title: Chinese Filipino

text: Wedding traditions of Chinese Filipinos, regardless of religious persuasion, usually involve identification of the dates of supplication or "pamamanhikan" ("kiu-hun"), engagement ("ting-hun") and wedding ("kan-chhiu") adopted from Filipino customs. In addition, "feng shui" based on the birthdates of the couple, as well as of their parents and grandparents may also be considered. Certain customs found among Chinese Filipinos include during supplication ("kiu-hun") also include a solemn tea ceremony within the house of the bridegroom ensues where the couple will be served tea, egg noodles ("misua") and given red packets or envelopes containing money, commonly referred to as an "ang-pao".


title: Chinese Filipino

text: During the supplication ceremony, pregnant women and recently engaged couples are forbidden from attending the ceremony. Engagement ("ting-hun") quickly follows, where the bride enters the ceremonial room walking backward and turned three times before being allowed to see the groom. A welcome drink consisting of red-colored juice is given to the couple, quickly followed by the exchange of gifts for both families and the wedding tea ceremony, where the bride serves the groom's family and vice versa. The engagement reception consists of sweet tea soup and "misua", both of which symbolizes long-lasting relationship.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Before the wedding, the groom is expected to provide the matrimonial bed in the future couple's new home. A baby born under the Chinese sign of the Dragon may be placed in the bed to ensure fertility. He is also tasked to deliver the wedding gown to his bride on the day prior to the wedding to the sister of the bride, as it is considered ill fortune for the groom to see the bride on that day. For the bride, she prepares an initial batch of personal belongings ("ke-chheng") to the new home, all wrapped and labeled with the Chinese characters for "sang-hi". On the wedding date, the bride wears a red robe emblazoned with the emblem of a dragon prior to wearing the bridal gown, to which a pair of "sang-hi" (English: marital happiness) coin is sewn. Before leaving her home, the bride then throws a fan bearing the Chinese characters for "sang-hi" toward her mother to preserve harmony within the bride's family upon her departure. Most of the wedding ceremony then follows Catholic or Protestant traditions.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Post-wedding rituals include the two single brothers or relatives of the bride giving the couple a "wa-hoe" set, which is a bouquet of flowers with umbrella and sewing kit, for which the bride gives an "ang-pao" in return. After three days, the couple then visits the bride's family, upon which a pair of sugar cane branch is given, which is a symbol of good luck and vitality among Hokkien people.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Birthday traditions of Chinese Filipinos involve large banquet receptions, always featuring noodles and round-shaped desserts. All the relatives of the birthday celebrant are expected to wear red clothing which symbolize respect for the celebrant. Wearing clothes with a darker hue is forbidden and considered bad luck. During the reception, relatives offer "ang paos" (red packets containing money) to the birthday celebrant, especially if he is still unmarried. For older celebrants, boxes of egg noodles ("misua") and eggs on which red paper is placed are given.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Births of babies are not celebrated and they are usually given pet names, which he keeps until he reaches first year of age. The Philippine custom of circumcision is widely practiced within the Chinese Filipino community regardless of religion, albeit at a lesser rate as compared to native Filipinos. First birthdays are celebrated with much pomp and pageantry, and grand receptions are hosted by the child's paternal grandparents.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Funerary traditions of Chinese Filipinos mirror those found in Southern Fujian. A unique tradition of many Chinese Filipino families is the hiring of professional mourners which is alleged to hasten the ascent of a dead relative's soul into Heaven. This belief particularly mirrors the merger of traditional Chinese beliefs with the Catholic religion.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Most of the Chinese mestizos, especially the landed gentry trace their ancestry to the Spanish era. They are the "First Chinese" or Sangley whose descendants nowadays are mostly integrated into Philippine society. Most are from Zhangzhou, Fujian province in China, with a minority coming from Guangdong. They have embraced a Hispanized Filipino culture since the 17th century. After the end of Spanish rule, their descendants, the Chinese mestizos, managed to invent a cosmopolitan "mestizo" culture coupled with an extravagant Mestizo de Sangley lifestyle, intermarrying either with native Filipinos or with Spanish mestizos.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: The largest group of Chinese in the Philippines are the "Second Chinese," who are descendants of migrants in the first half of the 20th century, between the anti-Qing 1911 Revolution in China and the Chinese Civil War. This group accounts for most of the "full-blooded" Chinese. They are almost entirely from Fujian Province.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: The "Third Chinese" are the second largest group of Chinese, the recent immigrants from Mainland China, after the Chinese economic reform of the 1980s. Generally, the "Third Chinese" are the most entrepreneurial and have not totally lost their Chinese identity in its purest form and seen by some "Second Chinese" as a business threat. Meanwhile, continuing immigration from Mainland China further enlarge this group


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Aside from their family businesses, Chinese Filipinos are active in Chinese-oriented civic organizations related to education, health care, public safety, social welfare and public charity. As most Chinese Filipinos are reluctant to participate in politics and government, they have instead turned to civic organizations as their primary means of contributing to the general welfare of the Chinese community. Beyond the traditional family and clan associations, Chinese Filipinos tend to be active members of numerous alumni associations holding annual reunions for the benefit of their Chinese-Filipino secondary schools.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Outside of secondary schools catering to Chinese Filipinos, some Chinese Filipinos businessmen have established charitable foundations that aim to help others and at the same time minimize tax liabilities. Notable ones include the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, Metrobank Foundation, Tan Yan Kee Foundation, Angelo King Foundation, Jollibee Foundation, Alfonso Yuchengco Foundation, Cityland Foundation, etc. Some Chinese-Filipino benefactors have also contributed to the creation of several centers of scholarship in prestigious Philippine Universities, including the John Gokongwei School of Management at Ateneo de Manila, the Yuchengco Center at De La Salle University, and the Ricardo Leong Center of Chinese Studies at Ateneo de Manila. Coincidentally, both Ateneo and La Salle enroll a large number of Chinese-Filipino students. In health care, Chinese Filipinos were instrumental in establishing and building medical centers that cater for the Chinese community such as the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, the Metropolitan Medical Center, Chong Hua Hospital and the St. Luke's Medical Center, Inc., one of Asia's leading health care institutions. In public safety, Teresita Ang See's Kaisa, a Chinese-Filipino civil rights group, organized the Citizens Action Against Crime and the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order at the height of a wave of anti-Chinese kidnapping incidents in the early 1990s. In addition to fighting crime against Chinese, Chinese Filipinos have organized volunteer fire brigades all over the country, reportedly the best in the nation. that cater to the Chinese community. In the arts and culture, the Bahay Tsinoy and the Yuchengco Museum were established by Chinese Filipinos to showcase the arts, culture and history of the Chinese.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Non-Chinese Filipinos were initially referred to as "huan-á" (番仔) by ethnic Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines. It is also used in other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia by Hokkien-speaking ethnic Chinese to refer to peoples of Malay ancestry. In Taiwan, it was also used but it has become a taboo term with negative stigma since it was used to refer to indigenous Taiwanese aboriginals and the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. The term itself in mainland China originally just meant "foreigner" but at times may also have been considered derogatory since it could negatively connote to "barbarian/outsider" by some who had negative views on certain neighboring non-Chinese peoples that certain groups historically lived with since for centuries this was the term predominantly used to refer to non-Chinese people, but today, it does not necessarily carry its original connotations, depending on the speaker's perceptions and culture of how they grew up to learn to perceive the term, since in the Philippines, its present usage now mostly just plainly refers to any non-Chinese Filipinos, especially native Filipinos. When speaking Hokkien, most older Chinese Filipinos still use the term, while younger Chinese Filipinos may sometimes instead use the term "Hui-li̍p-pin lâng" (菲律賓儂), which directly means, "Philippine person" or simply "Filipino". This itself brings complications though as Chinese Filipinos themselves are Filipinos too, born and raised in the Philippines often with families of multiple generations carrying Filipino citizenship.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Some Chinese Filipinos perceive the government and authorities to be unsympathetic to the plight of the ethnic Chinese, especially in terms of frequent kidnapping for ransom during the late 1990s. Currently, most of the third or fourth generation Chinese Filipinos generally view the non-Chinese Filipino people and government positively, and have largely forgotten about the historical oppression of the ethnic Chinese. They are also most likely to consider themselves as just being "Filipino" and focus on the Philippines, rather than on just being "Chinese" and being associated with China (PRC) or Taiwan (ROC).


