racz_jay25
02/13/08, 06:06 PM
Inventor of flourescent lamp
The coming of artificial daylight was introduced to the world by a Filipino electrician named Agapito Flores. Agapito was a native of Guiginto, Bulacan. Unable to continue his
studies, he worked as an apprentice in a machine shop in the town. Later, he migrated to the city and worked as an electrician in Tondo. For somehow, he was intent on developing a glass tube that produces a different light. Flourescent light bulb was born.
Flores went to President Manuel L. Quezon to show his work but the president had no idea how he could help the inventor. One day, there was an official of the French government who was visiting at Malacañang took interest in the device. The Frenchman arranged for Flores to go to Paris and be granted a patent for his lamp. It was only much later, however, when the General Electric Company of America bought Flores' bulb, that it was mass-produced and gained acceptance worldwide.
Antibiotic Creator
The antibiotic erythromycin — used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections — was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.
Biggest Papal Crowd
On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.
World's Best Choir
The Philippine Madrigal Singers bagged the 1997 European Choral Grand Prix, the choral olympics of the world’s best choirs. The group, being the only Asian choir, bested five regional champions from all over Europe, earning them the title as the "world’s best choir."
Computer Guru
Diosdado Banatao, a native of Iguig, Cagayan and an electrical engineering graduate from Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila is credited for eight major contributions to the Information Technology. Banatao is most known for introducing the first single-chip graphical user interface accelerator that made computers work a lot faster and for helping develop the Ethernet controller chip that made Internet possible. In 1989, he pioneered the local bus concept for personal computers and in the following year developed the First Windows accelerator chip. Intel is now using the chips and technologies developed by Banatao. He now runs his own semiconductor company, Mostron and Chips & Technology, which is based in California's Silicon Valley. (Source: Filipinas Magazine)
Karaoke Inventor
Roberto del Rosario, a Filipino is claiming the right for the invention of the Sing-Along-System (SAS) that eventually led to the development of Karaoke, a Japanese term for "singing without accompaniment". Among del Rosario's other inventions were the Trebel Voice Color Code (VCC), the piano tuner's guide, the piano keyboard stressing device, the voice color tape, and the one-man-band (OMB). The OMB was later developed as the Sing-Along-System (SAS).
Inventor of Incubator
Fe del Mundo, the first Asian to have entered the prestigious Harvard University's School of Medicine, is also credited for her studies that led to the invention of incubator and jaundice relieving device. Del Mundo, an International Pediatric Association (IPA) awardee, is an alumna of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine. Since 1941, she has contributed more than 100 articles to medical journals in the U.S., Philippines and India. In 1966, she received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, for her "outstanding service to mankind". In 1977, she was bestowed the Ramon Magsaysay Award for outstanding public service.
Water-Powered Car
For more than three decades now, Daniel Dingel has been claiming that his car can run with water as fuel. An article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer said that Dingle built his engine as early as 1969. Dingel built a car reactor that uses electricity from a 12-volt car battery to split the ordinary tap water into hydrogen and oxygen components. The hydrogen can then be used to power the car engine.
Dingel said that a number of foreign car companies have expressed interest in his invention. The officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have dismissed Dingel's water-powered car as a hoax. In return, Dingel accused them of conspiring with oil producing countries. Dingel, however, was the not the only man on earth who is testing water as an alternative fuel. American inventors Rudolf Gunnerman and Stanley Meyer and the researchers of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been pursuing similar experiments.
Space Engineer
On June 25, 2002, the provincial government of Cavite awarded Edward Caro a plaque of recognition for his 42 years of service at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States where he helped launch the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission or the Explorer. Caro, 70 and a native of Cavite retired from NASA in 2001. In return, NASA during the same year conferred Caro the Distinguished Science medal, reportedly the highest honor it gives to its employees. (Source: Philippine Star)
Videophone Inventor
Gregorio Zara of Lipa City and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology invented the videophone and developed the Zara Effect or Electrical Kinetic Resistance.
The Leaf Musician
He became famous around the world for his distinct talent. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Filipino National Artist Levi Celerio as the only man who could play beautiful music with a leaf.
Celerio appeared in "That's Incredible" and the Mel Griffin show where he played music with a leaf. The Guinness Book of World Records said: "The only leaf player in the world is in the Philippines". As a composer and lyricist, Celerio wrote more than 4,000 songs.
Metro Manila, 0.2 Percent of Land Area
Metro Manila, a conglomerate of 12 cities and five municipalities, has a total land area of 636 square kilometers and a population of over 10 million people, excluding transients or passing individuals. In proportion to the country's land size, the metropolis covers only 0.2 percent of the total land area of the Philippines but is the site of more than half of the country's largest companies. In 1999, Metro Manila contributed 34.7 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP); Southern Tagalog, 13.9 percent; Central Luzon, 8 percent; and the rest of the country, 43.4 percent.
Happiest People in Asia
Despite the many problems hounding the Philippines, Filipinos still consider themselves as among the happiest people in the world. Results of regional surveys conducted by MTV-Asia, ACNielsen and the Economist magazine have indicated that Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia.
But in the World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998, the Philippines was ranked 12th among 54 countries in the world in terms of happiness index. Among Asian countries, it was ranked first. According to the survey, the top ten happiest nations in the world were Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela.
