Upper house of the Congress of the Philippines
The
Senate of the Philippines
(
Filipino
:
Senado ng Pilipinas
) is the
upper house
of
Congress
, the bicameral
legislature
of the
Philippines
, with the
House of Representatives
as the
lower house
. The Senate is composed of 24
senators
who are elected
at-large
(the country forms one district in
senatorial elections
) under a
plurality-at-large voting system
.
Senators serve six-year terms with a maximum of two consecutive terms, with half of the senators elected in
staggered elections
every three years. When the Senate was restored by the
1987 Constitution
, the 24 senators who were elected in 1987 served until 1992. In 1992, the 12 candidates for the Senate obtaining the highest number of votes served until 1998, while the next 12 served until 1995. Thereafter, each senator elected serves the full six years. From 1945 to 1972, the Senate was a continuing body, with only eight seats up every two years.
Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the
president
's signature to become a law, the Senate is the only body that can concur with
treaties
and try
impeachment
cases. The
president of the Senate
is the presiding officer and highest-ranking official of the Senate. They are elected by the entire body to be their leader and are second in the
Philippine presidential line of succession
. The current officeholder is
Francis Escudero
.
History
[
edit
]
The Senate has its roots in the
Philippine Commission
of the
Insular Government
. Under the
Philippine Organic Act
, from 1907 to 1916, the
Philippine Commission
headed by the
governor-general of the Philippines
served as the upper chamber of the
Philippine Legislature
, with the
Philippine Assembly
as the elected
lower house
. At the same time the governor-general also exercised executive powers.
In August 1916 the
United States Congress
enacted the
Philippine Autonomy Act
or popularly known as the "Jones Law", which created an elected bicameral
Philippine Legislature
with the Senate as the
upper chamber
and with the
House of Representatives of the Philippines
, previously called the Philippine Assembly, as the
lower chamber
. The governor-general continued to be the head of the
executive branch
of the Insular Government. Senators then were elected via
senatorial districts
via
plurality-at-large voting
; each district grouped several provinces and each elected two senators except for "non-Christian" provinces where the governor-general of the Philippines appointed the senators for the district.
Future president
Manuel L. Quezon
, who was then
Philippine Resident Commissioner
, encouraged future president
Sergio Osmena
, then
Speaker
of the House, to run for the leadership of the Senate, but Osmena preferred to continue leading the lower house. Quezon then ran for the Senate and became
Senate President
serving for 19 years (1916?1935).
This setup continued until 1935, when the
Philippine Independence Act
or the "Tydings?McDuffie Act" was passed by the
U.S. Congress
which granted the Filipinos the right to frame their own constitution in preparation for their independence, wherein they established a unicameral
National Assembly of the Philippines
, effectively abolishing the Senate. Not long after the adoption of the 1935 Constitution several amendments began to be proposed. By 1938, the National Assembly began consideration of these proposals, which included restoring the Senate as the upper chamber of Congress. The amendment of the 1935 Constitution to have a bicameral legislature was approved in 1940 and the
first biennial elections
for the restored upper house was held in November 1941. Instead of the old senatorial districts, senators were elected via the entire country serving as an
at-large
district, although still under plurality-at-large voting, with voters voting up to eight candidates, and the eight candidates with the highest number of votes being elected. While the Senate from 1916 to 1935 had exclusive confirmation rights over executive appointments, as part of the compromises that restored the Senate in 1941, the power of confirming executive appointments has been exercised by a joint
Commission on Appointments
composed of members of both houses. However, the Senate since its restoration and the independence of the Philippines in 1946 has the power to ratify treaties.
The Senate finally convened in 1945 and served as the upper chamber of Congress from thereon until the declaration of
martial law
by President
Ferdinand Marcos
in 1972, which shut down Congress. The Senate was resurrected in 1987 upon the ratification of the
1987 Constitution
. However, instead of eight senators being replaced after every election, it was changed to twelve.
In the Senate, the officers are the
Senate president
,
Senate president
pro tempore
,
majority floor leader
,
minority floor leader
and the Senate secretary and the Senate sergeant at arms who are elected by the senators from among the employees and staff of the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate president, Senate president pro-tempore, the majority floor leader and the minority floor leader are elected by the senators from among themselves.
Composition
[
edit
]
Article VI, Section 2 of the
1987 Philippine Constitution
provides that the Senate shall be composed of 24 senators who shall be elected at-large by the qualified voters of the
Philippines
, as may be provided by law.
The composition of the Senate is smaller in number as compared to the
House of Representatives
. The members of this chamber are elected at large by the entire electorate. The rationale for this rule intends to make the Senate a training ground for national leaders and possibly a springboard for the
presidency
.