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Some Chinese Filipinos believe racism still exists toward their community among a minority of non-Chinese Filipinos, who the Chinese Filipinos refer to as ""pâi-huâ"" (排華) in Philippine Hokkien. Organizations belonging to this category include the Laspip Movement, headed by Adolfo Abadeza, as well as the Kadugong Liping Pilipino, founded by Armando "Jun" Ducat Jr. that stirred tensions around the late 1990s. Also due in part to racial or chauvinistic views from Mainland Chinese towards native Filipinos or Filipinos in general in the 1980's after Filipinos became in demand in the international work force, some racial tendencies of Mainland Chinese brought about by Han chauvinism against native Filipinos have intensified in the 21st century, where many Mainland Chinese from mainland China have branded the Philippines as a "gullible nation of maids and banana sellers", amidst disputes in the South China Sea. Due to such racist remarks against native Filipinos, racism against Mainland Chinese in mainland China and by extension, ethnic-Chinese in general such as Chinese Filipinos, later developed among certain native or mestizo Filipino communities as a form of backlash. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, some Chinese Filipinos have also voiced concerns about Sinophobic sentiments that some non-Chinese Filipinos may carry against any ethnic Chinese, especially those from mainland China due to being the site of the first coronavirus outbreak, that may sometimes extend and generalize on Chinese Filipinos. Chinese Filipino organizations have discouraged the mainstream Filipino public from being discriminatory, particularly against Chinese nationals amid the global spread of COVID-19.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Chinese mestizos are persons of mixed Chinese and either Spanish or indigenous Filipino ancestry. They are thought to make up as much as 25% of the country's total population. A number of Chinese mestizos have surnames that reflect their heritage, mostly two or three syllables that have Chinese roots (e.g., the full name of a Chinese ancestor) with a Hispanized phonetic spelling.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: During the Spanish colonial period, the Spanish authorities encouraged the Chinese male immigrants to convert to Catholicism. Those who converted got baptized and their names Hispanized, and were allowed to intermarry with indigenous women. They and their mestizo offspring became colonial subjects of the Spanish crown, and as such were granted several privileges and afforded numerous opportunities denied to the unconverted, non-citizen Chinese. Starting as traders, they branched out into land leasing, moneylending and later, landholding.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Chinese mestizo men and women were encouraged to marry Spanish and indigenous women and men, by means of dowries, in a policy to mix the races of the Philippines so it would be impossible to expel the Spanish.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: In these days however, blood purity is still of prime concern in most traditional Chinese Filipino families especially pure-blooded ones. Many Chinese Filipinos believe that a Chinese Filipino must only be married to a fellow Chinese Filipino since the marriage to a non-Chinese Filipino or any outsider was considered taboo.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Chinese marriage to native or mestizo Filipinos and outsiders posts uncertainty on both parties. The Chinese Filipino family structure is patriarchal hence, it is the male that carries the last name of the family which also carries the legacy of the family itself. Male Chinese Filipino marriage to a native or mestiza Filipina or any outsider is more admissible than vice versa. In the case of the Chinese Filipina female marrying a native or mestizo Filipino or any outsider, it may cause several unwanted issues especially on the side of the Chinese family.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: In some instances, a member of a traditional Chinese Filipino family may be denied of his or her inheritance and likely to be disowned by his or her family by marrying an outsider without their consent. However, there are exceptions in which intermarriage to a non-Chinese Filipino or any outsider is permissible provided their family is well-off and/or influential.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: On the other hand, modern Chinese Filipino families allow their children to marry native or mestizo Filipino or any outsider. However, many of them would still prefer that the Filipino or any outsider would have some or little Chinese blood, such as descendants of Chinese mestizos during Spanish colonial period.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Like much of Southeast Asia, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry dominate the Philippine economy and commerce at every level of society. Chinese Filipinos wield tremendous economic clout unerringly disproportionate to their small population size over their indigenous Filipino majority counterparts and play a critical role in maintaining the country's economic vitality and prosperity. With their powerful economic prominence, the Chinese virtually make up the country's entire wealthy elite. Chinese Filipinos, in the aggregate, represent a disproportionate wealthy, market-dominant minority not only form a distinct ethnic community, they also form, by and large, an economic class: the commercial middle and upper class in contrast to the poorer indigenous Filipino majority working and underclass. Entire posh Chinese enclaves have sprung up in major Filipino cities across the country, literally walled off from the poorer indigenous Filipino masses guarded by heavily armed, private security forces. The Chinese Filipino community is economically influential owing to their business and investment prosperity, acculturation into mainstream Filipino society, and maintaining their sense of community, social, and ethnic cohesion and distinction through clan associations.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: The Chinese have been major players in the Filipino business sector and dominated the economy of the Philippines for centuries long before the pre-Spanish and American colonial eras. Long before the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, Chinese merchants carried on trading activities with native communities along the coast of modern Mainland China. By the time the Spanish arrived, the Chinese controlled all the trading and commercial activities across the Philippines, serving as retailers, artisans, and food providers for various Spanish settlements. During the American colonial epoch, Chinese merchants controlled a significant percentage of the retail trade and internal commerce of the country. They predominated the retail trade and owned three-quarters of the 2500 rice mills interspersed along with the Filipino islands. Total resources of banking capital held by the Chinese was $27 million in 1937 to a high of $100 million in the estimated aggregate, making them second to the Americans in terms of total foreign capital investment held. Under Spanish rule, the Chinese were willing to engage in trade and venture into other business activities. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry were responsible for introducing sugar refining devices, new construction techniques, moveable type printing, and bronze making. The Chinese also provided fishing, gardening, artisan, and other such trading services. Many poverty-stricken Filipinos of Chinese ancestry were attracted to business as they were prohibited from owning land and saw the only path out of abject poverty was by going into commercial business and entrepreneurship, through taking charge of their own financial destinies by becoming self-employed as dealers, marketers, vendors, retailers, traders, collectors, hawkers, peddlers, and distributors of variegated goods and services to the Spanish and American colonizers as well as the Filipino populace. Mainly attracted and appealed by the promise of economic opportunity during the first four decades of the 20th century, American colonization of the Philippines allowed the Chinese to secure their economic clout among their entrepreneurial and investment pursuits. The implementation of a free trade policy between the Philippines and the United States allowed the Chinese to capitalize on a burgeoning Filipino consumer market. As a result, Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry were able to capture a significant market share by expanding their business activities in which they were the major players and ventured into then newly flourishing industries such as industrial manufacturing and financial services.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are estimated to control 60 to 70 percent of the Philippine economy. The Chinese Filipino community, amounting to 1 percent of the overall population of the Philippines, control the nation's largest and most lucrative department store chains, supermarkets, hotels, shopping malls, airlines, and fast-food outlets in addition to all the major financial services institutions, banks and stock brokerage firms, as well as dominating the nation's wholesale distribution networks, shipping, banking, construction, textiles, real estate, personal computer, semiconductors, pharmaceutical, mass media, and industrial manufacturing industries. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are also involved in the processing and distribution of pharmaceutical products. More than 1000 firms are involved in this industry, with most being small and medium-sized companies amounting to an aggregate capitalization of 1.2 billion pesos. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are prominent players in the Philippines mass media industry, as they also control six out of the ten English-language newspapers in Manila, including the one with the largest daily circulation. Many retail stores and restaurants around the Philippines are owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry, who are regularly featured in Manila newspapers, often attracted great public interest as they were used to illustrate the community's strong economic influence. The Chinese also dominate the Filipino telecommunications industry, where one of the current significant players in the Filipino telecom sector was the business taipan John Gokongwei, whose conglomerate JG Summit Holdings controlled 28 wholly-owned subsidiaries with interests ranging from food and agro-industrial products, hotels, insurance agencies, financial services, electronic components, textiles and garments, real estate, petrochemicals, power generation, printing, newspaper publishing, packaging materials, detergents, and cement mixing. Gokongwei began his business career by starting out in food processing during the 1950s, venturing into textile manufacturing in the early 1970s, and then cornered the Filipino real estate development and hotel management industries by the end of the decade. In 1976, Gokongwei established Manila Midtown Hotels and has since then assumed the control of two other hotel chains, Cebu Midtown and Manila Galleria Suites respectively. In addition, Gokongwei has also made forays into the Filipino financial services sector as he expanded his business interests by investing in two Filipino banks, PCI Bank and Far East Bank, in addition to negotiating the acquisition of one of the Philippines's oldest newspapers, "The Manila Times". Gokongwei's eldest daughter became publisher of the newspaper in December 1988 at the age of 28, at which during the same time her father acquired the paper from the Roceses, a Spanish Mestizo family. Of the 66 percent remaining part of the economy in the Philippines held by either ethnic Chinese or indigenous Filipinos, Chinese Filipinos control 35 percent of all total sales. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control an estimated 50 to 60 percent of non-land share capital in the Philippines, and as much as 35 percent of total sales are attributed to the largest public and private firms owned by the Chinese. Many prominent Filipino companies that are Chinese-owned focus on diverse industry sectors such as semiconductors, chemicals, real estate, engineering, construction, fibre-optics, textiles, financial services, consumer electronics, food, and personal computers. A third of the top 500 companies publicly listed on the Philippines stock exchange are owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry. Of the top 1000 firms, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control 36 percent of them and among the top 100 companies, 43 percent. Between 1978 and 1988, 146 of the country's 494 top companies were under Chinese hands. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are also estimated to control over one-third of the Philippines 1000 largest corporations with the Chinese controlling 47 of the 68 locally owned public companies. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are also responsible for generating 55 percent of overall Filipino private business across the country. In addition, Chinese-owned companies account for 66 percent of the sixty largest commercial entities in the Philippines. In 2015, the top 4 wealthiest people in the Philippines (in addition to 10 out of the top 15) were of Chinese ancestry.