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| Index > Investor Information > The Philippines > Government |
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The Philippines is recognized as Asia's first and oldest Democratic Republic, coinciding with its declaration of independence and establishment of the Malolos Republic by first Philippine President General Emilio Aguinaldo. It has a representative democracy patterned after the U.S. model.
The Philippine Government has three independent and co-equal branches: the executive, legislative and the judiciary. The Chief Executive, the President of the Republic, acts as the head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Congress (The Legislature) is divided into two Houses. They are the Senate, led by the Senate President, and the House of Representatives, headed by the Speaker of the House. The Supreme Court (The judiciary) is led by the Chief Justice.
The National Government exercises administrative supervision over 17 Regions through its Line Departments - each with distinct duties, functions and responsibilities. Local Government Units (LGUs) exercise considerabler autonomy over political and territorial boundaries. Such powers and functions are defined, delineated and devolved from national to local units by virtue of The Local Government Code of 1991.
The biggest of these political subdivisions is the Province, led by the Governor as the local chief executive. Other members of the provincial government include the Vice Governor and Provincial board members, who also convene as a legislative body - the Provincial Board. There are 79 provinces in the Philippines.
Provinces are further split into geo-political sub-divisions called cities and municipalities as determined by population and economic self-sufficiency - with cities having larger populations and generally bigger, more diverse economies. The Philippines has 117 cities and 1500 municipalities.
Cities and municipalities have similar functions to provinces, although over smaller geographic areas. City/Municipal Mayors, Vice Mayors, and Councilors perform parallel functions to those of their provincial counterparts.
Cities and municipalities are divided into the smallest geopolitical units, the barangays. There are 41,975 barangays in the archipelago.
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