a country in SE Asia that consists of an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands—the main ones being Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Leyte, Samar, Negros, and Panay—that are separated from the Asian mainland by the South China Sea; population 100,700,000 (estimated 2015); capital, Manila; languages, Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English.