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60-696: In the Congress of the Philippines , the title member of congress is almost never used; instead, legislators are called congressmen or congresswomen . However, these terms apply only to members of the House of Representatives , not to members of the Senate , who are called senators . In referring to an individual lawmaker in that person's capacity of serving in the United States Congress ,

120-519: A Senate was established. The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution , aside from instituting the Commonwealth which gave the Filipinos more role in government, established a unicameral National Assembly . But in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution , a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate

180-662: A bicameral federal legislature , the term Member of Congress is used less often than other terms in the United States . This is because in the United States the word Congress is used as a descriptive term for the collective body of legislators from both of its houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives . While a reference to a member of the Senate is typically referred to quite straightforwardly as Senator (followed by "name" from " state " ),

240-539: A constitutional commission that drafted a new constitution. The Constitution was approved in a plebiscite the next year; it restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. The restored Congress first convened in 1987. The two houses of Congress meet at different places in Metro Manila , the seat of government: the Senate meets at the GSIS Building ,

300-418: A quorum . Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are usually delegated to committees made up of a few of the members of the chamber(s). The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties ; the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs. Legislatures vary widely in

360-638: A constitutional convention to revise the 1935 Constitution; in 1973, the Constitution was approved. It abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral National Assembly, which would ultimately be known as the Batasang Pambansa in a semi-presidential system of government. The Batasang Pambansa first convened in 1978, and elected a prime minister . Marcos was overthrown after the 1986 People Power Revolution ; President Corazon Aquino then ruled by decree. Later that year she appointed

420-590: A legislature: One of the major functions of a legislature is to discuss and debate issues of major importance to society. This activity can take place in two forms. In debating legislatures, such as the Parliament of the United Kingdom , the floor of the legislature frequently sees lively debate. In contrast, in committee-based legislatures like the United States Congress , deliberation takes place in closed committees. While legislatures have nominally

480-571: A member of the House of Representatives is typically idiomatically referred to as Congressman or Congresswoman (followed by "name" from the "number" district of "state" ); or, removing any ambiguity, Representative ( "name" from the "number" district of "state" ). Although senators are members of Congress, they are not normally referred to or addressed as "Congressman" or "Congresswoman". Members of Congress in both houses are elected by direct popular vote . Senators are elected via

540-523: A new building that they would own in Fort Bonifacio , Taguig . The powers of the Congress of the Philippines may be classified as: In the diagrams below, Congress is divided into blocs, with the colors referring to the political party of the person leading that bloc. The blocs are determined by the votes of the members in speakership or Senate presidential elections. The Senate is composed of

600-429: A particular congressional district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some having two or more representatives. From 200 districts in 1987, the number of districts have increased to 253. Every new Congress has seen an increase in the number of districts. The party-list congressmen represent

660-526: A single unit is unicameral , one divided into two chambers is bicameral , and one divided into three chambers is tricameral . In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is usually considered the upper house , while the other is considered the lower house . The two types are not rigidly different, but members of upper houses tend to be indirectly elected or appointed rather than directly elected, tend to be allocated by administrative divisions rather than by population, and tend to have longer terms than members of

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720-452: A statewide vote and representatives by votes in each congressional district . Congressional districts are apportioned to the states , once every ten years, based on population figures from the most recent nationwide census . Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives is elected to serve a two-year term representing the people of that person's district. Each state, regardless of its size, has at least one representative. Each of

780-435: Is indirectly elected within the context of a one-party state . Legislature size is a trade off between efficiency and representation; the smaller the legislature, the more efficiently it can operate, but the larger the legislature, the better it can represent the political diversity of its constituents. Comparative analysis of national legislatures has found that size of a country's lower house tends to be proportional to

840-554: Is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country , nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government . Legislatures can exist at different levels of government–national, state/provincial/regional, local, even supranational (such as the European Parliament ). Countries differ as to what extent they grant deliberative assemblies at

900-496: Is determined by the size of the bloc; only members of the majority and minority blocs are given committee memberships. In the Philippines, political parties are liquid, and it is not uncommon for party-mates to find themselves in different blocs. Each chamber is headed by a presiding officer, both elected from their respective membership; in the Senate, it is the Senate President , while in the House of Representatives, it

