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The Legislative Branch - Official Gazette of The Republic of The Philippines
The Legislative Branch - Official Gazette of The Republic of The Philippines
The Legislative Branch - Official Gazette of The Republic of The Philippines
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Introduction
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. [callout align="left" width="650"] The constitutional provisions for the Legislature are written in Article VI of the 1987 Constitution (http://www.gov.ph/the-philippine-constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-thephilippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-article-vi/). Visit the website of the Senate of the Philippines: www.senate.gov.ph (http://www.senate.gov.ph/)
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, Simple Resolutions, Concurrent Resolutions. 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. Below is a chart mapping the process by which a law is made:
The membership of the 2nd Philippine Commission (1899-1916), w hich held both Legislative and Executive pow ers, w as limited to mostly Americans. Only three Filipinos w ere allow ed in the Commission.
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 Rizal and other propagandists were fighting for during the Propaganda Movement.
A poster advertising the Jones Law of 1916, w hich w hen passed, allow ed Filipinos to be elected to positions in both houses of the Philippine Legislature.
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. Congress)
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.
(Above) The Legislative Building in Manila prior to World War II; (below ) the same building in ruins after World War II. Prior to repairs, Congress had to use a converted school house in Lepanto St., Manila.
On October 14, 1943, the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic was inaugurated, with Jose. P. Laurel as 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.
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.
President Marcos sw ears in members of the Interm Batasang Pambansa, a parliamentary legislative body, six years after he dissolved the Congress of the Third Philippine Republic.
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 Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City is the current base of the House of Representatives.
On March 25, 1986, President C. 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.
[callout align="left" width="400"] Evolution of the Philippine Congress: A graphic timeline (http://pcdspo.gov.ph/downloads/2012/08/FINAL_TIMELINE2.pdf) [/callout]
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