Did
you know that:
- Cebu
is the first Philippine City.
- Maria
Teresa Calderon - 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.
- Coconuts
- the Philippines is considered to be the largest producer of
coconuts
- Gemma
Cruz was the first Filipina to win an international beauty title -
Miss International 1964.
- Dan
Inosanto - from Mike Robandido - Pinoy who taught Bruce Lee how to
use arnis de mano.
- The
second oldest Philippine printing press next to Manila can be found
in Pila Laguna. The first book printed was named Vocabulario
Delengua Tagala - the Philippines first Filipino - Spanish
dictionary that was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first
book printed in the United States.
- The
Philippine Basketball Association is Asia's premier and the world's
second oldest professional league.
- After
Happy Birthday, the song most sung in the Philippines is Lupang
Hinirang, the national anthem.
- 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.
- Fernando
Amorsolo, a painter, was the first national artist declared by the
Philippine government. The award was conferred on Amorsolo in April
1972, several days after his death.
- 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 world's deepest part of the
ocean is the Marianas Trench, which is over 11,000 meters below the
seal level.
- 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
- 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.
- Emilio
Aguinaldo lost to Manuel L. Quezon in the country's first
presidential elections in 1935.
- Bagumbayan
was the original name of Luneta Park.
- Of
the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the
Philippines.
- 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.
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