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7/29/2019 Sen.filipina

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resentatives is the lower house. The Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large with the country as one district under plurality-at-large voting.

Senators serve 6-year terms, with half of the senators elected every 3 years toensure that the Senate is maintained as a continuous body, though staggered. When the Senate was restored by the 1987 Constitution, the 24 senators who were elected in 1987 served until 1992. In 1992 the candidates for the Senate obtainingthe 12 highest number of votes served until 1998, while the next 12 served until1995. Thereafter, each senator elected serves the full 6 years.

Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the president's signature to become a law, the Senate is the only body that can concurwith treaties, and can try impeachment cases. Presiding over the Senate is theSenate President, Juan Ponce Enrile since 2008.Contents

1 History2 Composition3 Qualifications4 Organization5 Powers6 Current members

6.1 Party composition

6.2 Blocs6.3 Seating arrangement7 Committees8 Seat9 Prominent Senators

9.1 Assumed Philippine Presidency9.2 Other

10 References11 External links

HistoryThe post-World-War-II Philippine Senate in 1951: Cipriano P. Primicias, Sr., farleft, debates Quintn Paredes, far right. In the middle are Justiniano Montano, M

ariano Jesus Cuenco, Enrique B. Magalona, and Francisco Delgado; in the foreground is Edmundo Cea. Deliberations were once held at the Old Congress Building, Manila.

From 1907 to 1916, the Philippine Commission headed by the U.S. Governor-Generalserved as the upper chamber of the colonial legislature at the same time exercised executive powers. On August 29, 1916 the United States Congress enacted thePhilippine Autonomy Act or popularly known as the "Jones Law" which paved the way for the creation of a bicameral Philippine Legislature wherein the Senate served as the upper chamber and while the House of Representatives as the lower chamber of it. Then Philippine Resident Commissioner Manuel L. Quezon encouraged Speaker Sergio Osmea to run for the leadership of the Senate, but Osmea preferred tocontinue leading the lower house. Quezon then ran for the Senate and became Sena

te President for the next 19 years (19161935). Senators then were elected via senatorial districts via plurality-at-large voting; each district grouped several provinces and each elected two senators except for "non-Christian" provinces where the Governor-General of the Philippines appointed the senators for the district.

This setup continued until 1935, when the Philippine Independence Act or the "Tydings-McDuffie Act" was provided by the U.S. Congress which granted the Filipinos the right to frame their own constitution in preparation for their independence, wherein they established a unicameral National Assembly, effectively abolishi


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ng the Senate. Not long after the adoption of the 1935 Constitution several amendments began to be proposed. By 1938, the National Assembly began considerationof these proposals, which included restoring the Senate as the upper chamber ofCongress. The amendment of the 1935 Constitution to have a bicameral legislaturewas approved in 1940 and the first biennial elections for the restored upper house was held in November 1941. Instead of the old senatorial districts, senatorswere elected via the entire country serving as an at-large district, although still under plurality-at-large voting, with voters voting up to eight candidates,and the eight candidates with the highest number of votes being elected. Whilethe Senate from 1916 to 1935 had exclusive confirmation rights over executive appointments, as part of the compromises that restored the Senate in 1941, the power of confirming executive appointments has been exercised by a joint Commissionon Appointments composed of members of both houses. However, the Senate since its restoration and the independence of the Philippines in 1946 has the power toratify treaties.

The Senate finally convened in 1945 and served as the upper chamber of Congressfrom thereon until the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcosin 1972. which shut down Congress. The Senate was resurrected in 1987 upon the ratification of the 1987 Constitution. However, instead of eight senators being replaced after every election, it was changed to twelve.

In the Senate, the officers are the Senate President, Senate President pro tempore, Majority Floor Leader, Minority Floor Leader and the Senate Secretary and th

e Senate Sergeant at Arms who shall be elected by the Senators from among the employees and staff of the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate President, Senate President pro-tempore, the Majority Floor Leader and the Minority Floor Leader shall beelected by the Senators from among themselves.CompositionSee also: Philippine senatorial electionsElection results from 1916 to the present. Note that some senators may switch toanother party mid-term.

Article VI, Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the Senate shall be composed of 24 senators who shall be elected at-large by the qualified voters of the Philippines, as may be provided by law.

The composition of the Senate is smaller in number as compared to the House of Representatives. The members of this chamber are elected at large by the entire electorate. The rationale for this rule intends to make the Senate a training ground for national leaders and possibly a springboard for the presidency.

It follows also that the Senator, having a national rather than only a districtconstituency, will have a broader outlook of the problems of the country, instead of being restricted by narrow viewpoints and interests. With such perspective,the Senate is likely to be more circumspect, or at least less impulsive, than the House of Representatives.

Senatorial candidates are chosen by the leaders of major political parties or coalitions of parties. The selection process is not transparent and is done in "ba

ckrooms" where much political horse-trading occurs. Thus, the absence of regional or proportional representation in the Senate exacerbates a top heavy system ofgovernance, with power centralized in Metro Manila. It has often been suggestedthat each region of the country should elect its own senator(s) to more properly represent the people. This will have the effect of flattening the power structure. Regional problems and concerns within a national view can be addressed moreeffectively. A senator's performance, accountability, and electability become meaningful to a more defined and identifiable regional constituency.

The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) composed of three Supreme Court justices and


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six senators determines election protests on already-seated senators. There hadbeen three instances where the SET has replaced senators due to election protests, the last of which was on 2011 when the tribunal awarded the protest of Aquilino Pimentel III against Juan Miguel Zubiri

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