Of the more than 7,000 islands in the country, about 4,000 of them are inhabited predomi-nantly by a distinct-ive race of people whom the world now knows as the Filipino.    The typically modern-day Filipino is basically of bold Malayan stock with a sprinkled mixture here and there of predominantly Chinese, American, Spanish, some other European, and Indian blood.  From its long history of trading contacts with nearby China and Vietnam, as well as the more than three centuries of Spanish rule, evolved the present-day uniquely Filipino race in both cultural characteristics and ethnical appearance simply brought about by the racial and cultural marriage of east and west.  But the most distinguishable aspect of the Filipino is penchant for the good life, his embodiment of the kinship and close family ties inherited from Chinese influence on values, and his gracious hospitality traits and friendliness that is world-famous. .

Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno was the first bowler to be elevated to the International Bowling Hall of Fame based in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.  Philippine Congress had declared him the greatest Filipino Athlete of all time;         Filipino scientist, Dr. Abelardo Aguilar, discovered the antibiotic “eurythromycin” which is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, and the discovery earned the American Company, Eli Lily, billions of dollars (but neither Dr. Aguilar nor the Philippine government is said to have received any royalties);         The late Carlos P. Romulo, who was the first Asian to become President of the United Nations, was a former journalist to become the first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1942, and who also served as aide-de-camp to General Douglas McArthur in the Philippines during the war.         Filipino speed reader champion Ma. Teresa Calderon has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records;         Fernando Amorsolo was officially declared as the First National Artist of the Philippines for painting in 1972.  Likewise, Filipino architect Leandro Locsin[1] designed and built the elegant Palace of the Sultan of Brunei.         On the lighter side, the Philippines became the first Asian country to produce four (4) winners in the Miss International Pageants held in 1965, 1970, 1979, and 2005, while two Filipinas, Ms. Gloria Diaz and Ms. Margie Moran, were crowned as Miss Universe in the pageants held in 1969 and 1973, respectively.  Interestingly, the first to win the Miss Universe title when the pageant began in 1952, Ms. Armi Kuusela[2] (from Finland), the first Miss Asia (from Malaysia), and the first Miss International, Maria Stella Marquez Zawadzky[3] (Miss Colombia 1959), all have ONE thing in common: they all got married to Filipinos.     It may be of interest to note that Arch. Locsin comes from Silay City in Negros Occidental, and Silay City has always been known to be the center of Arts and Culture in this Province. [2] She married Filipino businessman Virgilio Hilario less than a year before the expiration of her reign. [3]Ms. Zawadzky married an Araneta, a Filipino, and is now Director and producer of Philippine beauty pageants that are sent to compete in the Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss World contests.

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