The fundamental rights are entrenched in a nation’s legal and political framework, as established by its constitution. A constitution that upholds equality, liberty and social justice can provide a sound basis for realization of human rights. Likewise, a political system committed to democracy and the rule of law is critical in establishing an environment for advancing these rights.

The Philippine Constitution was ratified by a national plebiscite on 2 February 1987 and entered into force on 11 February 1987. It established a democratic and republican state, with a sovereign people from whom all government authority emanates. The constitution, vested the power of government on three separate branches: the executive, the legislative and the judicial.

Executive branch
The executive power is vested in the president, who is the chief of state, head of the government, and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He or she is empowered to control all the executive departments, bureaus and offices, to ensure that laws are truly executed. Presidential nominations of the cabinet members and ambassadors are confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, consisting of twelve senators and twelve representatives. The president may also grant amnesty with the consensus of the majority of the Congress, and as a chief diplomat, negotiate treaties, which must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. The president is elected by the direct vote of the people for a six- year term and not eligible for reelection.

The constitution also provides for a vice president. The vice president is elected by popular vote for six-year term for no more than two successive terms. He or she can also serve as a member of the cabinet. In case of the president’s death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation, the vice president shall become the president and serve the remaining term.

Legislative branch
The Legislative power in the national government is vested in the Congress of the Philippines consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 24 elected members half of which are elected every three years. The term of office is six years, and senators cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. The House of Representatives is composed of not more than 250 members. The most of the representatives are elected from the legislative district in provinces, cities, and Metropolitan Manila area on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio of their respective populations. The party-list representatives constitute 20% of the total number of representatives. They are elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional and sectoral organizations. Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a three-year term and shall not serve for more than three consecutive terms.

The Philippine Congress is authorizes to conduct enquiries, to declare war and override a presidential veto with two thirds vote of both houses. All appropriate bills must originate in the House however the president is given a line-item veto over them. The bill may be passed into law by either House of the representatives or by the Senate after it has passed the three days reading and has been approved by the president. If the president takes no action on the bill for 30 day, it automatically approved and become law. If the president vetoes the bill, it returns to the house that passed it and will be subject for reconsideration. The Senate ratifies treaties by two-thirds vote.

The constitution allows people to enact laws or approve or reject laws passed by Congress or local legislative bodies with a petition signed by at least 10% of all registered voters.

Judicial branch
The Judiciary has a common law power of equity and tends to recognize judicial precedents. The judicial law is vested in the Supreme Court and in such lower courts as established by law. The 1981 Judicial Reorganization Act established for main levels of courts and confers special courts: At the apex is the Supreme Court, it consists of chief justice and fourteen associate justices. It is the highest court of all court of appeal in all civil and criminal matters. The Supreme Court has the power to discipline judges of lower courts or order their dismissal; The Court of Appeals hears appeal from the regional trial courts and quasi-judicial agencies, instrumentalities, boards and commission; The regional trial courts hear appeal from the metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts, and municipal circuit trial courts and have exclusive original jurisdiction over all actions involving family cases and other serious cases; The Court of Tax Appeals is a special court with sole appellate jurisdiction over appeals of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Commission of Customs on certain issues. Members of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts are appointed by the president from at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy.

Local Government
The Philippines is divided into 17 regions, 79 provinces, 117 chartered cities, 1,500 municipalities and 42,000 barangays. The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government with the exception of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Province is the largest local administrative unit, headed by the elected governor and vice governor. Municipalities are subordinate to provinces, and barangays and rural villages are at lowest level. Chartered cities are not part of provinces and are headed by a mayor and vice mayor. The mayor has some discretionary power of local appointment. Each local government unit has their own legislative bodies. The laws provided that the members of these bodies should include three other sectoral representatives, including one female representative. They have the power to create their own source of revenues and to levy taxes, fees, and charges however, the president exercises general supervision over the local government.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has an elected Regional Assembly that creates regional ordinances, Regional Governor and special court. The Executive power is vested in a regional governor, who serves a three-year term for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The regional assembly confirms the appointment of the members of the seven-person cabinet in which two should come from the indigenous cultural communities.

Health
The health system of the Philippines has been revitalized by the recent Administration. This is in line with the administration’s thrust to prioritize delivery services to the masses and improve the quality of life of all Filipinos especially the poor. The health sector of the country works hard to ensure accessibility and quality of health care to improve the quality of life of the Filipinos. The government budget for health raise up by 22% from Php 11.563 billion of 2007 to Php 2,715 billion for 2008, (inclusive of Php 1 billion fund for the government hospital).

The position of the Medical Tourism in the country was able to meet higher standard. Since residents of industrialized countries travel to obtain medical, dental, surgical care at a low-cost world class medical treatment. The Philippines has been growing as a tourist destination of choice for health and vacation because of the world class physicians, modern technology and the distinctive Filipino way of caring and giving compassion, giving clients a high quality experience with such outstanding results.

Education
The Philippine educational system is parallel to that of the United States, with English as the medium of instruction. Schools are classified into public or government schools and private schools. There are also International schools, Preparatory schools and Science High schools. The general pattern of Formal education follows four stages: Pre-primary (nursery to kindergarten); six years of Primary or Elementary education ; Secondary education for 4 years; and the Tertiary education usually takes 4-5 years except in some cases as in law school or medical school which last for 8-10 years. Graduate study is an additional 2 or more years.

In 2003, the literacy rate of the Philippines reached 92.6% of the total population. In school year 1999-2000 of the compulsory primary level, 12.6 million were enrolled with 7.1 % in private sector while in Secondary level of the same school year there was an overall total of 5.1 million students with 24% in private schools. In order to improve the quality of education in the country, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels the government allocate a sum of Php 145 billion for 2008.

Labor
The labor and welfare conditions of employees both working for government and private firms are given importance. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) an executive body mandated in order to promote gainful employment opportunities, develop human resources, protect works and their welfare, and maintain industrial peace. As of January 2005, there was a slight increased in the labor force population, by 0.6% to 35.7 million from 35.4 million. The unemployment rate was around 11.7% in 2004. The underemployment rate of the work forces reached 7.7% in 2005. As of 2004, the distributions of the labor force in the Philippines were as follows, agriculture 36%, industry 16% and services 48%.