World's Largest Shoes
In December 2002, the Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Marikina City for crafting the world's largest pair of shoes - each measuring 5.5 meters (18.2 feet) long, 2.25 meters (7.4 feet) wide and 1.83 meters (six feet) high. The materials for the P1.2 million pair of shoes could produce 250 pairs of regular shoes.
World's Largest Golf Event
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest amateur golf tournament takes place in Baguio City, Philippines every year. Dubbed as the Fil-Am Golf Championship since 1949, the 72-hole golf tournament attracts close to 1,000 amateur golfers from all over the archipelago. The sites of the prestigious event are the challenging par-69, 5,001-yard Camp John Hay golf course and the par-61, 4,038-yard Baguio Country Club. Among the top contending teams in the event are the Canlubang, Southwoods, Calatagan, and Wack Wack.
World's Largest Synchronized Aerobics Exercises
On February 16, 2003, some 107,000 Filipinos joined a 30-minute aerobics exercise supervised by the Department of Health (DOH) at Rizal Park in Manila, which could be the largest synchronized exercise in the world. Thousands of people also gathered at different venues in Cebu City and Davao City to participate in the exercise simultaneous with the Manila event. The new record broke the previous Guinness Book of World Records set at a park in Guadalajara, Mexico by some 38,633 people who joined the massive aerobics exercises in June 1998.
World's Largest Lantern
On December 24, 2002, the city of San Fernando in Pampanga province switched on the world's largest Christmas lantern - a P5-million structure with 26.8 meters in diameter.
World's Best Finance Minister
In 1997, Roberto de Ocampo who was serving in the Cabinet of former President Fidel Ramos, was recognized as the "World's Best Finance Minister" for overhauling the country's tax system through the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package.
World's Best Central Bank Governor
In October 2002, international magazine Global Finance named Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Carlos B. Buenaventura as one of the world's two best central bankers for "his remarkable skill in guiding" the Philippine economy under a trying year. The other central banker named was Reserve Bank of Austalia (RBA) Governor Ian MacFarlane.
World's Sweetest Fruit
What can be considered as the world's sweetest mango is produced in the island province of Guimaras. While other countries have different varieties of the tropical mango (Mangifera indica), none of them tastes like the superbly delicious Guimaras mango, which is a variety of the popular Carabao Mango (Manginera indica).
In 1995, the Guinness Book of World records listed the Carabao Mango as the sweetest fruit in the world. In the Philippines, mango ranks third among fruit crops in production, next to banana and pineapple. The country supplies mangoes to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and recently the United States. In 1995, the Philippines produced 432,322 metric tons of mangoes, with an average production of 6.35 metric tons per hectare and 250 kilograms per tree from a total production area of 68,056 hectares.
World's Largest Bamboo Organ
The bamboo organ at St. Joseph Church in Las Pinas City is arguably the world's largest bamboo organ. The centuries-old musical instrument was constructed between 1792 and 1819. It has 174 bamboo pipes, 122 horizontal reeds of soft metal, a five-octave keyboard, and 22 stops arranged in vertical rows.
World's Largest City
The residents of Davao City claim they live in the world's largest city. They are talking about the land size of the city that covers 2,212 square kilometers. Most of these areas, however, are distributed as forests, coconut groves and rice fields. In comparison, New York, the largest city in the United States, has an area of only 787 square kilometers while the whole of Metro Manila covers only 636 square kilometers.
Davao City lies at the mouth of the Davao River near the head of Davao Gulf. It encompasses about 50 small ports in its commercial sphere. Davao has large banana plantations, whose produce are exported to Japan and other countries. The city also boasts of a modern international airport. Puerto Princesa City, a chartered city of Palawan province, is disputing Davao City's title. It claims to have a total land area of 2,539 square kilometers encompassing 66 barangays.
In terms of population and land area, the world's truly largest cities are Tokyo, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, New York City, Bombay, Shanghai and Los Angeles.
World's Largest Volume of Text Messages
Smart Communications, one of the two giant mobile phone networks in the country, claimed that the volume of text messages passing through its network reached 240 million daily as of 2001. This excluded text messages sent via the other networks. Such volume of text messages is said to be larger than those sent in the entire European continent during the same year.
World's Largest High School
The Rizal High School in Caniogan, Pasig City (eastern Metro Manila) is said to be the world's largest high school in terms of student population. The school has more than 20,000 students.
World's Longest Barbecue
On April 30, 2002, about 50,000 people participated in the "Kalutan ed Dagupan" festival in Dagupan City (Pangasinan province, Northern Luzon, Philippines) to help grill and partake of the 1,001-meter long barbecue, that broke the previous World Record of 613 meter-long barbecue grilled in Canchia, Peru on November 13, 1999.
The people of the city used hundreds of grills, each measuring 1.2-meter long, to cook the barbecue. The grills' total measure was about 800 meters long, enough to surpass the Peruvian record. The barbecue consisted of bangus (milkfish), pork, chicken, vegetables and cold cuts. A video footage was sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for validation. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
World's Largest Flower
In February 2002, an environmental organization discovered what could be one of the world's largest flowers in the 5,511-hectare Sibalom National Park in Antique province. Measuring about 22 inches in diameter, the endangered flower, locally named as "Uruy", (Rafflesia sp.) has no stem and leaves. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
World's Largest Salad
The residents of Baguio City took pride in having tossed what was believed to be the world's largest salad - a three-ton mix of assorted vegetables.
