An archipelago is a stretch of water that contains many islands. The Philippines is a country made up of 7,106 different islands, located in Southeast Asia with islands scattered in the western Pacific Ocean. Although the country contains over 7,000 islands the majority of it’s continuously growing population resides on only eleven of them. The archipelago is geographically divided into three island groups which are Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest of the three main islands with the length of 42, 458 square miles. On the western edge of Luzon is Metropolitan Manila, the largest city and the National Capital Region of the Philippines, which is also the seat of the government. According to the latest United Nation estimates of 2018, the National Capital has a dense metro population of 24,100,000 and a total of 106.51 million amongst the inclusive 7,106 islands. In 2015 the census results the Philippines had a population of 100,981,437 comparing these 2015 to the census results of 2010 shows an increase of over 8 million. The Philippines is currently ranks as the 12th most populated country in the world. The country’s overall population is ever-growing as it’s few inhabited islands are becoming extremely overpopulated.
The Philippines has a democratic republic government where the president is both head of state and head of government. The president is elected by popular vote to serve a term of six years, where he or she can then appoint or dismiss their cabinet members. In the National Capital Region of Manila is the Malacañang Palace where the government is officially administered from and also where the president resides. The second highest official within the Philippine government is the vice-president, who is the first in line to become the president in the case of resignation, death, or impeachment. The vice-president is typically a member of the president’s cabinet, and if there is a vacancy for a vice-president the president has the option to pick a member from congress. The rest of the Philippine Congress has duty to validate the selection of the president through a process of separate voting that has to be approved with a three-fourths result. This purpose of this form of government is to spread out the power amongst the people and other government officials to avoid absolute power of one person which can ultimately lead to corruption. There is an important aspect of balance that is displayed within the framework of the Philippine government.
The president of the Philippines is represented and balanced out by a system of three sovereign and separate branches that remain independent from one another. There is the executive branch which is the law enforcing body of the government, headed by the president who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The legislative branch is the lawmaking body of government, the power of this branch is in the government and two chambers of congress– the Senate of the upper chamber, and the House of Representatives of the lower chamber. Lastly, is the judicial branch which is the law interpreting body of government guided by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the Philippines led by a Chief of Justice, supported by fourteen other associates of justice, all selected by the president with the approval of the Judicial and Bar Council.
The Philippines is considered a developing nation which commonly refers to a poor agricultural country that seeks to become more advanced economically and socially. “The primary factor used to distinguish developed countries from developing countries is gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a figure calculated by dividing a country's GDP by its population. The Philippines' per capita gross domestic product (GDP), Human Development Index (HDI) and life expectancy sit well below the thresholds for developed country status. As of 2016, per capita GDP in the Philippines is $7,358, well below any accepted minimum for developed country status” (Investopedia). The country has a mixed economy which involves public and private enterprises, a combination of government control, focused economic planning, and a variety of private freedom. The Philippines is a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is essential not only for Asian economies but the entire world. The economic alliance is comprised of 21 Pacific Rim economies that allows free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the help of APEC is ASEAN which is a political and economic alliance of 10 countries. The powerful economic alliance coupled with Asia’s growing consumer base attracts interest from all over the world.
Economic freedom relates to the rights of people to pursue economic opportunities such as services, labor, producing, selling, and buying goods. According to the 2018 Index of Economic freedom, “The Philippines’ economic freedom score is 65.0, making its economy the 61st freest”. Its overall score has decreased by 0.6 point, with lower scores for the government integrity, monetary freedom, and property rights indicators outpacing improvements in trade freedom and judicial effectiveness. The powerful expansion of the Philippines’ economy has permitted the government to set up private law-and-order issues over economic policy concerns. An accelerated decline in president Rodrigo Dueterte’s popularity lost the confidence of investors by the end of 2017. An lack of entrepreneurial activity critically hinders the development of the Philippines.
One area where the Philippines are high ranking and well-developed in is involving religion. The two largest religions in the Philippines today is Christianity and Islam. According to the database of the Philippine History, these religions were brought to the Philippines during the colonization period. In 1380, Muslim Arabs settled on the Sulu Archipelago where they introduced Islam and had many parts of the archipelago under Muslim control. The Muslims had a powerful influence over the region for hundreds of years, and they ruled in these areas until the 16th century. Christianity was introduced to the Philippines in the 1500’s during the spanish colonial times. Spain dominated the Philippines for 356 years and spain had a legacy of converting people to Catholicism.
Although many centuries later Islam remains to be an elemental part of the Philippines culture and history. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the nation’s second largest religion has an estimated following of 5,127,084 as of 2010. Compared to the Filipino-Muslim statistics in 2000 where there was a following of 3,862,409, the Islam population expanded 32.7%, which is nearly one-third. Today, the majority of the Filipino Muslims live on the Mindanao Island with an estimated 4,838,060 Muslims there, which is 94% of the Philippines Muslim Population concentrated in one area. Still, there are other archipelago islands such as Palawan and Sulu where Islam was initially introduced that still have many people who are followers of Islam.
Despite Islam being the second largest religion of the country, the Philippines remains to be the fortified place of Christianity in Asia with 93 percent of the total population conforming to the teachings of Jesus Christ. With 86.8 million Christian Filipinos the Philippines is the largest Christian Asian nation. There was a study conducted by the Pew Forum in 2010 measuring Global Christianity. The research found that the total number of Christians worldwide was 2.18 billion which is nearly a third of the world’s estimated global population of 6.9 billion. In terms of Global Christianity the Philippines ranks 5th in the world holding four percent of the grand estimated total of global Christians. The Pew study found that of the Filipino Christians, 80.9% are Roman Catholic, 2.8% Evangelical, 2.3% Iglesia ni Cristo, 2% Aglipayan, and 4.5% other Christian groups including Protestant, Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Orthodox, Methodist, and Seventh-Day Adventist (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010; Philippine Census, 2000).
In regards to how Christianity aligns with political power in the Philippines, there has been current conflict between the Philippine government, specifically the president, and the church. The Inquirer, informs us that President Duerte has created a misalignment with the Church and Government, through his actions and several rants that the church believe is not for the common good of the Filipino people. Sociologist Jurgen Habermas says that, “A liberal state must not discourage religious persons and communities from expressing themselves politically”. The church can not be expelled from political debate, religion has always been associated with politics since the beginning of time. The purpose is not to control political power but to establish morals and values amongst the people of a nation. Social issues should be more of a moral concern rather than a political concern, and the alignment of Christianity within the Philippines’ politics can help balance the power in a way that is effective to create change.