Local government
Before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, most people lived in small independent villages called barangays, each ruled by a local paramount ruler called a datu. The Spanish later founded many small towns, which they called poblaciones, and from those centres roads or trails were built in four to six directions, like the spokes of a wheel. Along the roadsides arose numerous new villages, designated barrios under the Spanish, that were further subdivided into smaller neighbourhood units called sitios.
Elements of both Spanish and indigenous local settlement structures have persisted into the early 21st century. The country is divided administratively into several dozen provinces, which are grouped into a number of larger regions. The National Capital Region (Metro Manila) has special status, as does the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the far south. Each province is headed by an elected governor. The provinces collectively embrace more than 100 cities and some 1,500 municipalities. The poblaciones are now the central business and administrative districts of larger municipalities. Although contemporary rural and urban settlement revolves around the poblaciones, the population is typically concentrated in the surrounding barangays, reinstated during the Marcos regime as the basic units of government (replacing the barrios). The barangays, which number in the tens of thousands, consist of communities of fewer than 1,000 residents that fall within the boundaries of a larger municipality or city. Cities, municipalities, and barangays all have elected officials.
Justice
The constitution of 1987, which reestablished the independence of the judiciary after the Marcos regime, provides for a Supreme Court with a chief justice and 14 associate justices. Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president from a list submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council and serve until they reach the age of 70. Lower courts include the Court of Appeals; regional, metropolitan, and municipal trial courts; and special courts, including the Court of Tax Appeals, Shariʿa (Sharīʿah) district and circuit courts of Islamic law, and the Sandiganbayan, a court for trying cases of corruption. Because justices and judges enjoy fixed tenure and moderate compensation, the judiciary has generally been less criticized than other branches of the government. However, the system remains challenged by lack of fiscal autonomy and an extremely low budget that long has amounted to just a tiny fraction of total government spending.
In order to reduce the load of the lower courts, local committees of citizens called Pacification Committees (Lupon Tagapamayapa) have been organized to effect extrajudicial settlement of minor cases between barangay residents. In each lupon (committee) there is a Conciliation Body (Pangkat Tagapagkasundo), the main function of which is to bring opposing parties together and effect amicable settlement of differences. The committee cannot impose punishment, but otherwise its decisions are binding.
Political process
Partisan political activity was vigorous until 1972, when martial law restrictions under Marcos all but eliminated partisan politics. Where the principal rivals had been the Nacionalista and Liberal parties, Marcos’s New Society Movement (Kilusan Bagong Lipunan; KBL), an organization created from elements of the Nacionalista Party and other supporters, emerged as predominant. Organized political opposition was revived for legislative elections held in 1978, and, since the downfall of Marcos, partisan politics has returned to its pre-1972 level, with a large number of political parties emerging.
The Filipino political scene is marked by parties constantly forming, re-forming, merging, and splintering into factions. Among the most prominent parties in the early decades of the 21st century were the Liberal Party and the Lakas Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats, the latter coming into being after the merger—completed in 2009—between the National Union of Christian Democrats (known as Lakas) and the Alliance of Free Filipinos (known as Kampi). Other parties included the Nacionalista Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, and the Force of the Filipino Masses (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino; PMP). Many smaller parties are splinters from the larger organizations or are associated with particular regional interests. In addition, political victories are often achieved through party coalition, such as the United National Alliance, a coalition between the PMP and the Filipino Democratic Party–Laban that elected boxer Manny Pacquiao to the lower house in 2013.
Certain armed political organizations also operate within the country. The two main ones are the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim separatist group that officially accepted Mindanao’s status as an autonomous region in the late 20th century but, in so doing, spawned splinter groups that remain committed to achieving a separate Islamic state; and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which split from the MNLF in the late 1970s and more aggressively sought an independent Islamic state for Muslim Filipinos (Moros). In 2012 Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III and the MILF concluded a framework agreement to establish an autonomous Islamic region on the southern island of Mindanao, but breakaway factions within the MILF rejected the deal. Other groups included the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a local fundamentalist Muslim organization that gained notoriety though its kidnap-for-ransom activities and alleged links with international terrorism, and the National Democratic Front (NDF), a communist-led insurgency movement.
The Philippines has universal suffrage for citizens who are at least 18 years old and have lived in the country for at least one year. Suffrage was granted to women in 1937. Since that time women have become prominent leaders at all levels of government, including the presidency.
Security
The Department of National Defense is divided into three services: the army, the navy, and the air force. The army is the largest division. Service in the military is voluntary and is open to both men and women. The commander in chief of the armed forces (the president of the Philippines) is a civilian.
