The 24-member Philippine Senate is elected at large. There are currently 23 senators, however. The May 2004 national election produced 12 new senators, although, because current Senator Noli De Castro was elected Vice President, he will leave his seat empty until the next Senate elections in 2007. Of a maximum 250 members of the House of Representatives, 212 are elected from single-member districts. The remainder of the House seats are designated for sectoral party representatives elected at large, called party list representatives; currently there are 24 such representatives in the House.

When Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the Presidency, her "People Power Coalition," led by the Lakas-CMD party, became the dominant group in Congress. The 75-member Lakas party leads the "Sunshine Coalition," which also includes the 61-member Nationalist Peopleís Coalition, the 22-member Liberal Party, and several other major and minor parties. The LDP party leads the 20-member opposition bloc. In the Senate, the pro-administration coalition controls 12 of the 22 seats. Members of the Philippine Congress tend to have weak party loyalties and change party affiliation easily.

The government continues to face threats from both Muslim separatist groups and communist insurgents, and rising crime and concerns about the security situation have had a negative impact on tourism and foreign investment. The terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which recently gained international notoriety with its kidnappings of foreign tourists in the southern islands, is a major problem for the government. In May 2001, the ASG kidnapped several Americans, beheading one of them in June 2001. In a June 2002 rescue attempt, another American hostage was killed. Efforts to track down and destroy the ASG have met with some success, especially on Basilan, where U.S. troops advised, assisted and trained Philippine soldiers in counterterrorism. ASG elements remain active on Jolo Island and elsewhere in the southwestern Philippines. Philippine security forces captured an Indonesian terrorist with links to Jemaah Islamiyah in 2002; he escaped from custody in July 2003, but police pursued and killed him in October.

In August 2001, the government reached a cease-fire agreement with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF); negotiations on a final peace agreement continued at a very slow pace amid sporadic fighting. At President Arroyo's May 2003 State Visit to Washington, President Bush pledged diplomatic and financial support for the peace process, a move that both sides embraced. In June 2003, the MILF issued a formal renunciation of terrorism. An ensuing cessation of hostilities has held into mid-2005, and talks between the two sides continue, with the Government of Malaysia acting as principal mediator. The United States Institute of Peace has also made proposals for assisting the peace process, in cooperation with the Philippine Government and the MILF. The Department of State in August 2002 added the Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peopleís Army (CPP/NPA) to the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Negotiations between the government and the CPPís political arm, the National Democratic Front, were suspended in 2001 after the NPA assassinated two members of Congress, although "back-channel" and exploratory talks have continued since then.

The Republic of the Philippines maintains an embassy in the United States at 1600 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 (tel. 202-467-9300). Consulates general are in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Agana (Guam).