[1]
It follows also that the senator will have a broader outlook of the problems of the country, instead of being restricted by narrow viewpoints and interests by having a national rather than only a district constituency.
[1]
The
Senate Electoral Tribunal
(SET) composed of three
Supreme Court
justices and six senators determines election protests on already-seated senators. There had been three instances where the SET has replaced senators due to election protests, the last of which was in 2011 when the tribunal
awarded the protest
of
Koko Pimentel
against
Migz Zubiri
.
[2]
Qualifications
[
edit
]
The qualifications for membership in the Senate are expressly stated in Section 3, Art. VI of the
1987 Philippine Constitution
as follows:
- No person shall be a Senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the
Philippines
, and on the day of the election, is at least 35 years of age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the
Philippines
for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the election.
- The age is fixed at 35 and must be possessed on the day of the elections, that is, when the polls are opened and the votes cast, and not on the day of the proclamation of the winners by the board of canvassers.
- With regard to the residence requirements, it was ruled in the case of
Lim v. Pelaez
that it must be the place where one habitually resides and to which he, after absence, has the intention of returning.
- The enumeration laid down by the
1987 Philippine Constitution
is exclusive under the Latin principle of
expressio unius est exclusio alterius
. This means that
Congress
cannot anymore add additional qualifications other than those provided by the
1987 Philippine Constitution
.
Organization
[
edit
]
Under the
Constitution
, "
Congress
shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session...". During this time, the Senate is organized to elect its officers. Specifically, the
1987 Philippine Constitution
provides a definite statement to it:
(1) The Senate shall elect its
President
and the
House of Representatives
its
Speaker
by a vote of all its respective members.
(2) Each House shall choose such other officers as it may deem necessary.
(3) Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its Members, suspend or expel a Member. A penalty of suspension, when imposed, shall not exceed sixty days.
?
Article VI, Section 16, paragraphs 1 to 3, The Constitution of the Philippines
By virtue of these provisions of the
1987 Philippine Constitution
, the Senate adopts its own rules, otherwise known as the "Rules of the Senate." The Rules of the Senate provide the following officers: a
president
, a
president
pro tempore
, a secretary and a sergeant-at-arms.
Following this set of officers, the Senate as an institution can then be grouped into the Senate Proper and the Secretariat. The former belongs exclusively to the members of the Senate as well as its committees, while the latter renders support services to the members of the Senate.
Powers
[
edit
]
The Senate was modeled upon the
United States Senate
; the two chambers of Congress have roughly equal powers, and every bill or resolution that has to go through both houses needs the consent of both chambers before being passed for the president's signature. Once a bill is defeated in the Senate, it is lost. Once a bill is approved by the Senate on
third reading
, the bill is passed to the House of Representatives, unless an identical bill has also been passed by the lower house. When a counterpart bill in the lower house is different from the one passed by the Senate, either a bicameral conference committee is created consisting of members from both chambers of Congress to reconcile the differences, or either chamber may instead approve the other chamber's version.
While franchise and
money bills
originate in the House of Representatives, the Senate may still propose or concur with amendments. Only the Senate has the power to approve, via a two-thirds supermajority, or denounce treaties, and the power to try and convict, via a two-thirds supermajority, an impeached official.
Current members
[
edit
]
Leadership
[
edit
]
Members
[
edit
]
|
Per bloc
Bloc
|
Total
|
%
|
Majority
|
15
|
62.50%
|
Minority
|
2
|
8.33%
|
Independent
|
7
|
29.17%
|
Total
|
24
|
100%
|
|
Seat
[
edit
]
The Senate currently meets at the
GSIS Building
along
Jose W. Diokno Boulevard
in
Pasay
. Built on land reclaimed from
Manila Bay
, the Senate shares the complex with the
Government Service Insurance System
(GSIS).
The Senate previously met at the
Old Legislative Building
in
Manila
until May 1997. The Senate occupied the upper floors (the Session Hall now restored to its semi-former glory) while the House of Representatives occupied the lower floors (now occupied by the permanent exhibit of
Juan Luna
's
Spoliarium
as the museum's centerpiece), with the
National Library
at the basement. When the Legislative Building was ruined in World War II, the House of Representatives temporarily met at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse at Lepanto Street (modern-day S. H. Loyola Street),
[4]
while the Senate's temporary headquarters was at the half-ruined
Manila City Hall
.
[5]
Congress then returned to the Legislative Building in 1950 upon its reconstruction. When President
Ferdinand Marcos
dissolved Congress in 1972, he built a new legislative complex in
Quezon City
. The unicameral parliament known as the
Batasang Pambansa
eventually met there in 1978. With the restoration of the bicameral legislature in 1987, the House of Representatives inherited the complex at Quezon City, now called the
Batasang Pambansa Complex
, while the Senate returned to the Congress Building, until the GSIS Building was finished in 1997. Thus, the country's two houses of Congress meet at different places in
Metro Manila
.
