Supreme Court of the Philippines in the context of "Real Audiencia of Manila"

The Commonwealth of the Philippines (Spanish: Mancomunidad de Filipinas; Tagalog: Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth (dependency) of the United States that existed from 1935 to 1946. It was established following the Tydings–McDuffie Act to replace the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands and was designed as a transitional administration in preparation for full Philippine independence. Its foreign affairs remained managed by the United States.

During its more than a decade of existence, the Commonwealth had a strong executive and a supreme court. Its legislature, dominated by the Nacionalista Party, was initially unicameral but later bicameral. In 1937, the government selected Tagalog – the language of the capital Manila and its surrounding provinces – as the basis of the national language, although it would be many years before its usage became general. Women's suffrage was adopted, and the economy recovered to pre-Depression levels before the Japanese invasion of the islands in 1941. A period of exile took place during World War II from 1942 to 1945, when Japan occupied the Commonwealth.

The government of the Philippines (Filipino: Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and democratic constitutional republic in which the president functions as both the head of state and the head of government of the country within a pluriform multi-party system.

The powers of the three branches are vested by the Constitution of the Philippines in the following: Legislative power is vested in the two-chamber Congress of the Philippines—the Senate is the upper chamber and the House of Representatives is the lower chamber. Executive power is exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Judicial power is vested in the courts, with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.

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).

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Filipino: Rehiyong Awtonomo ng Muslim Mindanao; Arabic: الحكم الذاتي الاقليمي لمسلمي مندناو Al-ḥukm adh-dhātī al-'iqlīmī li-muslimī Mindanāu; ARMM) was an autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that consisted of five predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan (except Isabela City), Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It was the only region that had its own government. The region's de facto seat of government was Cotabato City, although this self-governing city was outside its jurisdiction.

The ARMM included the province of Shariff Kabunsuan from its creation in 2006 until July 16, 2008, when Shariff Kabunsuan ceased to exist as a province after the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared the "Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 201", which created it, unconstitutional in Sema v. COMELEC and Dilangalen.

While most seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines are elected by plurality vote in single-member districts, 20% of representatives are elected by party-list proportional representation. The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines created the party-list system. Originally, the party-list was open to underrepresented community sectors or groups, including labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural, women, youth, and other such sectors as may be defined by law (except the religious sector). However, a 2013 Supreme Court decision clarified that the party-list is a system of proportional representation open to various kinds of groups and parties, and not an exercise exclusive to marginalized sectors. National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations do not need to organize along sectoral lines and do not need to represent any marginalized and underrepresented sector.

The determination of what parties are allowed to participate—who their nominees should be, how the winners should be determined, and the allocation of seats for the winning parties—has been controversial ever since the party-list election was first contested in 1998 and has resulted in several landmark COMELEC and Supreme Court cases.

The Philippine Law Journal is an academic student-run law review affiliated with the UP College of Law at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Established in August 1914, the journal marked its 100th anniversary in 2014 as the oldest law review in the Philippines and the oldest English language law journal in Asia. It is managed by the editorial board, composed of select students of the University of the Philippines College of Law. The journal publishes four issues every year.

Its main office is at the Justice Alex A. Reyes Room of Malcolm Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman. The room is named after the Supreme Court Associate Justice who served as the journal's first editor.

Chief Justice of the Philippines (Filipino: Punong Mahistrado ng Pilipinas) is the title of the person who presides over the Supreme Court of the Philippines and who is the highest judicial officer of the government. As of April 5, 2021, the position is currently held by Alexander Gesmundo, who was appointed by then president Rodrigo Duterte following the early retirement of his predecessor, Diosdado Peralta, in March 2021.

The position of chief justice is the oldest major governmental office continually held by a Filipino. Cayetano Arellano became the first chief justice on June 11, 1901, predating the presidency and vice presidency (established in 1935), the Senate (1916, or September 1, 1901 if counting the Taft Commission), and the House of Representatives (1907, as the Philippine Assembly).

Sulu ([sʊˈlu]), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausūg: Wilaya' sin Lupa' Sūg; Filipino: Lalawigan ng Sulu; Chavacano: Provincia de Sulu); is a province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Zamboanga Peninsula region.

It was part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), until the Supreme Court of the Philippines on September 9, 2024, declared its inclusion to be unconstitutional because of the province's simple majority vote against it during the 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite.