The Government of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) is the national

government of the Philippines. It is a unitary state 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 Philippinesthe Senate is the upper chamber and the House of Representatives is the
lower chamber.[1]

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.

Contents
1 Legislative Branch

2 Executive Branch

3 Judicial Branch

4 Constitutional Commissions

5 Office of the Ombudsman

6 Administrative divisions

7 See also

8 References

Legislative Branch
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 Aquilino Pimentel III, while the current Speaker of the
House of Representatives is Pantaleon Alvarez.

Executive Branch
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 Malacaang Palace in San
Miguel, Manila. The executive branch is currently headed by President Rodrigo Duterte. 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 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.[2]

Judicial Branch
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 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

Constitutional Commissions
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.

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.