Political System of the Philippines

The political system of the Philippines occurs within an organized framework of a presidential, representative, and democratic republic with the president as both the head of state and the head of government within a pluriform multi-party system. The three brunches of government, the law-making body or the legislative branch, the law-enforcing body or the executive branch and the law-interpreting body or the judicial branch forms political system of the Philippines.

The Constitutional System

The Constitution of the Philippines or the 'Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas in Filipino' is the highest law of the land. The Constitution currently in effect was proclaimed on 2nd February, 1987 and it's popularly known as the "1987 Constitution". After Corazon Aquino came in control of the government in 1986 the new constitution was formulated.

Executive Branch

The President of the country heads the executive branch of the government and the Malacaņang Palace is the official residence of the president. He also functions as both the head of state and the head of government besides being the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The president of the Filipino political system is elected by popular vote for a term of 6 years. He cannot run for re-election unless he becomes president through constitutional succession and has served for no more than 4 years as president. The president also has the power to hire and fire his cabinet members. The Vice-President is the second highest official, also elected by popular vote and the Cabinet is appointed by the president with the consent of the Commission of Appointments.

Legislative Branch

The bicameral Congress consists of the Senate or 'Senado' serving as the upper house with 24 senators, one-half elected every three years by popular vote to serve a term of six-years and the House of Representatives or 'Kapulungan Ng Mga Kinatawan' serving as the lower house with 250 members elected by popular vote to serve three-year term. Out of these 206 members represents the districts plus 20 are chosen through sectorial representation. Any additional members are elected by the president.

Judicial Branch

The Supreme Court heads the judicial branch of the government of Philippines with the Chief Justice as its presiding officer and fourteen other associate justices. They are appointed by the President from nominations presented by the Judicial and Bar Council.

The Party in Power

There are ample numbers of political parties in the political system of the Philippines with varied ideologies. This multi-party system with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, work with each other to form coalition of governments. Currently there are two types of parties in the Philippines, the Major Parties, who communicate typically to traditional political parties, and Minor Parties or Party-list Organizations, who bank on the party-list system to win Congressional Seats.

Administrative Divisions

The Philippines's political system is separated into three geographical areas, the Visayas, Luzon and Mindanao. They are further divided into 17 regions, 81 provinces, 117 cities, 1,501 municipalities, and 41,982 barangays.

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