Government of the Philippines

The legislative power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines which consists of the Senate of the Philippines and the 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 Tito Sotto, while the current Speaker of the House of Representatives is Lord Allan Velasco.

Legislative power:

National government

• Senate
• House of Representatives

Local government

• Regional parliament
• Sangguniang Panlalawigan
• Sangguniang Panlungsod
• Sangguniang Bayan
• Sangguniang Barangay

The president and vice president are elected separately by national popular vote. The Vice President is first in line to succession if the President resigns, is removed after impeachment, 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.[2]

Executive leadership:

National government

• President
• Vice-President
• Cabinet Secretaries

Local government

• Regional Chief Minister
• Provincial Governor
• Provincial Vice-Governor
• City/Municipal Mayor
• City/Municipal Vice-Mayor
• Barangay chairman

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.[3] The sitting Chief Justice is Lucas Bersamin,[4] the 25th 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:

• Regional Trial Courts
• First-level courts:
  • Metropolitan Trial Courts
  • Municipal Trial Courts
  • Municipal Trial Courts in Cities
  • Municipal Circuit Trial Courts

Sharia Courts

• Sharia District Courts
• Sharia Circuit Courts

Article 9 of the Constitution of the Philippines establishes three constitutional commissions: the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission on Audit.[5]

The Philippine government or 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.

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)

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