Haha! Good question. Because during the Spanish colonial period, the country used to be called ‘Las Islas Filipinas’ and the more fine-bred people ‘Filipinos.’ (The real locals were called a more derogatory term, ‘Indios.’ But that’s another story. 😄)

When the Americans took over, they anglicized the name to ‘Philippines.’ I guess the word ‘Filipinos’ kind of stuck and they didn’t change it.