The Legislative

Department
Objectives: At the end of the week, you shall have:

• identified the roles and responsibilities of the

Philippine Senate and House of Representatives in
the government;
• created a Venn diagram showing similarities and
differences of the Philippine Senate and House of
Representatives; and
• valued the important roles and responsibilities of
the Philippine Senate and House of
Representatives.
• Section 1, Article VI - legislative powers shall be
vested in the Congress of the Philippines and
shall consist of the Senate and the House of
Representatives. It served as the law-making
body of the government which has important
functions such as government appropriations,
electoral tribunal, appointments of key public
officials, taxation, power to declare war and
state of emergency, and the like.
• Senate – composed of 24 Senators who
shall be elected at large by the qualified
voters

• House of Representative - composed of at

least 250 members who are elected in each
district, metropolitan area, cities, provinces,
and party list.
Qualifications of Senator

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.
Qualifications of House Representative
1. a natural-born citizen of the Philippines;
2. at least twenty-five years old;
3. is able to read and write; and
4. A registered voter; and
5. 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.
Term of Office

•Senators – shall serve for six years and

not more than two consecutive terms
•Representatives - shall serve for three
years and not more than three
consecutive terms
 Senators are elected by the majority or
popular votes of all qualified citizens in the
country;

 Representatives are being elected based on

geographical area and considering their
affiliations in a particular political
organization
• Accordingly, provinces, cities and metropolitan
areas have their own elected representatives. In
some cases, provinces are being divided into
districts.
• The bases for the divisions of a certain province
shall be based on the population.
• It is stipulated in the Constitution that at least
250,000 population is needed to create a district.
• The most important power of Congress is legislative
authority.
• The laws that Congress creates are called Statutory
Law.
• Most of the laws which are passed down by Congress
apply to the public, and on some cases private laws.
In order to craft laws, the legislative body
comes out with two main documents: bills
and resolutions.
How are Laws Made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TKkQ7FUGw&t=19s
3 Types of Resolutions
1. 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
2. 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
3. Simple resolutions — deal with matters entirely within the
prerogative of one chamber 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
• 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 override such action with a
2/3 or majority votes of its members.
• If the President does not act on a proposed bill
submitted by the Congress, it will lapse into law after
30 days of receipt.
• SB – bill filed in the senate or Senate Bill
• HB – bill filed in the House of Representatives or
House Bill

• Bicameral meeting means the meeting of both

Houses
• The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) was
constituted under Section 17, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine
Constitution which provides: The Senate and the House of
Representatives shall each have an Electoral Tribunal, which
shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election,
returns, and qualifications of their respective Members.
• Each Electoral Tribunal shall be composed of nine Members,
three of whom shall be Justices of the Supreme Court to be
designated by the Chief Justice, and the remaining six shall be
Members of the Senate of the House of Representatives who
shall be chosen on the basis of proportional representation
from the political parties and the parties or organizations
registered under the party-list system represented therein.
• Appointment of Key Public Officials (Section 18, Article VI, Philippine Constitution)
• The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of
colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him.
Under this provision, there are two kinds of presidential appointments:
• 1. appointments made during the session of Congress or the so-called regular
appointments or nominations; and
• 2. appointments made during the recess of Congress which are also known as ad
interim appointments. The regular appointments which are contemplated under
the first paragraph of Article VII, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution go through the
following stages; nomination, consent, appointment, acceptance by the nominee.
 Power to Declare State of Emergency or
State of War
(Section 23, Article VI, Philippine Constitution)
The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses in joint session
assembled, voting separately, shall have the sole power to declare the
existence of a state of war. 2. In times of war or other national
emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a
limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to
exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national
policy. Unless sooner withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such
powers shall cease upon the next adjournment thereof.
Government Appropriation and Tax
Imposition
• (Section 24, Article VI, Philippine Constitution)
• All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public
debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the
House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with
amendments.
• (Section 25, Article VI, Philippine Constitution)
• The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President
for the operation of the Government as specified in the budget. The form, content,
and manner of preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.
• No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill
unless it relates specifically to some appropriation therein. Any such provision or
enactment shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it relates.
• A special appropriations bill shall specify the purpose for which it is
intended, and shall be supported by funds actually available as
certified by the National Treasurer, or to be raised by a corresponding
revenue proposal therein.

