The Philippines is an archipelago.
Luzon . Located in the northern region of the archipelago , it is the economic and political center of the nation , being home to the country 's capital city , Manila , as well as Quezon City , the country 's most populous city . Philippine Sea . It is bordered by the Philippine archipelago ( Luzon , Catanduanes , Samar , Leyte and Mindanao ) on the southwest ; Halmahera , Morotai , Palau , Yap , and Ulithi ( of the Carolines ) on the southeast ; the Marianas , including Guam , Saipan , and Tinian , on the east ; the Bonin and Iwo Jima on the northeast ; the Japanese islands of Honshu , Shikoku , and Kyūshū on the north ; the Ryukyu Islands on the northwest ; and Taiwan in the west . The Philippines ( [ ˈfɪlᵻpiːnz ] Pilipinas [ ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs ] ) , officially the Republic of the Philippines ( [ Republika ng Pilipinas , links = no ] ) , is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean . It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south : Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . Bounded by the South China Sea on the west , the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest , the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north , Vietnam to the west , Palau to the east and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south .