Business opportunities in theBusiness opportunities in the

PhilippinesPhilippines

an introduction to Doing Business with the Philippines

THE PHILIPPINES

Land Area: 300,000 sq.km.The Philippines is an archipelago made up of 7, 107 islands and isletsand three major geographical regions, namely, Luzon, Visayas andMindanao. It is situated in the southeastern coast of mainland Asia and because of its strategic location it is a gateway to the Southeast Asianmarket of about 500 million people.Population:97,976,603 (July 2009 est.)Religions: 80.95% Roman Catholic, 15% Christian, 5% MuslimLiteracy Rate: 95%Strategically located in AsiaIt is approximately 4.5 flying hours to the capital cities of the Southeast Asia countries.

ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES

It has a mixed cultural society ----a colony of Spain for 300 yearsand America for 40 years until it finally achieved independencein 1946.Its population of about 94 million people is made of 95%Christians of which 85% are Catholics and 5% Muslim.It is the third largest English-speaking country in the world andalthough Filipino is the national language, English is widely spoken and is the language use for business and instruction inschools, colleges and universities.The climate is hot and dry from March to May; rainy from Juneto October; and cool and dry from November to February.The country is a democratic republic and has a presidential formof government with a president elected for a fixed term of 6 years without reelection.