Legislative Department

Introduction to Political Science

PNPA Class 2025
The Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City is the current base of the House of Representatives.
According to the 1987
Constitution, legislative power
shall be vested in the Congress of
the Philippines, which shall
consist of a Senate and a House
of Representatives.
The Senate shall be composed of twenty-
four Senators who shall be elected at
large by the qualified voters of the
Philippines, as may be provided by law;
the House of Representatives shall be
composed of not more than 250 (unless
otherwise fixed by law), 20 percent of
whom must be Party-list representatives.
• The qualifications to become a senator, as
stipulated in the constitution, are:
• 1.a natural-born citizen of the Philippines;
• 2.at least thirty-five years old;
• 3.is able to read and write
• 4.a registered voter; and
• 5.a resident of the Philippines for not less than
two years before election day.
• Meanwhile, the constitution provides for the
following criteria to become a member of the
House of Representatives:
• 1.a natural-born citizen of the Philippines;
• 2.at least twenty-five years old;
• 3.is able to read and write; and
• 4.except the party-list representatives, a
registered voter and a resident for at least one
year in the district where s/he shall be elected.
 Legislative process

Congress is responsible for making

enabling laws to make sure the spirit of
the constitution is upheld in the country
and, at times, amend or change the
constitution itself. In order to craft laws,
the legislative body comes out with two
main documents: bills and resolutions.
 Resolutions
Convey principles and sentiments of
the Senate or the House of
Representatives. These resolutions can
further be divided into three different
elements:
joint resolutions —

require the approval of both chambers of

Congress and the signature of the
President, and have the force and effect of
a law if approved.
concurrent resolutions —
used for matters affecting the operations
of both chambers of Congress and must
be approved in the same form by both
houses, but are not transmitted to the
President for his signature and therefore
have no force and effect of a law.
simple resolutions —
deal with matters entirely within the
prerogative of one chamber of Congress,
are not referred to the President for his
signature, and therefore have no force and
effect of a law.
 Bills are laws in the making

They pass into law when they are approved

by both houses and the President of the
Philippines. A bill may be vetoed by the
President, but the House of Representatives
may overturn a presidential veto by garnering
a 2/3rds vote. If the President does not act on
a proposed law submitted by Congress, it will
lapse into law after 30 days of receipt.
 HISTORY OF THE LEGISLATURE

REPRESENTATION IN THE SPANISH CORTES

• Prior to the creation of a legislature in the Philippines,
Filipinos, from time to time, were allowed to sit in the
Spanish Cortes as representatives of the Philippine
Islands. In 1810, the Spanish government allowed
Filipinos to receive Spanish citizenship and appropriate
representation in the Cortes. When the Cadiz
Constitution was in full force and effect, Filipino
representation became a standard in the Cortes.
However, in 1837, the liberal Cortes finally
abolished representation and declared that
overseas territories of Spain to be ruled by
special laws. This loss of representation was
one of the main points that Jose Rizal and
other propagandists were fighting for during
the Propaganda movement.
 MALOLOS REPUBLIC, 1899 – 1901

The first Filipino legislature was convened on September 15,

1898 in Barasoain Church, Malolos, Bulacan. Later known
as the Malolos Republic, it drafted the first constitution of the
Philippines, which was also the first democratic constitution
in Asia. The Congress included delegates from different
provinces of the Philippines, some elected and some
appointed. It was a short-lived legislature, unable to pass
any laws due to the onset of the Philippine-American War.
The first Philippine Republic was ended on March 23, 1901
with the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo in Palanan,
Isabela.
 PHILIPPINE COMMISSION, 1899 – 1916

In 1899, United States President William McKinley appointed a

commission led by Dr. Jacob Schurman to study and investigate the
conditions in the Philippine Islands. This would be known as the first
Philippine Commission. It was followed by another investigative
commission led by William Howard Taft in 1900, which also had
limited legislative and executive powers. From 1901 onwards, the
Philippine Commission would be regularized. It exercised both
executive and legislative powers, with three Filipino delegates,
namely Benito Legarda, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Jose Luzuriaga.
After the organization of the Philippine Assembly (see below) in 1907,
the commission stayed on as the upper house of the legislature.
 PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY, 1907 – 1916

