" HOW DID THESE ISLANDS COME TO BE CALLED ‘THE PHILIPPINES’? "

History of the Philippines:

" It happened gradually and it began with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, in 1521. He was killed while attempting to convert a local ruler to Christianity. Magellan’s crew, mostly Spaniards, spread interest in the islands back in Spain. In 1543, before a permanent Spanish colony had been settled on the islands, explorer Ruy López de Villalobos presumptuously named the two islands of Leyte and Samar as Las Islas Filipinas (The Philipine Islands). Over the next 300 years, the Spanish would colonize the additional islands we now know as the Philippines. The entire archipelago would come to be known under this name."

People first reached the Philippines about 30,000 years ago, when the Negritos immigrated from Sumatra and Borneo via boats or land-bridges. They were followed by Malays, then Chinese beginning in the ninth century, and Spaniards in the sixteenth.

Ferdinand Magellan {(claimed the Philippines for Spain in 1521.) Las islas Filipinas (Philippine Islands/Islands belonging to Philip). Named by Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543 to Samar and Leyte, honoring the Prince of Asturias, the then Philip II of Spain.} During the next 300 years,

Spanish Jesuit priests and conquistadors spread Catholicism and Spanish culture across the archipelago, with particular strength on the island of Luzon.

The Spanish Philippines was actually controlled by the government of Spanish North America prior to Mexican independence in 1810.

Throughout the Spanish colonial era, the people of the Philippines staged a number of uprisings. The final, successful revolt began in 1896 and was marred by the executions of Filipino national hero Jose Rizal (by the Spanish) and Andres Bonifacio (by rival Emilio Aguinaldo). The Philippines declared its independence from Spain on June 12, 1898.

However, the Filipino rebels did not defeat Spain unaided; the United States fleet under Admiral George Dewey actually had destroyed Spanish naval power in the area in the May 1 Battle of Manila Bay.

Rather than granting the archipelago independence, the defeated Spanish ceded the country to the United States in the December 10, 1898, Treaty of Paris.

The cession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to Spain. The treaty was signed on December 10, 1898, and ended the Spanish–American War. The Treaty of Paris came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the documents of ratification were exchanged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1898)

Revolutionary hero General Emilio Aguinaldo led the rebellion against American rule that broke out the following year. The Philippine-American War lasted three years and killed tens of thousands of Filipinos and about 4,000 Americans. On July 4, 1902, the two sides agreed to an armistice. The US government emphasized that it did not seek permanent colonial control over the Philippines, and set about instituting governmental and educational reform.
Throughout the early 20th century, Filipinos took increasing amounts of control over governance of the country. In 1935, the Philippines was established as a self-governing commonwealth, with Manuel Quezon as its first president. The nation was slated to become fully independent in 1945, but World War II interrupted that plan.
Japan invaded the Philippines, leading to the deaths of over a million Filipinos. The US under General Douglas MacArthur was driven out in 1942 but retook the islands in 1945.

On July 4, 1946, the Republic of the Philippines was established. The early governments struggled to repair the damage caused by World War II.

From 1965 to 1986, Ferdinand Marcos ran the country as a fiefdom. He was forced out in favor of Corazon Aquino, the widow of Ninoy Aquino, in 1986.
Links:
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/philippines/p/philippinesprof.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_the_Philippines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharlika
https://ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/believe-it-or-not-philippines-owned-by-one-filipino-family-the-history-of-the-philippines-maharlika-the-lost-kingdom/