Did you know ...
the Obando Fertility Rites are held annually at the Obando Church (pictured) of Bulacan in the Philippines during the month of May?
the Israeli documentary Paper Dolls followed the lives of five health care providers from the Philippines who perform as drag queens ?
the execution of Flor Contemplacion strained relations between Singapore and the Philippines ?
several karaoke bars in the Philippines had banned the song "My Way " due to the deaths attributed to it?
the Filipino communist guerrilla commander Guillermo Capadocia had worked as a chef and a waiter during his youth?
the Filipino special court Sandiganbayan holds equivalent rank to the Philippine Court of Appeals ?
the Agung (pictured) , a Philippine set of gongs , was repeatedly hit during earthquakes for it was believed its supernatural powers would halt the earth's reverberations?
the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spent a total of 112.71 million pesos for the overseas absentee voters in 2004?
the Philippine Commission on Elections cited the Bible and the Koran to disqualify the Ang Ladlad LGBT Party from the 2010 party-list election ?
on August 26 , 2006 the Philippines won the inaugural World Cup of Pool held at Newport , Wales ?
in the Philippines , double-dead meat refers to meat from pigs that died of disease, which is sold for human consumption ?
due to an error , the Pagsanjan Falls stamp (pictured) , one of a series supposedly showcasing places of interest in the Philippines , actually shows a waterfall in California ?
despite the recorded influence of American Sign Language , Filipino Sign Language has a history that can be traced from the works of European missionaries in the Philippines as early as the 1600s?
defeated incumbent congressmen in the Philippine House of Representatives (Session Hall pictured) elections were expected "to raise hell" in the canvassing of votes for the presidential election ?
as a result of Janina San Miguel 's response to a question in the 2008 Binibining Pilipinas World pageant, the Philippine government proposed English courses for beauty pageant contestants?
each city council in the Philippines has a sectoral representative for women?
in 1976, an 8.0 Mw earthquake in Moro Gulf in the Celebes Sea in the Philippines killed at least 5,000 people and triggered tsunamis that reached as far as Japan ?
in March 2007, Agnes Devanadera ' became the 41st and first woman Solicitor General of the Philippines ?
in 2008, almost 100 illegal fish cages were removed from the Pansipit River in the Philippines ?
in 2006, a division of the Philippines ' National Labor Relations Commission had confirmed resolving 2,697 labor disputes?
the Aklanon people of the Philippines trace their heritage to Austronesian -speaking immigrants from the Iron Age ?
the Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines advocates the 18 minutes of advertising per hour rule for Philippine TV stations ?
the leftist Collective Labor Movement was the largest trade union centre in the Philippines in the years just before World War II ?
the highlight of Aliwan Fiesta is a four-kilometer dance parade of different cultural festivals of the Philippines ?
the design for the Main Building (pictured) of the University of Santo Tomas , Philippines , was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright 's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo?
the Union Obrera Democratica Filipina held a mass anti-imperialist rally on May 1, 1903, the first May Day rally in the Philippines , in spite of being denied permits by the United States' Taft administration?
the small parrot known as the Guaiabero is so named in its native Philippines for its penchant for guavas ?
the word palengke , a type of public market in the Philippines , was actually derived from a Spanish word for palisades ?
two of the four known species of the worm -eating shrewlike rats from Luzon Island , Philippines were first described in April, 2007?
two court orders sought to force the Philippine Basketball Association to allow Filipino basketball player Asi Taulava to play in the 2004–05 PBA Philippine Cup despite him being suspended?
to strengthen its bid to air the UAAP college league , Philippine TV network ABS-CBN proposed to air the men's basketball finals at its flagship VHF channel 2 instead of at UHF channel 23 ?
the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines was temporarily abolished during the Japanese occupation ?
the Sandugo or Blood Compact , where two people drink a small amount of each other's blood, was a traditional way to formalize treaties of friendship in the Philippines ?
the De La Salle University Pops Orchestra (pictured ) is the first pop orchestra in the Philippines ?
the De La Salle University-Manila College of Engineering was established in 1947 with the aim of providing young men with knowledge of science and technology to help rehabilitate the Philippines , which had been devastated during World War II ?
the boga , an improvised plastic cannon used in New Year 's celebrations in the Philippines , has been banned by the government since 2006?
the Benham Plateau is located in the West Philippine Basin and its basement is probably a micro-continent ?
the dwarf pygmy goby (Pandaka pygmaea ), a freshwater fish from the Philippines , is the smallest fish in the world?
the Judicial and Bar Council of the Philippines recommends appointees to the country's courts, without the "advice and consent " of the Commission on Appointments ?
the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat is only the second species in its genus and the 26th endemic bat species from the Philippines to be described?
the Manggahan Floodway in the Philippines was built to reduce flooding along the Pasig River but in turn contributed to flooding along the shores of Laguna de Bay ?
the Large Mindoro Forest Mouse , first described as a distinct species in 1995, is known from only 16 individuals from a single mountain on the Island of Mindoro , Philippines ?
as governor of Davao del Norte , Prospero Amatong oversaw the creation of nearby Compostela Valley , eventually serving as the new Filipino province's interim governor in 1998?
although 1989's Typhoon Dan was relatively weak, the storm left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the Philippines ?
Alexis Belonio , for his innovations on the rice husk stove, becomes the first Filipino to receive a Rolex Award for Enterprise ?