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: As Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs became more financially prosperous, they often coalesced their financial resources and pooled large amounts of seed capital together to forge joint business ventures with expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese businessmen and investors from all over the world. Like other Southeast Asian businesses owned by those of Chinese ancestry, Chinese-owned businesses in the Philippines often link up with Greater Chinese and other Overseas Chinese businesses and networks across the globe to focus on new business opportunities to collaborate and concentrate on. Common industry sectors of focus include real estate development, engineering, textiles, consumer electronics, financial services, food, semiconductors, and chemicals. Besides sharing a common ancestry, cultural, linguistic, and familial ties, many Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry are particular strong adherents of the Confucian paradigm of interpersonal relationships when doing business with each other, as the Chinese believed that the underlying source for entrepreneurial and investment success relied on the cultivation of personal relationships. Moreover, Filipino businesses that are Chinese-owned form a part of the larger bamboo network, a business network of Overseas Chinese firms operating in the markets of Greater China and Southeast Asia that share common family, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural ties. With the spectacular growth of varying success stories witnessed by a number of individual Chinese Filipino business tycoons and investors have allowed them to expand their traditional corporate activities beyond the Philippines to forge international partnerships with increasing numbers of expatriate Mainland Chinese and Overseas Chinese investors on a global scale. Instead of quixotically diverting excess profits elsewhere, many Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are known for their penurious and parsimonious ways by eschewing improvident extravagance and conspicuous consumption but instead adhere to the Chinese paradigm of being frugal by reinvesting a substantial surplus of their business profits for the purpose of corporate expansion. A sizable percentage of the conglomerate firms managed by capable Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry with the necessary entrepreneurial acumen and visionary foresight were able to germinate from small budding enterprises to making headway into gargantuan corporate leviathans garnering widespread economic influence across the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the global financial markets. Such massive corporate expansions engendered the term "Chinoy", which is colloquially used in Filipino newspapers to denote individuals with a degree of Chinese ancestry who either speak a Chinese dialect or adhere to Chinese customs.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: In 1940, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry were estimated to control 70 percent of the country's entire retail trade and 75 percent of the nation's rice mills. By 1948, the economic standing of the Chinese community began to elevate even further wielding considerable influence as the Chinese community exercised a considerable percentage of the total commercial investment, including 55 percent of the retail trade and 85 percent of the lumber sector. After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese war, Chinese Filipinos controlled 85 percent of the nation's retail trade. The Chinese also had controlled 40 percent of the retailing imports with substantial controlling interests in banking, oil refining, sugar milling, cement, tobacco, flour milling, glass, dairying, automobile manufacturing, and consumer electronics. Although the Filipino Hacienderos owned extensive businesses, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry augmented their economic power coinciding with the pro-market reforms of the late 1980s and 1990s by the Marcos administration. The Chinese increased their role in the domestic commercial sector acting as an intermediary of connecting producers with the consumer in the exchange of goods. The Chinese Filipino business community achieved such feats as a tight-knit group in an enclosed system by setting up their own distribution networks, locating major players, geographical coverage, attributes and characteristics, business strategies, staff recruitment, store proliferation, and establishing independent trade organizations. Filipino retail outlets that were Chinese-owned also exercise a disproportionate share of several local goods such as rice, lumber products, and alcoholic drinks. Some Chinese Filipino merchant traders even branched into retailing these products into rice milling, logging, saw-milling, distillery, tobacco, coconut oil processing, footwear making, and agricultural processing. The domestic Filipino economy began to broaden by the expansion of business activities long held by the Chinese also ushered in new forms of entrepreneurship by directing their corporate energies and capital into fostering new industries and growth areas.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Today, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control all of the Philippines' largest and most lucrative department store chains, major supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants. In the fast-food industry, Filipino restaurateurs of Chinese ancestry have been behind the Philippines biggest fast-food franchise undertakings. A wave of big-name restaurant chains such as Chowking, Greenwich Pizza, Mang Inasal, Red Ribbon and the Mainland China-based Yonghe Dawang (永和大王) have made headway into the Filipino restaurant industry and germinated across the Philippines. There are roughly 3000 fast-food outlets and restaurants controlled by Filipino restaurateurs of Chinese ancestry, especially establishments specializing in Chinese cuisine have attracted an influx of foreign capital investments from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The banker and business taipan George Ty was responsible for securing and franchising the rights of the publicly traded American hamburger franchise McDonald's across the Philippines and the Jollibee fast-food chain, as the founder himself was a Filipino entrepreneur of Chinese ancestry. Jollibee's popularity has since then led to the expansion of its corporate operations by establishing subsidiaries in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Guam, and other Southeast Asian countries such as Brunei and Indonesia. In the beverage sector, San Miguel Corporation is the among the Philippines most prominent beverage operators, founded in 1851 by Enrique María Barretto de Ycaza y Esteban, the company supplies the country's entire beverage needs. Two Chinese Filipino-owned beverage companies, namely Lucio Tan's Asia Brewery and John Gokongwei's Universal Robina, along with a couple of lesser-known beverage providers are now competing with each other to capture the largest share in the Filipino food and beverage market.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Since the 1950s, Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have controlled the entirety of the Philippines' retail sector. Every small, medium, and large enterprise in the Filipino retail industry is under Chinese hands as the Chinese have been at the forefront at pioneering the modern and contemporary development of the Philippines's retail sector. From the 1970s, Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have re-established themselves as the dominant players in the Filipino retail industry with the corporate feat of presiding an estimated 8500 Chinese-owned retail and wholesale outlets around the country. On a microscopic scale, the Chinese Hokkien community have a proclivity to run capital intensive businesses such as banks, commercial shipping lines, rice mills, dry goods, and general stores while the Cantonese gravitated towards the hotels, restaurants, and laundromats. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry control two-thirds of the sales among the country's 67 largest commercial retail outlets. By the 1980s. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry began to expand their business activities in large-scale retailing and Filipino retailers that were Chinese-owned emerged as one of the largest department store owners in the Philippines with one prominent example being Rustan's, which is one of the most prestigious department store brands in the Philippines. Other prime retail outlets such as Shoe Mart owned by Henry Sy and John Gokongwei's Robinson's percolated rapidly, eventually finding their way into shopping malls situated across various parts of Metro-Manila. Another prominent retailer was the Chinese Filipino taipan, Lucio Tan. Tan started his business career in the cigarette distribution industry and then catapulted himself into entrepreneurial prominence within the major leagues of Filipino business circles after venturing into banking in 1977. Tan, whose flagship company Fortune Tobacco (now a Philippine affiliate of Philip Morris International) controls the largest market share of cigarette distribution in the country and has since then emerged as of one richest men in the Philippines. Aside from cornering Filipino tobacco distribution networks, Tan has since parlayed his business interests into a corporate conglomerate behemoth of his own LT Group Inc., with an empire presiding diversified business interests in chemicals, sports, education, brewing, financial services, real estate investing and property development, hotels (Century Park Hotel), in addition to acquiring a majority controlling interest in PAL, one of the largest airlines in the Philippines. In terms of industry distribution, small and medium size Chinese-owned retail outlets account for half of the Philippines retail trade sector, with 49.45 percent of the retail sector alone being controlled by Henry Sy's Shoemart, and the remaining share of the retail sector dominated by a few larger Chinese-owned retail outlets that include thousands of smaller retail subsidiaries. Sy built his business empire from scratch out of his Shoe Mart department store chain, and has since made forays into banking after assuming as a controlling shareholder of Banco de Oro, a commercial bank as well as owning a substantial interest in China Banking Corporation, a privately-owned commercial bank and wealth management house that offers seed capital that caters to the startup needs of up-and-coming Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: In terms of industry distribution, Chinese-owned manufacturing establishments account for a third of the Filipino industrial manufacturing sector. In the secondary industry, 75 percent of the country's 2500 rice mills were Chinese-owned. Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs were also dominant in wood processing, and accounted for over 10 percent of the capital invested in the lumber industry and controlled 85 percent of it as well as accounting for 40 percent of the industry's annual output and controlled nearly all the sawmills in the nation. Emerging import-substituting light industries would see the rise of active participation of Chinese entrepreneurs and owned several-salt works and a large number of small and medium-sized factories engaged in food processing as well as the production of leather and tobacco goods. The Chinese also dominate food processing with approximately 200 firms in this industry and exporting their finished products to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. More than 200 companies are also involved in the production of paper, paper products, fertilizers, cosmetics, rubber products, and plastics. By the early 1960s, Chinese presence in the manufacturing sector became significant. Of the businesses that employed 10 or more workers, 35 percent were Chinese-owned and among 284 enterprises employing more than 100 workers, 37 percent were likewise Chinese-owned. Of the 163 domestic companies, 80 were Chinese-owned and included the manufacturing of coconut oil, food products, tobacco, textiles, plastic products, footwear, glass, and certain types of metals such as tubes and pipes, wire rods, nails, bolts, and containers while the native or mestizo Filipinos dominated sugar, rolling mills, industrial chemicals, fertilizers, cement, galvanizing plants, and tin plates. In 1965, Chinese Filipinos controlled 32 percent of the top industrial manufacturing firms. Of the 259 manufacturing corporations belonging to the top 1000 in the country, Chinese owned 33.6% of the top manufacturing companies as well as 43.2% of the top commercial manufacturing firms in 1980. By 1986, Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs controlled 45 percent of the nations top 120 domestic manufacturing companies. These companies are mainly involved in tobacco and cigarettes, soap and cosmetics, textiles and rubber footwear. The majority of Filipino industrial manufacturing companies that produce the processing of coconut products, flour, food products, textiles, plastic products, footwear, glass, as well as heavy industry products such as metals, steel, industrial chemicals, paper products, paints, leather, garments, sugar refining, timber processing, construction materials, food and beverages, rubber, plastics, semiconductors, and personal computers are controlled by Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: From small trade cooperatives clustered by hometown pawnbrokers, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry would go on to establish and incorporate the largest financial services institutions in the Philippines. