Should it be singular or plural? For example The Philippines "is" vs the Philippines "are". It seems to me that it should be "is" because even though it refers to a group of Islands, it's still one Republic. But "is" sounds funny to me for some reason so I want to make sure.

If you refer to simply "the Phillipines" the verb would be plural (are) due to the collective nature of the subject. If you refer to "the Phillipine Republic" the verb would be singular (is).

The Republic of the Philippines is
The Philippine Islands are
The Philippines is
The Islands of the Philippines are


It is just the same when you substitute the Philippines for the USA.

The United States of America is
The states in America are
The USA is
The states of the USA are

Singular. "The Philippines is where I come from."

Hehehe...