On September 29, 2002 during the Tossed Salad Festival in commemoration of the city's 93rd charter anniversary, 67 students and members of the Baguio Association of Hotels and Inns (Bahai) mixed 2,976 kilograms of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and other vegetables in a tin and wrought iron bowl measuring 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
Some 13,657 people were able to partake of the P1.5 million mixtures. They paid P20 for each serving of the tossed salad with Thousand Island dressing and another take-out bowl of salad with a gourmet vinaigrette dressing consisting of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.
The city broke its own record set a year earlier. On September 16, 2001, a 917-kilogram of salad was able to feed 4,861 residents and tourists of Baguio City. On September 14, 2002, a religious group prepared a giant Caesar's salad that fed only 1,000 people in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One of the World's Best Hotels
In 1983, British magazine Executive Travel named Manila Hotel as one of the ten best in the world while Business Traveler, another British publication named it as one of the top ten business hotels in the world in 1986. In 1992, the Institutional Investor magazine called Manila Hotel as the world's best hotel and in 1993, the Vienna-based Treasury Publishing included it in the list of the most famous hotels in the world.
Among the many political luminaries and celebrities who have stayed at the Manila Hotel were Ernest Hemingway, General Douglas McArthur, Marlon Brando, Helen Keller, John Wayne, Rocky Marciano, Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Emperor Akihito, John Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, Neil Armstrong, Anatoly Karpov, Bob Hope, Henry Kissinger, Princess Margaret, Brooke Shields, John Denver, Bon Jovi, Ben Kingsley, Richard Attenborough, Julio Iglesias, Richard Cheney, Garri Kasparov, Sultan Bolkiah, Rod Stewart, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Arnold Parmer, Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, Nelson Mandela and Prince Charles. (Source: Panorama magazine)
World's Largest Covered Coliseum
At the time it was completed in 1959, the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City was touted as the world's largest covered entertainment center. Otherwise known as the Big Dome, it has a floor area of 2,300 square meters and a seating capacity of 33,000 people.
World's Second Most Devastated City
The late US President and General Dwight Eisenhower described Manila as the world's second most devastated city during World War II, next to Warsaw, Poland which was reduced to ruins by the Nazi's attack. Before he became president, Eisenhower served in the Philippines under General Douglas Macarthur from 1935 to 1939.
World's Third Largest Banana Producer
The Philippines is considered as the world's third largest producer of bananas, after Costa Rica and Ecuador. Large plantations in southern Mindanao produce most bananas exported by the Philippines. Some 30,000 hectares in the region are planted to bananas.
The Philippines is also one of the largest producers of coconut, cassava, mango, pineapple, tilapia, tuna, shrimps, and prawns.
Modular Housing Inventor
Edgardo Vazquez won a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gold medal in 1995 for developing a modular housing system. Such a system called Vazbuilt is reportedly capable of building within weeks a house with prefabricated materials that can withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Ironically, Vasquez is not getting enough support from the Philippine government to propagate his technology, which could help provide shelter to some five million Filipino families without their own homes. Vazquez is the national president of the Filipino Inventors Society.
Inventor of Fuel Products
In 1996, Rudy Lantano Sr., a scientist from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST), won the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gold medal for developing Super Bunker Formula-L, a revolutionary fuel half-composed of water. The mix burns faster and emits pollutants, 95 percent less than those released to the air by traditional fuel products. The inventor said his invention is a result of blending new ingredients and additives with ordinary oil products through agitation and mixing, which is a very safe process. The initial plan was to commercially produce two million liters of Alco-Diesel, two million liters of Lan-Gas and an unlimited quantity of Super Bunker Formula-L each day for customers in Luzon.
A Showcase of Ingenuity
Nothing perhaps has been associated with Filipino technology as much as the country's pride - jeepney. The word "jeep" evolved from the military designation, general-purpose or G.P., of a light vehicle first used by the Americans in World War II. Developed by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, this vehicle was powered by a four-cylinder engine and was classified as a quarter-ton truck in carrying capacity. It had served as a command vehicle, reconnaissance car, and ammunition carrier.
The American soldiers brought these vehicles to the Philippines in the 1940s. After the war, these vehicles were left by the Americans and converted by the Filipinos into public utility vehicles. Employing artistic and indigenous designs, the Filipinos came up with a longer, well-decorated, techni-colored and sleeker vehicle, which they later called jeepney. From the standard military jeep, the body was extended to accommodate between 20 to 30 passengers. Modern jeepneys now sport very colorful and intricate paintings, fancy adornments, and metallic decors reflective of Filipino sentiments, values, and culture. The town of Las Pinas has been recognized as the jeepney-producing center in the country. Today, public utility jeepneys or PUJs serve as the primary means of transportation in most provinces. For this, the Philippines came to be known as the "land of the jeepneys".
The Bible Also Mentions the Philippines
It can be easily understood that no verse in the Bible carried the term Philippines, since the Bible was written two thousand years ago or centuries before the Spaniards came here. However, there are verses in the Bible that prophesy about the Philippine archipelago and other islands in the Pacific. In the chapter 24 of the Book of Isaiah, verses 15 to 16 read "Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: 'Glory to the Righteous One.'" The Philippines is the only Christian archipelago in the Pacific covering East Asia.
A Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus
In May 2000, the so-called "love bug" computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the "love bug" wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.