The Senate would eventually move to the
New Senate Building
at the Navy Village in
Fort Bonifacio
,
Taguig
by 2025 at the earliest.
[6]
As the Senate has rented GSIS for the office space, it asked the
Bases Conversion and Development Authority
(BCDA) to present suitable sites for it to move to, with the Senate eyeing the Navy Village property along
Lawton Avenue
as its favored site.
[7]
In 2018, a building designed by
AECOM
was chosen as winner for the new home for the Senate and was expected to be built by 2022. Civil works to erect the building had been awarded to Hilmarcs Construction Corporation, the same company the Senate investigated for alleged overpriced construction of the
Makati
City Hall Parking Building II in 2015.
[8]
The reception to the design was mixed, with some Filipino netizens comparing it to a
garbage can
.
[9]
By early 2021, the New Senate Building's construction was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
.
[10]
Historical makeup
[
edit
]
This is how the Senate looked like after the beginning of every Congress under the 1987 constitution. The parties are arranged alphabetically, with independents at the rightmost side. Vacancies are denoted by dashes after the independents. Senators may switch parties or become independents mid-term.
Congress
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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15
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16
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17
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18
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19
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20
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21
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22
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23
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24
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8th
(1987?92)
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9th
(1992?95)
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10th
(1995?98)
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11th
(1998?2001)
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?
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12th
(2001?04)
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13th
(2004?07)
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?
|
14th
(2007?10)
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?
|
15th
(2010?13)
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?
|
16th
(2013?16)
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17th
(2016?19)
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18th
(2019?22)
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19th
(2022?present)
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Prominent senators
[
edit
]
Presidents
[
edit
]
- Manuel L. Quezon
? 2nd President, also the first Senate President, lobbied for a nationally elected senate that was established in 1940.
- Jose P. Laurel
? 3rd President (Japanese-sponsored republic)
- Sergio Osmena
? 1st
Speaker of the House of Representatives
1st Vice President, 4th President
- Manuel Roxas
? 5th President, also served as Senate President and 2nd
Speaker of the House of Representatives
. First Filipino to have served as chief of the Upper and Lower House.
- Elpidio Quirino
? 2nd Vice President, 6th President
- Carlos P. Garcia
? 4th Vice President, 8th President
- Ferdinand Marcos
? 10th President, also served as Senate President.
- Joseph Estrada
? 9th Vice President, 13th President
- Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
? 10th Vice President, 14th President, and first woman
Speaker of the House of Representatives
- Benigno Aquino III
? 15th President
- Bongbong Marcos
? 17th President
Vice Presidents
[
edit
]
Former Speakers of the House of Representatives
[
edit
]
Chief Justices
[
edit
]
First Lady
[
edit
]
Other Prominent senators
[
edit
]
- Isabelo de los Reyes
? nationalist, journalist and historian known as the "Father of the Philippine Labor Movement"
[11]
- Teodoro Sandiko
? propagandist, revolutionary, and former member of
Aguinaldo cabinet
- Jose Alejandrino
? propagandist, revolutionary general during the
Philippine Revolution
and the
Philippine?American War
.
- Hadji Butu
? senator from the
12th district
and the first Muslim senator of the Philippines.
- Lope K. Santos
? senator from the
12th district
, known as "Father of the Filipino Grammar."
- Rafael Palma
? revolutionary writer, educator and 4th
President of the University of the Philippines
- Vicente Sotto
? journalist and known as the father of Cebuano journalism.
[12]
- Camilo Osias
? educator and writer who twice for a short time
President of the Senate of the Philippines
- Geronima Pecson
? educator, suffragette, and social worker who became the first
woman senator
of the
Philippines
- Claro M. Recto
? nationalist, writer and poet, and president of 1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention.
- Eulogio Rodriguez
? former Senate President known as the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Politics"
- Lorenzo Tanada
? Marcos-era opposition leader, and longest serving senator of 24 years tied with
Tito Sotto
and
Franklin Drilon
from 1947 to 1972. Dubbed "The Grand Old Man of Philippine Politics".
- Jovito Salonga
? former Senate President, Marcos-era opposition leader, former Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
- Gil J. Puyat
, Senate President (1967?1972).
- Benigno Aquino Jr.
