Republic of the Philippines

B

Legislature

The Philippines has a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature called the Congress of the Philippines. The upper house, or Senate, has 24 members who are directly elected to serve six-year terms. Senators are limited to two consecutive terms. The lower house, or House of Representatives, has a maximum of 260 members who serve three-year terms; 208 representatives are directly elected and 52 are indirectly elected from party-list nominees of indigenous minority groups. House members are limited to three consecutive terms. A two-thirds vote of Congress is required to overrule a presidential veto of proposed legislation.

C

Judiciary

The highest tribunal in the Philippines is the Supreme Court, made up of a chief justice and 14 associate justices, all appointed by the country’s president. The mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices is 70. Other judicial bodies include a court of appeals, courts of the first instance, and municipal courts.

D

Local Government

For administrative purposes the Philippines is divided into regions, provinces, and chartered cities. Regions include the National Capital Region, encompassing the Manila metropolitan area; the Cordillera Administrative Region, a semiautonomous region of upland tribal groups in northern Luzon; and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), encompassing four provinces in Mindanao. The ARMM is a quasi self-governing region that was formed in 1989. It has an elected legislative assembly and is headed by a governor with limited executive powers. Provinces are headed by governors, and chartered cities are headed by mayors.

Philippine provinces are subdivided into cities and municipalities. Unlike chartered cities, which are accountable to the national government, cities and municipalities are responsible to the government of the surrounding province. Each provincial city or municipality is headed by an elected mayor.

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The smallest unit of local government is the barangay. In rural areas the barangay is a village, and in urban areas it is a neighborhood. Each city or municipality contains numerous barangays, and there are thousands of barangays in the Philippines. Each barangay is administered by a chief executive and a community council, whose members are elected by the residents of the barangay.

E

Political Parties

Political parties in the Philippines are extensions of the key politicians who control them, rather than institutions focused on particular ideologies or political viewpoints. Political loyalties are given to individuals, and rarely to the parties. Politicians often switch party allegiances for personal gain or regional advantage.

Two opposing coalitions dominated the 2001 legislative and provincial elections: the People Power Coalition and the Puwersa ng Masa (Power of the Masses). The People Power Coalition of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo included the Lakas ng EDSA (Power of EDSA)-National Union of Christian Democrats (Lakas-NUCD), the Partido Para sa Demokratikong Reporma (PDR), and two small parties. In 2000 these parties had joined in what was known as the United Opposition against then-President Joseph Estrada, who was subsequently forced from office. To contest the 2001 elections, Estrada and his supporters formed an opposition coalition, the Puwersa ng Masa, comprising the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) and Estrada’s party, the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).

F

Health and Welfare

Pervasive poverty detracts from the overall health of the people of the Philippines. Malnutrition is a continuing concern of health-care professionals and the government, which provides some food assistance for young children and new mothers. Most cities of the Philippines have modern health facilities, but rural areas are generally underserved. Residents of rural areas have less access to safe drinking water and sanitation. In 2004 the country had 1 physician for every 860 people. Many Filipinos also consult traditional healers in times of illness. The average life expectancy in the Philippines is 68 years. The government manages a social security system that includes post-retirement health-care benefits, but most agricultural workers are not included in the system because they tend to be self-employed or underemployed.

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