Romulo Put RP in UN Map
According to Beth Day Romulo, Carlos P. Romulo literally put the Philippines on the world map. "When the UN official seal which depicts the world was being selected, Romulo asked 'Where is the Philippines?'
The answer came, 'It's too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.'
'I want that dot,' Romulo insisted." The UN seal now has a tiny dot for the Philippines.
Eisenhower Wrote Quezon's Speeches
In the book "Eisenhower, A Soldier's Life", American historian Carlos D'Este claimed that Dwight Eisenhower became an adviser and speechwriter of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in the Philippines. When Quezon sought an exile in the US, he met Eisenhower in Washington D.C. and offered him "a lavish stipend of some one hundred thousand dollars for services rendered the Philippines during his four years there, which Eisenhower courteously rejected." This was before Eisenhower was appointed as the supreme commander of all allied forces and planned the now infamous Normandy Invasion in Europe during World War II. Eisenhower later became a US president.
A Filipino Supervised a Russian Orchestra
Redentor Romero had served as the conductor of the 100-member Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which received worldwide acclaim.
Balagtas Had Other Works
Francisco dela Cruz Balagtas, the 19th Century poet from Bulacan, wrote more than 100 plays, comedies, awits and koridos. Most of these works, however, were burned in a fire that gutted his house in Udyong, Bataan in 1892. Fortunately, copies of three of his works were found elsewhere. Aside from the well-known awit Florante at Laura, other existing works of Balagtas were a short farce entitled La India Elegante y e! Negrito Amante and a full-length komedya entitled Orosman at Zafira.
A Filipino Refereed Muhammad Ali
In October 1975, Carlos Padilla Jr. served as the referee in the world-boxing match between Ali and Frazier in what was dubbed as thrilla in Manila.
Intel Chips Were Manufactured in RP
Intel Corp., the world's largest corporation, has been operating in the Philippines for almost 30 years. Calling itself as the first multinational company that established a branch in the country, Intel manufactures processors and chips in its Philippine plant, which is expected to be Intel's biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide soon. Other foreign electronic and IT firms in the country are Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Trend Micro, Fujitsu, and America Online (AOL).
A Planetoid was Named After a Filipino
The minor planet Biyo, which has a diameter of four to nine kilometers and was formerly called planet 13241, was named after Dr. Josette Biyo, a teacher at the Philippine Science High School in Iloilo City who won the International Excellence in Teaching Award during the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in Louisville, Kentucky in 2002. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory in the United States game the name.
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Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? "Consummatum est!" ("It is done!")
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Cebu is the oldest Philippine city.
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Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds and Christmas carols start filling the air, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.
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The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.
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Paskuhan Village in the province of Pampanga is Asia’s only Christmas theme park and the third of its kind in the world.
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The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.
The word "boondocks," which is now a part of the English language, dictionary, and vocabulary, comes from the Tagalog word "bundok," meaning "mountain."
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Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor
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Halo-Halo! Halo-halo literally means, "mix-mix". And its is just that: a mixture of sweetened fruits and beans, lavished with pinipig (crisp flattened rice flakes), sugar and milk, topped by crushed ice and ice cream. You know its summertime when halo-halo stand start sprouting by the roadside and by the beach, all whipping up their heavenly concoctions of such a refreshingly divine dessert. You can make your own by selecting and mixing your ingredients to make a perfect Halo-Halo. Halo-Halo is uniquely, unforgettably Filipino!
Waling Waling Orchids - With some 800 to 1,000 species of orchids, the Philippines has one of the richest orchid floras in the world. Philippine orchids come in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and colors. Most grow only in old-growth forest, often on branches of huge trees dozens of meters above the forest floor.
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Maria Teresa Calderon – A Filipina World champion speed reader as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
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In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.
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The Philippine Basketball Association is Asia's premier and the world's second oldest professional league.
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Philippine Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia's first airline.
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The PHILIPPINE EAGLE is the 2nd largest bird on the planet (next only to the American Condor)
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If you drive a BENZ, BMW, or a VOLVO, there is a good chance that
the ABS system in your car was made in the Philippines.
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Jose N. Rodriguez
He is one of the very few pioneers in the early fight against leprosy all over the world. Dr. Rodriguez devoted most of his life to the battle against leprosy. He proposed a control program which was used all over Asia. His articles on leprosy have been published all over the world.
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Carmen Velasquez
Many young scientist wanna-bes would want to emulate her. Dr. Velasquez discovered 32 new species and one genus from Philippine food fishes, two more from birds and five from mammals. These are just a few of her discoveries which prompted the United States of America to enlist her in the American Men and Women of Science, International Scholars' Directory, International Who's Who of Intellectuals and the World Whos' Who of Women. Beat that!
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Gregorio Zara
One of the best national scientists in the Philippines, who brought you the videophone! He was born in Lipa City, Bat@ngas and graduated from the Massachusset's Institute of Technology. The videophone, which is so widely used now, enables us to view our callers on a videoscreen. His other equally impressive inventions were an airplane engine that used alcohol as fuel and the Zara Effect or Electrical Kinetic Resistance which was named after him.
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Coconuts - the Philippines is considered to be the largest producer of coconuts
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Dan Inosanto - from Mike Robandido - Pinoy who taught Bruce Lee how to use arnis de mano.