? Marcos-era opposition leader, husband of the 11th President
Corazon C. Aquino
, and father of the 15th President Benigno S. Aquino III. Recipient of the
Quezon Service Cross
- Jose W. Diokno
? father of human rights, Marcos-era co-opposition leader, nationalist, former Secretary of Justice,
Bar
topnotcher, and founder of the
Free Legal Assistance Group
and the
Commission on Human Rights
.
- Tecla San Andres Ziga
? first woman
Bar
topnotcher in the Philippines
- Eva Estrada Kalaw
? Marcos-era opposition leader
- Helena Benitez
? Filipina academic and administrator of the
Philippine Women's University
.
- Raul Manglapus
? Marcos-era opposition leader, former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and a former presidential candidate.
- Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
? Marcos-era co-opposition leader, Senate President (2000?2001), and former PDP?Laban chairman.
- Nina Rasul
? first Muslim woman member of the Senate.
- Leticia Ramos-Shahani
? former
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
, and former
UN Assistant Secretary-General
for Social and Humanitarian Affairs
- Rene Saguisag
? human rights lawyer during the Marcos dictatorship.
- Neptali Gonzales
? elected three times as Senate president, former Minister of Justice, member of Batasang Pambansa, Vice Governor of Rizal, and dean of the College of Law of the Far Eastern University.
- Franklin Drilon
? Senate President, former Liberal Party chairman, and tied with Lorenzo Tanada for the longest tenure as elected senator.
- Juan Flavier
? 18th
Secretary of Health
- Raul Roco
? 1998 and 2004 presidential candidate, former
Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports
.
- Rodolfo Biazon
? 21st
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
- Joker Arroyo
? human rights lawyer during the Marcos dictatorship.
- Miriam Defensor Santiago
, former
International Criminal Court
judge,
Ramon Magsaysay Award
recipient, member of the
International Development Law Organization
International Advisory Council, and former presidential candidate.
[13]
[14]
Recipient of the
Quezon Service Cross
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Composition of the Senate"
.
Senate of the Philippines
.
- ^
Calonzo, Andero (August 11, 2011).
"Pimentel proclaimed 12th winning senator in '07 polls"
.
GMA News Online
. Retrieved
August 11,
2011
.
- ^
Viray, Patricia Lourdes (May 19, 2016).
"Comelec proclaims Senate 'Magic 12'
"
. The Philippine Star
. Retrieved
May 19,
2016
.
- ^
Quezon Memorial Book
. Quezon Memorial Committee. 1952.
- ^
Towards the south side, opposite the base of the famous clocktower.
[1]
&
[2]
- ^
Cruz, RG (May 27, 2024).
"Escudero: Senate won't move to new building this year"
.
ABS-CBN News
. Retrieved
May 27,
2024
.
- ^
"Senate to move to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig by 2020 - The Manila Times Online"
.
www.manilatimes.net
. January 25, 2017
. Retrieved
January 29,
2017
.
- ^
"Controversial contractor to build new Senate home"
. March 19, 2019.
- ^
"Lacson defends construction of new Senate Building in Bonifacio"
. Retrieved
August 22,
2019
.
- ^
Terrazola, Vanne Elaine (February 20, 2021).
"Sotto says conversion of new Senate building to hospital up to next batch of senators"
.
Manila Bulletin
. Retrieved
October 6,
2021
.
- ^
Bragado, Erlinda (2002).
"
"Sukimatem": Isabelo de los Reyes Revisited"
(PDF)
.
Philippine Studies
.
50
(1): 50?75
. Retrieved
February 20,
2019
.
- ^
Oaminal, Clarence Paul.
"Don Vicente Yap Sotto, father of Cebuano journalism, language and literature"
.
Philstar.com
. Retrieved
November 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago"
. Senate.
- ^
"Miriam joins Bill Gates elite law group"
. Philstar.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Officers
| | |
---|
Senators
| |
---|
Elections
| |
---|
Standing
committees
|
- Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon)
- Accounts
- Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform
- Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies
- Basic Education, Arts and Culture
- Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation
- Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes
- Cooperatives
- Cultural Communities
- Economic Affairs
- Electoral Reforms and People's Participation
- Energy
- Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change
- Ethics and Privileges
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Games and Amusement
- Government Corporations and Public Enterprises
- Health and Demography
- Higher, Technical and Vocational Education
- Justice and Human Rights
- Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development
- Local Government
- National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation
- Public Information and Mass Media
- Public Order and Dangerous Drugs
- Public Services
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- Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development
- Sports
- Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking
- Tourism
- Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship
- Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement
- Ways and Means
- Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality
- Youth
|
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Other bodies
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Symbols
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See also
| |
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|
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|
Senior Senators (2019?2025)
| Junior Senators (2022?2028)
| | | | | Term ends June 30, 2025
| Term ends June 30, 2028
|
|