960-461: Is needed. A new session of Congress starts after every House of Representatives election. Under the 1935 Constitution as amended in 1940, mid-term elections for the Senate caused its membership to be changed mid-session. From 1945 to 1972, there were two Commonwealth congresses and seven congresses of the Republic, with the 2nd Commonwealth Congress becoming the 1st Congress of the Republic . Under

1020-501: Is the Speaker . The Senate also has a Senate president pro tempore , and the House of Representatives has deputy speakers . Each chamber has its own floor leaders. The vote requirements in the Congress of the Philippines are as follows: In most cases, such as the approval of bills, only a majority of members present is needed; on some cases such as the election of presiding officers, a majority of all members, including vacant seats,

1080-664: The Americas have more independence in drafting and amending bills. The origins of the power of the purse which legislatures typically have in passing or denying government budgets goes back to the European assemblies of nobility which the monarchs would have to consult before raising taxes. For this power to be actually effective, the legislature should be able to amend the budget, have an effective committee system, enough time for consideration, as well as access to relevant background information. There are several ways in which

1140-651: The European Union . The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments – as in the European Union and in Germany and, before 1913, in the United States  – or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Australia and the United States since 1913. Tricameral legislatures are rare;

1200-497: The Federal Parliament of Somalia ) tied for least powerful. Some political systems follows the principle of legislative supremacy , which holds that the legislature is the supreme branch of government and cannot be bound by other institutions, such as the judicial branch or a written constitution . Such a system renders the legislature more powerful. In parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government ,

1260-761: The Manila Municipal Council qualified to elect a representative, it was tasked to select a delegate. Three of its representatives, the governor-general and the Archbishop of Manila selected Ventura de los Reyes as Manila's delegate to the Cortes. De los Reyes arrived in Cadiz in December 1811. However, with Napoleon I 's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo , his brother Joseph Bonaparte was removed from

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1320-673: The Massachusetts Governor's Council still exists, but the most recent national example existed in the waning years of White-minority rule in South Africa . Tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. The only legislature with a number of chambers bigger than four was the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia ; initially established as a Pentacameral body in 1963, it

1380-834: The People Power Revolution , the bicameral Congress was restored. The House of Representatives inherited the Batasang Pambansa Complex, while the Senate returned to the Congress Building. In May 1997, the Senate moved to the newly constructed building owned by the GSIS on land reclaimed from Manila Bay in Pasay ; the Congress Building was eventually transformed into the National Museum of Fine Arts . The Senate will eventually move into

1440-712: The Philippine Revolution that aimed to overthrow Spanish rule. Proclaiming independence on June 12, 1898, President Emilio Aguinaldo then ordered the convening of a revolutionary congress at Malolos . The Malolos Congress , among other things, approved the Malolos Constitution . With the approval of the Treaty of Paris , the Spanish ceded the Philippines to the United States. The revolutionaries, attempting to prevent American conquest, launched

1500-616: The Philippine–American War , but were defeated when Aguinaldo was captured in 1901. When the Philippines was under American colonial rule, the legislative body was the Philippine Commission which existed from 1900 to 1907. The President of the United States appointed the members of the Philippine Commission . Furthermore, two Filipinos served as Resident Commissioners to the House of Representatives of

1560-401: The executive is responsible to the legislature, which may remove it with a vote of no confidence . On the other hand, according to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature in a presidential system is considered an independent and coequal branch of government along with both the judiciary and the executive. Nevertheless, many presidential systems provide for the impeachment of

1620-430: The 100 members of the Senate is elected to serve a six-year term representing the people of that person's state. Each state, regardless of its size, has two senators. Senatorial terms are staggered , so every two years approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election. Each staggered group of one-third of the senators is called a 'class'. No state has both its senators in the same class. The United States Congress

1680-468: The 1973 Constitution, the Batasang Pambansa was the legislature, with it having two elections. Under the 1987 constitution, each Senate election was synchronized with the House elections, with the first congress under that constitution being counted as the " 8th Congress ", picking up from the last congress of the 1935 Constitution. Legislature A legislature

1740-445: The 1:4 ratio has to be respected. The Constitution provides that Congress shall convene for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year. The president may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular legislative sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters. During

1800-670: The Commonwealth Congress convened at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse in Sampaloc . Congress met at the school auditorium, with the Senate convening on evenings and the House of Representatives meeting every morning. The Senate subsequently moved to the Manila City Hall , with the House staying in the schoolhouse. The two chambers of Congress returned to the reconstructed Legislative Building, now

