1. What kind of legal system exists in the Philippines?

The legal system in the Philippines is based on the principles of the

Anglo-American Common Law, just as they were for the State of Louisiana and
just as the English Common Law was for the United States, of far-reaching
influence. The Common Law is entitled to our deepest respect and reverence. The
courts are constantly guided by its doctrines. Yet it is true as heretofore expressly
decided by this Court that — "neither English nor American Common Law is in
force in these Islands, nor are the doctrines derived therefrom binding upon our
courts, save only in so far as they are founded on sound principles applicable to
local conditions, and are not in conflict with existing law." (U.S. vs. Cuna [1908],
12 Phil., 241.)
2. What are the three branches of the government?
The three branches of the government are the following:
a. Executive Department – The office of the President was debased by Ferdinand
E. Marcos who converted it into a seat of unlimited power and unbelievable
corruption. In 1986, after almost thirteen years of absolute and tyrannical rule, he
was depose by an outrage indignant citizenry. He deserves the scorn of history.
Even so, his oppressive regime has taught us many lessons on liberty which were
useful in the redrafting of the new article on the Executive Department. Indeed,
the main motivation of the framers in the writing of Article VII was to prevent the
recurrence of another despot like the discredited ex-dictator.
Article VII, Section 1, reproduce the original rule in the 1935 Constitution
that:
“The executive power shall be vested in the President of the Philippines.”
Executive power is briefly described as the power to enforce and
administer the laws. However, it does not define what is meant by executive
power although in the same article it touches on the exercise of certain powers by
the President, i.e., the power of control over all executive departments, bureaus
and offices, the power to execute the laws, the appointing power, the powers
under the commander-in-chief clause, the power to grant reprieves, commutations
and pardons, the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of Congress, the
power to contract or guarantee foreign loans, the power to enter into treaties or
international agreements, the power to submit the budget to Congress, and the
power to address Congress [Art. VII, Sec. 14-23].
b. Legislative Department –
Under Article VI, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution:
“The legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which
shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent
 reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum”
The legislative power includes the specific powers of appropriation,
taxation, and expropriation. It is the power of lawmaking, the framing and
enactment of laws. This is effected through the adoption of a bill, or a proposed or
projected law, which, once approved, becomes a statute. The legislature has no
other duty nor power than to make laws. After a law has been enacted, that
department has no further power over the subject except to amend or repeal it. It
can neither adjudge the law nor execute it. All power of that department is ended.
c. Judicial Department -
Under Article VIII, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution:
“The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower
courts as may be established by law. “
The judicial department of government is responsible for the plane upon
which the administration of justice is maintained. Its responsibility in this respect
is exclusive. By committing a portion of the powers of sovereignty to the judicial
department of our state government, under 42a scheme which it was supposed
rendered it immune from embarrassment or interference by any other department
of government, the courts cannot escape responsibility fir the manner in which the
powers of sovereignty thus committed to the judicial department are exercised.
The relation at the bar to the courts is a peculiar and intimate relationship. The bar
is an attache of the courts. The quality of justice dispense by the courts depends in
no small degree upon the integrity of its bar. An unfaithful bar may easily bring
scandal and reproach to the administration of justice and bring the courts
themselves into disrepute.
2a. Is any branch supreme over the other? What rules or principles govern
their interrelationship?
The separation of powers is a fundamental principle in our system of
government. It obtains not through express provision but by actual division in our
Constitution. Each department of the government has exclusive cognizance of
matters within its jurisdiction, and is supreme within its own sphere. But it does
not follow from the fact that the three powers are to be kept separate and distinct
that the Constitution intended them to be absolutely unrestrained and independent
of each other. The Constitution has provided for an elaborate system of checks and
balances to secure coordination in the workings of the various departments of the
government. For example, the Chief Executive under our Constitution is so far
made a check on the legislative power that this assent is required in the enactment
of laws. This, however, is subject to the further check that a bill may become a
law notwithstanding the refusal of the President to approve it, by a vote of two-
thirds or three-fourths, as the case may be, of the National Assembly. The
President has also the right to convene the Assembly in special session whenever
he chooses. On the other hand, the National Assembly operates as a check on the
Executive in the sense that its consent through its Commission on Appointments is
necessary in the appointments of certain officers; and the concurrence of a
majority of all its members is essential to the conclusion of treaties. Furthermore,
in its power to determine what courts other than the Supreme Court shall be
established, to define their jurisdiction and to appropriate funds for their support,
the National Assembly controls the judicial department to a certain extent. The
Assembly also exercises the judicial power of trying impeachments. And the
judiciary in turn, with the Supreme Court as the final arbiter, effectively checks
the other departments in the exercise of its power to determine the law, and hence
to declare executive and legislative acts void if violative of the Constitution.
But in the main, the Constitution has blocked out with deft strokes and in bold
lines, allotment of power to the executive, the legislative and the judicial
departments of the government. The overlapping and interlacing of functions and
duties between the several departments, however, sometimes makes it hard to say
just where the one leaves off and the other begins. In times of social disquietude
or political excitement, the great landmarks of the Constitution are apt to be
forgotten or marred, if not entirely obliterated. In cases of conflict, the judicial
department is the only constitutional organ which can be called upon to determine
the proper allocation of powers between the several departments and among the
integral or constituent units thereof.