Government of the Philippines in the context of "Metro Manila"

Quezon City (UK: /ˈkeɪzɒn/, US: /ˈkeɪsɒn/; Filipino: Lungsod Quezon [luŋˈsod ˈkɛson] ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 3,084,270 people. It was founded on October 12, 1939, and was named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second president of the Philippines. Quezon City served as the capital of the Philippines from 1948 until 1976, when the designation was returned to Manila.

The city was intended to be the national capital of the Philippines that would replace Manila, as the latter was suffering from overcrowding, lack of housing, poor sanitation, and traffic congestion. To create Quezon City, several barrios were carved out from the towns of Caloocan, Marikina, San Juan and Pasig, in addition to the eight vast estates the Philippine government purchased for this purpose. It was officially proclaimed the national capital on October 12, 1949, and several government departments and institutions moved out of Manila and settled into the new capital city. This necessitated the expansion of the city northward, carving out Novaliches from Caloocan which divided it into two non-contiguous parts. Several barrios were also taken from San Mateo and parts of Montalban. However, on June 24, 1976, Presidential Decree No. 940 was enacted, which reverted national capital status to Manila while the whole of Metro Manila was designated as the seat of government. The city was also chosen as the regional center of Southern Tagalog, which was created in 1965, along with the provinces of Quezon and Aurora, the birthplace of Manuel L. Quezon; however, its status of regional center became ineffective when the region was divided into Calabarzon and Mimaropa, through the effect of Executive Order No. 103 in May 2002 under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Aurora was transferred to the authority of Central Luzon, with Southern Tagalog limited to being a cultural-geographic region.

The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially, the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter. The Senate meets at the GSIS Building in Pasay, while the House of Representatives meets at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, which also hosts joint sessions.

The Senate is composed of 24 senators half of which are elected every three years. Each senator, therefore, serves a total of six years. The senators are elected at-large and do not represent any geographical district.

The New People's Army rebellion (often shortened to NPA rebellion) is an ongoing conflict between the government of the Philippines and the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines. It is the most prominent communist armed conflict in the Philippines, with more than 43,000 insurgency-related fatalities between 1969 and 2008. It is also one of the longest ongoing communist insurgencies in the world.

Due to the involvement of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the legal wing of the CPP, in the conflict, it is also called the CPP–NPA–NDF conflict, or simply the C/N/N conflict, especially in the context of peace talks with the Philippine government.

The Benham Rise, formally designated as Philippine Rise (Filipino: Talampas ng Pilipinas) by the Philippine government, is an extinct volcanic ridge located in the Philippine Sea approximately 250 kilometers (160 mi) east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela. The feature has long been known to the people of Catanduanes as Kalipung-awan, which literally means “loneliness from an isolated place”, since the precolonial era.

Under the Philippine Sea lie a number of basins including the West Philippine Basin, inside of which is located the Central Basin Fault (CBF). Philippine Rise is located in the CBF and its geologic basement is probably a micro-continent. Several scientific surveys have been made on the feature to study its nature and its impact on tectonic subduction, including one about its effects on the 1990 Luzon earthquake.

The Palawan Passage is a natural waterway in the southeastern South China Sea to the west of the island of Palawan in the Philippine Islands. It is deep and relatively free of navigational hazards, making it an important shipping route. The entire Palawan Passage lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and in waters the Government of the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

Education in the Philippines is compulsory at the basic education level, composed of kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1–6), junior high school (grades 7–10), and senior high school (grades 11–12). The educational system is managed by three government agencies by level of education: the Department of Education (DepEd) for basic education; the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for higher education; and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for technical and vocational education. Public education is funded by the national government.

Private schools are generally free to determine their curriculum in accordance with existing laws and regulations. Institutions of higher education are classified as public or private; public institutions are subdivided into state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local colleges and universities (LCUs).

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. The convention established that cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Meanwhile, natural heritage consists of physical and biological formations, geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened flora and fauna), and sites used for scientific research and/or conservation, as well as those regarded for its natural aesthetic.

The Republic of the Philippines ratified the convention on September 19, 1985, making its historical and natural sites eligible for inclusion on the list. The country had its first sites (the Baroque Churches and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park) included in 1993, and now has six sites, the latest being the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in 2014. Of those six sites, three each are cultural and natural. In addition, the government of the Philippines has also put 19 sites on the tentative list, meaning that they intend to consider them for nomination in the future. The lack of World Heritage Sites were mainly reasoned to little awareness among locals, the absence of competent people involved, and the lack of government funding. One site, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, was previously listed as a World Heritage in Danger due to the lack of conservation and monitoring efforts, but has since been removed as an endangered site due to successful community and government conservation actions.

The Constitution of the Philippines (Filipino: Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas or Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas) is the supreme law of the Philippines. Its final draft was completed by the Constitutional Commission on October 12, 1986, and ratified by a nationwide plebiscite on February 2, 1987. The Constitution remains unamended to this day.

The Constitution consists of a preamble and eighteen articles. It mandates a democratic and republican form of government and includes a bill of rights that guarantees entrenched freedoms and protections against governmental overreach. The Constitution also organizes the main branches of the Philippine government: a legislative department known as the Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives; an executive department headed by a president; and a judicial department, which includes the Supreme Court and lower courts. It also establishes three independent constitutional commissions—Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), and the Commission on Audit (COA)—each enjoying fiscal autonomy. Other governmental bodies created under the Constitution include the Commission on Appointments (CA), the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).