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Philippine
Trivia
(continuation)
- Magat
Dam is Asia's biggest dam project at the time of
its construction. It serves the primary function
of power generation and irrigation.
- The
Cagayan River or Rio Grande de Cagayan is the
Philippines' mightiest watercourse &endash; the
longest and widest river in the country. Small
streams originating form Balete Pass,
Cordillera, Caraballo and Sierra Madre Mountains
meet other streams and rivers and flow to the
Cagayan River.
- Magapit
Suspension Bridge is the first of its kind in
Asia. It spans the Cagayan River at Lallo and is
0.76 kilometers long. The hanging bridge links
the first and second districts of Cagayan going
towards the Ilocos Region via the scenic Patapat
Road on the Ilocos Norte-Cagayan
Inter-Provincial national highway.
- Angono
Petroglyphs -- This cultural heritage site dates
back to circa 3000 B.C. and is the most ancient
Filipino, or more aptly, prehistoric Filipino
work of art. Besides being the country's oldest
"work of art" it also offers us an evocative
glimpse into the life of our ancestors. The site
has been included in the World Inventory of Rock
Art under the auspices of UNESCO, ICCROM and
ICOMOS and nominated as one of the "100 Most
Endangered Sites of the World.
- PANCIT
HABHAB (Lucban)-Made from rice flour, these
local noodles acquired its name and developed
its unique attraction by the way it is eaten.
Otherwise known as Pancit Lucban, these noodles
are hawked in the streets and served on a piece
of banana leaf, sans fork or any other utensils.
Thus, it is eaten straight from the leaf,
licking permitted... "habhab"-style.
- Tagala
- the Philippines first Filipino-Spanish
dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years
older than the first book printed in the United
States.
- Mayon
is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen,
the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan
sinking into perfect insignificance by
comparison. British traveler-writer A. Henry
Savage Landor.
- Ilo-Ilo
golf and country club is the oldest golf club in
the Philippines. It was built at 1908 by Irish
Engineers.
- Limasawa
Island &endash; where Ferdinand Magellan first
landed in the Philippines which give way to the
discovery of the Philippines and where the first
mass was celebrated.
- San
Juanico Strait - said to be the narrowest yet
the most navigable strait in the world.
- Calbiga
Cave &endash; The Philippines' biggest karst
formations and one of the largest in Asia, the
2,968-hectare cave system is composed of 12
caves with wide underground spaces, unique rock
formations and sub-terranean watercourse.
- At
the Immaculate Conception Cathedral can be found
the only existing pipe organ in Mindanao. The
2nd largest pipe organ in the Phiippines. The
huge instrument took 2 years to built and was
brought over by sea from Germany in 23
crates.
- Cagayan
de Oro City - "The City of Golden Friendship,"
known for its warm people and old-fashioned
hospitality.
- Mt.
Apo, the Philippines highest mountain at 10,311
feet above sea level, and considered as the
"Grand-father of all Philippine Mountains".
- Lake
Lanao is the second largest lake in the
Philippines, probably the deepest in the country
and is considered one of the major tropical
lakes in Southeastern Asia. The lake is home of
endemic cryprinids, the species found only in
the lake and nowhere else in the world.
- Halo-Halo!
Halo-halo literally means, "mix-mix". And its is
just that: a mixture of sweetened fruits and
beans, lavished with pinipig (crisp flattened
rice flakes), sugar and milk, topped by crushed
ice and ice cream. You know its summertime when
halo-halo stand start sprouting by the roadside
and by the beach, all whipping up their heavenly
concoctions of such a refreshingly divine
dessert. You can make your own by selecting and
mixing your ingredients to make a perfect
Halo-Halo. Halo-Halo is uniquely, unforgettably
Filipino!
- KALESA
- The kalesa or karitela is a horse-driven
carriage that was introduced during the 18th
century. It was used by Spanish officials and
the nobles as a means of transportation. The
Ilustrados, the rich Filipinos who had their own
businesses, used the kalesa not only for
traveling but as a means a means of transporting
their goods as well.
- BAKYA-Made
primarily of lightwood (laniti and santol
trees), it is sculpted with a slope and shaved
to a smooth finish, then painted with floral
designs or varnished to a high sheen. The upper
portions, which are made of rubber or
transparent plastic, are fastened to the sides
by thumb nails called "clavitos". The bakya
industry prospered during the 1930s when the
Filipinos began exporting these to the other
countries.
- SORBETES-This
sweet treat was concocted in the early 1920's, a
time where a single centavo could buy you almost
anything. The process of this ice cream making
and selling it in carts with colorful designs is
still the same. Back in the old days, these ice
cream dealers bred their own cows and milked
them with their own hands to ensure the
freshness and sanitation of the milk needed to
make the "dirty ice cream".
- Waling
Waling Orchids - With some 800 to 1,000 species
of orchids, the Philippines has one of the
richest orchid floras in the world. Philippine
orchids come in an amazing array of shapes,
sizes and colors. Most grow only in old-growth
forest, often on branches of huge trees dozens
of meters above the forest floor.
- Maria
Teresa Calderon &endash; A Filipina World
champion speed reader as listed in the Guinness
Book of World Records.
- In
the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to
the English language in 1762 by British
invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the
world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation,
next to the USA and the UK.
- The
Philippine Basketball Association is Asia's
premier and the world's second oldest
professional league.
- Philippine
Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941,
using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter
of a global war. It became Asia's first
airline.
