House of Representatives of the Philippines

The House of Representatives of the Philippines (Filipino: Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas; also known in its Spanish name Camara de Representantes de Filipinas) is the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines. The Senate is the upper house. The House is often informally called Congress. Members of the house are called Congressmen (mga kinatawan or mga konggresista) and their title is Representative. Congressmen are elected to a three-year term and can be reelected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms. Around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. There are 229 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people. There are also sectoral representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of Representatives.

Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the president's signature to become a law, the House of Representatives has the power to impeach certain officials, and all money bills must originate from the lower house.

The House of Representatives is headed by Speaker, currently occupied by Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of Quezon City. The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the Batasang Pambansa (literally, national legislature) located at the Batasan Hills in Quezon City in Metro Manila. The building is often simply called Batasan; the word has also became a metonym to refer to the House of Representatives.

History

When the Philippines was under American colonial rule, the legislative body was the Philippine Commission which existed from September 1900 to October 1907. The President of the United States appointed the members of the Philippine Commission.

The Philippine Bill of 1902 mandated the creation of a bicameral or a two-chamber Philippine Legislature with the Philippine Commission as the Upper House and the Philippine Assembly as the Lower House. This bicameral legislature was inaugurated in October 1907. Through the leadership of Speaker Sergio Osmeña and Floor Leader Manuel L. Quezon, the Rules of the 59th United States Congress was substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature. Osmeña and Quezon led the Nacionalista Party, with a platform of independence from the United States, into successive electoral victories against the Progresista Party and later the Democrata Party, which first advocated United States statehood, then opposed immediate independence.

In 1916, the Jones Act or the Philippine Autonomy Act changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished and a new bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was established. The Nacionalistas continued their electoral dominance at this point, although they were split into two factions led by Osmeña and Quezon; the two reconciled in 1924, and controlled the Assembly via a virtual dominant-party system.

The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution established a unicameral National Assembly. But in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was adopted.

Upon the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines in 1946, Republic Act No. 6 was enacted providing that on the date of the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines, the existing Congress would be known as the First Congress of the Republic. The "Liberal bloc" of the Nacionalistas permanently split from their ranks, creating the Liberal Party. These two will contest all of the elections in what appeared to be a two-party system. The party of the ruling president wins the elections in the House of Representatives; in cases where the party of the president and the majority of the members of the House of Representatives are different, a sufficient enough number will break away and join the party of the president, thereby ensuring that the president will have control of the House of Representatives.

This set up continued until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and abolished Congress. He would rule by decree even after the 1973 Constitution abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral Batasang Pambansa parliamentary system of government, as parliamentary election would not occur in 1978. Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL; New Society Movement) won all of the seats except those from the Central Visayas ushering in an era of KBL dominance, which will continue until the People Power Revolution overthrew Marcos in 1986.

The 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. One deviation from the previous setup was the introduction of the mid-term election; however, the dynamics of the House of Representatives resumed its pre-1972 state, with the party of the president controlling the chamber, although political pluralism ensued that prevented the restoration of the old Nacionalista-Liberal two-party system. Instead, a multi-party system evolved.

Corazon Aquino who nominally had no party, supported the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP; Struggle of the Democratic Filipinos). With the victory of Fidel V. Ramos in the 1992 presidential election, many representatives defected to his Lakas-NUCD party; the same would happen with Joseph Estrada's victory in 1998, but he lost support when he was ousted after the 2001 EDSA Revolution that brought his vice president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power. This also meant the restoration of Lakas-NUCD as the top party in the chamber. The same would happen when Benigno Aquino won in 2010, which returned the Liberals into power.

The presiding officer is the Speaker. Unlike the Senate President, the Speaker usually serves the entire term of Congress, although there had been instances when the Speaker left office due to conflict with the president: examples include Jose de Venecia, Jr.'s resignation as speaker in 2008 when his son Joey de Venecia exposed alleged corrupt practices by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and Manny Villar's ouster occurred after he allowed the impeachment of President Estrada in 2000.

Officers

Speaker

The Speaker is the head of the House of Representatives. He presides over the session; decides on all questions of order, subject to appeal by any member; signs all acts, resolutions, memorials, writs, warrants and subpoenas issued by or upon order of the House; appoints, suspends, dismisses or disciplines House personnel; and exercise administrative functions.

The speaker is elected by majority of all the members of the house, including vacant seats. The speaker is traditionally elected at the convening of each Congress. Before a speaker is elected, the House's sergeant-at-arms sits as the "Presiding Officer" until a speaker is elected. Compared to the Senate President, the unseating of an incumbent speaker is rarer.