• No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations;

however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be
authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for
their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective
appropriations
• 6. Discretionary funds appropriated for particular officials shall be
disbursed only for public purposes to be supported by appropriate
vouchers and subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed by law.
• 7. If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to
pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the
general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be
deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect until the
general appropriations bill is passed by the Congress.
Power to Amend the Constitution
Constitutional reform also known as charter change refers to the political
and legal processes needed to amend the current 1987 Constitution of the
Philippines. Under existing jurisprudence, the Congress may/shall effect
changes in the current set up of the government following the two methods
that are shown below:
Constituent Assembly: Vote by three-fourths of all its members, with both
houses voting separately

Constitutional Convention: Called into existence by Congress, with a vote of

two-thirds of all its members, with both houses voting separately. Majority
vote of all of the members of Congress, with both houses voting separately,
submitting to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.
Exclusive Role of Philippine Congress
(Impeachment of Elected Public Officials)

• The Philippine Congress has an exclusive and a very important role

concerning the accountability of public officers as indicated in Article
XI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which can be found at the
webpage of The Official Gazette of the Philippine Government.
Specifically, the role pertains to the process of removing the
President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court,
the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the
Ombudsman in their respective positions. This process is called
impeachment and shall be grounded on the culpable violation of the
Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes,
or betrayal of public trust by the above-mentioned public officials.
Exclusive Role of Philippine Congress
(Impeachment of Elected Public Officials)

• All cases of impeachment shall be initiated at the House of

Representatives. The Senate tries and shall decide on all cases and if
the President of the Philippines is facing the impeachment case, the
Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court will preside but shall not
vote. If the case involves the Vice-President, the Members of the
Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and
the Ombudsman, the Senate President shall preside. No person shall
be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the
Members of the Senate.
In Committee
The standing committees of the Senate, operating as
“little legislatures,” determine the fate of most proposals.
There are committee hearings scheduled to discuss the
bills referred. Committee members and staff frequently
are experts in the subjects under their jurisdiction, and it
is at the committee stage that a bill comes under the
sharpest scrutiny. If a measure is to be substantially
revised, the revision usually occurs at the committee
level.
In Committee
A committee may dispose of a bill in one of several ways: it may
approve, or reject, the legislation with or without amendments;
rewrite the bill entirely; reject it, which essentially kills the bill;
report it favorably or without recommendation, which allows the
chamber to consider the bill at all. It must be noted that under
Section 29, Rule XI of the Rules of the Senate, if the reports
submitted are unfavorable, they shall be transmitted to the
archives of the Senate, unless five Senators shall, in the following
session, move for their inclusion in the Calendar for Ordinary
Business, in which case the President shall so order.
Committee Reports
• A committee report describes the purpose
and scope of the bill, explains any committee
amendments, indicates proposed changes in
existing law and such other materials that
are relevant. Moreover, reports are
numbered in the order in which they are
filed and printed.
Calendaring for Floor Debates: Consideration of, and Debates on Bills
Under Section 45 of Rule XVI of the Rules of the Senate, the Senate shall have three calendars, to wit:

A “Calendar for Ordinary Business," in which shall be included the

bills reported out by the committees in the order in which they were
received by the Office of the Secretary; the bills whose consideration
has been agreed upon by the Senate without setting the dates on
which to effect it; and also the bills whose consideration has been
postponed indefinitely;
A “Calendar for Special Orders,” in which the bills and resolutions
shall be arranged successively and chronologically, according to the
order in which they were assigned for consideration; and
A “Calendar for Third Reading,” in which shall be included all bills
and joint resolutions approved on second reading.
Lower House Upper House

First Reading First Reading

Second Reading Second Reading

Third Reading Third Reading

YES

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