The Philippines
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8correct to beat the crowd
This Filipino trivia quiz has 99 free questions with answers and covers the Philippines from every angle: Magellan and Lapu-Lapu, Jose Rizal and the 1898 declaration of independence, People Power in 1986, the 7,600 islands, Mayon and Taal, the Banaue rice terraces, adobo, pancit and the pili nut, Sinulog and Dinagyang, jeepneys, tinikling and the barong Tagalog. Openers such as the capital and the currency sit beside harder ones on the Magsaysay Award, Tubbataha Reef and the national gem. It suits Filipino families and balikbayans, a Filipino-themed pub quiz round, a classroom unit on Southeast Asia, or anyone visiting the islands who wants to arrive knowing more than the airport. Every answer has been checked against a reference source and the citation is shown after you answer, so a disputed question can be settled on the spot.
30 of 99 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of the Philippines?
Manila
Manila is the capital. Founded as the Spanish colonial capital in 1571, it ceded the title to Quezon City from 1948 to 1976 before regaining it.
Q 02The Philippines takes its name from which king of Spain?
Philip II
Philip II was still crown prince in 1543 when the explorer Ruy López de Villalobos is credited with naming two islands 'Las Islas Filipinas' in his honour; the name later spread to the whole archipelago.
Q 03Which Philippine city's underground river was named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature?
Puerto Princesa
Puerto Princesa's underground river, an 8.2 km stretch of the Cabayugan River running through a cave, had been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 before a worldwide public vote gave it the new title.
Q 04What animal is widely recognized as the national animal of the Philippines?
Carabao
The carabao, the domesticated water buffalo that ploughs rice fields, is popularly regarded as the national animal, though no law has ever declared one; the Philippine eagle is the official national bird.
Q 05Approximately how many islands make up the Philippine archipelago?
7,600
The official count is 7,641 islands, roughly 7,600; for decades the figure taught was 7,107, until the national mapping agency's new surveys in the 2010s added about 500 more.
Q 06What is the national language of the Philippines, which is primarily based on Tagalog?
Filipino
Filipino is the national language of the Philippines and one of its two official languages, alongside English. It is a standardized version of Tagalog, enriched by other Philippine languages.
Q 07Which polymath novelist, executed for sedition in 1896, is popularly regarded as the national hero of the Philippines?
Jose Rizal
Jose Rizal holds the title by acclaim: no law or proclamation formally names him national hero, yet his novels galvanised the independence movement.
Q 08Which active stratovolcano in the Philippines is famous for its nearly perfect conical shape?
Mayon Volcano
Mayon Volcano, famed for its near-perfect cone, is also the country's most active volcano; its 1814 eruption buried the town of Cagsawa, where a ruined church tower still stands above the debris.
Q 09Which soy-and-vinegar meat dish is often considered the unofficial national dish of the Philippines?
Adobo
Adobo, a braise of meat in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic, grew out of a precolonial habit of cooking food in vinegar and salt so that it would keep in the heat.
Q 10What is the official currency of the Philippines?
Peso
The peso keeps the name of the old colonial coin, but on the money itself it reads 'piso': coins switched from English wording to the national language in 1967 and banknotes followed in 1969.
Q 11By law, the Philippine flag is flown with which colour on top in time of war?
Red
Red goes on top in wartime: the flag normally flies with its blue stripe uppermost, and the flag law says to turn it over when the country is at war, so one flag can signal peace or war.
Q 12What is the highest mountain peak in the Philippines?
Mount Apo
Mount Apo on Mindanao rises 2,954 metres (9,692 ft); the land around the peak was declared a national park in 1936 and is a refuge of the endangered Philippine eagle.
Q 13Magellan reached the Philippines in 1521 while seeking which islands?
Spice Islands
The Spice Islands, today's Moluccas in Indonesia, were the goal; Magellan was killed at Mactan in April 1521, weeks after reaching the Philippines, and Elcano brought the last ship home in 1522.
Q 21Which active Batangas volcano rises from an island inside a lake-filled caldera?
Taal
Taal's Volcano Island sits in a lake that fills an old caldera and holds a crater lake of its own; small as it looks, it is the country's second most active volcano, about 50 km from the capital.
