The ( of the
Philippines . The
Senate is the upper chamber. The House is often informally called the ''Congress''. Members of the house are called ''Congressmen'' (''mga kinatawan'' or ''mga konggresista'') and their title is ''Representative''. Congressmen are elected to a three-year term, and can be reelected to a maximum of consecutive three terms. A congressman may be a district representative, which represents a particular geographical area. There are 212 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people. In addition, there are Sectoral Representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of Representatives.
The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the ''
Batasang Pambansa '' (literally, ''national legislature'') located at the Constitution Hill in
Quezon City in
Metro Manila . The building is often simply called ''Batasan''.
When the Philippines was under
American colonial rule, the legislative body was the Philippine Commission which existed from September 1900 to October 1907. The
President Of The United States appointed the members of the Philippine Commission.
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 October 1907. Through the leadership of Speaker
Sergio Osmeña and Floor Leader
Manuel L. Quezon , the Rules of the
59th Congress Of The United States was substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature.
In
1916 , the Jones Law or the Philippine Autonomy Act changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished and a new bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a
House Of Representatives and a
Senate was established. The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935
Constitution 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 was adopted.
Upon the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines in 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. The 1973 Constitution abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral ''Batasang Pambansa'' parliamentary system of government.
The 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines.
The presiding officer is the
Speaker .
- 1907-1922 Sergio Osmeña (Philippine Assembly)
- 1922-1933 Manuel A. Roxas (House of Representatives)
- 1933-1935 Quintin Paredes (House of Representatives)
- 1935-1935 Gil Montilla (National Assembly)
- 1938-1941 Jose Yulo (National Assembly)
- 1941-1943 ''Vacant, World War II''
- 1943-1944 Benigno Aquino Sr. (National Assembly, 2nd Republic)
- 1945-1946 Jose Zulueta (House of Representatives)
- 1946-1953 Eugenio Perez (House of Representatives)
- 1954-1957 Jose B. Laurel, Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 1957-1962 Daniel Romualdez (House of Representatives)
- 1962-1967 Cornelio Villareal (House of Representatives)
- 1967-1971 Jose B. Laurel, Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 1971-1972 Cornelio Villareal (House of Representatives)
- 1972-1978 ''Vacant, Dissolved''
- 1978-1984 Querube C. Makalintal (Batasang Pambansa)
- 1984-1986 Nicanor E. Yniguez (Batasang Pambansa)
- 1986-1987 ''Vacant, Dissolved''
- 1987-1992 Ramon Mitra, Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 1992-1998 Jose C. De Venecia, Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 1998-2000 Manuel Villar Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 2000-2001 Arnulfo Fuentebella (House of Representatives)
- 2001 Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. (House of Representatives)
- 2001-pres Jose C. De Venecia, Jr. (House of Representatives)
All
Provinces and several
Cities have at least one congressional/legislative district, whose residents vote for their own congressman. Each district covers a population of approximately 250,000 to 500,000 people. Provinces that have only one congressional/legislative district are divided into two provincial districts for the purpose of electing
Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council) members. For provinces that have more than one congressional/legislative district, the provincial districts are identical to the corresponding congressional/legislative district.
The party-list system is the name designated for the sectoral representation. Under the
1987 Constitution , the electorate can vote for certain party-list organizations in order to give voice to significant minorities of society that would otherwise not be adequately represented through geographical district. From 1987-1998, sectoral representatives were appointed by the President.
Since
1998 , each voter votes for a single party-list organization. Organizations that garner at least 2% of the total number of votes are awarded one representative for every 2% up to a maximum of three representatives. Thus, there can be at most 50 sectoral representatives in Congress, though usually no more than 20 are elected because many organizations do not reach the required 2% minimum number of votes.
After the 2007 election, in a controversial decision, COMELEC changed how it allocates the party-list seats. Under the new formula only one party will have the maximum 3 seats. It based its decision on a formula contained in a Supreme Court decision.
