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🇵🇭 Philippines · supreme court

Supreme Court of the Philippines

Kataastaasang Hukuman ng Pilipinas / Supreme Court of the Philippines

Reviewed· 2026-08-03Manila

Unusually powerful by design: the 1987 constitution's expanded certiorari clause lets it review any act of any government branch for grave abuse of discretion, and it alone promulgates the rules of court. It created the writs of amparo and habeas data by rule in 2007 to address enforced disappearances. Philippine law is a genuine hybrid — Spanish-derived civil law in family, property and obligations, American-derived doctrine in constitutional and commercial law — and the Code of Muslim Personal Laws applies in Muslim Mindanao through Shari'a courts.

How the court is constituted

Tier
supreme
Court type
Apex and constitutional court
Jurisdiction
Final appeals, expanded certiorari jurisdiction to determine grave abuse of discretion by any branch or instrumentality of government, rule-making power over pleading, practice and procedure, and administrative supervision of all courts.
Seat
Manila
Established
1901

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