"Dahil Sa Iyo " , a song with Tagalog and English lyrics, is so popular that it has been suggested as a replacement for the Filipino anthem?
pre-colonial sexual customs in the Philippines involved equating the size of a woman's breasts and the wideness of her hips with the price of the dowry ?
Filipino politician Richard Gordon (pictured) is known for jumping on the scorer's table to rile up the crowd at Ateneo – La Salle games ?
Apo Reef in Sablayan , Mindoro is the world's second-largest contiguous coral reef system and the largest in the Philippines ?
Cecilia Muñoz-Palma was the Philippines ' first female prosecutor, district judge, and Supreme Court justice?
Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi , a bomb-maker and member of Jemaah Islamiyah , was responsible for the Rizal Day bombings in the Philippines that killed 22 people in 2000?
Eugenio Perez was the Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives when the Philippines became independent from the United States in 1946 ?
España Boulevard , the main street of Sampaloc , Manila , is notorious for its waist-deep floods during the Philippine typhoon season ?
Filipino comedian Tado 's screen name is derived from a Tagalog cuss word?
Filipino revolutionary leader Daniel Tirona was almost shot at twice by Philippine National hero Andrés Bonifacio ?
footballer Edward King was honored for heroism in the Philippines and tactical skill in France and later became Commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College ?
1985's only super typhoon, Super Typhoon Dot , is the sixth-most intense tropical cyclone in terms of wind speed to affect Bicol Region , Philippines between 1947 and 2004 ?
1970's Super Typhoon Joan , the largest storm of the season in size, is the strongest typhoon ever to hit the Philippines ?
40,000 people were estimated to make a living from seaweed farming in the Philippines in 1997?
Austin Coates 's Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr is the second biography of Filipino national hero José Rizal authored by a non-Filipino?
General Douglas MacArthur 's staff threatened United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Lawrence with court martial if he confiscated nearly 2,000 cases of food from Japanese -run firms in the Philippines , and that the stores were destroyed during the Battle of Bataan in early 1942?
Filipino basketball player Gec Chia 's walk-off buzzer beater in the 2002 UAAP semifinals brought his coach Joel Banal to his knees, and he later described the shot as "a miracle"?
Meralco 's John F. Cotton Corporate Wellness Center was the first implementation of a corporate wellness program in the Philippines ?
Lualhati Bautista ’s Tagalog novel, Bata, Bata… Pa’no Ka Ginawa? became a film starring Vilma Santos , an actress turned first female governor of Batangas of the Philippines ?
Jason Castro , who was recently signed by the Singapore Slingers , is slated to become the first Filipino player in Australia 's National Basketball League ?
Kuh Ledesma was the first Philippine singer to receive the Salem Music Awards in London in March 1989?
WikiPilipinas is the first online encyclopedia based in the Philippines ?
USS Luzon (pictured) was an internal combustion engine repair ship, named after the Island of Luzon , the chief island in the northern Philippines ?
USS General S. D. Sturgis was the transport ship assigned to deliver officials of the United States , Australia , Canada , Dutch East Indies , China and the Philippines to Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender ceremonies at the end of World War II ?
Super Typhoon Kate of the 1970 Pacific typhoon season , which struck the Philippines less than a week after Super Typhoon Joan , was at the time the deadliest typhoon ever to strike the Philippines?
Blumea balsamifera is a flowering plant which belongs to the Asteraceae family and is used in the Philippines as a diuretic and treatment for the common cold ?
España y Filipinas (Spain and the Philippines ) by Juan Luna is a painted depiction of two women on the stairway to progress ?
a payaos is a type of fish aggregating device used in Southeast Asia , particularly in the Philippines ?
The Varsitarian of the University of Santo Tomas was one of the first student newspapers in the Philippines ?
Pinoy is a demonym referring to Filipino people in the United States , the Philippines and around the world ?
Tropical Storm Bilis caused 625 deaths and $2.5 billion (2006 USD ) in damage to the Philippines , mainland China , and Taiwan , making it the most damaging storm of the 2006 Pacific typhoon season so far?
Trina Belamide , who has written songs for most of the Philippines ' top recording artists, also writes custom theme songs for weddings ?
Prince Ludwig of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg mysteriously disappeared from London society to the Philippines , where he was killed during a battle of the Philippine–American War ?
Mount Hamiguitan in the Philippines has a protected area with a 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) pygmy forest of century-old trees growing in ultramafic soil ?
Marlon Stockinger is the first Filipino to have won a formula race in Europe ?
Leonor Rivera was the greatest influence in preventing Filipino national hero José Rizal from falling in love with other women while traveling outside the Philippines ?
Rafael Buenaventura , once-governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and one of the world’s top central bankers , was largely responsible for removing the Philippines from an FATF black list ?
Rafael de Izquierdo was the Governor-General of the Philippines during the 1872 Cavite mutiny which led to the execution of the martyrs Gomburza ?
Siniloan River in the Philippines is known by tourists for its five waterfalls and clear and easily accessible headwaters ?
Samuel A. Goldblith was able to publish a paper for the journal Science after World War II on malnutrition suffered at POW camps in the Philippines and Japan observed during the war from his own experience as a prisoner in those camps?
Ramon Zamora , the Filipino film actor popularly dubbed the "Bruce Lee of the Philippines ," won an award imitating Adolf Hitler on the gag show Super Laff-In ?
1,200 journalists , human rights advocates, and leftist activists have been killed in the Philippines as a result of Gloria Arroyo 's counter-insurgency program "Oplan Bantay Laya "?
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