Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 1433

THE PHILIPPINES

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The United States may, by Presidential proclamation, exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of the Government and for its maintenance as provided in the constitution, and for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for the discharge of government obligations under the constitution.

EDUCATION AND LITERACY

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Public education in the Philippines is free, secular and co-educational, and the principal aim is to make the people socially proficient. As a means to this end, emphasis is placed upon the spread of literacy on the basis of a common language English. The Bureau of Education maintains a complete system of public education. Públic elementary and high schools are distributed through- out the Country. Insular schools for special education are maintained. The enrolment of students in the public schools is increasing every year and in 1938 was 1,734,038. Private schools, patterned after the public schools, besides the old Spanish schools and colleges which still survive, have sprung up in the Philippines in recent years. The enrolment in private school and colleges is 129,591. These schools offer primary, intermediate secondary, collegiate, techni- cal and vocation courses, and come under the supervision of the Department of Public Instruction. Practically all these offer instruction in English, and even the old Spanish schools and colleges have English as the medium of instruction. Upon graduating from the high schools, the students are admitted to higher institutions of learning, among which are the University of the Philippines, established and maintained by the Philippine Government, the University of Santo Tomas, the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the National University, The University of Manila, Far Eastern University, Philippine Women's University, Centro Escolar University and Ateneo de Manila.

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English and Spanish are both used as official languages and are widely spoken in the Philippines. There are six established native dialects with printed literature, namely, the Tagalog Visayan, Ilocano, Bicol, Pangasinan and Pampangan.

Not including the various dialects of the Mohammedans of Mindanao and Sulu, or of the Mountain tribes of Northern Luzon, or of various tribes of Pagans.

Tagalog, upon recommendation of the Institute of National Language, has been proclaimed by the President of the Philippines as the basis of the national language of the country, which will be officially used together with English and Spanish.

AGRICULTURE AND MINERALS

Cane Sugar is by far the most important product of the Philippines. Ex- tensive areas of cane are under cultivation in Negros, Panay, Central Luzon, Cebu, Mindoro and Leyte, and modern mills and refineries have been establi- shed, in recent years, in these localities.

The Philippines is an agricultural country. The people depend chiefly on domestic agricultural products for their livelihood, and approximately 88 per cent of the total exports of the Country is made up of the produce of the farms. The soil is fertile to a degree, being for the most part volcanic in origin and exceedingly rich in all varieties of sedimentary deposits. The total area of cultivated lands in the Philippines at the present time is estimated at 4,262,870 hectares, or 15 per cent of the entire area of the country.

Rice is the staple food-product of the inhabitants of the Philippines. It is their most widely cultivated crop. The area devoted to its cultivation is nearly two million hectares. Considerable quantities of this cereal, however, are still imported, chiefly from French Indo-China. Through the efforts of the Bureau of Plant Industry local farmers are realizing the advantages of scientific me- thods in rice farming. Seed selection is given due emphasis. Several irriga- tion systems are now completed, many more are in process of construction, and others are being projected. This is bound in the near future to do away with