Government of the Philippines

Government of the Republic of the Philippines
Pamahalaan ng Republika ng Pilipinas

Formation	1898 (official) 1987 (de jure)
Country	Philippines
Website	gov.ph
Legislative branch
Legislature	Congress
Meeting place	Batasang Pambansa Complex (House of Representatives/Lower Chamber) GSIS Building (Senate/Upper Chamber)
Executive branch
Leader	President
Appointment	Election by popular vote
Headquarters	Malacañang Palace
Main organ	Cabinet
Judicial branch
Court	Supreme Court
Seat	Manila Baguio City (summer)

The Government of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) is the national government of the unitary state of the Philippines. It is a presidential, representative, and democratic republic where the President of the Philippines is both the head of state and the head of government within a pluriform multi-party system.

The government has three interdependent branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. The powers of the branches are vested by the Constitution of the Philippines in the following: Legislative power is vested in the two-chamber Congress of the Philippines—the Senate is the upper chamber and the House of Representatives is the lower chamber.

Executive power is exercised by the government under the leadership of the President. Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.

Legislative Department

The legislative power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines which consists of the Senate and House of Representatives. The upper house is located in Pasay City, while the lower house is located in Quezon City. Both are in Metro Manila. The district and sectoral representatives are elected for a term of three years. They can be re-elected but they may not run for a fourth consecutive term.

Senators are elected to a term of six years. They can be re-elected but may not run for a third consecutive term. The House of Representatives may opt to pass for a vacancy of a legislative seat, which leads to a special election. The winner of the special election will serve the unfinished term of the previous district representative, and will be considered as one elective term. The same rule also applies in the Senate, however it only applies if the seat was vacated before a regular legislative election.

The current President of the Senate is Franklin Drilon, while the current Speaker of the House of Representatives is Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.

Executive Department

Main article: Executive departments of the Philippines

The executive power is vested in the President of the Philippines. The President is elected by popular vote. The principal workplace of the President is the Malacañang Palace in San Miguel, Manila. The executive branch is currently headed by President Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, The second highest official is elected separately from the President by popular vote. The current Vice President is Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance and was given the Coconut Palace in Pasay City as his principal workplace. The Vice-President is first in line to succession if the President resigns, is impeached or dies. The Vice-President is usually, though not always, a member of the president's cabinet. If there is a vacancy in the position of vice-president, the President will appoint any member of Congress (usually a party member) as the new vice-president. The appointment must then be validated by a three-fourths vote of the Congress.

Judicial Department

The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court of the Philippines and lower courts established by law. The Supreme Court, which has a Chief Justice as its head and 14 Associate Justices, occupies the highest tier of the judiciary. The justices serve until the age of 70. The justices are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council of the Philippines. The sitting Chief Justice is Maria Lourdes Sereno, the 24th to serve in that position.

Other court types of courts, of varying jurisdiction around the archipelago, are the:
Lower Collegiate Courts:

• Court of Appeals
• Court of Tax Appeals
• Sandiganbayan

Regular Courts:

• Court of Appeals
• Regional
• Municipal Circuit Trial Courts

Muslim Courts

• Sharia District Courts
• Sharia Circuit Courts

Office of the Ombudsman

See also: Corruption in the Philippines

The government and all three of its branches are independently monitored by the office of the Ombudsman (Filipino: Tanodbayan). The Ombudsman is given the mandate to investigate and prosecute any government official allegedly guilty of crimes, especially Graft and Corruption. The Ombudsman is assisted by six deputies: the Overall Deputy, the Deputy for Luzon, the Deputy for Visayas, the Deputy for Mindanao, the Deputy for the Armed Forces, and the Special Prosecutor.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of the Philippines

Local government hierarchy. The dashed lines emanating from the president means that the President only exercises general supervision on local government.

The Philippines has four main classes of elected administrative divisions, often lumped together as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest division:

1. Autonomous regions
2. Provinces (lalawigan, probinsiya, kapuoran) and independent cities (lungsod, siyudad/ciudad, dakbayan, dakbanwa, lakanbalen)
3. Municipalities (bayan, balen, bungto, banwa) and component cities (lungsod, siyudad/ciudad, dakbayan, dakbanwa, lakanbalen)
4. Barangays (also known as barrio)

Beyond these, the national government groups provinces and independent cities into regions, e.g. Metro Manila or Region VI. The President has the prerogative to create, abolish and determine the composition of regions, which is done so most often in consultation with the local government units affected, with the exception of autonomous regions, where the residents of the local government units have to ratify in a plebiscite their inclusion in such a setup.

See also

• Congress of the Philippines
  • Senate of the Philippines
  • House of Representatives (Philippines)
• President of the Philippines
  • Executive departments of the Philippines
  • Administrative divisions of the Philippines
• Supreme Court of the Philippines