Senate of the Philippines
The Senate of the Philippines is the upper house of Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the House of Representatives as the lower house. The Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large under a plurality-at-large voting system.
Senators serve six-year terms with a maximum of two consecutive terms, with half of the senators elected in staggered elections every three years. Former senators who served two consecutive terms are not allowed to run for re-election until after the interruption of at least one term out of office. When the Senate was restored by the 1987 Constitution, the 24 senators who were elected in 1987 served until 1992. In 1992, the 12 candidates for the Senate obtaining the highest number of votes served until 1998, while the next 12 served until 1995. This is in accordance with the transitory provisions of the Constitution. Thereafter, each senator elected serves the full six years. From 1945 to 1972, the Senate was a continuing body, with only eight seats up every two 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 concur with treaties and try impeachment cases. The president of the Senate is the presiding officer and highest-ranking official of the Senate. They are elected by the entire body to be their leader and are second in the Philippine presidential line of succession. The current officeholder is Vicente Sotto III.
History
The Senate has its roots in the Philippine Commission of the Insular Government. Under the Philippine Organic Act, from 1907 to 1916, the Philippine Commission headed by the governor-general of the Philippines served as the upper chamber of the Philippine Legislature, with the Philippine Assembly as the elected lower house. At the same time the governor-general also exercised executive powers.In August 1916 the United States Congress enacted the Philippine Autonomy Act or popularly known as the "Jones Law", which created an elected bicameral Philippine Legislature with the Senate as the upper chamber and with the House of Representatives of the Philippines, previously called the Philippine Assembly, as the lower chamber. The governor-general continued to be the head of the executive branch of the Insular Government. 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.
Future president Manuel L. Quezon, who was then Philippine Resident Commissioner, encouraged future president Sergio Osmeña, then Speaker of the House, to run for the leadership of the Senate, but Osmeña preferred to continue leading the lower house. Quezon then ran for the Senate and became its president serving for 19 years.
This setup continued until 1935, when the Philippine Independence Act or the "Tydings–McDuffie Act" was passed 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 of the Philippines, effectively abolishing the Senate. Not long after the adoption of the 1935 Constitution several amendments began to be proposed. By 1938, the National Assembly began consideration of these proposals, which included restoring the Senate as the upper chamber of Congress. The amendment of the 1935 Constitution to have a bicameral legislature was approved in 1940 and the first biennial elections for the restored upper house was held in November 1941. Instead of the old senatorial districts, senators were 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. While the 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 Commission on Appointments composed of members of both houses. However, the Senate since its restoration and the independence of the Philippines in 1946 has the power to ratify treaties.
The Senate finally convened in 1945 and served as the upper chamber of Congress from thereon until the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 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.
Composition
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 will have a broader outlook of the problems of the country, instead of being restricted by narrow viewpoints and interests by having a national rather than only a district constituency.
The Senate Electoral Tribunal composed of three Supreme Court justices and six senators determines election protests on already-seated senators. There had been three instances where the SET has replaced senators due to election protests, the last of which was in 2011 when the tribunal awarded the protest of Koko Pimentel against Migz Zubiri.
Qualifications
The qualifications for membership in the Senate are expressly stated in Section 3, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, as follows:No person shall be a Senator unless he is a
- natural-born citizen of the Philippines, and on the day of the election, is
- *at least 35 years of age,
- *able to read and write,
- *a registered voter, and
- a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the election.
With regard to the residence requirements, it was ruled in the case of Lim v. Pelaez that it must be the place where one habitually resides and to which he, after absence, has the intention of returning.
The enumeration laid down by the 1987 Philippine Constitution is exclusive under the Latin principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius. This means that Congress cannot anymore add additional qualifications other than those provided by the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Organization
Under the Constitution, "Congress shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session...". During this time, the Senate is organized to elect its officers. Specifically, the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides a definite statement to it:By virtue of these provisions of the Constitution, the Senate adopts its own rules, otherwise known as the "Rules of the Senate." The rules of the Senate provide the following officers: a president, a president pro tempore, a secretary and a sergeant-at-arms.
Following this set of officers, the Senate as an institution can then be grouped into the Senate proper and the secretariat. The former belongs exclusively to the members of the Senate as well as its committees, while the latter renders support services to the members of the Senate.
The secretary and sergeant-at-arms are elected by the senators from among the employees and staff of the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate president, the Senate president pro tempore, the majority floor leader, and the minority floor leader are elected from among the senators themselves.
Within the Senate, senators organize themselves into two main coalitions or blocs: the majority bloc and the minority bloc. These blocs are roughly analogous to the ruling coalition and the opposition in other legislatures. The majority and minority groupings help streamline legislative business by aligning members into those who support the chamber's leadership and those who constitute the opposition. Each bloc selects its own leaders to speak and act on its behalf during Senate sessions. This majority–minority structure is central to how the Philippine Senate operates, shaping everything from leadership positions to committee control and the flow of legislation.
At the start of each new Congress, senators decide whether to join the majority or minority. By longstanding practice, those who vote for the winning candidate for Senate president—the chamber's presiding officer—form the majority bloc, while those who vote for a different candidate form the minority bloc. This tradition means bloc affiliation is not strictly based on political party, but rather on alliances and choices in the Senate's internal leadership elections. For example, in the 19th Congress, almost all senators voted for a single candidate for the Senate presidency, resulting in a supermajority coalition of about 20 senators, while only two senators opted to form the minority bloc. In previous Congresses, minority blocs have typically ranged from around 4 up to 9 members out of the 24-seat Senate, depending on political alignments of the day. The rest of the Senate joins the majority. It is unusual for a senator to remain outside both blocs—those who attempt to be "independent" of either side often end up with no committee positions or influence until they align with one of the blocs.
Because Philippine senators come from diverse parties, both the majority and minority blocs are usually coalitions of multiple parties and independents rather than single-party caucuses. Senators often shift alliances after elections—for instance, many will join the majority coalition supporting the Senate leadership, even if they campaigned under different parties. The minority bloc, on the other hand, is generally composed of those in opposition to the current administration or Senate leadership. In practice, this means the majority bloc can include a broad spectrum of parties united by convenience or common support for the leadership, while the minority bloc is a smaller cross-party group representing the legislative opposition.
Membership in the Commission on Appointments is proportional to the size of blocs. This means the Senate's majority bloc receives a larger share of seats in that commission, while the minority bloc gets a smaller representation.