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The second oldest philippine printing press next to Manila can be found in Pila Laguna. The first book printed was named Vocabulario Delengua Tagala - the philippines first filipino - spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.http://philipinneowl.spaces.live.com
The coming of artificial daylight was introduced to the world by a Filipino electrician named Agapito Flores. Agapito was a native of Guiginto, Bulacan. Unable to continue his
studies, he worked as an apprentice in a machine shop in the town. Later, he migrated to the city and worked as an electrician in Tondo. For somehow, he was intent on developing a glass tube that produces a different light. Flourescent light bulb was born.
Flores went to President Manuel L. Quezon to show his work but the president had no idea how he could help the inventor. One day, there was an official of the French government who was visiting at Malacañang took interest in the device. The Frenchman arranged for Flores to go to Paris and be granted a patent for his lamp. It was only much later, however, when the General Electric Company of America bought Flores' bulb, that it was mass-produced and gained acceptance worldwide.
Antibiotic Creator
The antibiotic erythromycin — used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections — was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.
Biggest Papal Crowd
On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.
World's Best Choir
The Philippine Madrigal Singers bagged the 1997 European Choral Grand Prix, the choral olympics of the world’s best choirs. The group, being the only Asian choir, bested five regional champions from all over Europe, earning them the title as the "world’s best choir."
Computer Guru
Diosdado Banatao, a native of Iguig, Cagayan and an electrical engineering graduate from Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila is credited for eight major contributions to the Information Technology. Banatao is most known for introducing the first single-chip graphical user interface accelerator that made computers work a lot faster and for helping develop the Ethernet controller chip that made Internet possible. In 1989, he pioneered the local bus concept for personal computers and in the following year developed the First Windows accelerator chip. Intel is now using the chips and technologies developed by Banatao. He now runs his own semiconductor company, Mostron and Chips & Technology, which is based in California's Silicon Valley. (Source: Filipinas Magazine)
Karaoke Inventor
Roberto del Rosario, a Filipino is claiming the right for the invention of the Sing-Along-System (SAS) that eventually led to the development of Karaoke, a Japanese term for "singing without accompaniment". Among del Rosario's other inventions were the Trebel Voice Color Code (VCC), the piano tuner's guide, the piano keyboard stressing device, the voice color tape, and the one-man-band (OMB). The OMB was later developed as the Sing-Along-System (SAS).
Inventor of Incubator
Fe del Mundo, the first Asian to have entered the prestigious Harvard University's School of Medicine, is also credited for her studies that led to the invention of incubator and jaundice relieving device. Del Mundo, an International Pediatric Association (IPA) awardee, is an alumna of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine. Since 1941, she has contributed more than 100 articles to medical journals in the U.S., Philippines and India. In 1966, she received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, for her "outstanding service to mankind". In 1977, she was bestowed the Ramon Magsaysay Award for outstanding public service.
Water-Powered Car
For more than three decades now, Daniel Dingel has been claiming that his car can run with water as fuel. An article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer said that Dingle built his engine as early as 1969. Dingel built a car reactor that uses electricity from a 12-volt car battery to split the ordinary tap water into hydrogen and oxygen components. The hydrogen can then be used to power the car engine.
Dingel said that a number of foreign car companies have expressed interest in his invention. The officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have dismissed Dingel's water-powered car as a hoax. In return, Dingel accused them of conspiring with oil producing countries. Dingel, however, was the not the only man on earth who is testing water as an alternative fuel. American inventors Rudolf Gunnerman and Stanley Meyer and the researchers of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been pursuing similar experiments.
Space Engineer
On June 25, 2002, the provincial government of Cavite awarded Edward Caro a plaque of recognition for his 42 years of service at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States where he helped launch the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission or the Explorer. Caro, 70 and a native of Cavite retired from NASA in 2001. In return, NASA during the same year conferred Caro the Distinguished Science medal, reportedly the highest honor it gives to its employees. (Source: Philippine Star)
Videophone Inventor
Gregorio Zara of Lipa City and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology invented the videophone and developed the Zara Effect or Electrical Kinetic Resistance.
The Leaf Musician
He became famous around the world for his distinct talent. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Filipino National Artist Levi Celerio as the only man who could play beautiful music with a leaf.
Celerio appeared in "That's Incredible" and the Mel Griffin show where he played music with a leaf. The Guinness Book of World Records said: "The only leaf player in the world is in the Philippines". As a composer and lyricist, Celerio wrote more than 4,000 songs.
Metro Manila, 0.2 Percent of Land Area
Metro Manila, a conglomerate of 12 cities and five municipalities, has a total land area of 636 square kilometers and a population of over 10 million people, excluding transients or passing individuals. In proportion to the country's land size, the metropolis covers only 0.2 percent of the total land area of the Philippines but is the site of more than half of the country's largest companies. In 1999, Metro Manila contributed 34.7 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP); Southern Tagalog, 13.9 percent; Central Luzon, 8 percent; and the rest of the country, 43.4 percent.
Happiest People in Asia
Despite the many problems hounding the Philippines, Filipinos still consider themselves as among the happiest people in the world. Results of regional surveys conducted by MTV-Asia, ACNielsen and the Economist magazine have indicated that Filipinos are the happiest people in Asia.
But in the World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998, the Philippines was ranked 12th among 54 countries in the world in terms of happiness index. Among Asian countries, it was ranked first. According to the survey, the top ten happiest nations in the world were Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela.