The incumbent speaker is Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of Quezon City's 4th congressional district.

Deputy Speakers

There are a constant number of deputy speakers. The deputy speakers perform the speaker's role when the speaker is absent. In the 14th Congress, there were deputy speakers for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and women. In the 15th Congress, the deputy speakers represent the chamber at-large.

Lorenzo Tañada III of Quezon's 4th district, Pablo Garcia of Cebu's 2nd district, Arnulfo Fuentebella of Camarines Sur's 4th district, Crispin Remulla of Cavite's 7th district, Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar of Zamboanga City's 1st district and Raul Daza of Northern Samar's 1st district are the deputy speakers.

Majority Floor Leader

The majority leader, aside from being the spokesman of the majority party, is to direct the deliberations on the floor. The Majority Leader is also concurrently the Chairman of the Committee on Rules. The majority leader is elected in a party caucus of the ruling majority party.

The incumbent majority floor leader is Neptali M. Gonzales, Jr. of Mandaluyong's Lone congressional district.

Minority Floor Leader

The minority leader is the spokesman of the minority party in the House and is an ex-officio member of all standing Committees. The minority leader is elected in party caucus of all Members of the House in the minority party, although by tradition, the losing candidate for speaker is named the minority leader.

The incumbent minority floor leader is Edcel Lagman of Albay's 1st congressional district.

Speaker pro tempore

There was a position of speaker pro tempore for congresses prior the declaration of martial law. The speaker pro tempore was the next highest position in the House after the speaker. The position was replaced by the deputy speakers.

Secretary General

The secretary general enforces orders and decisions of the House; keeps the Journal of each session; notes all questions of order, among other things. The secretary general presides over the chamber at the first legislative session after an election, and is elected by a majority of the members.

Marilyn Barua-Yap is the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.

Sergeant-at-Arms

The Sergeant-at-Arms is responsible for the maintenance of order in the House of Representatives, among other things. Like the secretary general, the sergeant-at-arms is elected by a majority of the members.

Retired Brigadier General Nicasio J. Radovan, Jr. is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.

District representation

There are two types of representatives in the chamber: representatives from congressional districts and sectoral representatives. Eighty percent of representatives shall come from congressional districts, with each district returning one representative. Although each district should have a population of at least 250,000 people, all provinces have at least one legislative district, regardless of population, whose residents vote for their own congressman; several cities have representation on their own independent of provinces, although they should have at least a population of 250,000. For provinces that have more than one legislative district, the provincial districts are identical to the corresponding legislative district, with the exclusion of cities that do not vote for provincial officials.

The representatives from the districts comprise at most 80% of the members of the House; therefore, for a party to have a majority of seats in the House, the party needs to win at least 60% of the district seats. No party since the approval of the 1987 constitution has been able to win a majority of seats, hence coalitions are not uncommon.

Legislative districts in provinces

Note: Some independent cities are grouped with provinces for purposes of representation to the House of Representatives.

Legislative districts in cities

Sectoral representation

The party-list system is the name designated for sectoral representation. Under the 1987 Constitution, the electorate can vote for certain party-list organizations in order to give voice to significant minorities of society that would otherwise not be adequately represented through geographical district. From 1987-1998, sectoral representatives were appointed by the President.

Since 1998, each voter votes for a single party-list organization. Organizations that garner at least 2% of the total number of votes are awarded one representative for every 2% up to a maximum of three representatives. Thus, there can be at most 50 sectoral representatives in Congress, though usually no more than 20 are elected because many organizations do not reach the required 2% minimum number of votes.

After the 2007 election, in a controversial decision, the Supreme Court ordered the COMELEC to change how it allocates the party-list seats. Under the new formula only one party will have the maximum 3 seats. It based its decision on a formula contained in the VFP vs. COMELEC decision. In 2009, in the BANAT vs. COMELEC decision, it was changed anew in which parties with less than 2% of the vote were given seats to fulfill the 20% quota as set forth in the constitution.

Aside from determining which party won and allocating the number of seats won per party, another point of contention was whether the nominees should be a member of the marginalized group they are supposed to represent; in the Ang Bagong Bayani vs. COMELEC decision, the Supreme Court not only ruled that the nominees should be a member of the marginalized sector, but it also disallowed major political parties from participating in the party-list election. However, on the BANAT decision, the court ruled hat since the law didn't specify who belongs to a marginalized sector, the court allowed anyone to be a nominee as long as the nominee as a member of the party (not necessarily the marginalized group the party is supposed to represent).