Electoral representation in the Philippines by Filipinos began when the

American insular government allowed partial self-governance by
establishing the Philippine Assembly. The assembly, as the lower
house, shared legislative power with the Philippine Commission,
which remained under American control, as membership in the
Philippine Commission was still restricted to appointed American
officials. In 1907, still under American rule, the Philippines held its first
national elections for the newly created representative body, which
had an inaugural membership of 81 Filipinos representing their
respective districts. In the succeeding years, the number of districts
were increased to 85 in 1910, and 91 in 1912.
 RESIDENT COMMISSIONERS, 1907 – 1946

From 1907 to 1946, the Philippine legislature sent a

representative to sit in the U.S. House of Representatives,
as resident commissioner. Under Spain, the Philippines had
also been given limited representation in the Spanish
Cortes, and like the resident commissioners, they had the
right to speak, but not to vote. The restoration of Philippine
independence in 1946 ended Philippine representation in
the U.S. Congress. (Note: To this day, Puerto Rico still has a
resident commissioner in the U.S. House of
Representatives.)
 THE PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE, 1916 – 1935

Upon the enactment of the Jones Law in 1916, the Filipinos

were subsequently granted the opportunity to hold other
offices in the government. Positions in the Philippine
Senate were opened to Filipinos, with 12 senatorial districts
and two senators elected from each. The inaugural
President of the Senate in 1916 was Manuel L. Quezon,
representing the fifth senatorial district. He would hold this
position until the establishment of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines in 1935. For the 19 years prior to the
Commonwealth, the Senate presidency was the highest
position a Filipino could hold.
From the first Philippine Commission to the
establishment of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines, the Philippine legislature were
passing public acts. This form of legislation is
started at Congress, with the approval of the
American governor-general of the Philippine
Islands.
 COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES, 1935 – 1946

On November 15, 1935, Quezon took his oath as the

first President of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines, giving control of the executive branch of
government to the Filipinos. It was also in this era
that the Supreme Court of the Philippines was
completely Filipinized. By virtue of the 1935
Constitution, the bicameral Philippine legislature was
merged to form the unicameral National Assembly.
• Two elections were held under the Commonwealth. The
first, in 1935, elected the President of the Philippines as well
as members of the National Assembly; the second, in 1939,
elected only members of the National Assembly. The
National Assembly would be retained until 1941, when a
new structure for the legislature was introduced through a
constitutional amendment.
• From the Commonwealth period to the inauguration of the
Third Philippine Republic, the Philippine legislature was
passing Commonwealth acts (CA). This form of legislation is
started at the National Assembly and approved by the
President of the Philippines.
 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS OF 1941

After six years under a unicameral legislature, the

Constitution of 1935 was amended, dividing the
National Assembly into two separate houses. The
Senate of the Philippines and the House of
Representatives were reestablished, with a Senate
President and a Speaker of the House leading their
respective chambers.
 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS OF 1941

The elections for members of these newly

created chambers were held in 1941. However,
the onset of World War II prevented the elected
members from assuming their posts and the
legislature of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines was dissolved upon the exile of the
government of the Philippines.
 THE SECOND REPUBLIC, 1943

On October 14, 1943, the Japanese-sponsored

Second Republic was inaugurated, with Jose. P.
Laurel as the President. This government followed
the newly crafted 1943 Constitution, and reverted
the legislature back to a unicameral National
Assembly. The National Assembly of the Second
Republic would remain in existence until the arrival
of the Allied forces in 1944, which liberated the
Philippines from the Imperial Japanese forces.
 RESTORATION OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMONWEALTH, 1945 – 1946

Upon the reestablishment of the Commonwealth in 1945,

President Sergio Osmeña called for a special session of
Congress. The first Congress convened on June 9 of that
year, with most of the senators and representatives, who were
elected in 1941, assuming their positions. Manuel Roxas and
Jose C. Zulueta served as Senate President and Speaker of
the House, respectively. Not all, however, were allowed to
take their post because some were incarcerated for
collaboration with the Japanese.
The inaugural session, was held in a converted school
house in Lepanto St., Manila, as the Legislative Building in
Manila was reduced to ruins as an outcome of the war.
On April 23, 1946, national elections were held to choose
new members of Congress, the President, and the Vice
President of the Philippines. After the elections the second
Congress of the Commonwealth convened on May 25,
1946. It would only last until July 4, 1946, with the
inauguration of the Third Republic of the Philippines.
 THE THIRD REPUBLIC, 1946 – 1972