World's Largest Shoes
In December 2002, the Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Marikina City for crafting the world's largest pair of shoes - each measuring 5.5 meters (18.2 feet) long, 2.25 meters (7.4 feet) wide and 1.83 meters (six feet) high. The materials for the P1.2 million pair of shoes could produce 250 pairs of regular shoes.
World's Largest Golf Event
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest amateur golf tournament takes place in Baguio City, Philippines every year. Dubbed as the Fil-Am Golf Championship since 1949, the 72-hole golf tournament attracts close to 1,000 amateur golfers from all over the archipelago. The sites of the prestigious event are the challenging par-69, 5,001-yard Camp John Hay golf course and the par-61, 4,038-yard Baguio Country Club. Among the top contending teams in the event are the Canlubang, Southwoods, Calatagan, and Wack Wack.
World's Largest Synchronized Aerobics Exercises
On February 16, 2003, some 107,000 Filipinos joined a 30-minute aerobics exercise supervised by the Department of Health (DOH) at Rizal Park in Manila, which could be the largest synchronized exercise in the world. Thousands of people also gathered at different venues in Cebu City and Davao City to participate in the exercise simultaneous with the Manila event. The new record broke the previous Guinness Book of World Records set at a park in Guadalajara, Mexico by some 38,633 people who joined the massive aerobics exercises in June 1998.
World's Largest Lantern
On December 24, 2002, the city of San Fernando in Pampanga province switched on the world's largest Christmas lantern - a P5-million structure with 26.8 meters in diameter.
World's Best Finance Minister
In 1997, Roberto de Ocampo who was serving in the Cabinet of former President Fidel Ramos, was recognized as the "World's Best Finance Minister" for overhauling the country's tax system through the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package.
World's Best Central Bank Governor
In October 2002, international magazine Global Finance named Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Carlos B. Buenaventura as one of the world's two best central bankers for "his remarkable skill in guiding" the Philippine economy under a trying year. The other central banker named was Reserve Bank of Austalia (RBA) Governor Ian MacFarlane.
World's Sweetest Fruit
What can be considered as the world's sweetest mango is produced in the island province of Guimaras. While other countries have different varieties of the tropical mango (Mangifera indica), none of them tastes like the superbly delicious Guimaras mango, which is a variety of the popular Carabao Mango (Manginera indica).
In 1995, the Guinness Book of World records listed the Carabao Mango as the sweetest fruit in the world. In the Philippines, mango ranks third among fruit crops in production, next to banana and pineapple. The country supplies mangoes to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and recently the United States. In 1995, the Philippines produced 432,322 metric tons of mangoes, with an average production of 6.35 metric tons per hectare and 250 kilograms per tree from a total production area of 68,056 hectares.
World's Largest Bamboo Organ
The bamboo organ at St. Joseph Church in Las Pinas City is arguably the world's largest bamboo organ. The centuries-old musical instrument was constructed between 1792 and 1819. It has 174 bamboo pipes, 122 horizontal reeds of soft metal, a five-octave keyboard, and 22 stops arranged in vertical rows.
World's Largest City
The residents of Davao City claim they live in the world's largest city. They are talking about the land size of the city that covers 2,212 square kilometers. Most of these areas, however, are distributed as forests, coconut groves and rice fields. In comparison, New York, the largest city in the United States, has an area of only 787 square kilometers while the whole of Metro Manila covers only 636 square kilometers.
Davao City lies at the mouth of the Davao River near the head of Davao Gulf. It encompasses about 50 small ports in its commercial sphere. Davao has large banana plantations, whose produce are exported to Japan and other countries. The city also boasts of a modern international airport. Puerto Princesa City, a chartered city of Palawan province, is disputing Davao City's title. It claims to have a total land area of 2,539 square kilometers encompassing 66 barangays.
In terms of population and land area, the world's truly largest cities are Tokyo, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, New York City, Bombay, Shanghai and Los Angeles.
World's Largest Volume of Text Messages
Smart Communications, one of the two giant mobile phone networks in the country, claimed that the volume of text messages passing through its network reached 240 million daily as of 2001. This excluded text messages sent via the other networks. Such volume of text messages is said to be larger than those sent in the entire European continent during the same year.
World's Largest High School
The Rizal High School in Caniogan, Pasig City (eastern Metro Manila) is said to be the world's largest high school in terms of student population. The school has more than 20,000 students.
World's Longest Barbecue
On April 30, 2002, about 50,000 people participated in the "Kalutan ed Dagupan" festival in Dagupan City (Pangasinan province, Northern Luzon, Philippines) to help grill and partake of the 1,001-meter long barbecue, that broke the previous World Record of 613 meter-long barbecue grilled in Canchia, Peru on November 13, 1999.
The people of the city used hundreds of grills, each measuring 1.2-meter long, to cook the barbecue. The grills' total measure was about 800 meters long, enough to surpass the Peruvian record. The barbecue consisted of bangus (milkfish), pork, chicken, vegetables and cold cuts. A video footage was sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for validation. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
World's Largest Flower
In February 2002, an environmental organization discovered what could be one of the world's largest flowers in the 5,511-hectare Sibalom National Park in Antique province. Measuring about 22 inches in diameter, the endangered flower, locally named as "Uruy", (Rafflesia sp.) has no stem and leaves. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
World's Largest Salad
The residents of Baguio City took pride in having tossed what was believed to be the world's largest salad - a three-ton mix of assorted vegetables.