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry have dominated the Philippine financial services sector and have had a presence in the country's banking industry since the early part of the 20th century. The two earliest banks started were China Bank and the Mercantile Bank of China, established in 1920 and 1924 respectively. Today, the overwhelming majority of the Philippines' principal banks are now owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry, including Philippine Savings Bank, the Philippine National Bank which is owned by taipan, Lucio Tan, controlled through his conglomerate LT Group, Inc., and most notably Metrobank Group which was owned by banker and businessman George Ty, which is the country's second-largest and most aggressive financial services conglomerate. Lesser-known private commercial banks established in the 1950s and 1960s are also owned and controlled by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry. The lone exception of a non-Chinese owned Filipino bank was the Spanish Filipino Lopez-owned Philippine Commercial International Bank, which has since been taken over by Henry Sy's holding and investment company SM Investments Corporation during the mid-2000s, and reemerged itself as a subsidiary of Banco de Oro in 2007. By 1970, among the Philippine's five largest banks holding almost 50 percent of all assets in the banking industry, namely China Banking Corporation, Citibank, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Equitable PCI Bank, in addition to the formerly government-owned Philippine National Bank were under the control of Chinese shareholders. By 1995, banks owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry had captured an even greater share of the Philippine's financial services sector after the formerly government-owned Philippine National Bank was partially privatized as four of the top five banks that were substantially controlled by Chinese shareholders claimed 48 percent of all bank assets and over 60 percent of all those held by private domestic commercial banks. By the mid-1990s, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry controlled 40 percent of the national corporate equity. In terms of industry distribution, Chinese-owned companies account for a quarter of the financial services sector. Today, the overwhelming majority of the Philippines's nine principal banks in addition to the formerly state-owned Philippine National Bank are now under the ownership of Chinese shareholders, such as the Allied Banking Corporation, Banco de Oro Group, China Banking Corporation (Chinabank), East West Banking Corporation, Metrobank group, Philippine Trust Company (Philtrust Bank), Rizal Commercial Banking group, Security Bank Corporation (Security Bank) and the United Coconut Planters Bank. Most of these banks comprise a larger part of an umbrella owned family conglomerate with assets exceeding $100 billion pesos. The total combined assets of all the Philippine's commercial banks under Chinese ownership account for 25.72 percent of all the total assets in the entire Filipino commercial banking system. Among the Philippines's 35 banks, shareholders of Chinese ancestry on average control 35 percent of total banking equity. There are also 23 Filipino insurance agencies that are Chinese-owned, with some branches overseas and in Hong Kong.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Of the 500 real estate companies operating in the Philippines, 120 are owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry with the firms mostly specializing in real estate investment, land, and property development, and construction and are mainly concentrated in Metropolitan Manila. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry have cornered the Philippine real estate investment markets, land, and property sectors which for a long time had been controlled by Spanish Filipinos. Initially, the Chinese were not allowed to own land until acquiring Filipino citizenship in the 1970s. Presently, many of the biggest real estate development operators in the Philippines are owned by Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry. Large scale commercial real estate projects such as the Eton Centris in Pinyahan, the Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong and the Tagaytay Highlands Golf Club and Resort development in Tagaytay City were testaments of such joint projects undertaken by Chinese Filipino real estate developers. These corporate partnerships were largely forged by Overseas Chinese business tycoons such as the investor Liem Sioe Liong, businessman Robert Kuok and dealmakers Andrew Gotianun, Henry Sy, George Ty and Lucio Tan.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Filipinos of Chinese ancestry also pioneered the Filipino shipping industry which eventually germinated into a major industry sector as a means of transporting goods cheaply and quickly between the islands. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have remained dominant in the Philippines's maritime shipping industry and in sea transport as it was one of the few efficient methods of transporting goods cheaply and quickly across the country, with the Philippines geographically being an archipelago, comprising more than 1000 islands and inlets. There are 12 Chinese Filipino business families engaged in inter-island transport and shipping, particularly with the shipping of food products requiring refrigeration amounting to an aggregate capitalization of 10 billion pesos. Taiwanese expatriate investors have participated in various joint ventures, opening up new shipping lanes on the route between Manila and Cebu. Prominent shipping companies owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry include Cokaliong Shipping Lines, Gothong Lines, Lite Shipping Corporation, Sulpicio Lines which was associated with a tragedy that led to the deaths of hundreds and Trans-Asia Shipping Lines. One enterprising and pioneering Chinese Filipino entrepreneur was William Chiongbian, who established William Lines in 1949, which by the end of 1993, became the most profitable inter-island Filipino shipping line ranking first in terms of gross revenue generated as well as net income among the country's seven biggest shipping companies. Currently, the Filipino inter-island shipping industry is dominated by four Chinese-owned shipping firms led by William Chiongbian's William Lines. Likewise, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry also own all of the major airlines in the Philippines, including the flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, AirphilExpress, Cebu Pacific, South East Asian Airlines, Manila Air and Zest Air.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: As the ethnic Chinese economic might grew, much of the indigenous Filipino majority were gradually driven out into poorer land on the hills, on the outskirts of major Filipino cities, or into the mountains. Disenchantment grew among the displaced indigenous Filipinos who felt they were unable compete with ethnic Chinese businesses. Underlying resentment and bitterness from the impoverished Filipino majority has been accumulating as there has been no existence of indigenous Filipino having any substantial business equity in the Philippines. Decades of free market liberalization brought virtually no economic benefit to the indigenous Filipino majority but rather the opposite resulting a subjugated indigenous Filipino majority underclass, where the vast majority still engage in rural peasantry, menial labor or domestic service and squatting. The Filipino government has dealt with this wealth disparity by establishing socialist and communist dictatorships or authoritarian regimes while pursuing a systematic and ruthless affirmative action campaigns giving privileges to allow the indigenous Filipino majority to gain a more equitable economic footing during the 1950s and 1960s. The rise of economic nationalism among the impoverished indigenous Filipino majority prompted by the Filipino government resulted in the passing of the Retail Trade Nationalization Law of 1954, where ethnic Chinese were barred and pressured to move out of the retail sector restricting engagement to Filipino citizens only. In addition, the Chinese were prevented from owning land by restricting land ownership to Filipinos only. Other restrictions on Chinese economic activities included limiting Chinese involvement in the import-export trade while trying to increase the indigenous Filipino involvement to gain a proportionate presence. In 1960, the Rice and Corn Nationalization Law was passed restricting trading, milling, and warehousing of rice and corn only to Filipinos while barring Chinese involvement, in which they initially had a significant presence. These policies ultimately backfired on the government as the laws had an overall negative impact on the government tax revenue which dropped significantly because the country's biggest share of taxpayers were Chinese, who eventually took their capital out of the country to invest elsewhere. The increased economic clout held in the hands of the Chinese has triggered suspicion, instability, ethnic hatred, and anti-Chinese hostility among the indigenous native Filipino majority towards the Chinese minority. Such hostility has resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds of Chinese Filipinos by native Filipinos since the 1990s. Many victims, often children are often brutally murdered, even after a ransom is paid. Numerous incidents of crimes such kidnap-for-ransom, extortion, and other forms of harassment were committed against the Chinese Filipino community starting in the early 1990s continues to this very day. Thousands of displaced Filipino hill tribes and aborigines continue to live in satellite shantytowns on the outskirts of Manila in economic destitution where two-thirds of the country's indigenous Filipinos live on less than 2 dollars per day in extreme poverty. Such hatred, envy, grievance, insecurity, and resentment is ready at any moment to be catalyzed by the indigenous Filipino majority as many Chinese Filipinos are subject to kidnapping, vandalism, murder, and violence. Anti-Chinese sentiment among the indigenous Filipino majority is deeply rooted in poverty but also feelings of resentment and exploitation are also exhibited among native and mestizo Filipinos blaming their socioeconomic failures on Chinese Filipinos.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Most of the younger generations of "pure" Chinese Filipinos are descendants of Chinese who migrated during the 1800s onward – this group retains much of Chinese culture, customs, and work ethic (though not necessarily language), whereas almost all Chinese mestizos are descendants of Chinese who migrated even before the Spanish colonial period and have been integrated and assimilated into the general Philippine society as a whole.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: During the 1970s, Fr. Charles McCarthy, an expert in Philippine-Chinese relations, observed that "the peculiarly Chinese content of the Philippine-Chinese subculture is further diluted in succeeding generations" and he made a prediction that "the time will probably come and it may not be far off, when, in this sense, there will no more 'Chinese' in the Philippines". This view is still controversial however, with the constant adoption of new cultures by Filipinos contradicting this thought.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Assimilation is defined as the adoption of the cultural norms of the dominant or host culture, while integration is defined as the adoption of the cultural norms of the dominant or host culture while maintaining their culture of origin.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: As of the present day, due to the effects of globalization in the Philippines, there has been a marked tendency to assimilate to Filipino lifestyles influenced by the US, among ethnic Chinese. This is especially true for younger Chinese Filipino living in Metro Manila who are gradually shifting to English as their preferred language, thus identifying more with Western culture, at the same time speaking Chinese among themselves. Similarly, as the cultural divide between Chinese Filipino and other Filipinos erode, there is a steady increase of intermarriages with native and mestizo Filipinos, with their children completely identifying with the Filipino culture and way of life. Assimilation is gradually taking place in the Philippines, albeit at a slower rate as compared to Thailand.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: On the other hand, the largest Chinese Filipino organization, the "Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran" openly espouses eventual integration but not assimilation of the Chinese Filipino with the rest of Philippine society and clamors for maintaining Chinese language education and traditions.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Meanwhile, the general Philippine public is largely neutral regarding the role of the Chinese Filipino in the Philippines, and many have embraced Chinese Filipino as fellow Filipino citizens and even encouraged them to assimilate and participate in the formation of the Philippines' destiny.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Separation is defined as the rejection of the dominant or host culture in favor of preserving their culture of origin, often characterized by the presence of ethnic enclaves.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: The recent rapid economic growth of both China and Taiwan as well as the successful business acumen of Overseas Chinese have fueled among many Chinese Filipino a sense of pride through immersion and regaining interest in Chinese culture, customs, values and language while remaining in the Philippines.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Despite the community's inherent ethnocentrism – there are no active proponents for political separation, such as autonomy or even independence, from the Philippines, partly due to the small size of the community relative to the general Philippine population, and the scattered distribution of the community throughout the archipelago, with only half residing in Metro Manila.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Many Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs and professionals have flocked to their ancestral homeland to partake of business and employment opportunities opened up by China's emergence as a global economic superpower.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: As above, the fast economic growth of China and the increasing popularity of Chinese culture has also helped fan pro-China patriotism among a majority of Chinese Filipino who espouse 愛國愛鄉 (ài guó ài xiāng) sentiments (love of ancestral country and hometown). Some Chinese Filipino, especially those belonging to the older generation, still demonstrate "ài guó ài xiāng" by donating money to fund clan halls, school buildings, Buddhist temples and parks in their hometowns in China.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: During the 1990s to the early 2000s, Philippine economic difficulties and more liberal immigration policies in destination countries have led to well-to-do Chinese Filipino families to acquire North American or Australasian passports and send their children abroad to attend prestigious North America or Australasian Universities. Many of these children are opting to remain after graduation to start professional careers in North America or Australasia, like their Chinese brethren from other parts of Asia.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: Many Philippine-educated Chinese Filipino from middle-class families are also migrating to North America and Australasia for economic advantages. Those who have family businesses regularly commute between North America (or Australasia) and the Philippines. In this way, they follow the well-known pattern of other Chinese immigrants to North America who lead "astronaut" lifestyles: family in North America, business in Asia.


