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Philippine
Legislature - Structure and
Functions
Legislative
Structure
The
Philippine Congress is divided into two chambers,
namely the Senate and the House of Representatives
referred to as the Upper House and the Lower House
respectively. They are located in opposite sides of
Metropolitan Manila, the Senate at the GSIS
Building, Financial Center in Pasay City and the
House of Representatives at the Batasan Complex in
Quezon City. Each House has its own set of officers
and rules to guide its daily proceedings. Each also
has its own Journal which is a summary of the
plenary session and a Record of Proceedings which
is a verbatim output of the day's
activities.
The
Senate
The
Senate consists of 24 Senators elected at large.
Under synchronized elections, 12 Senators are
elected every three (3) years. Each has a term of
six years. In 1992, 24 senators were elected. The
first 12 have a term of six years and the other
twelve had a shorter term of three years which
lasted until 1995. Starting with the 1995
elections, the 12 newly elected senators won their
seats for six years (1995-2001). Another set of 12
senators was elected in May of 1998 to serve a six
year term (1998-2004). The term of a senator, as
provided for in the Constitution, starts at noon on
the 30th day of June following their election. The
Constitution also limits their stay in office to no
more than two (2) consecutive terms.
The
House of Representatives
The
1987 Constitution provides that the House of
Representatives shall be composed of not more than
250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who
shall be elected from legislative districts and
through a party-list system. The Representatives
(of legislative districts and party list) shall
have a term of three years commencing at noon of
the 30th day of June following their election and
are limited to serving a maximum of three (3)
consecutive terms. The Representatives of
legislative districts are elected from the
provinces, cities and the Metropoltian Manila area,
which are divided into legislative districts. Seats
are apportioned according to the number of
inhabitants and are reapportioned within three
years following the return of every census. Article
VI of the Constitution specifically allocates one
representative for every city with a population of
at least 250,000. Article VI, Section 5 of the 1987
Constitution provides that out of the total number
of Members, twenty percent (20%) shall come from
Party-List (PL) representatives, one-half of which
shall be filled by sectoral representatives for the
first three terms of Congress (1987-1998). In
response to this constitutional provision, the
Ninth Congress enacted a party-list law, Republic
Act 7941, which provides for a system of
proportional representation in the election of
Representatives from national,regional, and
sectoral parties, organizations or coalitions.*
Under the law, parties, organizations, and
coalitions shall be entitled to a seat in the House
of Representatives in proportion to the total
number of votes they receive in the party-list
election. The party-list law further provides that
each party, organization, or coalition shall be
entitled to not more than three (3) seats. The
first election under the party-list system was held
in May 1998, where every voter was entitled to two
(2) votes: the first vote is for a candidate to be
a member of the House of Representatives in his/her
legislative district, and the second vote is for
the party-list representative. In the 10th
Congress, 22 sectoral representatives were
appointed by the President to fill the posts of
party-list representatives until 1998. Among the
sectors represented were the peasant, labor, women,
cultural communities, urban poor and youth sectors.
The 10th Congress of 201 Representatives, 82
were third termers; 70 were second termers; and 47
were first termers.
Legislative
Powers and Functions
Under
Article VI of the Philippine Constitution, the
Legislative branch is vested with the following
powers and functions:
- Propose,
review and adopt bills for enactment into
law
- Conduct
studies and inquiries in aid of legislation and
investigations necessary in the lawmaking
process and in the oversight of the execution of
laws by the executive
- Propose
appropriations, revenue or tariff bills; bills
authorizing increase of the public sector debt;
bills of local application and private bills
- Concur
in all treaties and international agreements
- Exercise
the constitutional right and responsibility of
advice and consent on certain presidential
nominations through the Commission on
Appointments
- Judge
the election, returns and qualifications of its
members, determine the rules of its proceedings,
and punish its members by suspension or
expulsion for disorderly behavior
- Authorize
the President to exercise emergency power in
times of war or national emergency
- Propose
amendments to the Constitution for ratification
by the people
- Call
for a constitutional
convention
The
power to ratify treaties belongs exclusively to the
Senate while bills on appropriations, revenue or
tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of public
debt, bills of local application, and private bills
originate from the House of Representatives. The
Constitution also provides substantive and
procedural limitations on the legislative power
enjoyed by Congress.
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