Volcanoes and Earthquakes-

1. The Setting:
Volcanoes and Earthquakes- The Philippines lies within Pacific seismic belt and has consequently experienced severe earthquakes, though these have been as destructive as those that had rocked Japan.
– August 2, 1968, a violent earthquake occurred. Apartment buildings collapsed, killing hundreds of people.
– June 3, 1868, the most destructive earthquake that occurred in the Philippines that destroyed Manila Cathedral and hundreds of government structures and residential houses collapsed and many people were killed.
– The famous Filipino priest Dr. Pedro Pablo Pelaez was also killed.
– April 1, 1955, another destructive earthquake occurred in Visayas and Mindanao ranging from Intensity III to Intensity VIII.
– August 17, 1976, by far the most destructive earthquake in the Philippines occurred in Mindanao. It triggered a tidal wave and rendered 90,000 persons homeless, 3,000 dead, and more than 3,000 missing or presumed to be dead.
Coastline- Aside from the ruggedness of the land mass, the Philippine has an irregular coastline that extends to about 10,850 statute miles, twice as long as that of continental United States.
– Manila, Bay, which has an area of a little more than 700 square miles and a circumference of 120 miles, is one of the finest natural harbors in the world.

Products and Natural Resources- The Philippines in natural resources that are yet largely undeveloped.
– The still primitive way of agriculture is one of the causes of the failure of the Philippines to produce enough rice for export.
– However, a breakthrough in rice production was made during the first four years of President Ferdinand Marcos administration when the so-called “miracle rice” was developed.
– The People- The Filipino belongs to a mixture of races, although basically he is a Malay.
– Doubtless, the Filipino at the coming of the Spaniards was brown skinned like his Malay forebears.
– The inter-marriage between the Filipino and the foreigner, particularly the white, led to a class known as mestizo class, also humorously called the “mestizos.”
– Negritos- first ancestors of the Filipinos
– Calao Cave- found the 1st remain of human.
– Mestizo- Spanish-Filipino
– American Mestizo- Filipino-American
– Chinese Mestizo- Filipino-Chinese
– Indian Mestizo- Filipino-Indian
– Mestizo- by virtue of his social and financial status, looked down upon the “native” as a bore. E.g., pretentious, boastful, arrogant, etc.
– In the mind of the “native”, the mestizos were insolent.
Common Traits- It is difficult, if not impossible, to define what a Filipino is.
– Hospitable
– Respect for the elders- “po and opo” is a sign of good breeding.
– Filipino is naturally fatalistic.
– Fatalism is best symbolized in the phrase “Bahala na”
– Loyalty to a friend or to a benefactor is one trait that is very strong in the Filipino.
– Lack of Initiative is a trait explained by a natural fear of competition.
– Helpful and cooperative, respectful, and generous even to a fault, the Filipino is nevertheless individualistic.
– Jealousy is another trait of the Filipino.
– Regionalist
– May pakikisama
Regional Traits- That the milieu or environment exerts an influence in molding the character of a people is proved in the Philippines where different regions exhibit different and oftentimes, opposite traits.