PHILIPPINE GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT

Philippines is one of the South East Asian countries, composed of around 7,100 islands with a land area of approximately 30 Million hectares and lying north of the Equator with the South China Sea on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east. Specifically, it is scattered within 4 degrees to 22 degrees Latitudes and 116 degrees to 127 degrees Longitudes.

There are three (3) major group of islands namely : Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Largest group of islands is Luzon with an area of around 13,900,041 hectares followed by Mindanao with an area of around 10,671,365 hectares and the Visayas region with an area of around 5,662,632 hectares. Of the total number of islands, there are 6,838 islands containing an area of only 5 sq. km. and below and only 21 islands have an area of 500 sq. km. and above. The highest peak is Mt. Apo in Davao, Mindanao with an elevation of 2,954 meters and the longest mountain range is the Sierra Madre Mountains in Luzon with length of 500 km. stretching from the northeast portion of Cagayan province down to the southern portion of Quezon province.