Q 22Which archipelagic province, the largest by area, is the Philippines' 'Last Frontier'?
Palawan
Palawan is called the 'Last Frontier' for its rich forests, reefs and wildlife, and in 1990 UNESCO made the entire province a biosphere reserve.
Q 23What is Cebu City's largest annual festival, known for street dancing and devotion to the Santo Niño?
Sinulog
Sinulog, held in Cebu City on the third Sunday of January, honours the Santo Niño, an image Magellan gave Cebu's ruler and his wife at their baptism in 1521 and the country's oldest Christian relic.
Q 14What is the climate of the Philippines generally characterized as?
Tropical and maritime
The climate is tropical and maritime: warm, humid and rainy, with a wet season and a dry season whose timing depends on the monsoon winds.
Q 15Which Ifugao landmark is popularly nicknamed the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'?
Banaue Rice Terraces
The Banaue Rice Terraces, hand-carved into the Ifugao mountains by the region's indigenous peoples, are popularly called the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'; nearby clusters form the UNESCO-listed Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.
Q 16Which colourfully decorated Philippine passenger vehicle evolved from surplus American military vehicles after WWII?
Jeepney
Jeepneys were built from surplus US Army jeeps left behind after 1945, lengthened to carry passengers and painted in flamboyant colours, and became the country's most popular form of public transport.
Q 17What is the Barong Tagalog, the Philippines' national attire for men, typically made from?
Piña or abacá
Piña or abacá fibre gives the sheer, stiff cloth of a barong; piña is woven from the leaves of the pineapple, a plant the Spanish introduced, so this traditional fabric is a colonial-era invention.
Q 18Which flower, adopted by proclamation in 1934, is the national flower of the Philippines?
Sampaguita
Sampaguita was made the national flower in 1934 by American governor-general Frank Murphy, yet it is no native: this jasmine comes from India and Bhutan and is also a national flower of Indonesia.
Q 19Who proclaimed Philippine independence from his family home in Kawit, Cavite, on June 12, 1898?
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed independence at Kawit on June 12, 1898, but neither Spain nor the United States recognised it; American recognition came only on July 4, 1946.
Q 20What is the predominant religion in the Philippines?
Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism was the faith of about 79% of Filipinos in the 2020 census; Islam, the largest minority religion, is the older arrival, having reached the islands through trade in the 14th century.
Q 24Which harvest festival in Lucban, Quezon, decks houses with produce and kiping rice wafers?
Pahiyas
The Pahiyas Festival is held every 15 May in honour of San Isidro Labrador, patron of farmers; the leaf-shaped kiping wafers that decorate the houses are later eaten grilled or fried.
Q 25Which president proclaimed Tagalog the basis of the Philippine national language?
Manuel L. Quezon
Manuel L. Quezon approved the choice of Tagalog in 1937 on the advice of the new Institute of National Language; the country now marks Language Month every August, the month of his birth.
Q 26Which president did the 1986 People Power Revolution drive from office?
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos fled to Hawaii after four days of mass, largely peaceful protest along the EDSA highway; in power since 1965, he died in exile in Honolulu three years later.
Q 27What is Malacañang Palace, on the Pasig River in the capital, primarily known as?
The presidential residence
The presidential residence began as a private riverside summer house; Spanish governors-general moved in for good after an 1863 earthquake wrecked their palace in Intramuros.
Q 28What is the Philippines' largest category of export goods?
Electronics
Electronics, led by semiconductors, made up more than half of Philippine goods exports in 2023; farm products came a distant second, though the country is the world's largest exporter of coconut products.
Q 29The eastern coast of the Philippines, facing the open North Pacific, looks out on which sea?
Philippine Sea
The Philippine Sea is the part of the western North Pacific east of the islands; close to them its floor plunges more than 10 km into the Philippine Trench, where one tectonic plate dives beneath another.
Q 30Which tiny primate of Bohol and nearby islands has enormous eyes and a head that can turn 180 degrees?
Tarsier
The Philippine tarsier's eyes are each about as big as its brain and fixed in their sockets, so instead of glancing sideways it swivels its whole head, up to 180 degrees either way.