THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILIPPINES

There are theories that support the origin of the Philippines:

1. Continental Drift Theory

it supports the claim of Alfred Wegener (1912) that two (2) continents drifted some 200
million years ago: Laurasia to the northern hemisphere and Gondwanaland to the
southern hemisphere
the Philippines is believed to have been part of the continent Laurasia
according to Alfred Holmes (1944), the two continents drifted as a result of pressure
caused by volcanic eruptions in the ridges and in the center of the Pacific Ocean and
Atlantic Ocean
The Philippines sits on a sub-plate of the Eurasian Plate now called Philippine Plate

2. Pacific Theory

it supports the claim of Dr. Bailey Willis that the Philippines was formed due to
eruptions of volcanoes in the periphery of the Pacific Basin of the Pacific Ocean as far
as the eastern part of Asia continent
such eruption of underwater volcanoes is called volcanism
the eruptions of underwater volcanoes some 200 million years ago resulted in the piling
up of extrusive or molten rocks causing the emergence of islands in the Pacific Ocean
the continuing process of volcanism formed the structural foundation of the Philippines

3. Asiatic Theory

according to this theory, the Philippines was not part of the continental shelf of Asia

it claims that two (2) processes of diastrophism namely, upfolding and upthrust
faulting caused the rising (or emergence) and formation of the Philippine
archipelago,and all mountains in the archipelago
this occurred during the Paleozoic Era some 200 million years ago

4. Land Bridges Theory

the formation of glacier in many parts of the world resulted in ice sheets to cover a great
portion of North America, Europe and Asia
According to this theory, all the islands in the Philippines were connected to eachother
and that others were even connected to nearby countries in Southeast Asia by land
bridges.