Philippines

Philippines フィリピン
Character Information
Name	Republic of the Philippines (Republika ng Pilipinas)
Gender	Male
Hair Color	Brown
Eye Color	Amber
Height	165 cm (5' 5.5")
Debut Appearances
Strip	World☆Stars Chapter 371 (serialized)
Voice Actors

Philippines (フィリピン, Firipin) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia.

Attributes

A 'chibi' version of Philippines.

Appearance

Philippines is depicted as a young man with brown hair styled with a fringe on his right side, and amber eyes. He is often depicted in a white sailor uniform with a violet tie tied in a square knot. The uniform also has white flowers on the lapel resembling Sampaguita (the national flower of the Philippines). In addition, he has been shown wearing a casual outfit consisting of a white t-shirt with a cat face print, navy shorts, and brown sandals. He is often depicted holding a selfie stick, with the mobile phone attached adorned with the branding for Cherry Mobile.

He is often depicted with a Philippine tarsier named "Pien-kun" sitting on his shoulder, who is said to stick by Philippines' side in order to stand out.

Personality and Interests

Philippines is described in his profile as a "bright and cheerful" country. In his debut he has an enthusiastic, informal style of speaking, and shows a dislike for stuffy outfits, punctuality, stiff greetings, and annoying topics.

When the character was first announced, unnamed, he was referred to as a "selfie-loving country" (Makati City and Pasig in Manila, Philippines was deemed the "Selfie Capital of the World" by Time Magazine in 2014.), and his official profile says his selfie stick is a "must-have item". In an early appearance, he asks other nations to gather for a group selfie, and upon seeing it speculates that it may "go viral". He also took a selfie with Singapore's presented dish on a later chapter.

Appearances

Manga

Following color illustrations posted to Twitter and published in the Comic Market 45th Anniversary Book, he made his formal debut in the three hundred and seventy-first serialized chapter of World☆Stars. He appears as an attendee at an ASEAN meeting, where he voices his frustration with how the "western" style of the meeting and suggests reforming their procedures to fit more with their Southeast Asian lifestyles. At the following meeting, he and all the other members (save for Vietnam) instead hang out in casual clothing, sitting on patio furniture and socializing. When Thailand attempts to call the meeting to order, Philippines insists on taking a selfie with everyone first, and then afterword asks to take additional pair shots with each of them.

He also appeared in the later chapters, telling Indonesia that he's so stiff when he was giving the opening address. He asked for his secret in which Indonesia replied as rewarding yourself, then showed his bike on his phone. Philippines then complained that his phone's screen is cracked so he cannot see the bike and he should just buy a new phone. He also described Singapore's meal as "aesthetic" and "has Singapore written all over it". He is later seen taking a selfie with the meal and urged to eat it, only to be joked by Singapore to not spill it or there will be a fine. When Thailand asked ideas for ASEAN's development, he answered "being photogenic" (Indonesia pointed out that he just wanted to take selfies). When Thailand shared that he would like a different image for ASEAN, he replied that such image would fit Thailand, as he is the land of smiles, when in truth he is actually buff, a good gambler, and is scary when angry (Indonesia covered his mouth as he saw Thailand displeased). When Vietnam raised the issue of their counter-productiveness, Philippines then revealed that Vietnam did came the most late, in which she confessed. Raising the traffic issue, he shared that travelling by foot is the best. When Italy guested in their meeting, Philippines asked what food did he liked in his house (Indonesia then complained that why is that his question), in which Italy replied Halo-halo. When the meeting concluded, he revealed that he really wants to try this meeting style again.

Trivia

• In a 2006 blog post, Himaruya mentioned that along with Thailand and Taiwan, a character for the Philippines was "definitely planned to appear". The character was mentioned again in a 2011 blog post as one of the most requested characters at the time.
• The character was first depicted in Twitter advertisements for the Comic Market 45th Anniversary Book, where he would be featured in the illustration on the page for Shimaoka Kenkoh Land alongside Thailand and another nation later revealed to be Indonesia. On Christmas 2020, Himaruya tweeted a full body image of the character, then unidentified, with the question "This selfie-loving country is…?". In April 2021, a color illustration featuring the character was posted to Himaruya's Twitter, alongside an announcement that the character would make his formal debut in the three hundred and seventy-first serialized chapter of Hetalia: World☆Stars.
• Dating back to 2009, there have been a number of rumors within fandom about a Philippines character existing, usually concentrating on background characters or sketches posted to Kitayume. One of the most common rumors was that the maid that appeared in Episode 1 of the anime, adapted from "Meeting of the World" from Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1, was meant to be a cameo of the character, as she is seen speaking with Spain, and other characters such as Belgium had non-speaking cameos in that segment. However, in a 2008 Bamboo Thicket post Himaruya clarified that the character was "an ordinary maid", and the same design was used for the two maids that appeared in the meeting at the beginning of Paint it, White. The other common rumor was that a character appearing in a 2009 sketch under the file name Asia3 was meant to be a draft design of Philippines, though subsequent blog posts revealed it was actually a sketch of Vietnam with her hair styled differently.