END OF COURSE PROJECT Murallos 1) Background Information The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago consisting of some 7,100 islands and islets lying about 500 miles off the coast. It has a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers. It is bounded by the Philippine Sea in the east, Celebes Sea in the south and South China Sea in the west and north. The Philippine population, as of last census (2000) stands at 76, 499,000 with an annual growth rate of 2.36. The climate of the Philippines is tropical and is strongly affected by monsoon winds, which blow from the southwest approximately from May to October and from the northeast from November to February. The temperatures remain relatively constant from north to south throughout the year and seasons consist of period of wet and dry. The amount of precipitation varies throughout the country.(source:Britanica
Online)
The Philippines is a developing economy in Southeast Asia. In 2004, it was ranked 24th largest economy by the World Bank according to purchasing power parity. The important sectors of Philippine economy are agriculture and industry, particularly food processing, textiles and garments and electronics and automotive parts. At 2004 estimates, the GDP purchasing power parity stands at $430.6 billion and the GDP real growth rate is at 6.1%. The GDP per capita (2005 est.) is at $ 5,100.00. The 2003 estimates show that the source of national income is distributed as follows, agriculture 14.5%, industry 32.3% and services 53.2% The major import partners of the Philippines are Japan,, U.S.A., Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Hongkong, while the major export partners are U.S.A., Japan, Hongkong, Netherlands, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and China. The country is a reciepient of economic aid ODA commitments which stands at $ 1.2 billion (2002). (source: wikpedia.org). There is a transition of population distribution from rural to urban which signifies a change in the human habitat with respect to several physical, demographic and economic characteristic of the barangays. Results of the latest Census 2000 placed the total population of the Philippines as of May 1, 2000 at 76.5 million persons, of which, 36.7 million persons or 48.0 percent were in 9,950 urban barangays. (source: NSO) The Philippines is experiencing continuously various natural disasters, and like any other developing country, its environment and economy are highly vulnerable to the impact of these natural disasters.

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