1860-552: The Congress Building in 1950. In 1973, when President Marcos ruled by decree, Congress was padlocked. Marcos built a new seat of a unicameral parliament in Quezon City , which would eventually be the Batasang Pambansa Complex . The parliament that will eventually be named as the Batasang Pambansa (National Legislature), first met at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in 1978. With the overthrow of Marcos after

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1920-402: The Cortes. While colonies such as the Philippines were selecting their delegates, substitutes were named so that the Cortes could convene. The substitutes, and first delegates for the Philippines were Pedro Pérez de Tagle and José Manuel Couto. Neither had any connection to the colony. By July 1810, Governor General Manuel González de Aguilar received the instruction to hold an election. As only

1980-401: The House "shall be composed of not more than 250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law", and that at least 20% of it shall be sectoral representatives. There are two types of congressmen: the district and party-list representatives . At the time of the ratification of the constitution, there were 200 districts, leaving 50 seats for party-list representatives. The district congressmen represent

2040-454: The House of Representatives meets at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City , which also hosts joint sessions . The Senate is composed of 24 senators half of which are elected every three years. Each senator, therefore, serves a total of six years. The senators are elected at-large and do not represent any geographical district. In the current 19th Congress , there are 316 seats in the House of Representatives. The Constitution states that

2100-492: The Philippines The Congress of the Philippines ( Filipino : Kongreso ng Pilipinas ) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines . It is bicameral , composed of an upper body, the Senate , and a lower body, the House of Representatives , although colloquially, the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter . The Senate meets at the GSIS Building in Pasay , while

2160-531: The Philippines on July 4, 1946, Republic Act No. 6 was enacted providing that on the date of the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines , the existing Congress would be known as the First Congress of the Republic . Successive Congresses were elected until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 23, 1972. Marcos then ruled by decree. As early as 1970, Marcos had convened

2220-646: The Spanish colonization of the Philippines, municipal governments, or Cabildos were established. One such example was the Cabildo in Manila, established in 1571. While the Philippines was under colonial rule as part of the Spanish East Indies , the colony had no representation in the Spanish Cortes . Only in 1809, when the colony was made an integral part of Spain, did it gain representation in

2280-526: The Spanish throne, and the Cádiz Constitution was replaced by the Cortes on May 24, 1816, with a more conservative constitution that removed Philippine representation on the Cortes, among other things. Restoration of Philippine representation to the Cortes was one of the grievances by the Ilustrados , the educated class during the late 19th century. The Illustrados' campaign transformed into

2340-753: The US-instituted Philippine Legislature convened at the Ayuntamiento in Intramuros, Manila from 1907 until 1926, when it transferred to the Legislative Building just outside Intramuros. In the Legislative Building, the Senate occupied the upper floors while the House of Representatives used the lower floors. With the Legislative Building destroyed during the Battle of Manila of 1945 ,

2400-619: The United States from 1907 to 1935, then only one from 1935 to 1946. The Resident Commissioners had a voice in the House, but did not have voting rights. The Philippine Bill of 1902 mandated the creation of a bicameral or a two-chamber Philippine Legislature with the Philippine Commission as the Upper House and the Philippine Assembly as the Lower House. This bicameral legislature was inaugurated in 1907. Through

2460-702: The amount of political power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries , militaries , and executives . In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary powers index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures. The German Bundestag , the Italian Parliament , and the Mongolian State Great Khural tied for most powerful, while Myanmar's House of Representatives and Somalia's Transitional Federal Assembly (since replaced by

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2520-835: The country. Among the earliest recognised formal legislatures was the Athenian Ecclesia . In the Middle Ages , European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop into predecessors of modern legislatures. These were often named the Estates . The oldest surviving legislature is the Icelandic Althing , founded in 930 CE. Democratic legislatures have six major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight. There exist five ways that representation can be achieved in

2580-403: The duration of their entire term, or for just those related to their legislative duties. A legislature may debate and vote upon bills as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple separate assemblies , called by various names including legislative chambers , debate chambers , and houses , which debate and vote separately and have distinct powers. A legislature which operates as

2640-421: The executive are also used, particularly for bicameral legislatures featuring an upper house . The name used to refer to a legislative body varies by country. Common names include: By names: By languages: Though the specific roles for each legislature differ by location, they all aim to serve the same purpose of appointing officials to represent their citizens to determine appropriate legislation for