title: Chinese Filipino

text: With the increase in political stability and economic growth in Asia, this trend is becoming significantly less popular for Chinese Filipino.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, reporting on government corruption, nepotism, patronage, allegations of money laundering, links between Malta's online gambling industry and organized crime, Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme, and payments from the government of Azerbaijan. Caruana Galizia's national and international reputation was built on her regular reporting of misconduct by Maltese politicians and politically exposed persons.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia continued to publish articles for decades, despite intimidation and threats, libel suits and other lawsuits. She was arrested by the Malta Police Force on two occasions. Caruana Galizia's investigations were published via her personal blog "Running Commentary", which she set up in 2008. She was a regular columnist with "The Sunday Times of Malta" and later "The Malta Independent". Her blog consisted of investigative reporting and commentary, some of which was regarded as personal attacks on individuals, leading to a series of legal battles. In 2016 and 2017, she revealed controversially sensitive information and allegations relating to a number of Maltese politicians and the Panama Papers scandal.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 16 October 2017, Caruana Galizia died close to her home when a car bomb was detonated inside her vehicle, attracting widespread local and international condemnation of the attack. In December 2017, three men were arrested in connection with the car bomb attack. Police arrested Yorgen Fenech, the owner of the Dubai-based company 17 Black, on his yacht on 20 November 2019 in connection with her murder.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In April 2018, an international consortium of 45 journalists published The Daphne Project, a collaboration to complete her investigative work. The GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information was established in 2018 in honour of Galizia.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Daphne Anne Vella was born on 26 August 1964 in Tower Road, Sliema. She was the eldest of four sisters born to the businessman Michael Alfred Vella and his wife Rose Marie Vella (née Mamo). She was educated at St Dorothy's Convent (Mdina) and St Aloysius' College, Birkirkara. She attended the University of Malta as a mature student and took a BA (Hons) in Archaeology with a minor in Anthropology in 1997, featuring on the Dean's List in 1996.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was exposed to politics in her late teens, having been arrested when she was 18 years old following participation in anti-government protests. The policeman who arrested her, Angelo Farrugia, went on to become the Speaker of the Maltese parliament.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In 1985, she married the lawyer Peter Caruana Galizia, a grandson of John Caruana and a great-grandson of E.L. Galizia and A.A. Caruana. The couple had three sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul. Matthew was a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The family left Sliema in 1990, moving to Bidnija, a hamlet in the limits of Mosta.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was employed by "The Sunday Times of Malta" as a news reporter in 1987, becoming a regular columnist from 1990 to 1992 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was an associate editor of "The Malta Independent" in 1992, and remained a columnist with that newspaper and "The Malta Independent on Sunday" for the rest of her career. Additionally, she worked in media and public relations consultancies. Caruana Galizia was also the founding editor of "Taste" and "Flair", monthly lifestyle magazines which were distributed along with "The Malta Independent on Sunday". The publications were merged into a single magazine called "Taste&Flair" in July 2014, and Caruana Galizia remained the editor until her death. "Taste&Flair" is now published by The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In March 2008, she began a blog entitled "Running Commentary", which included investigative reporting and commentary on current affairs and public figures. The blog was one of the most popular websites in Malta, regularly attracting over 400,000 views – more than the combined circulation of the country's newspapers.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was intimidated for her work and opinions. The front door of her house was set on fire in 1996. The family dog had its throat slit and was laid across her doorstep. Years later, the neighbour's car was burned, possibly in a misdirected attack. There was a further incident in 2006, when the house was set on fire while the family was asleep inside. After Caruana Galizia started blogging, her terrier Zulu was poisoned and her collie Rufus was put down after being found shot. According to Matthew Caruana Galizia, threats were almost a daily occurrence. These took the form of phone calls, letters, notes pinned to the front door, text messages, emails, and comments on her blog.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was arrested on 8 March 2013 for breaking the political silence on the day before the 2013 general election, after posting videos mocking Joseph Muscat. She was questioned by the police before being released after a few hours. In November 2010, after commenting about the conservation of the Villa Guardamangia (the early-marriage home of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Great Britain), Caruana Galizia was described by "The Daily Telegraph" as the leading commentator in Malta. Other major stories and controversies centered around Panama Papers revelations, and allegations that Chris Cardona had visited a brothel during an official government visit to Germany in January 2017.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In 2016, Caruana Galizia questioned how British millionaire Paul Golding acquired Palazzo Nasciaro in Naxxar, and from mid-2017 Caruana Galizia became a harsh critic of the new Nationalist opposition leader Adrian Delia, over claims that he had laundered money for a company involved in a prostitution ring in Soho.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 22 February 2016, Caruana Galizia's "Running Commentary" blog reported that Maltese government minister Konrad Mizzi had connections with Panama and New Zealand. This compelled the minister to reveal the existence of a New Zealand-registered trust two days later, which he claimed was set up to manage his family's assets. On 25 February, Caruana Galizia revealed that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri owned a similar trust in New Zealand, which in turn held a Panama company.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The April 2016 Panama Papers leak confirmed that Mizzi owned the Panama company Hearnville Inc., and that Mizzi and Schembri had also started another company, Tillgate Inc. The companies were co-owned by the Orion Trust New Zealand Limited, the same trustees of Mizzi and Schembri's New Zealand trusts, Rotorua and Haast respectively. As the first person to break news of Mizzi's and Schembri's involvement in Panama, she was subsequently named by "Politico" as one of "28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe". The publication described her as a "one-woman WikiLeaks, crusading against untransparency and corruption in Malta".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In 2017, she alleged that Egrant, another Panama company, was owned by Michelle Muscat, wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Muscat claimed that the allegations were the reason he called the June 2017 general elections almost a year early, a vote which saw his Labour Party return to power. Caruana Galizia pointed out that an early election had already been planned.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The title of her last blog post before she was killed read, "That crook Schembri was in court today, pleading that he is not a crook", ending with the line "there are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate."


