blackish pigmentation. They are now a vanishing people due to modern pressures. In the 1960s, there were less than 15 000 relatively pureblooded Aetas remaining. The Aeta gene complex has entered as a stream into the island population as ethnic mixture with other groups occurred. However, in the modern period, little mixture is taking place and the Aeta share in the dominant Filipino bloodstream is declining. The Aetas continue to reside in Zambales and Bataan provinces in Luzon, in the uplands of Panay and Negros islands, in northeast Mindanao and in the uplands of Palawan island. The second racial type to settle in the <strong>Philippines</strong> were the proto-Malays. They are considered less Mongoloid than the Malay and are said to be derived from various admixtures in Southeast Asia. Ethnic mixture between and the Aetas has been fairly continuous but on a small scale. The proto-Malay element in the modern Filipino bloodstream is significant. Several groups were sufficiently cohesive and have maintained their identity by speaking their own languages and dialects, and by living life according to tradition. The dominant groups considered to be of proto-Malay stock are the following: the Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao in northern Luzon; the Manobo, Bagobo and Tinuray in Mindanao; the Mangyan of Mindoro; and the Tagbanua of Palawan. The Malay stock entered the <strong>Philippines</strong> about 300 AD from southern Asia and the Western half of the Indies. The Malays are more Mongoloid than the proto-Malays. Their main differences are in language, habits of dressing, architecture and dietary systems. The Malays are also more adaptive to alien cultures than the proto-Malays. Almost all of the Malay group north of Mindanao and Palawan became Christians, while those in Mindanao, Palawan and Sulu became Muslims. Other ethnic sources contributed to the Filipino bloodstream but these are difficult to estimate. The late Indonesian migration brought in Indian components among others. Chinese contact has been on-going for a thousand years and intermarriages with Malays have been significant. Western colonizers added to the ethnic mixture and compounded the culture complex. Christianity altered the basic structure of culture in many parts of the archipelago, just as Islam changed the culture of the southern islands. 4. Language The language situation in the country is complex. No language is common to the whole country. A foreign language (English) is the primary language of instruction of the educational system. Filipino, a language derived from Tagalog, was adopted as the national language in 1937. The Philippine languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages. Separate islands and different histories of population growth differentiated the tongues of the population. The 1980 Census of Population and Housing listed more than 87 languages and dialects in the country. The ten leading dialects spoken by private households are: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Bicol, Waray, Pampango and Pangasinan. 5. Religion The influence of varied Asiatic ethnic group settlers, combined with 300 years of Spanish rule and a half century of American occupation, have made the <strong>Philippines</strong> a unique meeting place for the great religions of the world. Islam entered the southern islands much earlier than the Roman Catholic Church and remained a militant force against Spanish missionary work in Mindanao and Sulu. As the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship, the Government maintains a policy of religious tolerance, hence the religious diversity in the country. Christianity has remained the most predominant, with Roman 13
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