6 Surprising Facts about Philippines that People Rarely Know
- Andrew Moore/Wikimedia
VIVA – The Philippines is the second-largest archipelago in the world consisting of 7,641 islands. This country is famous for its rich culture, language, and nature so many tourists visit the country.
Based on land area, the largest is in Luzon, followed by Mindanao, then the Visayas as the smallest. Of the 7000+ islands in the Philippines, only about 2,000 are inhabited. Here are some surprising facts that people rarely know.
1. A volcanic eruption from the Philippines created a sulfuric acid haze in the world for almost 2 years
On June 15th, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo from the Philippines set off one of the largest eruptions in history. With the eruption site only a couple of hours away from Manila, it shot off 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 10 billion metric tons of magma.
2. Universities in the Philippines are older than Harvard
San Carlos University
Founded in 1636, Harvard is an Ivy League University that is known far and wide as one of the oldest universities in the world. However, the Philippines has not one but two universities older than Harvard. In particular, San Carlos University and the University of Santo Tomas are prominent universities in the country, founded in 1595 and 1611 simultaneously.
3. The Philippines is the texting capital of the world
Known for being friendly people, the average Filipino socializes and communicates a lot through social media, texting, and calls. Each day, an estimated 400 million text messages are sent in the Philippines alone, making the country the world’s texting capital.
4. A former Filipino president was buried in ice
As the 10th President of the country Ferdinand Marcos served as president and dictator from 1965 to 1986. Although he was the first elected president in the country, he declared martial law from 1972 to 1981. When he died in 1986, he was not granted a burial for heroes because of the atrocities of his administration during martial law.