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 20 November 2019, police arrested Yorgen Fenech, owner of the Dubai-based company 17 Black, on his yacht. This company had been featured in the journalist's investigative work on the Panama Papers in relation to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, who – along with cabinet member Chris Cardona – resigned their government posts on 26 November. Schembri was arrested, then released two days later, which brought many people into the streets through the weekend in the capital Valletta. From 20 November, crowds had begun calling on PM Joseph Muscat to resign (see 2019 Maltese protests) after he said he might pardon the "middleman" in the murder case.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In 2010, Caruana Galizia used her blog to criticise Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who, together with Herrera's live-in partner, Labour government consultant Robert Musumeci, went on to file a criminal complaint with the police, forcing them to prosecute Caruana Galizia in the criminal courts. The case was withdrawn in November 2011.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In May 2017, Pilatus Bank's owner and chairman, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, sued Daphne Caruana Galizia in an Arizona court in his own name and in the name of Pilatus Bank. The case was for US$40 million in damages. Caruana Galizia was never notified about it and it was withdrawn within hours of her death.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Pilatus Bank had written to every single non-government aligned media outlet in Malta throughout the course of 2017 threatening to sue them, but had only gone through with the threat in Daphne Caruana Galizia's case as the other media outlets conceded to changes to their online content. One media outlet reported that threatening letters had been sent just 12 hours before Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In February 2017, a legal fund was crowdfunded to cover four precautionary warrants – freezing Caruana Galizia's assets to the tune of €50,000 – for the maximum libel damages possible at law. These warrants had been instituted by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Minister for the Economy, Chris Cardona, and his EU presidency policy officer, Joseph Gerada.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 16 October 2017, Caruana Galizia was driving close to her home in Bidnija, when a car bomb placed in her leased Peugeot 108 exploded, killing her instantly. The blast occurred on Triq il-Bidnija (Bidnija Road), and left the vehicle scattered in several pieces across nearby fields.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was in the driver's seat at the time, when the blast threw the car 80 metres into an adjacent field where her bodily remains were found by her son Matthew. He wrote on Facebook, "I looked down and there were my mother's body parts all around me". This marked the sixth car-bombing in Malta since the beginning of 2016, and the fourth fatality. Caruana Galizia's home had not been under police guard since 2010, except during elections. According to police sources, her protection was further weakened after the Labour Party was returned to power in 2013.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The power to set up a public inquiry into whether the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia could have been prevented, rested with then Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat. Muscat, however, did not immediately set up a public inquiry, and a formal request by Caruana Galizia's heirs was presented by letter to Malta's prime minister Muscat on 9 August 2018, based on the legal opinion of Doughty Street Chambers and Bhatt Murphy Solicitors.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Her family criticized the Maltese authorities for doing nothing against a growing "culture of impunity" in Malta, saying that Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Chris Cardona, Konrad Mizzi, Attorney General Peter Grech and a long list of police commissioners who took no action, were politically responsible for her death. Her family refused a request to publicly endorse a government reward of one million euros for information, despite pressure from the Prime Minister and President, and insisted that the Prime Minister ought to resign.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: One of Caruana Galizia's sisters stated that "the President and the Prime Minister are 'downplaying' the assassination and "working to transform her into a martyr for their cause", indicating that calls for national unity were a sham, and that to "call for unity is to abuse her legacy. There should never be unity with the criminal and the corrupt."


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The car bomb attack was condemned by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who stated that he "will not rest before justice is done" despite her criticism of him. President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and a number of politicians also expressed their condolences or condemned the car bomb attack. Opposition leader Adrian Delia called her death "the collapse of democracy and freedom of expression" and stated that "[the country's] institutions have let us down".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Fellow blogger Manuel Delia, a former Nationalist Party official, called her "the only ethical voice left. She was the only one talking about right and wrong."


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Commission condemned the attack in the strongest terms possible.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani called the incident a "tragic example of a journalist who sacrificed her life to seek out the truth". Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, stated that the organization is "shocked" by Caruana Galizia's assassination and "is deeply concerned about freedom of the press in Malta".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: A plenary session of the European Parliament was held on 24 October, with MEPs observing a minute's silence. Several members of Caruana Galizia's family attended the session at the hemicycle in Strasbourg. The press room at the European parliament building was renamed in her honour. A debate on freedom of the press and the protection of journalists in Malta also took place. Following this visit and the following debate, a delegation is to be sent by the European Parliament to investigate the rule of law, high-level cases of money laundering, and corruption in Malta.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Pope Francis sent a letter of condolence, saying he was praying for the journalist's family and the Maltese people.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The car bombing was reported in both local and international media. Caruana Galizia's name began trending worldwide on Twitter, and a number of Maltese expressed their mourning by blacking out their Facebook profile pictures. The hashtag #JeSuisDaphne, echoing the term Je suis Charlie, trended locally.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: "The Malta Independent" wrote that "for many people, looking up her blog was the first thing they did each day, and the last thing too. Now there is just emptiness. A silence that speaks volumes." Both the daily and the weekly version of her column were published as blank pages in the days following her death.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Thousands of people attended a vigil in Caruana Galizia's hometown Sliema on the night of 16 October. Another vigil was held at the Malta High Commission in London.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced that he would pay a €20,000 reward "for information leading to the conviction of Caruana Galizia's killers". A crowdfunding campaign was initiated with the aim of raising €1 million to be given as a reward for information that leads "to the successful prosecution of the assassin and the person or persons who ordered the assassination". This was followed by a further state-sanctioned reward of €1 million.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Students, alumni, teachers, parents and members of the San Anton community held a peaceful vigil from City Gate to the Great Siege Monument in Valletta, in support of the Caruana Galizia family. The three Caruana Galizia siblings were all students of San Anton School.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 22 October 2017, the Civil Society Network organised a protest demanding justice in Valletta. Thousands of protesters demanded justice in the aftermath of the car bomb attack, and called for the immediate resignation of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: A number of protesters who took part in the rally also went on to the police headquarters in Floriana to call for the police commissioner's resignation. After staging a sit-in protest in front of the main door, a banner with a photo of police chief Lawrence Cutajar accompanied with the words "No change, no justice – "irrizenja" (resign)" was placed on the headquarters' gate.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 17 April 2018, a consortium of 45 journalists from 18 news organisations, including "The Guardian", "The New York Times", "Le Monde" and the "Times of Malta", published The Daphne Project, a collaborative effort to complete Caruana Galizia's investigative work.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: After her death, crowds gathered in front of the Law Courts, to mourn and express solidarity with the Caruana Galizia family and to demand justice. The Great Siege Monument became a focal point for protests and calls for justice, with tributes, memorials and vigils held there frequently. The choice of this monument as a protest site, though strategically located opposite the law courts, was spontaneous, a follow-up to the flowers which were first placed there by San Anton School pupils.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information was named in honour of Caruana Galizia in 2018 and again in 2019. It is sponsored by the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left members of which are left-wing members of the European Parliament. The award is "dedicated to individuals or groups who have been intimidated and/or persecuted for uncovering the truth and exposing it to the public".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: The European Parliament held a minute's silence in honour of Caruana Galizia. The media room of the European Parliament in Strasbourg was named in her memory in November 2017. A portrait of her by Marie Louise Kold now hangs outside the press room.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Forensic teams and police investigators arrived at the crime scene soon after the explosion. The head of the magisterial inquiry was initially to be Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who had previously had the police prosecute Caruana Galizia for criminal libel in 2010–11. Caruana Galizia's family successfully challenged Scerri Herrera's role in the investigation, citing a conflict of interest. Scerri Herrera recused herself from the investigation 17 hours later and was replaced by Magistrate Anthony Vella, who was removed from the inquiry when he was appointed judge.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Joseph Muscat stated that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation was asked to help the police in investigating the car bomb attack. A police forensic investigation team from the Netherlands also arrived to assist. The investigators were also joined by three Europol officials. The non-Maltese teams provided technical support. On 4 December 2017, Joseph Muscat announced that ten individuals had been arrested in connection to the investigation, three of whom were later charged with executing the car bomb attack. The suspects were identified as George Degiorgio, his brother Alfred Degiorgio, and their friend Vince Muscat (no relation to Joseph Muscat, the former Prime Minister). , none of the three suspects had been brought to trial and none of the intermediaries and mandators had been identified.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Prominent Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was arrested on 20 November 2019 in connection with the Caruana Galizia bomb attack. Chief of Staff Keith Schembri resigned his government post on 26 November 2019, and was subsequently arrested by the police for questioning. It was later announced that Fenech would not be granted immunity to reveal what he knew about the case.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Numerous mass protests were held calling for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's resignation, in part over his purported association with Caruana Galizia's murder.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Muscat announced on 1 December 2019 that he would resign in relation to the political crisis, saying that he would remain in office until a new Labour Party leader was elected in January, and formally resign as prime minister a few days after 12 January 2020.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On 23 February 2021, Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. In his testimony, Muscat claimed that Alfred Degiorgio, who is also charged of executing the car bomb, received information from former Minister Chris Cardona on Caruana Galizia's whereabouts prior to her assassination, and subsequent tip-offs prior to the December 2017 arrests. Cardona dismissed these allegations as 'pure evil fiction'.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: An inquiry by former judges "accused the Maltese state of creating a pervasive 'atmosphere of impunity' that allowed her killers to believe they'd face minimal consequences".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: In July 2022, Alfred Degiorgio's brother George Degiorgio, speaking from jail, confessed to detonating the car bomb that killed Galizia and noted that he would plead guilty to try and get his and his brother's sentences reduced.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: On the first day of the trial at Valletta’s central court in October 2022, both George and Alfred Degiorgio dramatically changed their pleas to "guilty" on charges including wilful homicide, causing a fatal explosion, illegally possessing explosives, and criminal conspiracy. They were sentenced to 40-year prison terms.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia's remains were released for burial on 27 October 2017, and a public funeral was held on 3 November 2017 at the Rotunda of Mosta. Thousands of mourners attended the funeral. The day was observed as a national day of mourning in Malta. The funeral mass was conducted by Charles Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta, who in his homily told journalists "never to grow weary in your mission to be the eyes, the ears, and the mouth of the people".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat did not attend the funeral, saying that Caruana Galizia's family made it clear that they (Preca and Muscat) were not welcome. The Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Delia, was "conspicuous by his absence".


