Forms of government.

The principal forms are the following:

A. As to number of persons exercising sovereign powers:
(a) monarchy or one in which the supreme and final authority is in the hand of
a single person without regard to the source of his election or the nature or
duration of his tenure. Monarchies are further classified into:
1) Absolute monarchy or one in which the ruler rules by divine right; and
2) Limited monarchy or one in which the ruler rules in accordance with a
constitution;
(b) Aristocracy or one in which political power is exercised by a few privileged
class w ich is known as an aristocracy or oligarchy; and

(c) Democracy or one in which political power is exercised by a majority of the

people. 'Democratic governments are further classified into:
 Direct or pure democracy or one in which the will of the state is
formulated or expressed directly and immediately through the people in as
mass meeting or primary assembly rather than through the medium of
delegates or representatives chosen to act for them; and

 Indirect, representative, or republican democracy or one in which

the will the state is formulated and expressed through the agency of a
relatively small and select body of persons chose by the people to act as
their representatives.
B. As to extent of powers exercised by the central or national government:
(a) Unitary government or one in which the control of national and local
affairs is exercised by the central or national government; and

(b) Federal government or one in which the powers of government are

divided between two sets of organs, one for national affairs and the other
for local affairs. each organ being supreme within its own sphere. The
United States is a federal government.

C. As to relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of

the government:
(a) Parliamentary government or one in which the state confers upon the
legislature the power to terminate the tenure of office of the real executive.
Under this system, the Cabinet or ministry is immediately and legally
responsible to the legislature and mediately or politically responsible to the
electorate, while the titular or nominal executive — the Chief of State — occupies
a position of irresponsibility; and

(b) Presidential government or one in which the state makes the executive
constitutionally independent of the legislature as regards his tenure and to a
large extent as regards his policies and acts, and furnishes him with sufficient
powers to prevent the legislature from trenching upon the sphere marked out by
the constitution as executive independence and prerogative. 22
On the basis of the above classifications of government, it can be said that the
Philippine government is a representative democracy, a unitary and presidential
government with separation of powers. It also embodies some aspects of pure democracy
such as, for instance, the constitutional provision on initiative and referendum. (see Art.
VI, Sec. 32.) Under our Constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the
Cabinet, legislative power with the Congress composed of a Senate and a House of
Representatives, and judicial power with the Supreme Court and the lower courts.