PH GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

• Mactan is the most densely populated island in the Philippines, located a few kilometers from Cebu island.
• The primary religion of the Philippines is Christian.
• Filipina Lea Salonga has supplied the singing voice of two Disney princesses: Mulan in 1998, and Princess Jasmine in 1992's "Aladdin".
• The St.Joseph Parish Church in Las Pinas, Philippines has an organ with pipes and keys made from bamboo.
• The flag of the Philippines is flown differently to reflect the state of the country: when the blue side is up, it’s a sign of peace.
• The 1854 Eureka Rebellion in Australia was in part a protest following the gold rush of the 1850s.
• A beach in Malay, Aklan, Philippines, located on an archipelago island, is named White Beach due to the color of its sand, also the color of Christmas in a Bing Crosby song.
• The mango is the national fruit of India, Haiti, the Philippines, and Pakistan.
• In 1967, Singapore formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
• Bob Hawke, former Australian Prime Minister, holds the record for skolling a yard of ale, downing a sconce pot (2 1/2 imperial pints) in 11 seconds at university.
• Manila Ocean Park is a marine mammal park located in Manila, Philippines.
• The Philippines, named after a Spanish monarch, is one of the few predominantly Christian countries in Asia.
• The Pearl of Puerto is a large, specific type of gem discovered by a Filipino fisherman in 1996 and shares its name with the traditional birthstone of June.
• Four women from the Philippines have won the Miss Universe competition: Gloria Diaz in 1969, Margie Moran in 1971, Pia Wurtzbach in 2015, and Catriona Gray in 2018.
• Josefa Llanes Escoda founded the Philippines branch of Girl Scouts.
• Tubbataha Reef is a Tubbataha Natural Park in Cagayancillo, Philippines, home to a underwater sanctuary.
• Crocodile Dundee is the highest grossing Australian movie of all time.
• The woman born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez was the First Lady of the Philippines for 20 years before being deposed in a revolution in 1986.
• The national anthem of the Philippines was composed by Julián Felipe with lyrics adapted from a José Palma poem.
• The original title of the Philippine national anthem was Marcha Nacional Filipina.
• Today, the Philippine national anthem is casually known as “Bayang Magiliw” and more formally by the name “lupang hinirang”.
• According to the 2020 census, Quezon is the most populous city in the Philippines with 2.9 million people.
• “Camisa fuera” was the old Philippine Spanish name for the embroidered traditional formal shirt known as Barong / Barong Tagalog.
• Bongbong Marcos is the current president of the Philippines.
• Bakurawa is the name of the serpent-like dragon in Philippine mythology that is believed to be the cause of eclipses, earthquakes, rains, and wind.
• The dwarf pygmy goby is the smallest fish in the ocean.
• The Hills in Bohol, Philippines, are named after the color-changing grass on the geological formation.
• Mount Pinatubo is the highest point of the Philippines.
• Thitu is the smallest village in the Philippines, located on the Spratly Islands.
• Lea Salonga is the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award and provided the singing voices for Disney's original Mulan and Jasmine.
• The first death outside of China from the novel coronavirus occurred in February 2020 in the Philippines.
• Caloocan is a city in the Philippines known for having many motorcycle shops on 10th Avenue and a landmark dedicated to Andrés Bonifacio.
• Malapascua Island is located in the Visayan Sea, across a strait from the northern end of Cebu Island, and is a popular site for diving, as thresher sharks can be seen off of Monad Shoal.
• The Haiphong Typhoon is the deadliest typhoon in Philippine history, killing an estimated 20,000 people, three times as many as the second deadliest.
• Ronald Reagan's phrase "Tear down this wall" received relatively little media coverage at the time but exploded into ubiquity two years later when the phrase became reality.
• Magellan's Cross is a cross believed to have been planted in 1521 by Magellan during his circumnavigation of the world.
• The Philippines has been frequently named the “text capital of the world” due to over 1.39 billion SMS messages sent daily in the country in 2007.
• The acronym “SMS” is short for Short Messaging System.
• Fort Santiago in Manila, Philippines, was built in 1593 by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi for Spain and shares its name with the capital of Chile.
• In 1543, the islands of the Philippines were named after Philip II, king of Spain.