OFFICIAL NAME: REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

AREA: 300,000 sq km (115,830 sq miles) spread over 7,101 islands

POPULATION: 94.4 million (ADB, 2011)

CAPITAL: Manila

LOCAL TIME: GMT + 8 hours

PEOPLE: Filipinos are predominantly of Malay descent, although many have mixed ancestry such as Chinese and Spanish

LANGUAGES: Filipino (derivative of Tagalog) and English are official languages, including some 150 more native languages,vernaculars, and dialects

RELIGION: Roman Catholic (83%), Protestant Denominations (8%), Muslim (5%), Iglesia ni Cristo (2.3%)

MONETARY UNIT: Philippine peso (with multi-currency acceptance for local transactions)

GOVERNMENT: Presidential (executive) with Bicameral Congress and Independent Judiciary

HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT: President (also Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces)

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: United Nations (UN), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Labor Organization (ILO), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)

GDP PER CAPITA (AT PPP): US$ 4,430 (2012)