The Meaning of Politics

The word Politics came from Greek word polis which means affairs of the cities. Politics is the
process of making decisions that apply to members of a group. It refers to achieving and exercising
positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state.
Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given
community (this is usually a hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s)
between communities.

Why study Politics

Political Science is the study of a range of political ideas, events, actions, and institutions. It includes
both understanding and explaining the world of politics that is all around us. You participate in politics,
though most of the time you do so unknowingly. Politics is much more than simply voting in an
election or working in government. Reading or listening to news, making donations to aid groups, or
talking with friends and family about social issues and values are a few of the many examples of
political activity in our everyday lives. This means they vary across individuals and cultures and are in
many ways aligned with belief and belief systems. Types of values include ethical/moral values,
doctrinal/ideological (religious, political) values, social values, and aesthetic values. So, why study
Politics? Here are reasons why you have to study Politics: (1) It helps you to know your rights; (2) It
clarifies what you believe; (3) It helps you understand the affairs of our nation, and (4) It prepares you
for adult life.

THE DIFFERENT VIEWS ON POLITICS (HEYWOOD,2007)

A. Politics as the art of government
- the art of government or exercise of control in society through making and enforcement of
collective or group decisions.
- Politics concerns the state. It focuses on the personnel and machinery of the government.
B. Politics as public affairs
- The institutions of the state (the government offices, departments and agencies) can be
regarded as ‘public’ because they are responsible for the collective organization of
community life.
- They are funded at the public’s expense through taxation.
- In contrast, civil society consists of institutions such as private businesses, trade unions, clubs,
community groups and so on that are ‘private’ in the sense that they are set up and funded by
individual citizens to satisfy their own interests, rather than those of the larger society.
C. Politics as compromise and consensus
- Focuses on the way how decisions are made.
- Politics is seen as a particular means of resolving conflict: that is, by compromise,
conciliation and negotiation, rather than through the use of force and naked power.
D. Politics as Power
politics as something that is present in all social activities, at every level of social interaction;
it can be found within our families and amongst our small groups of friends just as much as
amongst nations and on the international or global stage.
Governance: Varying Definitions
Governance
refers to such activities of the government as an institution relative to its management of the public
affairs. The acts of governance are undertaken by the Government which is the institution composed
of people entrusted with the management of public affairs. In laymen’s term, governance is the
aggregate of authorities which rule a society (US. Vs. Dorr, 2 Phil. 339).

Governance is:
1.The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised’ -Kaufman et al
2.The way “… power is exercised through a country’s economic, political and social institutions.” The
World Bank’s PRSF Handbook
3.“The sound exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to manage a country’s
resources for development. It involves the institutionalization of a system through which citizens,
institutions, organizations, and groups in a society articulate their interests, exercise their rights, and
mediate their differences in pursuit of the collective good”
(Country Governance Assessment, 2005)
4.“The exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all
levels. It comprises mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups
articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their
differences.” UNDF
5.In governance, citizens are rightly concerned with a government’s responsiveness to their needs
and protection of their needs and protection of their rights. In general, governance issues pertain to
the ability of government to develop an efficient, effective and accountable public management
process that is open to citizen participation and that strengthens rather than weakens a democratic
system of government.” USAID, Office of Democracy and Governance.
6. Refers to how any organization, including a nation, is run. It includes all the processes, systems
and controls that are used to safeguard and grow assets.” (UNDF, 1997)
7. “The system, processes and procedures put in place to steer the direction, management and
accountability of an organization.” Birmingham City Council
8.“promoting fairness, transparency and accountability” - World Bank
9. “a system by which business organizations are directed and controlled.”OECD
10.“the manner in which power is exercised in the management of acountry’s social and economic
resources for development. It is referred toas the quality of the institutions to make, implement and
enforce soundpolicies in an efficient, effective, equitable and inclusivemanner.” The Asian
Development Bank
11. In broad terms, governance is about the institutional environment inwhich citizens interact among
themselves and with governmentagencies/officials. (ADB, 2005)
12. The process of decision-making and the process by which decisions areimplemented (or not
implemented). Governance can be used in severalcontexts such as corporate governance,
international governance,national governance and local governance.
13. The interactions among structures, processes and traditions thatdetermine how power and
responsibilities are exercised, how decisions aretaken and how citizens or other stakeholders have
their say.Fundamentally, it is about power, relationships and accountability: who has influence, who
decides and how decision-makers are held accountable.(IOG 2003)
14.“as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage the nation’s affairs
at all levels. It comprises of mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and
groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights and obligations and mediate their
differences. Governance is not the sole domain of government but transcends government to
encompass the business sector and the civilsociety. (NEDA 2006)
15. The Institute of Governance defines governance as the process whereby societies or
organizations make their important decisions, determine who has voice, who is engaged in the
process and how account is rendered.(IOG, 2006)
Characteristics of Good Governance (UNESCO for Asia and the Pacific)
Good governance has eight (8) major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented,
accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient,equitable and inclusive and follows the
rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and
that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to
the present and future needs of society.

