| Horoscope |
|---|
|
|
|
| |
|
Philippines Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Philippines
Official Name: Republic of the Philippines
Capital: Manila
Area: 300,000 square kilometres ( 115,831 square miles )
Major cities (Population)
Manila 9,280,000 (1995)
Quezon City 1,669,776 (1990)
Davao 843,607 (1990)
Zamboanga 442,000 (1990)
Cebu 93,643 (1990)
Population: 67,581,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.1 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 4 July 1946 (from the United States)
Constitution: 2 February 1987, effective 11 February 1987
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18 (age 15 for local elections)
Government
The 1987 constitution reaffirmed the basic principles of the original 1935 constitution but, with the aim of avoiding another Marcos-style dictatorship, limited the president to one six-year term, and restricted the president’s powers to overrule Congress and impose martial law. The president governs with the assistance of an appointed cabinet. The bicameral legislature comprises a directly elected 24-member Senate and 250-member House of Representatives, 50 of whom are elected through a party list system with the balance elected by a constituency.
As of 1996, the Republic of the Philippines has 75 provinces, each of which is divided into municipalities made of barangays (barrios). Each barangay is headed by a captain. Most central government offices are in Quezon City, the former capital named after Manuel Quezon, the first president of the country when it became a US Commonwealth in 1935. The voting age is 15 for local elections and 18 for national elections.
Recent History
In 1898, after the Spanish–American War, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Still intent on self-rule, the Filipinos, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, declared the first Philippine Republic in 1898 and mounted armed resistance to one of the bloodiest wars of colonial conquest in modern history, the Philippine American War. Internal strife continued until 1901, when the US formally took control. The US boosted the Philippine economy and in 1935 took the first step in preparing the colony for independence by establishing the Commonwealth of the Philippines with semi-colonial status. Independence followed ten years later but, because of the Japanese occupation during World War II—which resulted in the destruction of much of Manila—it did not occur until 4 July 1946.
The early years of the new republic were marked by peasant revolts and guerrilla warfare led by the old Communist party of the Philippines. The guerrillas were finally defeated under the leadership of the reformist defence secretary, Ramon Magsaysay, who was heavily supported by the US. Magsaysay then became president from 1953 to 1957. However, the issue of land reform was never resolved, and remains an issue to this day.
In 1965 the presidential election was won by Ferdinand Marcos, the candidate of the Nationalist Party. This was the beginning of more than two decades of increasingly autocratic and corrupt rule. In 1972, after demonstrations and renewed peasant-based guerrilla warfare, Marcos declared martial law and announced a programme of social and economic reform. However, the corruption continued with Marcos dispensing huge business favours to his friends and associates in return for a generous slice of the profits. In 1981 martial law was formally lifted in all but the south, and Marcos was “elected” to a new six-year term in an election that most of the opposition boycotted. In 1986 Marcos bowed to US pressure and called an early presidential election. The opposition candidate was Corazon Aquino, the widow of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr, who had been Marcos’s most prominent opponent. Marcos rigged the vote and declared himself re-elected, but the people reacted by taking to the streets to back a military revolt. Loyalists within the military decided against confronting the crowds, and some key ministers declared their support for Mrs Aquino. Bowing to the “People's Power Revolution”, Marcos fled to exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1989.
Hopes that Aquino would not only reform government practices but introduce radical economic and social reforms—including major land reform—were soon disappointed. Communist insurgency and military infighting persuaded her to come to an agreement with the right, but this resulted in many liberals leaving the cabinet. After surviving several attempted coups, she stood down in 1992. US forces pulled out of the country in this year after the Philippine Senate decided not to renew the leases on US military bases. Aquino’s successor was her former defence secretary, Fidel V. Ramos.
Ramos faced a weak economy, political corruption, and an inefficient bureaucracy. He successfully met many challenges and created a broad coalition, gaining majorities in both houses of Congress after elections in 1995. Whilst many local jobs were initially lost after the US forces withdrew from the Philippines, the government converted the two military bases into special economic zones. Domestic and foreign investment quickly filled the gap and created many new private sector jobs by 1994. The country’s economy has continued to grow rapidly, impressing sceptics who had thought the obstacles it faced were too great. Economic growth was accompanied in 1996 by the conclusion of a quarter of a century of fighting with the largest group of Muslim secessionists in the southern Philippines. The civil war was estimated to have killed more than 100,000 people. The government concluded a peace agreement with the largest rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in September, and talks were underway at the beginning of 1997 with a smaller faction. Conflicting claims to the Spratly Islands by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam remained unresolved.
|
|