2700-406: The executive for criminal or unconstitutional behaviour. Legislatures will sometimes delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies . Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators , who vote on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains a fixed number of legislators; because legislatures usually meet in a specific room filled with seats for

2760-593: The leadership of then- Speaker Sergio Osmeña and then-Majority Floor Leader Manuel L. Quezon , the Rules of the 59th United States Congress were substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature. In 1916, the Jones Law changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished, and a new bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and

2820-446: The legislators, this is often described as the number of "seats" it contains. For example, a legislature that has 100 "seats" has 100 members. By extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a "seat", as, for example, in the phrases " safe seat " and " marginal seat ". After election, the members may be protected by parliamentary immunity or parliamentary privilege , either for all actions

2880-436: The legislature can hold the executive branch (the administration or government) accountable. This can be done through hearings, questioning , interpellations , votes of confidence , the formation of committees. Parliaments are usually ensured with upholding the rule of law, verifying that public funds are used accountably and efficiently as well as make government processes transparent and actions so that they can be debated by

2940-406: The lower house. In some systems, particularly parliamentary systems , the upper house has less power and tends to have a more advisory role, but in others, particularly federal presidential systems , the upper house has equal or even greater power. In federations , the upper house typically represents the federation's component states. This is also the case with the supranational legislature of

3000-807: The main office of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Pasay , while the House of Representatives sits at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City . The two are around 25 kilometers (16 mi) apart. The Barasoain Church in Malolos , Bulacan served as a meeting place of unicameral congress of the First Philippine Republic . After the Americans defeated the First Republic,

3060-399: The minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Party-list representatives represent labor unions , rights groups, and other organizations. With the increase of districts also means that the seats for party-list representatives increase as well, as

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3120-488: The public and its representatives. Agora notes that parliamentary systems or political parties in which political leaders can influence or decide which members receive top jobs can lead to passivity amongst members of the party and less challenging of leadership. Agora notes that this phenomenon is acute if the election of a member is dependant on the support of political leadership. In contrast to democratic systems, legislatures under authoritarianism are used to ensure

3180-482: The qualifications necessary to serve in each chamber. The Seventeenth Amendment changed how senators were elected. Originally, senators were elected by state legislatures . The Seventeenth Amendment changed this to senators being elected directly by popular vote. Controversy surrounds the question of whether the federal government or any other governmental entity has the right to regulate how many times representatives and senators can hold office. Congress of

3240-411: The sole power to create laws, the substantive extent of this power depends on details of the political system. In Westminster-style legislatures the executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass any laws it wants, as it usually has a majority of legislators behind it, kept in check by the party whip, while committee-based legislatures in continental Europe and those in presidential systems of

3300-400: The stability of the power structure by co-opting potential competing interests within the elites, which they achieve by: Each chamber of the legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a certain number of legislators present to carry out these activities; this is called

3360-442: The subnational law-making power, as opposed to purely administrative responsibilities. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as primary legislation. In addition, legislatures may observe and steer governing actions, with authority to amend the budget involved. The members of a legislature are called legislators. In a democracy, legislators are most commonly popularly elected , although indirect election and appointment by

3420-471: The winners of the 2019 and 2022 Senate elections . The House of Representatives is composed of the winners of the 2022 House of Representatives elections . In both chambers, the majority bloc is composed of members generally supportive of the incumbent presidency of Bongbong Marcos , while the minority blocs are those opposed. In the House of Representatives, there is an independent minority bloc, and 4 vacant seats. In both chambers, membership in committees

3480-463: Was created in Article I of the Constitution , which laid out the limitations and powers of Congress. Article I grants Congress legislative power , lists the enumerated powers and allows Congress to make laws that are necessary and proper to carry out the enumerated powers. It specifies the election and composition of the House of Representatives, and the election and composition of the Senate, and

3540-597: Was created. Those elected in 1941 would not serve until 1945, as World War II erupted. The invading Japanese set up the Second Philippine Republic and convened its own National Assembly . With the Japanese defeat in 1945, the Commonwealth and its Congress was restored. The same setup continued until the Americans granted independence on July 4, 1946. Upon the inauguration of the Republic of

3600-519: Was turned into a hexacameral body in 1967. Legislatures vary widely in their size. Among national legislatures , China's National People's Congress is the largest with 2,980 members, while Vatican City 's Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7. Neither legislature is democratically elected: The Pontifical Commission members are appointed by the Pope and the National People's Congress

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