The armed forces are responsible for external defense. However, they also work with the Philippine National Police (PNP) to contain the antigovernment military actions of the NDF, the MILF, the MNLF, and other domestic militant organizations. Both the military and the police participate in international peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations; Philippine forces have been deployed in such a capacity to Afghanistan, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Sudan, and other sites of conflict. The armed forces additionally engage in nonmilitary activities, such as providing disaster relief, constructing roads and bridges, and participating in literacy campaigns.
Under a series of agreements reached in 1947, shortly after Philippine independence, the United States continued to maintain several bases in the Philippines and to provide the Philippines with military equipment and training. Revision of the agreements in 1978 recognized Philippine sovereignty over the bases. All installations subsequently raised the Philippine flag and were placed under Filipino command.
When the revised treaties expired in 1991, the U.S. military presence on the bases ended. However, the two countries remained military allies, carrying out joint military exercises and engaging in mutual military assistance. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001, the Philippines joined the U.S.-led global coalition against terrorism. In so doing, the Philippines aimed to upgrade the effectiveness of its armed forces in combating terrorist activity, not only in the international arena but also within its own borders. In 2014 the two countries signed a new 10-year agreement that gave the U.S. military access to several of the bases.
The PNP falls under the supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and is organized into regional and provincial commands. There are also numerous private armies organized by landowners and local politicians. Unsuccessful attempts have been made by various administrations to disband these civilian forces.
Health and welfare
Health and welfare are the responsibilities of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The DOH maintains general, specialized, and research hospitals in urban centres throughout the country. There are also government-operated regional health centres and rural units, as well as private hospitals. Incorporated into the DSWD are several government agencies that address the needs of children, youths, women, families, and people with disabilities. A number of nongovernmental organizations and private social welfare agencies also cooperate with the department.
The rate of mortality in the early 21st century was considerably lower than it had been a few decades earlier in the latter part of the 20th century, particularly among infants, children under the age of five years, and mothers. There was also a generally steady increase in average life expectancy. The improvement in health is credited to better prenatal care and the services of more trained midwives, doctors, and nurses; improved housing, sanitation, and social security benefits; the provision of health services to government employees; the increasing number of medical and nursing school graduates; and the requirement that a medical graduate render rural service. Nonetheless, the demand for health care continues to outstrip available resources; a large number of trained medical professionals emigrate, particularly to the United States, and many of the poorest people still rely on the services of practitioners of traditional medicine and unlicensed midwives.
Housing
There is a serious housing shortage everywhere, although it is especially acute in Manila. In many places, people live in their own dwellings, but the houses are often substandard and lack elementary facilities for health and sanitation. To help meet this problem, the government has relocated thousands of “informal settlers” (i.e., squatters) in Manila to resettlement areas in nearby provinces. Assorted housing plans also have been instituted by various administrations since the Marcos era. Such projects generally consisted of model communities that provided residents with hygienic dwellings, a number of amenities, and facilities for raising livestock and for pursuing cottage industries and other means of making a living. Other important programs have included converting vacant government lands into housing sites for low-income individuals, as well as providing mortgage programs that allow needy families to acquire tracts of land for housing construction and improvement through membership in a specific development community.
Education
The Department of Education ensures that all school-age children and youths receive a basic high-quality education that will allow them to function as productive, socially responsible citizens. Elementary education in the Philippines is compulsory; it starts at age five and lasts for seven years (one year of kindergarten and six years of primary education). Secondary education begins at age 12 and lasts for an additional six years; undergraduate college instruction typically is four years. Vocational schools offer specialized training for one to three years, some in collaboration with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, an organization formed through the merger of several government agencies in the mid-1990s. The Bureau of Alternative Learning System offers opportunities to attain a basic education outside of the formal school system.
There are dozens of state-run universities and colleges, a large portion of them in Metro Manila, as well as a number of private institutions. The University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in the Philippines, was founded in 1611. Other prominent tertiary institutions include the University of the Philippines (1908), which has numerous campuses and is the only national university in the country; the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (1904), another public institution, with its main campus in Manila and numerous affiliated campuses on Luzon; and the Philippine Women’s University (1932), a private institution (coeducational since the late 20th century) that has campuses in Manila, Quezon City, and Davao. Many technical institutions and community colleges serve the provinces.
Pilipino (Filipino) is the medium of instruction in all elementary-school subjects except science, mathematics, and the English language, which are taught in English. The medium of instruction at the secondary and tertiary levels typically is English. A chronic shortage of supplies and facilities was partially remedied by a textbook program begun in the mid-1970s and by the large-scale manufacture of prefabricated classrooms.