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Among the people at the funeral were several high officials: Silvio Camilleri, Chief Justice of Malta; Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament; Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media; Eddie Fenech Adami, former President of Malta and former leader of the Nationalist Party; Lawrence Gonzi, former Prime Minister of Malta and former leader of the Nationalist Party; and Simon Busuttil, former leader of the Nationalist Party.


title: Daphne Caruana Galizia

text: Caruana Galizia was buried in the family grave at the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery in Paola, Malta's largest burial ground.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Ninnu Kori () is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy drama film directed by debutant Shiva Nirvana from a screenplay written by Kona Venkat. Produced by DVV Danayya under DVV Entertainments, the film stars Nani, Nivetha Thomas and Aadhi Pinisetty while Murali Sharma and Tanikella Bharani play supporting roles. Gopi Sunder composed the music. Prawin Pudi and Karthik Ghattamaneni are the editor and cinematographer of the film respectively.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: The plot revolves around Uma (Nani), Pallavi (Thomas), and Arun (Pinisetty). When Uma declines her proposal to elope, Pallavi marries Arun and emigrates to the US. Uma who still is in love with Pallavi also lands up in the US a year later in the hope of getting her back.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: The film was commercially successful, grossing over 52 crore at the box office. A Tamil-language remake titled "Thalli Pogathey" was released in 2021.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: On the day of her first wedding anniversary, Pallavi, under the pretext of running errands for their party, travels to Los Angeles from her home in San Francisco without the knowledge of her husband Arun to meet Uma, her former lover.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: One and a half years ago in Vizag, Pallavi is a student who wishes to make a recording of a dance performance so that she can show it to her family post marriage. However, a lack of natural talent forbids her from doing so. Uma Maheswara Rao, a young statistics student, is an orphan whose godfather Murthy, happens to be the principal of his institution. Uma wishes to pursue a Ph.D. in his subject and settle in life. Pallavi happens to spot him dancing at a friend's wedding and requests him to teach her. Uma agrees for the large fee she offers as he is in need of money. He helps her, not only with her dancing but also with other issues, including confronting a bully who torments her. Pallavi wins a dancing competition and the two realize they are in love with each other.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Pallavi tactfully clears the penthouse her family owns so that Uma can stay in the same house as her. Uma starts giving tutoring classes in the penthouse and earns the money he requires. When Pallavi's family starts looking for marriage alliances, she requests Uma to elope with her, and he reluctantly agrees. However, a chance encounter with Pallavi's father, Chandramouli, makes Uma realize that he is ineligible to marry her as he hasn't fully settled in life. Taking this to heart, he requests Pallavi to allow him to go to New Delhi and get a Ph.D., thereby securing a future for both of them. Pallavi allows him tearfully, and he leaves for Delhi. For the next few months, she continuously ignores Uma, who keeps trying to contact her. She is soon approached for marriage by Arun's family, and her family agrees. When Pallavi contacts Uma, she realizes that she is not ready to take the guilt if he blames her later on for the failure in his career, and unwillingly marries Arun. A year later, Pallavi is contacted by Prof. Murthy who informs her that Uma has gone into depression and is now an alcoholic. He is on the verge of being fired by his firm in Los Angeles and is spiraling toward a self-destructive path. Feeling responsible, Pallavi travels to meet Uma.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Back in the present, Pallavi tells Uma that she is happily married to Arun and does not wish to go back with Uma. Uma objects saying she still loves him and is leading an unhappy life. Back in San Francisco, Pallavi tells Arun about her encounter and tells him they should call Uma to their house for 10 days so he can see how happy they are. She contacts Uma, who tells her that if he fails to see the love between her and Arun, she would have to go away with him. Pallavi, initially hesitant, agrees. Uma lands in San Francisco, and immediately strikes an awkward relationship with Arun. He repetitively irks the couple and mocks their relationship, which annoys Pallavi. However, Arun's colleagues take a liking to Uma, whose pessimistic nature offends a few other people. This is soon disrupted when Chandramouli and his son-in-law, Lovababu, unexpectedly land in San Francisco. Uma is introduced as Arun's old classmate and is made to promise Pallavi that he would not reveal his actual reason for being there. Chandramouli reveals to Uma that the daughter of his friend committed suicide after having been married off to a man she doesn't love instead of her lover. He had come to know on the wedding day that Pallavi had a lover from Kavita, Pallavi's best friend. Doubting that Pallavi is unhappy with her marriage, he came to San Francisco to find her former lover so that he could get them married if she wanted. Uma, realizing his advantage, indirectly begins to coax Chandramouli and Lovababu into finding the truth themselves. When Kavita is interrogated, she covers up with a fake story saying that the lover is married and Pallavi herself tells her father that she is happy. They all go for a trip to Santa Monica for Arun's business meeting. There Pallavi discovers that Arun is having an affair after seeing him hug another girl secretively in the parking lot. Chandramouli too finds out about Uma from a phone call with Arun's father and Kavita. Pallavi confronts Arun, who lies to her again, confirming to her his infidelity. She confides in Uma, who believes she now hates Arun and wishes to be with him instead. However, when Chandramouli tells Uma that he wishes to get Pallavi married to Uma a few days later, he tells Chandramouli about his encounter with Arun. Having been an introvert since childhood, Arun's first friend was Christie, who he met during his MBA. Her attitude towards him makes him feel he has found a best friend. She unexpectedly proposes to him one day, and he rejects her replying that he has never seen her in that way. He begins to avoid her and soon finds out she is now a drug addict and has attempted suicide. His guilt persuaded him to allow Pallavi to call Uma, as he believed Uma also was heading in Christie's direction.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Uma realizes that even though Pallavi can still be his, it is only right that she stays with Arun. He forces Chandramouli and stages a play where he himself looks like a negative person to Pallavi and coaxes her into realizing Arun's honesty. Arun prepares to leave the house, believing Pallavi would be happy, but she does not allow him to do so, and they clear up their misunderstanding with Arun telling Pallavi that he loves only her. As they embrace at their reunion, Uma is heartbroken and walks out of the house, crying and shattered. A year later, he arrives in Vizag and meets Pallavi and Arun, who now have a daughter, and reveals he has come to meet a girl he met online, hoping to settle and marry.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Ninnu Kori was released on 7 July 2017. Later, a Hyderabad-Mumbai based production company, Aditya Movies bought the Hindi dubbing rights of the film. It is dubbed into Hindi as "Aaj Ka Khiladi" in 2020 which is to have a direct premiere on TV channel. Sony Networks bought the satellite rights of the Hindi dubbed version.


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Sowmya Shruthi of "The Times of India" rated three out of five and wrote ""Ninnu Kori" is an entertainer with lots of drama and emotion with just the right amount of laughter thrown in," while adding that "Nani, Aadhi and Nivetha breathe life in their characters and you can't think of anybody else playing those roles with such ease and conviction."


title: Ninnu Kori

text: "Firstpost"'s Hemanth Kumar gave 3.5/5 and praised the film for its well written characters. ""Ninnu Kori" is a character-driven film and Shiva Nirvana invests plenty of time in developing each of the characters who have to deal with their share of pain and turbulence in their lives", Kumar stated. He also added that "[the film] drives home the notion that love is transient and that in pursuit of happiness, you learn to move on from your past."


title: Ninnu Kori

text: Sangeetha Devi Dundoo writing for "The Hindu" opined that "The film is a contemporary take on relationships." Priyanka Sundar of "The Indian Express" rated two stars out of five, by writing "Shiva Nirvana has presented a love story which initially looked refreshing, but as minutes pass by, the film is too much of stretch with a few laughs thrown in."


title: Ninnu Kori

text: "Ninnu Kori" was remade in Tamil as "Thalli Pogathey" in 2021 by R. Kannan starring Atharvaa, Anupama Parameswaran and Amitash Pradhan.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The Federal Council (; ; ; ) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. It meets in the west wing of the Federal Palace in Bern.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: While the entire Federal Council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, each Councillor heads one of the seven federal executive departments. The position of President of the Swiss Confederation rotates among the seven Councillors on a yearly basis, with one year's Vice President of Switzerland becoming the next year's President of Switzerland. Ignazio Cassis has been the incumbent officeholder since 1 January 2022.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: An election of the entire Federal Council occurs every four years; voting is restricted to the 246 members of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. There is no mechanism for recall after election. Incumbents are almost always re-elected; there are many conventions and informal agreements among political parties that control the election process.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Following the announced departure of Ueli Maurer and Simonetta Sommaruga at the end of 2022, the following new members were elected on 7 December 2022:


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The Federal Council was instituted by the 1848 Federal Constitution as the "supreme executive and directorial authority of the Confederation".


