Beer in the Philippines alcoholic beverage in the Philippines and amounts to a 70% share of the domestic alcoholic drinks market in terms of volume during 2005. Between 2003 and 2004, the Philippines showed the fastest growth rate in the world of 15.6%. With a consumption rise from 1.22 to 1.41 million liters, it was the 22nd largest beer market in the world in 2004. A Filipino will drink an average of nearly 20 litres of beer a year. Under a royal grant from Spain, Don Enrique María Barretto de Ycaza y Esteban opened "La Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel", Southeast Asia's first
Spanish language in the Philippines it might be now close to disappearing. Spanish was the language of government, education and trade throughout the three centuries (333 years) of the Philippines being part of the Spanish Empire and continued to serve as a lingua franca until the first half of the 20th century. In the last decades its use has declined. New developments in the Philippines are slowly reversing this trend. In December 2007, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed a directive in Spain that require the teaching and learning of the Spanish language in the Philippine school system starting in 2008. The presidential decision had immediate