The independent Republic of the Philippines was finally

proclaimed on July 4, 1946 with Manuel Roxas as President.
The Second Congress of the Commonwealth was
transformed into the first Congress of the Republic of the
Philippines, also made up of the Senate and the House of
Representatives. This would mark the beginning of the count
of Congresses of the Republic until the imposition of Martial
Law in 1972, when Congress would be dissolved.
 THE THIRD REPUBLIC, 1946 – 1972

This era started the legislation of republic acts

which would continue until 1972. Upon the
restoration of democracy in 1986 and the
ratification of the 1987 Constitution, the naming
of laws as republic acts would be reinstated.
 MARTIAL LAW AND THE FOURTH REPUBLIC,
1972-1986

On September 23, 1972 President Ferdinand E. Marcos

issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1081, placing the entire
country under Martial Law. This coincided with the closing of the
sessions of both chambers of Congress. Days before the scheduled
reopening of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Marcos
promulgated the 1973 Constitution, which effectively abolished the
bicameral legislature and replaced it with a unicameral legislature.
Opposition legislators reported to the Legislative Building on
January 22, 1973, but found the building padlocked and under an
armed guard.
Under martial rule, Marcos created the Batasang Bayan in
1976, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 995, to serve as
a legislative advisory council—a quasi-legislative
machinery to normalize the legislative process for the
eventual actualization of the 1973 Constitution. The
Batasang Bayan would hold office in the Philippine
International Convention Center (a modernist structure
designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin,
within the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex—a
pet project of First Lady Imelda R. Marcos). The
consultative body would serve until 1978.
• The Batasang Bayan would be replaced in 1978 by an elected
unicameral body: the Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP), a
parliamentary legislature, as provided for in the 1973 Constitution.
On April 7, 1978, elections for were held. Those elected to the IBP
would be called Mambabatas Pambansa (Assemblymen) who would
be elected per region, via a bloc-voting system. The IBP opened on
Independence Day 1984 in the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.
• Members of the Regular Batasang Pambansa (RBP) were elected
in 1984, this time at-large and per province. The RBP held its
inaugural session on July 23, 1984.
• In 1986, President Marcos succumbed to international
pressure and called for a snap presidential election. Though
Marcos and his running mate former Senator and
Assemblyman Arturo Tolentino were proclaimed by the
Batasang Pambansa as the winners of the election, a
popular revolt installed opposition leaders Corazon C.
Aquino and Salvador H. Laurel as President and Vice
President, respectively.
• For both the IBP and RBP, the laws passed would be called
“Batas Pambansa,” which did not continue the previous
numbering of Republic Acts.
 THE FIFTH REPUBLIC, 1987 – PRESENT

On March 25, 1986, President Aquino declared a

revolutionary government by virtue of Presidential
Proclamation No. 3, s. 1986, which suspended some
provisions of the 1973 Constitution and promulgated
in its stead a transitory constitution. This effectively
abolished the Batasang Pambansa. A constitutional
commission, tasked with drafting a new charter, was
created by virtue of Proclamation No. 9 issued on
April 23, 1986.
Following the overwhelming ratification of the 1987
Constitution through a national plebiscite held on February 2,
1987, the 1987 Constitution finally came into full force and
effect on February 11, 1987. It re-established a bicameral
legislature, composed of the House of Representatives and
the Senate, much like the way it was before martial law. The
former, being much larger in composition, reopened in the
Batasan Pambansa while the Senate, still with its 24
members, returned to the Legislative Building. In 1997, the
Senate of the Philippines moved to the GSIS building where
it is currently housed.
Laws passed by the bicameral legislature would
restore “Republic Acts”, as the laws were named
in the Third Republic (1946-1972). Moreover, it
was decided to maintain the old count, taking up
where the last pre-martial law Congress left off.
Thus, the last Congress under the 1935
Constitution was the seventh Congress, and the
first Congress under the 1987 Constitution
became the eighth Congress.
END OF PRESENTATION
WRITTEN WORKS 1 (Final Grading Period)

How are Bills will be enacted into

Laws? Discuss..
 PERFORMANCE TASK 1: ASSIGNMENT

• Senate and House of Representative mandated functions

under the 1987 Philipppine Constitution.

• 1page..yellow pad paper