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Ethnic groups
Ethnic groups
The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia. Contemporary Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros, comprising roughly one-tenth of the population each. The Waray-Waray of the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and the Bicol (Bikol) of the Bicol Peninsula together account for another one-tenth. Filipino mestizos and the Kapampangans (Pampango) of south-central Luzon each make up small proportions of the population.
Many smaller groups of indigenous and immigrant peoples account for the remainder of the Philippines’ population. The aboriginal inhabitants of the islands were the Negritos, a term referring collectively to numerous peoples of dark skin and small stature, including the Aeta, Ita, Agta, and others. Those communities now constitute only a tiny percentage of the total population. From the 10th century, contacts with China resulted in a group of mixed Filipino-Chinese descent, who also account for a minority of the population. Small numbers of resident Chinese nationals, emigrants from the Indian subcontinent, U.S. nationals, and Spanish add to the population’s ethnic and cultural diversity.
Languages
Languages
Hanunóo Mangyan dialectBamboo manuscript roll (1904–05) from Mindoro, Philippines, incised with songs in the Hanunóo Mangyan dialect and texts in Tagbanua. The roll is to be read vertically from bottom to top.
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Estimates of the total number of native languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines differ, but scholarly studies suggest that there are some 150. Most of the country’s languages are closely related, belonging to one of several subfamilies of Austronesian—more specifically, Western Malayo-Polynesian—languages. The major languages of the country generally correspond to the largest ethnic groups. Tagalog is the most widespread language of the Central Philippine subfamily, with the bulk of its native speakers concentrated in Manila, central and south-central Luzon, and the islands of Mindoro and Marinduque. The national language of the Philippines, Pilipino (also called Filipino), is based on Tagalog and shares a place with English (the lingua franca) as an official language and medium of instruction. Tagalog (including Pilipino) has the most extensive written literature of all Philippine languages. Cebuano, also a Central Philippine language, is used widely in Cebu, Bohol, eastern Negros, western Leyte, and parts of Mindanao. Ilocano is the most commonly spoken language of the Northern Luzon subfamily, and its speakers constitute the third largest language community of the Philippines.
Other prominent languages of the Central Philippine group include Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray, both spoken in the Visayas, as well as several varieties of Bicol, spoken in southern Luzon. The language of the Tausug is widespread in both Palawan and the Sulu Archipelago, where it is used in Tausug as well as many non-Tausug communities. Similarly, the languages of the Kapampangans and Pangasinan, both of the Northern Philippine subfamily, have many speakers in central Luzon. Notable languages of the Southern Philippine subfamily are those spoken by the Maguindanao and Maranao of western Mindanao.
Hanunóo Mangyan dialectBamboo manuscript roll (1904–05) from Mindoro, Philippines, incised with songs in the Hanunóo Mangyan dialect and texts in Tagbanua. The roll is to be read vertically from bottom to top.
Religion
Religion
Jaime Cardinal SinJaime Cardinal Sin (born 1928–died 2005), archbishop of Manila (1974–2003).
Some four-fifths of Filipinos profess Roman Catholicism. During the 20th century the religion gained strength through growth in the number of Filipinos in the church hierarchy, construction of seminaries, and, especially after 1970, increased involvement of the church in the political and social life of the country. Jaime Cardinal Sin, archbishop of Manila, was one of the country’s most politically outspoken spiritual leaders of the late 20th century.
Adherents of other denominations of Christianity constitute roughly one-tenth of the population. The Philippine Independent Church (the Aglipayans), established in 1902 in protest against Spanish control of the Roman Catholic Church, has several million members. The indigenous church called Iglesia ni Cristo, also founded in the early 20th century, has a smaller but nonetheless significant following.
Islam was brought to the southern Philippines in the 15th century from Brunei (on Borneo), to the west. The religion was already well established in the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao by the time of European contact, and it had a growing following around Manila. Contemporary Muslim Filipino communities, collectively known as Moros, are largely limited to the southern islands and account for about 5 percent of the population.
Small numbers of Filipinos practice Buddhism or local religions. Buddhism is associated primarily with communities of Chinese descent. Local religions are maintained by some of the rural indigenous peoples.
Settlement patterns
Settlement patterns
The plains lying amid the mountains—for example, the central plain of Luzon and the central plain of Panay—have long had the greatest density of population in the islands, except Cebu, where the people have lived mostly on the coastal plain because of the island’s high and rugged interior. In the nonindustrialized areas of these regions, the cultivation of rice or corn (maize) and fishing provide basic subsistence.
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