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: When the Constitution was written, constitutional democracy was still in its infancy, and the founding fathers of Switzerland had little in the way of examples. While they drew heavily on the United States Constitution for the organisation of the federal state as a whole, they opted for the collegial rather than the presidential system for the executive branch of government (directorial system). This accommodated the long tradition of the rule of collective bodies in Switzerland. Under the "Ancien Régime", the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy had been governed by councils of pre-eminent citizens since time immemorial, and the later Helvetic Republic (with its equivalent Directorate) as well as the cantons that had given themselves liberal constitutions since the 1830s had also had good experiences with that mode of governance.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Today, only three other states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra and San Marino, have collective rather than unitary heads of state. However the collegial system of government has found widespread adoption in modern democracies in the form of cabinet government with collective responsibility.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The 1848 constitutional provision providing for the Federal Counciland indeed the institution of the Council itselfhas remained unchanged to this day, even though Swiss society has changed profoundly since.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The 1848 Constitution was one of the few successes of the Europe-wide democratic revolutions of 1848. In Switzerland, the democratic movement was ledand the new federal state decisively shapedby the "Radicals" (presently the Free Democratic Party, FDP). After winning the "Sonderbund War" (the Swiss civil war) against the Catholic cantons, the Radicals at first used their majority in the Federal Assembly to fill all the seats on the Federal Council. This made their former war opponents, the "Catholic-Conservatives" (presently the Christian Democratic People's Party, CVP), the opposition party. Only after Emil Welti's resignation in 1891 after a failed referendum on railway nationalisation did the Radicals decide to co-opt the Conservatives by supporting the election of Josef Zemp.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The process of involving all major political movements of Switzerland into the responsibility of government continued during the first half of the 20th century. It was hastened by the FDP's and CVP's gradually diminishing voter shares, complemented by the rise of new parties of lesser power at the ends of the political spectrum. These were the Social Democratic Party (SP) on the Left and the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB; presently the People's Party, SVP) on the Right. In due course, the CVP received its second seat in 1919 with Jean-Marie Musy, while the BGB joined the Council in 1929 with Rudolf Minger. In 1943, during World War II, the Social Democrats were also temporarily included with Ernst Nobs.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The 1959 elections, following the resignation of four Councillors, finally established the "Zauberformel", the "magical formula" that determined the Council's composition during the rest of the 20th century and established the long-standing nature of the Council as a permanent, voluntary grand coalition. In approximate relation to the parties' respective strength in the Federal Assembly, the seats were distributed as follows:


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: During that time, the FDP/PRD and CVP/PDC very slowly but steadily keeping losing voter share to the SVP/UDC and SP/PS, respectively, which overtook the older parties in popularity during the 1990s.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The governmental balance was changed after the 2003 elections, when the SVP/UDC was granted a Council seat for their leader Christoph Blocher that had formerly belonged to the CVP/PDC's Ruth Metzler. Due to controversies surrounding his conduct in office, a narrow Assembly majority did not reelect Blocher in 2007 and chose instead Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, a more moderate SVP/UDC politician, against party policy. This led to a split of the SVP/UDC in 2008. After liberal regional SVP/UDC groups including Federal Councillors Widmer-Schlumpf and Samuel Schmid founded a new Conservative Democratic Party, the SVP/UDC was left in opposition for the first time since 1929, but returned into the Council with the election of Ueli Maurer on 10 December 2008, who regained the seat previously held by Schmid, who had resigned. The SVP/UDC regained its second seat on the Council in 2015, when Widmer-Schlumpf decided to resign after the SVP/UDC's large election gains in the 2015 election, being replaced by Guy Parmelin.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Women gained suffrage on the federal level in 1971. They remained unrepresented in the Federal Council for three further legislatures, until the 1984 election of Elisabeth Kopp. In 1983, the failed election of the first official female candidate, Lilian Uchtenhagen and again in 1993 the failed election of Christiane Brunner (both SP/PS), was controversial and the Social Democrats each time considered withdrawing from the Council altogether.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: There were two female Councillors serving simultaneously for the first time in 2006, and three out of seven Councillors were women from 2007 till 2010, when Simonetta Sommaruga was elected as the fourth woman in government in place of Moritz Leuenberger, putting men in minority for the first time in history. Also remarkable is the fact that the eighth non-voting member of government, the Chancellor, who sets the government agenda, was also a woman.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Until 1999, the Constitution mandated that no canton could have multiple representatives on the Federal Council at the same time. For most of Swiss history, the canton of any given councillor was determined by their place of origin, but starting in 1987 this was changed to the canton from which they were elected (for former members of the Federal Assembly or cantonal legislative or executive bodies) or place of residence. Nothing prevented candidates from moving to politically expedient cantons; this was one of the motivators for abolishing the rule. At the 1999 Swiss referendums, the Constitution was changed to require an equitable distribution of seats among the cantons and language groups of the country, without setting concrete quotas.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Since the rule against Federal Councillors being from the same canton was abolished, there have been a few examples of it happening. The first time was from 2003 to 2007, when both Moritz Leuenberger and Christoph Blocher from the canton of Zürich were in office. It happened again between 2010 and 2018, starting when Simonetta Sommaruga and Johann Schneider-Ammann from the canton of Bern were elected in 2010. As of 2022, five cantons have never been represented on the Federal Council: Nidwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Uri and Jura. The last one is scheduled to be represented in 2023.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: With the Council's constitution in 2023, the constitutional requirement that languages and regions be appropriately balanced is under increased strain. "Latin speakers" – people who either speak French, Italian or Romansh – form a majority on the Council, despite more than seventy percent of the Swiss citizens speaking German as a first language. Likewise, all Federal Councillors (as of 2022) did not grow up in an urban area (with the exception of Karin Keller-Sutter, who spent some school years in Neuchâtel NE).


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Whenever a member resigns, they are generally replaced by someone who is not only from the same party, but also the same language group. In 2006, however, Joseph Deiss, a French-speaker, resigned and was succeeded by Doris Leuthard, a German-speaker. In 2016, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, a German-speaker, was succeeded by Guy Parmelin, a French-speaker. Historically, at least two Council seats have been held by French- or Italian-speakers. The language makeup of the Council as of 2022 is four German-speakers, two French-speakers and one Italian-speaker. In November 2017, Ignazio Cassis became the first Italian speaker to serve on the Council since 1999. For elections to the Federal Council, candidates are usually helped by a high degree of fluency in German, French and Italian.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Each year, one of the seven Councillors is elected by the United Federal Assembly as President of the Confederation. The Federal Assembly also elects a Vice President of Switzerland. By convention, the positions of President and Vice President rotate annually, each Councillor thus becoming Vice President and then President every seven years while in office.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: According to the Swiss order of precedence, the President of the Confederation is the highest-ranking Swiss official. They preside over Council meetings and carry out certain representative functions that, in other countries, are the business of a head of state. In urgent situations where a Council decision cannot be made in time, they are empowered to act on behalf of the whole Council. Apart from that, though, they are a "primus inter pares", having no power above and beyond the other six Councillors.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The President is not the Swiss head of state; this function is carried out by the Council "in corpore", that is, in its entirety. However, it has recently become usual that the President acts and is recognised as head of state while conducting official visits abroad, as the Council (also by convention) does not leave the country "in corpore". More often, though, official visits abroad are carried out by the Councillor who is head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Visiting heads of state are received by the Federal Council "in corpore".


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: The Federal Council operates mainly through weekly meetings, which are held each Wednesday at the Federal Palace in Bern, the seat of the Swiss federal government.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: During the meetings, the Councillors address each other formally (e.g. Mrs. Sommaruga, Mr. Berset), even though they are on first name terms with each other. This is done to separate the items on the agenda from the person promoting them.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: After the meetings, the Councillors take lunch together. The Council also meets regularly in conclave to discuss important topics at length; it annually conducts what is colloquially referred to as its "field trip", a day trip to some attractions in the President's home canton. In that and other respects, the Council operates like a board of directors of a major corporation.


title: Federal Council (Switzerland)

text: Each Federal Councillor heads a government department, much like the ministers in the governments of other countries. Colloquially and by the press, they are often referred to as ministers, most notably the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports as "Minister of Defence", even though no such post officially exists. However, as Council members, they are not only responsible for their own department, but also for the business of their colleagues' departments, as well as for the conduct of the government and the federal administration as a whole.