- The
world's largest pearl was discovered by a
Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk)
under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the
"Pearl of Lao-Tzu", the gem weighs 14 pounds and
measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in
diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42
million. It is believed to be 600 years old.
- Alto
Broadcasting System (ABS) Channel 3, the first
television station in the country, went on the
air in 1953.
- The
world's second deepest spot underwater is in the
Philippines. This spot, about 34,440 feet
(10,497 meters) below the sea level, is known as
the Philippine Deep or the Mindanao Trench. The
Philippine Deep is in the floor of the
Philippine Sea. The German ship Emden first
plumbed the trench in 1927.
- The
symbolic name for the Philippines, Juan dela
Cruz, is not a Filipino invention? It was coined
by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist
working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s,
after discovering it was the most common name in
blotters.
- Lipa
City in Batangas is dubbed as the "Rome of the
Philippines" because of the number of
seminaries, convents, monasteries, retreat
houses, and a famous cathedral located in
it.
- Compostela
Valley is known to be laden with gold, thus
earning the monicker "Golden Valley of
Mindanao".
- Basilica
of St. Martin de Tours in Taal, Batangas built
by Augustinian Missionaries in 1572, is reputed
to be the biggest catholic church in East Asia.
It is so huge that it can house another big
church.
- Kibungan
is known as the "Switzerland of Bengued" because
of the frost during the cold months.
- The
Delmonte Pineapple Plantation in Bukidnon is
considered to be the biggest in the far
east.
- Both
Tridacna gigas, one of the world's largest
shells, and Pisidum, the world's tiniest shell,
can be found under Philippine waters. Tridacna
gigas grows as large as one meter in length and
weighs 600 pounds while Pisidum is less than 1
millimeter long. A shell called glory of the sea
(Connus gloriamaris) is also found in the
Philippines and considered as one of the most
expensive shells in the world.
- Seahorses
are small saltwater fish belonging to the
Syngnathidae family (order Gasterosteiformes),
which also includes pipefish and sea dragons.
Most seahorse species, probably the most
peculiar creatures in the water, live in the
Coral Triangle. There are at least 50 known
seahorse species in the world. They inhabit
temperate and tropical waters but most of them
are concentrated in the warm coastal waters of
the Philippines.
- Donsol,
a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a
sanctuary to a group of 40 whale sharks
(Rhincodon typus), which are considered as the
largest fish in the world. Locally known as
"butanding", whale sharks visit the waters of
Donsol from November to May. They travel across
the oceans but nowhere else have they been
sighted in a larger group than in the waters of
Sorsogon. They measure between 18 to 35 feet in
length and weigh about 20 tons.
- The
Philippines is home to some of the world's most
exotic birds.
One of the most endangered species is the exotic
Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua
haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or
the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live
up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking
human voices. Most of them measure 33
centimeters in length and weigh 0.29
kilogram.
- Palawan
bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Known in
Southeast Asia as binturong, the bearcat is a
species of its own, with population in the
forests of Palawan, Borneo, Burma and Vietnam.
It belongs to the family of Viverridae (civets).
The Palawan bearcat has a long body and a
pointed face leading to the nose. Its head and
body measure 61 to 96 centimeters in combined
length while its tail is almost as long. It
weighs 9 to 14 kilograms and lives up to 20
years.
- Calamian
Deer - Calamian Islands, north of Palawan
province, keep a species of deer that cannot be
found elsewhere. Scientists referred to the hog
deer in the islands as Calamian deer in order to
distinguish them from other hog deer in the
world. An ordinary Calamian deer measures 105 to
115 centimeters in length and 60 to 65
centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs
about 36 to 50 kilograms. It is said to have
longer and darker legs, compared with other hog
deer.
- World's
Smallest Hoofed Mammal - South of Palawan, lies
the Balabac Island, home of the world's smallest
hoofed mammal - the Philippine mouse deer.
Locally known as Pilandok (Tragalus nigricans),
this ruminant stands only about 40 centimeters
at the shoulder level.
- Flying
Lemur - One of the most distinct creatures on
Earth lives in the Philippines. It doesn't have
wings but it can glide across 100 meters of
space in a single leap. Like the lemurs of Asia,
it moves around at night. Its head resembles
that of a dog while its body has similarities
with the flying squirrel of Canada.
In Mindanao, people call it "kagwang". Around
the world, it is known as colugo or the flying
lemur.
- Did
you know that the first four cities of
Metropolitan Manila are: Manila, Quezon, Pasay
and Caloocan.
- The
flagpole located in Rizal Park, is where the
starts of 0 kilometer reading in measuring all
distances from Manila.
- Quezon
City is the second biggest city in the
Philippines.
- The
Bonifacio Monument in Monumento, Caloocan City
was designed by a noted Filipino sculptor
Guillermo Tolentino
- In
1916, in the Philippines, an offensive style of
passing the ball in a high trajectory to be
struck by another player (the set and spike)
were introduced. The Filipinos developed the
"bomba" or kill, and called the hitter a
"bomberino". (source:
http://volleyball.org/history.html)
- The
PHILIPPINE EAGLE is the 2nd largest bird on the
planet (next only to the American Condor)...
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Related
Articles About the Republic of the
Philippines:
courtesy
of the Official Websites of the Philippine
Department of Tourism
please visit www.wowphilippines.com.ph and
www.tourism.gov.ph for more information
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