Redistricting

Congress is mandated to reapportion the legislative districts within three years following the return of every census.^[1] Since its restoration in 1987, no general apportionment law has been passed, despite the publication of four censuses in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2007.^[2] The increase in the number of representative districts since 1987 were mostly due to the creation of new provinces, cities, and piecemeal redistricting of certain provinces and cities.

Most populous legislative districts

Underrepresentation

Because of not having nationwide reapportioning every after the census since the Constitution was made, many populous provinces and cities are underrepresented. Each legislative district is supposed to have a population of 250,000.^[6]

Source: Excerpts from Most populous provinces and their legislative districts researched by: Jesus F. Llanto of Newsbreak^[7]

With 354 representatives elected from congressional districts, there should be 88 sectoral representatives, or a total of 442.

Seat

The Batasang Pambansa Complex (National Legislature) at Quezon City is the seat of the House of Representatives since its restoration in 1987; it took its name from the Batasang Pambansa, the national parliament which convened there from 1978 to 1986.

The Philippine Legislature was inaugurated at the Manila Grand Opera House at 1907, then it conducted business at the Ayuntamiento in Intramuros, Manila, across the University of Santo Tomas. Governor-General Leonard Wood summoned the 2nd Philippine Legislature at Baguio and convened at the The Mansion in Baguio for three weeks. The legislature returned to the Ayutamiento, as the Manila Legislative Building was being constructed; it first convened there on July 26, 1926. The House of Representatives continued to occupy the second floor until 1945 when the area was shelled during the Battle of Manila. The building was damaged beyond repair and Congress convened at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse at Manila until the Legislative Building can be occupied again in 1949. Congress stayed at the Legislative Building, by now called the Congress Building, until President Marcos shut Congress and ruled by decree starting in 1972.^[8]

Marcos then oversaw the construction of the new home of parliament at Quezon City, which convened in 1978. The parliament, called the Batasang Pambansa continued to sit there until the approval of the 1986 constitution. The House of Representatives inherited the Batasang Pambansa Complex in 1987.

Batasang Pambansa Complex

The Batasang Pambansa Complex, now officially called the House of Representatives Building Complex, is at the National Government Center, Constitution Hills, Quezon City. Accessible via Commonwealth Avenue, the complex consists of four buildings. The Main Building hosts the session hall; the North and South wings, inaugurated on December 1977, are attached to it. The newest building, the Ramon Mitra, Jr. Building, was completed in 2001. It houses the Legislative Library, the Committee offices, the Reference and Research Bureau, and the Conference Rooms.^[9]

Current composition

The members of the House of Representatives, aside from being grouped into political parties, are also grouped into the "majority bloc," "minority bloc" and "independents" (different from the independent in the sense that they are not affiliated into a political party). Originally, those who voted for the winning Speaker belongs to the majority and those who voted for the opponent is the minority; each bloc is to elect amongst themselves a floor leader. While members are allowed to switch blocs, they must do so in writing to the bloc they are transferring to, with consent from the bloc, also expressed in writing. When the bloc the member ought to transfer to refuses to accept the transferring member, or a member does not want to be a member of either bloc, that member becomes an independent member. A member that transfers to a new bloc forfeits one's committee chairmanships and memberships, until the bloc the member transfers to elects the member to committees.

The membership in each committee should be in proportion to the size of each bloc, with each bloc deciding who amongst them who will go to each committee, upon a motion by the floor leader concerned to the House of Representatives in plenary. The Speaker, Deputy Speakers, floor leaders, deputy floor leaders and the chairperson of the Committee on Accounts can vote in committees; the committee chairperson can only vote to break a tie.

To ensure that the representatives each get their pork barrel, most of them will join the majority bloc, or even to the president's party, as basis of patronage politics (known as the Padrino System locally); thus, the House of Representatives always aligns itself with the party of the sitting president.

The majority bloc sits to the right side of the speaker, facing the House of Representatives.

Party standing and blocs

*for purposes of quorum and voting, the one unfilled sectoral seat is not included.

Latest election

For the party-list result, see Philippine House of Representatives party-list election, 2010.

See also

• List of Philippine House committees
• 2007 Batasang Pambansa bombing
• Politics of the Philippines
• President of the Philippines
• Executive Departments of the Philippines
• Congress of the Philippines
• Senate of the Philippines
• Ombudsman of the Philippines
• Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Republic Acts of the Philippines
• Batasang Pambansa

References

External links

• Official Website of the House of Representatives
• Official Website of the Senate