Government
The City of Manila proper is the national capital of the Philippines. The wider Metropolitan Manila area is the seat of government. The executive and judicial branches of government are based in Manila as represented by Malacañan Palace, the official office and residence of the President of the Philippines, and the buildings of the Supreme Court of the Philippines respectively. However, the upper house of the legislature, the Senate of the Philippines, is based in Pasay, and the lower house, the House of Representatives of the Philippines, in Quezon City.
Metro Manila is the smallest of the country's administrative regions, but the most populous and the most densely populated, having a population of 11,855,975 (2010 census) in an area of approximately 638.55 square kilometers (246.55 sq mi). It is also the only region without any provinces, instead being subdivided into 17 local government units: 16 cities and one municipality.
| Local government unit | Population (2010 census) |
Area (km²) |
Pop. density (per km²) |
Annual pop. growth rate |
Per capita GDP |
Cityhood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caloocan | 1,489,040 | 53.33 | 25,907 | 3.06 | $9,426 | 1962 |
| Las Piñas | 552,573 | 41.54 | 12,815 | 1.65 | $8,678 | 1997 |
| Makati | 529,039 | 27.36 | 20,736 | 3.41 | $29,259 | 1995 |
| Malabon | 353,337 | 15.76 | 23,076 | 0.98 | $4,334 | 2001 |
| Mandaluyong | 328,699 | 11.26 | 27,138 | 1.29 | $20,258 | 1994 |
| Manila | 1,652,171 | 38.55 | 43,079 | 0.68 | $13,731 | 1571 |
| Marikina | 424,150 | 21.5 | 12,500 | 1.14 | $10,346 | 1996 |
| Muntinlupa | 459,941 | 46.70 | 9,699 | 2.48 | $13,789 | 1995 |
| Navotas | 249,131 | 10.77 | 22,780 | 0.87 | $5,296 | 2007 |
| Parañaque | 588,126 | 47.69 | 11,589 | 2.88 | $10,146 | 1998 |
| Pasay | 392,869 | 19.00 | 21,214 | 1.77 | $6,876 | 1947 |
| Pasig | 669,773 | 31.00 | 20,240 | 3.04 | $12,032 | 1995 |
| Pateros | 64,147 | 2.10 | 29,495 | 1.05 | $3,324 | n/a |
| Quezon City | 2,761,720 | 161.12 | 16,630 | 2.92 | $11,213 | 1939 |
| San Juan | 121,430 | 5.94 | 21,101 | 0.87 | $16,893 | 2007 |
| Taguig | 644,473 | 47.88 | 12,810 | 3.82 | $12,342 | 2004 |
| Valenzuela | 575,356 | 44.58 | 12,762 | 2.21 | $7,531 | 1998 |
| Total | 11,855,975 | 638.55 | 18,113 | 2.12 | $10,223 |
In terms of local governance, Metro Manila cannot properly be considered a single political entity. The cities and municipality comprising it are considered the highest level of local government with each having their own set of separately elected officials. While the cities and municipality are independent from each other politically, several basic public services, such as traffic and flood control, are handled collectively by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). The MMDA is headquartered in Makati and is headed by the MMDA Chairman, an appointee of the President of the Philippines, who holds cabinet rank. The mayors of the cities and municipality belong to the Metro Manila Mayor's League that serves as the board of the MMDA.
For mainly fiscal and statistical purposes Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) has also been divided into four districts grouped according to geographical basis in reference to the Pasig River. These districts were created in 1976 but have no local government and no congressional representation.
The cities and municipalities within the NCR are grouped into the four districts as follows:
| # | Alternate Name | City/Cities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Capital District | Manila |
| 2 | Eastern Manila District | Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City, and San Juan |
| 3 | Southern Manila District | Las Piñas, Makati, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, Pateros, and Taguig |
| 4 | CAMANAVA District | Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela |
Representation to the two houses of the Congress of the Philippines is as follows:
- For the Senate, polling is done at-large, nationwide.
- For the House of Representatives, each city has at least one representative; Pateros' representation is included with the first Sangguniang Panlungsod district of Taguig.
Metro Manila is also a judicial region ("National Capital Judicial Region"); as such, all regional trial court judges can be stationed anywhere within the region.
Read more about this topic: Metro Manila
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—”That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“America has made no reparation to the Vietnamese, nothing. We are the richest people in the world and they are among the poorest. We savaged them, though they had never hurt us, and we cannot find it in our hearts, our honor, to give them help—because the government of Vietnam is Communist. And perhaps because they won.”
—Martha Gellhorn (b. 1908)
“It has been the struggle between privileged men who have managed to get hold of the levers of power and the people in general with their vague and changing aspirations for equality, for justice, for some kind of gentler brotherhood and peace, which has kept that balance of forces we call our system of government in equilibrium.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)