On September 29, 2002 during the Tossed Salad Festival in commemoration of the city's 93rd charter anniversary, 67 students and members of the Baguio Association of Hotels and Inns (Bahai) mixed 2,976 kilograms of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and other vegetables in a tin and wrought iron bowl measuring 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
Some 13,657 people were able to partake of the P1.5 million mixtures. They paid P20 for each serving of the tossed salad with Thousand Island dressing and another take-out bowl of salad with a gourmet vinaigrette dressing consisting of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.
The city broke its own record set a year earlier. On September 16, 2001, a 917-kilogram of salad was able to feed 4,861 residents and tourists of Baguio City. On September 14, 2002, a religious group prepared a giant Caesar's salad that fed only 1,000 people in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One of the World's Best Hotels
In 1983, British magazine Executive Travel named Manila Hotel as one of the ten best in the world while Business Traveler, another British publication named it as one of the top ten business hotels in the world in 1986. In 1992, the Institutional Investor magazine called Manila Hotel as the world's best hotel and in 1993, the Vienna-based Treasury Publishing included it in the list of the most famous hotels in the world.
Among the many political luminaries and celebrities who have stayed at the Manila Hotel were Ernest Hemingway, General Douglas McArthur, Marlon Brando, Helen Keller, John Wayne, Rocky Marciano, Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Emperor Akihito, John Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, Neil Armstrong, Anatoly Karpov, Bob Hope, Henry Kissinger, Princess Margaret, Brooke Shields, John Denver, Bon Jovi, Ben Kingsley, Richard Attenborough, Julio Iglesias, Richard Cheney, Garri Kasparov, Sultan Bolkiah, Rod Stewart, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Arnold Parmer, Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, Nelson Mandela and Prince Charles. (Source: Panorama magazine)
World's Largest Covered Coliseum
At the time it was completed in 1959, the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City was touted as the world's largest covered entertainment center. Otherwise known as the Big Dome, it has a floor area of 2,300 square meters and a seating capacity of 33,000 people.
World's Second Most Devastated City
The late US President and General Dwight Eisenhower described Manila as the world's second most devastated city during World War II, next to Warsaw, Poland which was reduced to ruins by the Nazi's attack. Before he became president, Eisenhower served in the Philippines under General Douglas Macarthur from 1935 to 1939.
World's Third Largest Banana Producer
The Philippines is considered as the world's third largest producer of bananas, after Costa Rica and Ecuador. Large plantations in southern Mindanao produce most bananas exported by the Philippines. Some 30,000 hectares in the region are planted to bananas.
The Philippines is also one of the largest producers of coconut, cassava, mango, pineapple, tilapia, tuna, shrimps, and prawns.
Modular Housing Inventor
Edgardo Vazquez won a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gold medal in 1995 for developing a modular housing system. Such a system called Vazbuilt is reportedly capable of building within weeks a house with prefabricated materials that can withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Ironically, Vasquez is not getting enough support from the Philippine government to propagate his technology, which could help provide shelter to some five million Filipino families without their own homes. Vazquez is the national president of the Filipino Inventors Society.
Inventor of Fuel Products
In 1996, Rudy Lantano Sr., a scientist from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST), won the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gold medal for developing Super Bunker Formula-L, a revolutionary fuel half-composed of water. The mix burns faster and emits pollutants, 95 percent less than those released to the air by traditional fuel products. The inventor said his invention is a result of blending new ingredients and additives with ordinary oil products through agitation and mixing, which is a very safe process. The initial plan was to commercially produce two million liters of Alco-Diesel, two million liters of Lan-Gas and an unlimited quantity of Super Bunker Formula-L each day for customers in Luzon.
A Showcase of Ingenuity
Nothing perhaps has been associated with Filipino technology as much as the country's pride - jeepney. The word "jeep" evolved from the military designation, general-purpose or G.P., of a light vehicle first used by the Americans in World War II. Developed by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, this vehicle was powered by a four-cylinder engine and was classified as a quarter-ton truck in carrying capacity. It had served as a command vehicle, reconnaissance car, and ammunition carrier.
The American soldiers brought these vehicles to the Philippines in the 1940s. After the war, these vehicles were left by the Americans and converted by the Filipinos into public utility vehicles. Employing artistic and indigenous designs, the Filipinos came up with a longer, well-decorated, techni-colored and sleeker vehicle, which they later called jeepney. From the standard military jeep, the body was extended to accommodate between 20 to 30 passengers. Modern jeepneys now sport very colorful and intricate paintings, fancy adornments, and metallic decors reflective of Filipino sentiments, values, and culture. The town of Las Pinas has been recognized as the jeepney-producing center in the country. Today, public utility jeepneys or PUJs serve as the primary means of transportation in most provinces. For this, the Philippines came to be known as the "land of the jeepneys".
The Bible Also Mentions the Philippines
It can be easily understood that no verse in the Bible carried the term Philippines, since the Bible was written two thousand years ago or centuries before the Spaniards came here. However, there are verses in the Bible that prophesy about the Philippine archipelago and other islands in the Pacific. In the chapter 24 of the Book of Isaiah, verses 15 to 16 read "Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: 'Glory to the Righteous One.'" The Philippines is the only Christian archipelago in the Pacific covering East Asia.
A Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus
In May 2000, the so-called "love bug" computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the "love bug" wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.
