Philippines on World Map

Latitude/Longitude (Capital City) 14º 37' N, 120º 58' E
Relative Location The Philippines are located in both the northern and eastern hemispheres. Positioned off the southeastern coast of Asia, directly east of Vietnam and northeast of Malaysia, this island nation is literally surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, and many smaller bodies of water including the Philippine Sea, Celebes Sea, Sula Sea and South China Sea.

About Philipines

Tropical climate tempered by constant sea breezes. There are three distinct seasons: the rainy season (June to September), cool and dry (October to February), and hot and mainly dry (March to May). Evenings are cooler. Typhoons occasionally occur from June to September.
Required Clothing
Lightweight cottons and linens are worn throughout most of the year, with warmer clothes useful on cooler evenings. Rainwear or umbrellas are advisable for the rainy season.

The Tropical Climate

*The Tropical Rainforest Climate

Because of the geographical location on the planet, the Philippines has a "Tropical Rainforest Climate" all over the country.
The two main characteristics of this climate are:
-high temperatures
-high atmospheric humidity
Both the high temperatures and the humidity are the whole year through. In theory rainfall can be expected in every month of the year.

*Rainy season and monsoon

Though some rainfall can be expected in every month, the rainfall differs greatly through the year.
In the period June - October it's raining cats and dogs!
The influence of the southwest monsoon is very clear.
In the period December - May there is no monsoon anymore. The wind, the "trade wind", is coming from the northeast and brings hardly rainfall.

*Typhoons

A third characteristic feature of the climate of the Philippines is the presence of strong typhoons. The Philippines is tortured by typhoons every year. In the whole Western Pacific typhoons occur in the period June - November.

Culture

Influence of the Catholic religion

Typical for the Philippines are the many festivals and processions.
The explanation for the most of all these fiestas has to be found in the domination of one specific religion in the Philippines. The majority of the cultural celebrations is closely related to the Catholic religion. Nearly 90% of the Filipinos are Roman Catholic.

Means of transportation

For traveling in the Philippines there are a lot of cheap possibilities. For the long distances on the bigger islands, the busses are the best possibility. Traveling per train is hardly possible, because there is only on one island a railway.
For the shorter distances on all islands (outside and inside towns and cities), people make use of the jeepneys, multicabs and tricycles.

Landforms

The Philippine islands, positioned on the are sublect to frequent earthquakes and frequent volcanic eruptions. The Mayon Volcano is the most active in Philiphines,

and consider one of the most dangerous on planet.

Extending about 1,100 miles (north to south), its many islands (vocanic in origin) are mostly mountainous, with narrow coastal plains; many islands are covered by tropical rain forest.

Tropical Rain Forest Climate

*Temperature
Being located near the equator, the incidence angle of the noon sun is always high. Annual temperatures in the rain forest average between 20 - 30 degree celsius.

*Precipitation
The rain forest is noted for its copious rainfall occurring in all months of the year. Over 200 cm of precipitation annually falls in the rain forest. Abundant precipitation occurs in each month and is fairly evenly distributed between high and low sun seasons.