Module 1: Philippines as a Unique Nation

Lesson
Lesson 1: The
1: The Self Philippines
from Variousas Philosophical
a Unique Nation
Perspectives

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

a. Describe the geographical location of the Philippines;
b. Explain the uniqueness of the Philippines to the world; and
c. List down unique features in the Philippines.

Time Frame: Week 2

Introduction:

This lesson introduces the Philippines as a Unique Country. Understand this

lesson as it will help you better appreciate the Philippines. You are given activities to
help you postulate basic knowledge about the physical feature and resources of the
country.

Activity:

Using any type of coloring material, color the Philippine map below
creatively.

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Analysis
You have colored the Phippine Map creatively. After collowing out the Philippine
map, please consider the following questions:
1) What are the features of the Philippines thats makes it a unique nation?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2) What do you have in mind while coloring the Phippine Map? Does it make
you proud of the nation? Explain your answer.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Abstraction

The Philippines as a unique nation

Geographically, the Philippines is in Asia, but by race and culture, the

Filipinos are a harmonious blend of East and West. Our Western heritage, largely
acquired from Spain and America, has made us distinctly different from other Asian
nations.

The Philippines, a democratic country in Southeast Asia that declared its

independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 but only obtained its full sovereignty on
July 4, 1946, has a total land area covering 300,000 square kilometers (115,830 sq.
miles) and distributed in 7,107 islands. According to the National Mapping and
Resource Information Authority, 15,854,922 hectares or 53 percent of the country's
total land area were forest lands while the remaining 14,145,078 hectares or 47
percent were alienable and disposable lands as of December 2000. The three major
island groupings are Luzon (7 regions, 38 provinces), Visayas (3 regions, 16
provinces), and Mindanao (6 regions, 25 provinces).

Unique in the World

The Filipinos are also the only nation in Asia who speak English and Spanish
and have a literature written in these two foreign languages. As a matter of fact,
Filipinos take pride in being the third largest English-speaking nation in the world.
The Philippines is the most literate nation in Southeast Asia. The main cause for the
high literacy in the Philippines is the passionate love of Filipinos for education. As the
last governor-general of the Philippines, Frank Murphy, said: "No people ever
accepted the blessing of education with more enthusiasm than the Filipino." -Kira
Blank

What's unique in the Philippines?

Actually Filipinos are predominantly Christian in the Asia region where other
nations are Islamic, Buddhist, Shinto, Confucian, polytheistic, and animistic in
beliefs. The Philippines has served as Christianity's lone citadel beneath Asian skies

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and the light from which the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to other Asian
countries.

The Philippines is the first Republic in Asia, being the first Asian nation to
achieve independence by revolution and establish a Republic, led by Emilio
Aguinaldo in 1898 -1901. It was the first Southeast Asian nation to secure
independence by the voluntary decolonization of a colonial power after the 2nd World
war in 1946. It led the world in waging a "People Power" revolution to oust a dictator
by peaceful and prayerful means in 1986.

The Filipinos are unique for culturally assimilating four heritages- the
indigenous Asian, the European, the Latin and the American heritage. Our history is
indeed unique for the variety, the intensity and the duration of our historical, cultural
and scientific relations with other nations. As many foreigners notice, Filipinos easily
accept and adjust to any culture. Our openness to outsider enable us to understand and
be understood by other nation easily.

Application
Instruction: List down 5 unique features of the Philippines. Provide at least 3-5
sentences for every unique feature listed down.

Unique Feature Reason

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Closure
Dear students, thank you for seriously doing the activities in Lesson 1.
Congratulations for a job well done. For your next lesson, please have an advance
reading on “Origins of the Filipino”.

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