About
The Republic of the Philippines is a constitutional democracy, with the President as head of state. The president and vice president are elected by the people for six-year terms. The national government has three coequal branches that exercise a system of checks and balances: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The executive branch consists of the President and his Cabinet. The Senate and the House of Representatives make up the bicameral legislature. The Supreme Court heads the systems of courts under the judicial branch.
Congress consists of a 24-member Senate and a 250-member House of Representatives. The voters of the entire nation elect senators to six-year terms. Voters from different districts elect 200 of the representatives to three-year terms. The remaining 50 representatives are selected from lists drawn up by the political parties to ensure representation of women, ethnic minorities, and certain economic and occupational groups. The number selected from each party’s list is about one-fourth of the number of the party’s elected representatives. All Philippine citizens who are at least 18 years old may vote.
The Philippine Constitution is the fundamental basis of the laws of the land. The country has had several Constitutions, but the current one was adopted through a nationwide plebiscite in 1987. It is supported by other laws, such as the Civil Code, the Labor Code, the Omnibus Investments Code, and the National Internal Revenue Code, as well as by rules and regulations passed by government bodies. The latter include rulings, letters of instruction, circulars, memoranda, administrative orders, judicial orders, and pronouncements, as well as laws adopted by local government within the scope of the Constitution.
The Philippines is also called the Pearl of the orient seas and the Queen of the Pacific, and is officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
The Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country, with an estimated population of about 92 million people. Its national economy is the 47th largest in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP nominal) of over US$ 168.6 billion (nominal).It is estimated that there are about 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, equivalent to about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.
A former colony of Spain and the United States, the Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being East Timor. There are also a number of minority religious groups, including Protestant Christians (comprising 10 to 15%), Islam (5%), Buddhism, Hinduism, and other beliefs. Multiple ethnicities, and cultures are found throughout the islands. Ecologically, the Philippines is one of the most diverse countries in the world.