The government has three interdependent branches: legislative branch, executive branch and the judicial branch.
1. The Legislative Branch
a) Senate - national government
b) House of Representatives- national government
There are local government units such as Regional Legislative Assembly, Sanggunian Bayan, etc.
2. The Executive Branch
a) President
b) Vice-President
c) Cabinet
1) Executive department
2) Administrative divisions (Local Government Units - LGUs)
- Regions, Province, Municipality, City, Barangay
- President has general supervision authorities over LGUs
Notes: LGU is not directly supervised by the national governments.
a) Supreme Court
b) Lower Courts
1) Regular Courts : Regional Trial Courts, Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
2) Collegiate Courts: Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, Sandiganbayan
3) Muslim Courts : Sharia District Courts, Sharia Circuit Courts Yessy
4. Constitutional Commissions
There are 3 constitutional commissions: the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission on Audit.
a) Civil Service Commission
It is engaged in all civil service related tasks such as maintenance of transparency, civil service exam, position classification, compensation, standard implementation, maintain personal record of civil servant, etc.
b) Commission on Elections supervise all elections.
c) Commission on Audit examine, audit and settle all accounts and expenditures of the funds and properties of the Philippine government.
5. Office of the Ombudsman
The government and all three of its branches are independently monitored by the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is given the mandate to investigate and prosecute any government official allegedly guilty of crimes, especially Graft and Corruption. The Ombudsman is assisted by six deputies: the Overall Deputy, the Deputy for Luzon, the Deputy for Visayas, the Deputy for Mindanao, the Deputy for the Armed Forces, and the Special Prosecutor.