Front: Manuel Luis Quezón (1878-1944), 2nd President of the Philippines 1935-1944

Back: Palm civet; Banaue rice terraces (UNESCO World Heritage Site); Cordilleras weave

Front: Sergio Osmeña (1878-1961), 4th President of the Philippines 1944-1946

Back: A Giant Trevally fish; Taal Lake; Batangas embroidery

Front: Manuel Acuña Roxas (1892-1948), 5th President of the Philippines 1946-1948

Back: Whale shark; Mayon Volcano in Legazpi City, Albay; indigenous Bicol textile design

Front: Diosdado Pangan Macapagal (1910-1997), 9th President of the Philippines 1961-1965

Back: Tarsier; Bohol Chocolate Hills; Visayas design

Front: Corazon C. Aquino (1933-2009), 11th President of the Phillipines 1986-1992; Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. (1932-1983), Philippine senator 1967-1972

Back: Blue-naped parrot; Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park; Southern Philippines cloth design

Front: José Abad Santos (1886-1942), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (1941-1942); Josefa Llanes Escoda (1898-1945), founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines; and Vicente Lim (1888-1944), first Filipino West Point graduate

Back: South Sea pearl in clam shell (Pinctada Maxima); turtle; Tubbataha Reef Natural Park in Sulu (UNESCO World Heritage Site); Pinctada maxima oyster; Tinalak design from Mindanao

Philippines, an archipelago in the western Pacific 500 miles from the southeast coast of Asia, was discovered by Spanish explorers in 1521.

The first permanent Spanish settlement was establish in 1565. Spain held the Philippines amid a growing movement of Filipino nationalism until 1898 when they were ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War.

The Filipinos then fought unsuccessfully against the United States to maintain their independent republic proclaimed by Emilio Aguinaldo. The country became a self-governing Commonwealth of the United States in 1935, occupied by Japan during WWII, and attained full independence in 1946.

For a more detailed country profile, see CIA World Factbook on Philippines.