| Republic of Maharlika Republika ng Maharlika (Maharlikan) |
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| Motto: "Maka-Diyos, Maka-Tao, Makakalikasan at Makabansa" (Maharlikan) "Dios, hombre, abandonado y desnudo" (Spanish) "For God, People, Nature, and Country" |
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| Capital | Manila | ||||
| Official languages | Maharlikan (national) Spanish (official) |
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| Also spoken | English Malay |
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| Demonym | Maharlikan | ||||
| Government | Presidential Republic | ||||
| - | President | Dat. Roa Digong | |||
| - | Vice President | Leni Robredo | |||
| Currency | Salapi | ||||
The Republic of Maharlika (Maharlikan: Republika ng Maharlika, Spanish: República de Maradica) is a unitary sovereign and archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,400 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The capital city of the Maharlika is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Maharlika Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, Maharlika shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east and Mindanao, Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.
History[]
PoD[]
In our OT, Spanish became abolished, somewhere along the way in Philippine history. However, in this timeline, the Japanese don't kill off the Spanish-speaking Filipinos, instead, they use cunning tactics, learn Spanish, and use Spanish to recruit Filipino puppet forces. So Spanish remains an official language, and remains widely-spoken in the Philippines. In 2018, Maharlika, Indonesia and Mexico signed the "Pacific Tripartite", encouraging increased trade and education between the three countries, as the three were formerly under Spanish rule.
Despite this, still, many pan-Austronesian nationalists still favor close ties with the surrounding countries. During the Indonesian independence struggle against the Dutch, the Philippines sends fighters into the Dutch East Indies to help Sukarno's struggle against the Dutch. Some Indonesians begin to classify the Philippines as part of Nusantara Raya, or Nusantara Utara Besar ("Great Northern Nusantara.")
President Duterte stating, "Our three countries shared many close ties, in our history, we should continue those close ties."
Duterte hired many Mexican educators and academia to teach in Philippine universities, as part of a concentrated effort to revive nationwide fluency in Spanish. In return, President Enrique Peña Nieto provided many work opportunities for Indonesian and Philippine workers in the medical industry.
After Mindanao and Sulu gained independence, many Philippine business owners stationed in Mindanao lost their jobs. Again, the Mexican government provided them with opportunities to find new work places in Mexico, where many have found jobs in the professional industry.
Limited Hot Conflict with China 2015-present[]
In 2015, with the People's Liberation Army having possessed powerful DF-21 and DF-26 missiles, dubbed the "carrier killers", China felt that it was now time to begin exerting its influence in Southeast Asia. China sent two fleets, a fleet consisting mostly of destroyers and submarines to deal with Taiwan, and a carrier fleet led by the Liaoning to deal with the Philippines.
United States military forces stationed in the Philippines, as well as the Philippine military itself, received warnings that Chinese military warships were rapidly approaching the Philippines. American forces in the Philippines watched helplessly as the PLA air force decimated any Philippine aerial resistance.
However, the PLA Air Force and PLA Navy aviation units skipped Manila, Cebu City and headed straight for Mindanao and Sulu, to guide Moro nationalists in their armed struggle against the Philippines.
Barack Obama could not send forces without the approval of Congress, and could only send limited contingent aid. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became president, a pro-China and pro-Russia politician, de-escalated tensions and ordered American troops to leave and in their place, Russian forces would be stationed in the Philippines.
In order to lessen hostilities, the Chinese government opened Philippine politicians to diplomatic talks. Beijing agreed to pay in full for the funerals of the deceased.
However, in 2017 and 2018, China continue air strikes in Mindanao and Sulu, resulting in a battered and helpless Philippine military fighting a well-motivated and Chinese-backed separatist opposition.
In 2018, Russia's decision to disband its Philippine Fleet practically eliminated the Philippines' only mediator between itself and China.
Duterte eventually swallowed his pride, and asked President Donald Trump for help. The United States Congress approved, and sent the USS Ronald Reagan carrier group. As a result, China responded by sending the Type 001-A carrier group, to accompany the Liaoning in the South China Sea.
In end, China listened to Trump's warnings not to go past any territories it has put under its control, but Chinese military leaders did warn that they would take swift action against any American personnel that illegally entered its trust territory. On June 1, via a United Nations-sanctioned referendum, half of the island of Mindanao, and most of the Sulu Archipelago became part of the independent Republic of Mindanao and Sulu, who now functions as a Chinese trust territory.
The loss of Mindanao and Sulu meant that the Philippine government no longer felt obligated to honor the country's Old Malay heritage, quietly stripping Malay of its official status. In addition, it quietly stripped Gumbay Piang of his status as a national hero.
Name Change[]
In October of 2019, Duterte announced a campaign to change the country's name to "Maharlika". Anti-colonial in nature, Duterte claimed that the name "Philippines" and "Filipino" are byproducts of neo-colonialism. In addition, the Philippine Academy of Languages began to institute major reforms in the standardized register of Tagalog, removing many Spanish words and/or Spanish-style working, creating a fully indigenous and Old Malay-influenced numbering, and calendar system.
In addition, the city of "Legazpi" would also be changed. In December of 2019, President Duterte signed the executive order, and it went into effect January 1, 2020 Manila Time.
The president also legally changed his name to Roa Digong, and re-adopted the practice of addressing Maharlikans by "datu" or "dahitim", akin to Malay "dato sri".
Language[]
Maharlika is home to over 170 indigenous languages. It has three official languages: they are Maharlikan, Spanish and English. The Maharlikan language is the standardized register of Tagalog, native to the Manila area. Thanks to the efforts of former president Glorya Macapagal-Arroyo, Spanish also enjoys a status an official language, and an estimated 56% of Maharlikans are now Hispanophone.
Malay had once enjoyed official status, but after the Republic of Mindanao and Sulu chose to separate from Maharlika (then the "Philippines"), and become a Chinese trust territory, the Maharlikan government quietly stripped Malay of its official status. However, Malay is still spoken in the form of creoles and pidgins in Palawan.
News[]
8/22/19 - During his bilateral visit to Indonesia, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte stated that Philippines is "not a Latin country", despite historical and cultural ties to the Latin World, and being a Spanish-speaking country.
President Duterte stated, "We may be a Spanish-speaking, but Filipinos must always remember who our bloodline kin are, the great peoples of Indonesia, the descendants of the Srivijayans and Majapahit. We are not a Latin nation, we need to continue re-strengthening ties with our Indonesian cousins, but more so brothers."
Duterte also stated that Indonesian and Malay are the most popular foreign languages in the Philippines, and while they aren't official languages, they have become de facto officials, especially in Mindanao, where Malay and Indonesian can be heard as much on the streets as Filipino.
"In the Philippines, Indonesian and Malay are the most popular foreign languages, you can hear them being spoken everywhere in Mindanao, even in Visayas, they are almost like official languages."