The Political Environment of the Philippines

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The Political Environment of the Philippines

Historical Facts:

The Philippines overcame many obstacles in history that reshaped the political environment of modern times.

The Philippine islands have a strong Spanish influence. Records in history date back to 1521 where Ferdinand Magellan colonized the islands in the name of Charles I of Spain. The Spanish objectives focused Philippine society toward the spread of Christianity, colonization in the name of Spain, and acquiring key positions in the spice trade from Asia. Spanish settlers later realized that the P.I. did not have precious spices or gold minerals. Profits from the colonies were going to come from agricultural resources only. Agricultural resources such as corn and rice were mainly cultivated for profits although the colony depleted funds faster than they could generate funds.

Spanish rule declined slowly beginning at 1762 due to British forces capturing Manila in the seven years war. Although Spanish rule presided in governmental issues, the decline did not escalate till 1898 when American influence began. The Treaty of Paris was enacted and Spain gave the U.S. all right to claim P.I. as a U.S. colony.

Constitutional framework of the current government

The Treaty of Paris led to the Malolos constitution after 1898. This government's first constitution was modeled from France, Belgium and some South American republics. The Philippine bill of rights was also drafted from the same nations. It was not until 1935 under the terms of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which created the Philippine Commonwealth. The Philippine constitution was shortly revised to model the United States version. Philippines also modeled the bill of rights from the Americans.

In 1972 the people called for a democratic convention so that they could revise the constitution to fit the Filipino peoples needs, but the current president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law of the land. Marcos rose to near dictatorial status in power. His status only lasted until Corizon Aquino defeated him. She started many new ideas such as, proclaiming democracy for the people. This was known as the "people's power" party. She also initiated to draft the "Freedom C...

... middle of paper ...

...evels are:

1. The Supreme Court

2. The Intermediate Appellate Courts

3. The Regional Municipal Courts

4. The Local Municipal Courts

The Supreme Court is the highest court with jurisdiction over all cases affecting government officials, constitutionality of the law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, or regulation. The Intermediate Appellate court is also known as the court of appeals. The I.A. court system has special Muslim courts for Muslim Filipinos. I.A. also has a court of tax appeals along with the Sandiganbayan. The Sandiganbayan is another special court that is equivalent to the court of appeals and under presidential decree.

Sandiganbayan tries government officials and employees in violation to the Corrupt Practices Act and Anti Graft Act. The Regional court system has jurisdiction over criminal case's that is serious. The local level has three levels: the metropolitan trial court, the municipal trial court, and municipal circuit court. These

courts hear less serious criminal cases concerning public and private issues of the communities.

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