Relationship of Governance and Government

In traditional parlance, government rules and controls, but in governance, it orchestrates and
manages. Ruling and orchestrating rest on different bases. To rule is to be the sole authority, for
which the appropriate response is to obey. A government that rules relies on force to exact
compliance which is based on this premise that the state has the monopoly of legitimate violence. It
enacts laws binding on all the inhabitants and metes out sanctions according to these laws. It delivers
services to passive recipients who have little influence in the definition of the programs or their
eligibility requirement and methods.
By contrast, to orchestrate is to call on everyone to play a part in moving the society. Power
rests on the trust the players have on the director and on each other. Because built on trust,
transparency in the conduct of governing is essential. Laws still bind all, but they are laws they had
a part in bringing
about. Accountability is shared, and they who have the greatest power bear thegreater responsibility.
To control is not to manage, as Landau and Stout maintained in a classic article. We have not
found a definition of governance that uses control instead of management.
 To control is to direct what each part of the system must do. It assumes that the controller
knows the goals and is certain how an action it requires can lead to it. Deviation will be viewed as
error in a context of full knowledge.
Controlling assumes a law (using the term in scientific sense) but to manage is to act on a
hypothesis. The manager works on incomplete information and tests if the hypothesis is borne out in
a given situation. Manager then must be open to inputs from outside which might provide new
information and to methods other than those originally promulgated that could lead to the specified
goal. Governance chooses management over control because its system is permeable, admits
outside the influences, assumes no omnipotence or omniscience on the part of the decision-maker,
and subject decisions to the evaluation and critique of all those with a stake with them.
All governing is an act of leadership, of moving a society towards apreferred direction. While
government can have a connotation of being interested only in maintenance and in preserving peace
and order, governance implies leadership toward societal development.

A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally

a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive,
and judiciary. Government is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a
mechanism for determining policy. In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution, a
statement of its governing principles and philosophy.
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.[1] 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.

Legislative branch
The legislative power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines which consists of the Senate of the
Philippines and the House of Representatives. The upper house is located in Pasay, while the lower
house is located in Quezon City; both are in Metro Manila. The district and sectoral representatives
are elected for a term of three years; they can be re-elected but they may not run for a fourth
consecutive term.
Senators are elected to a term of six years; they can be re-elected but may not run for a third
consecutive term. The House of Representatives may opt to pass for a vacancy of a legislative seat,
which leads to a special election. The winner of the special election will serve the unfinished term of
the previous district representative, and will be considered as one elective term. The same rule also
applies in the Senate; however, it only applies if the seat was vacated before a regular legislative
election.
The current president of the Senate is Juan Miguel Zubiri, and the speaker of the House of
Representatives is Martin Romualdez.
National government

 Senate
 House of Representatives
Local government

 Bangsamoro Parliament (an autonomous region in Mindanao)

 Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council)
 Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Council)
 Sangguniang Bayan (People's Council)
 Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council)

Executive branch
The president and vice president are elected separately by national popular vote. The vice president
is first in line to succession if the president resigns, is removed after impeachment, or dies. The vice
president is usually, though not always, a member of the president's cabinet. If there is a vacancy in
the position of vice-president, the president will appoint any member of Congress (usually a party
member) as the new vice president. The appointment must then be validated by a three-fourths vote
of the Congress.[2]
The current president and vice president are Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte, respectively.
National government

 President
 Vice President
 Cabinet secretaries
Local government

 Regional chief minister

 Provincial governor
 Provincial vice governor
 City/Municipal mayor
 City/Municipal vice mayor
 Barangay chairman

Judicial branch
Main article: Judiciary of the Philippines
The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court of the Philippines and lower courts established by
law. The Supreme Court, which has a chief justice as its head and 14 associate justices, occupies the
highest tier of the judiciary. The justices serve until the age of 70. The justices are appointed by the
president on the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council of the Philippines.[3] The sitting chief
justice is Alexander Gesmundo, the 27th to serve in that position.
Other court types of courts, of varying jurisdiction around the archipelago, are the following:

 Lower Collegiate Courts:

o Court of Appeals
 o Court of Tax Appeals
o Sandiganbayan (a special appellate court)
 Regular Courts:
o Regional Trial Courts
o First-level courts:
 Metropolitan Trial Courts
 Municipal Trial Courts
 Municipal Trial Courts in Cities
 Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
 Sharia Courts:
o Sharia District Courts
o Sharia Circuit Courts

Constitutional commissions
Article 9 of the Constitution of the Philippines establishes three independent constitutional
commissions: the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission on
Audit.[4]
The Civil Service Commission is the central personnel agency of the Philippine government. It is
responsible for strengthening employment and a conducive work environment in the civil
service sector and overseeing the Civil Service Exam, a civil service entrance examination to assess
qualifications and work integrity for employment in the sector. [4]
The Commission on Elections enforces and administers all laws and regulations related to the
conducting of elections, plebiscites, initiatives, referendums, and recalls. It decides on all decisions
surrounding election protests and contests and has the right to deputize and take control of law
enforcement and state security forces to ensure the free and orderly conduct of elections. [4]
The Commission on Audit is responsible for examining, auditing, and settling all revenues and
expenditures of public funds and properties used by the government or its attached agencies. [4]

Office of the ombudsman

See also: Corruption in the Philippines
The Philippine government or three of its branches are independently monitored by the office of the
ombudsman (Filipino: Tanodbayan). 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.

Local government hierarchy

President of the
Philippines

Autonomous
 regions

Independen Independen
Provinces Provinces
t cities t cities

Component Municipalitie Componen Municipalitie

cities s t cities s

Barangays Barangays Barangays Barangays Barangays Barangays

The dashed lines emanating from the president means that the President only exercises general
supervision on local government.

The Philippines has four main classes of elected administrative divisions, often lumped together
as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest division:

1. Autonomous and administrative regions

2. Provinces and independent cities
3. Municipalities and component cities
4. Barangays