Romulo Put RP in UN Map
According to Beth Day Romulo, Carlos P. Romulo literally put the Philippines on the world map. "When the UN official seal which depicts the world was being selected, Romulo asked 'Where is the Philippines?'
The answer came, 'It's too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.'
'I want that dot,' Romulo insisted." The UN seal now has a tiny dot for the Philippines.
Eisenhower Wrote Quezon's Speeches
In the book "Eisenhower, A Soldier's Life", American historian Carlos D'Este claimed that Dwight Eisenhower became an adviser and speechwriter of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in the Philippines. When Quezon sought an exile in the US, he met Eisenhower in Washington D.C. and offered him "a lavish stipend of some one hundred thousand dollars for services rendered the Philippines during his four years there, which Eisenhower courteously rejected." This was before Eisenhower was appointed as the supreme commander of all allied forces and planned the now infamous Normandy Invasion in Europe during World War II. Eisenhower later became a US president.
A Filipino Supervised a Russian Orchestra
Redentor Romero had served as the conductor of the 100-member Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which received worldwide acclaim.
Balagtas Had Other Works
Francisco dela Cruz Balagtas, the 19th Century poet from Bulacan, wrote more than 100 plays, comedies, awits and koridos. Most of these works, however, were burned in a fire that gutted his house in Udyong, Bataan in 1892. Fortunately, copies of three of his works were found elsewhere. Aside from the well-known awit Florante at Laura, other existing works of Balagtas were a short farce entitled La India Elegante y e! Negrito Amante and a full-length komedya entitled Orosman at Zafira.
A Filipino Refereed Muhammad Ali
In October 1975, Carlos Padilla Jr. served as the referee in the world-boxing match between Ali and Frazier in what was dubbed as thrilla in Manila.
Intel Chips Were Manufactured in RP
Intel Corp., the world's largest corporation, has been operating in the Philippines for almost 30 years. Calling itself as the first multinational company that established a branch in the country, Intel manufactures processors and chips in its Philippine plant, which is expected to be Intel's biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide soon. Other foreign electronic and IT firms in the country are Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Trend Micro, Fujitsu, and America Online (AOL).
A Planetoid was Named After a Filipino
The minor planet Biyo, which has a diameter of four to nine kilometers and was formerly called planet 13241, was named after Dr. Josette Biyo, a teacher at the Philippine Science High School in Iloilo City who won the International Excellence in Teaching Award during the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in Louisville, Kentucky in 2002. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory in the United States game the name.
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Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? "Consummatum est!" ("It is done!")
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Cebu is the oldest Philippine city.
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Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds and Christmas carols start filling the air, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.
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The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.
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Paskuhan Village in the province of Pampanga is Asia’s only Christmas theme park and the third of its kind in the world.
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The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.
The word "boondocks," which is now a part of the English language, dictionary, and vocabulary, comes from the Tagalog word "bundok," meaning "mountain."
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Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor
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Halo-Halo! Halo-halo literally means, "mix-mix". And its is just that: a mixture of sweetened fruits and beans, lavished with pinipig (crisp flattened rice flakes), sugar and milk, topped by crushed ice and ice cream. You know its summertime when halo-halo stand start sprouting by the roadside and by the beach, all whipping up their heavenly concoctions of such a refreshingly divine dessert. You can make your own by selecting and mixing your ingredients to make a perfect Halo-Halo. Halo-Halo is uniquely, unforgettably Filipino!
Waling Waling Orchids - With some 800 to 1,000 species of orchids, the Philippines has one of the richest orchid floras in the world. Philippine orchids come in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and colors. Most grow only in old-growth forest, often on branches of huge trees dozens of meters above the forest floor.
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Maria Teresa Calderon – A Filipina World champion speed reader as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
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In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.
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The Philippine Basketball Association is Asia's premier and the world's second oldest professional league.
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Philippine Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia's first airline.
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The PHILIPPINE EAGLE is the 2nd largest bird on the planet (next only to the American Condor)
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If you drive a BENZ, BMW, or a VOLVO, there is a good chance that
the ABS system in your car was made in the Philippines.
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Jose N. Rodriguez
He is one of the very few pioneers in the early fight against leprosy all over the world. Dr. Rodriguez devoted most of his life to the battle against leprosy. He proposed a control program which was used all over Asia. His articles on leprosy have been published all over the world.
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Carmen Velasquez
Many young scientist wanna-bes would want to emulate her. Dr. Velasquez discovered 32 new species and one genus from Philippine food fishes, two more from birds and five from mammals. These are just a few of her discoveries which prompted the United States of America to enlist her in the American Men and Women of Science, International Scholars' Directory, International Who's Who of Intellectuals and the World Whos' Who of Women. Beat that!
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Gregorio Zara
One of the best national scientists in the Philippines, who brought you the videophone! He was born in Lipa City, Bat@ngas and graduated from the Massachusset's Institute of Technology. The videophone, which is so widely used now, enables us to view our callers on a videoscreen. His other equally impressive inventions were an airplane engine that used alcohol as fuel and the Zara Effect or Electrical Kinetic Resistance which was named after him.
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Coconuts - the Philippines is considered to be the largest producer of coconuts
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Dan Inosanto - from Mike Robandido - Pinoy who taught Bruce Lee how to use arnis de mano.
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The second oldest philippine printing press next to Manila can be found in Pila Laguna. The first book printed was named Vocabulario Delengua Tagala - the philippines first filipino - spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.http://philipinneowl.spaces.live.com