The Philippines in other languages: Pilipinas, Manila and regions

Pilipinas, Filipinas, Philippines

Tagalog writes the name with a P: Pilipinas, and the adjective is Pilipino. The official name is Republika ng Pilipinas. English keeps the Ph spelling in Philippines and the adjective Philippine, so the two official languages of the country spell its name differently.

Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Occitan and four more languages share the form Filipinas. Others built a plural of their own: Philippinen in German, Filipijnen in Dutch, Filippine in Italian, Filipíny in Czech and Slovak, Филиппины (Filippiny) in Russian. Hungarian calls the country Fülöp-szigetek, and Hawaiian has ʻĀina Pilipino.

Several languages build longer compounds. Faroese has Filipsoyggjar and Icelandic Filippseyjar, Irish Na hOileáin Fhilipíneacha, Manx Ny h-Ellanyn Phillippeenagh, Tamil பிலிப்பின் தீவுகள் (Pilippiṉ Tīvukaḷ) beside the plain பிலிப்பைன்ஸ். Arabic writes the name with the article, الفلبين (al-Filibbīn), and Hebrew writes פיליפינים (Fīlīpīnīm).

Manila is Maynila in Tagalog. Most languages keep the Spanish spelling Manila; French has Manille, Dutch Manilla, Corsican Maniglia and Esperanto Manilo. Japanese and Korean write マニラ and 마닐라.

Regions, numerals and the changes since 2002

Most regions are known by a Roman numeral as well as a name, from Region I (Ilocos) to Region XIII (Caraga). In Tagalog every region is a rehiyon, and the full form puts ng before the name: Rehiyon ng Bikol, Rehiyon ng Tangway ng Sambuwangga for the Zamboanga Peninsula. A shorter form joins the two words, Rehiyong Bikol.

The ISO list has moved with the country. In 2002 Caraga received the code PH-13 and the Cordillera Administrative Region moved to PH-15. In 2010 Southern Tagalog (PH-04) was deleted and replaced by Calabarzon (PH-40) and Mimaropa (PH-41). The ARMM entry, PH-14, still stands, although the region was superseded in 2019 by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, seated like its predecessor in Cotabato City.

The country itself counts 18 regions. The Negros Island Region, first created in 2015 and abolished in 2017, was established again on 11 June 2024 from Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, with Bacolod and Dumaguete as interim seats. Three regional centres differ from those in older lists: Pagadian for the Zamboanga Peninsula since 1990, Calamba for Calabarzon since 2003 and Koronadal for Soccsksargen since 2004.

Lupang Hinirang, the national anthem

Lupang Hinirang is sung in Filipino. Its first line, Bayang magiliw, is often used as its name. The music by Julián Felipe dates from 1898; the Filipino words are set down in Republic Act 8491 of 1998.