Philippine Government

The Philippine Goverment is a republic with a presidential
form of government, which has three coequal branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary.

The Republic of the Philippines has a representative democracy formed after the United States of America's system of government. The 1987 Philippine constitution, adopted during the Corazon Aquino administration,re-established a presidential system of government with a bicameral legislature and an independent judiciary.

The political system in the Philippines takes place in a structured framework of a presidential, representative, and democratic republic whereby the president is both the head of state and the head of government within a pluriform multi-party system.

The structure revolves around three separate and autonomous yet interdependent branches: the legislative branch or the law-making body, the executive branch or the law-enforcing body, and the judicial branch or the law-interpreting body.

Executive power is exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two-chamber congress -- the Senate (the upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.

It is believed that Philippine political parties share one common platform. However, it is also perceived that Philippine political parties are also not based on political platform, but rather on personality.

Turncoatism is so widespread that there were moves from lawmakers in the past to make this illegal, since it is believed that switching party allegiances are easy in Philippine politics. The image of turncoatism among politicians also fuels the belief that many Philippine politicians are opportunist, using their political power for personal gain.