ARTICLE VI

THE CONGRESS
The Philippine government has three branches:
1. Legislative Department
2. Executive Department
3. Judicial Department

 The three branches of the government are considered

as the greatest and common and the common
denominator of democracy (ruled by many), because
they are said to be co-equal.
• The Legislative branch, in Latin term “Legis” meaning Law. The
Legislative branch serves as the law making body of the
government. This branch of the government has the authority to
make, alter and to repeal the laws. The law makers deliberates the
laws, legal matters and conduct debates pertaining to issues and
concerns of the Philippine government.
 THERE ARE TWO BASIC STRUCTURES FOR
LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT:
• Unicameral – Form of government as being consist of one chamber was being
applied and implemented the national assembly under the 1973 constitution
during the time of President Ferdinand Marcos. When president Corazon
Aquino succeeded, she changed the 1973 constitution (authoritarian
constitution) into the 1987 constitution (freedom constitution).
 Bicameral – It consist of two house legislature -
1. The Senate (Upper house)
2. The House of Representatives (Lower house)

1. Senate of the Philippines

A. Composition

The Senate of the Philippine government is composed of 24 senators whom

they are elected at large by the qualified voters. This means that all senators in
the Philippines are being elected in a national election.
B. QUALIFICATIONS

1. Natural-born citizen of the Philippines

2. At least 35 years of age
3. Able to read and write
4. A registered voter
5. A resident of the Philippines for not less than 2 years
• C. Term of office

The term of office of senators is 6 years which shall begin unless otherwise
provided by law at noon on the 30th day of June after the election. Term of office
which refers to the period fixed by law/constitution during which a member of
congress or an elective official will hold office, should be distinguished from tenure
of office which speak of the actual number of years during which the official holds
the office. It follows that term of office is generally longer than tenure.
• No senator shall serve for more than 2 consecutive terms and since the term of
office is 6 years, then what is prohibited under the constitution is more than 12
successive years.
2. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• The house of representatives consists of men and women who are the elected
representatives of the Filipino people. We expect the members of the house to
represent our needs and aspirations and to carry out our desires on matters of
rational concerns.
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A. Composition
The House of Representatives is composed of 10 times larger than the membership in
the senate. It is composed of not more than 289 members unless otherwise fixed by
law. It consists of two kinds of members namely:
1. District Representatives – Elected from Legislative districts apportioned among
the provinces, cities and the Metropolitan Manila area. They constitute the majority
of members of the House of Representatives.
2. Party-list Representatives – Elected through the party-system of registered
national, regional, and sectoral parties or organization. They shall constitute twenty
percent of the total number of representatives.
B. QUALIFICATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS FOR DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES:

1. Natural-born citizen of the Philippines

2. At least 25 years of age
3. Able to read and write
4. A registered voter in the district in which he shall be elected
5. A resident of the district in which he shall be elected for not less than one
year
 QUALIFICATIONS FOR PARTY-LIST REPRESENTATIVES:

• The qualifications for the party-list representatives are the same as that
of the district representatives except a registered voter and resident of
the district. For party-list representatives, the place of registration to
vote and residence can be anywhere in the Philippines. This is
because party-list does not represent a district in the House of
Representatives.
 C. TERM OF OFFICE

• In the 1935 Constitution, the term of office of the members of the House
of Representatives was 4 years and 6 years for Mambabatas in the
Batasang Pambansa under 1973 constitution. Under the present
constitution, the term of office of the congressman is reduced to 3 years
and like a senator . Shall commence at noon at the 30th day of June
unless otherwise fixed by law next following their election.
 PARTY-LIST SYSTEM

• The party-list is the mechanism of proportional representation in the

election of representatives to the house of representatives in the
election of sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions thereof
registered with the commission on election. It is a social justice tool
designed not only to give more laws to the great masses of our people
who have less in life, but also to enable them to become veritable
lawmakers themselves, empowered to participate directly in the
enactment of laws designed to benefit them.
 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION

1. Regular Election is the regular election of both the members of the

Senate and House of Representatives and shall be held on the
second Monday of May.
2. Special Election is an election called for to fill a vacant position in
two chambers of congress in a manner provided by law. In case a
senator or a congressman is elected in a special election to fill a
vacant seat, it shall only serve for the unexpected term.
 SALARIES AND PRIVILEGES
• Salaries – the constitution fixed initially the annual salary of senators and
congressmen to two hundred four thousand (204,000) each. These are
subject to change by law. But when the members of congress passed
and approved an increased in their compensation, it shall take effect only
after the expiration of the full term of all the members of the Senate and
the House of Representatives approving such increase.
• The purpose of this restriction is to provide a legal bar to the legislators
yielding to the natural temptation to increase their salaries.
• Privileges
Its purpose is to enable and encourage a representative of the public to
discharge his public trust with firmness and success.

Congress have two parliamentary privileges while congress is in session:

1. Privilege from arrest

- Immunity from offenses punishable by not more than six years
imprisonment.
2. Privilege of speech and debate
- Immunity from libel and slander.
1. OFFICERS OF THE CONGRESS
- Formally organized with the selection of its set of officers
a. LEADERHIP IN THE SENATE
The officers of the senate are the senate president, president, pro tempore, majority
leader, minority leader
b. LEADERSHIP IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Speaker of the House- has the same setup as the of the senate except for the title of the
positions particularly the presiding officer.
2. CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES – most remarkable organizations structure of
the congress is it set of committee more popularly known as legislative committees.
THREE TYPES OF COMMITTEES IN CONGRESS
1. Standing committee – permanently established legislative committees tat review
proposed legislation
2. Select committee- those are created for a specific purpose and usually for a
limited persons
3. Joint committee – are those created by both houses of congress with members
coming from both.
3. SESSSION
TWO KINDS OF SESSIONS IN CONGRESS
4. Regular session
5. Special session
4. QUORUM – numbers of members of the body which, when legally
assembled in their proper places, will enable the body to transact its proper
business, or in other words, that the number that makes a lawful body and
gives it power to pass a law.

5. RULES OF PROCEDURE – are rules made by any legislative body as to the

mode and manner of conducting the business of the body.
• The purpose of these rules of procedure is to have order in the conduct of the
business of the congress especially on its principal task of lawmaking. Hence
the role of procedure include the procedure in the readings of the bill, the
conduct of debate, session, manner of voting among others.
6. JOURNAL AND RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Journal is a record of what is done and passed in a legislative assembly. It is a day-to-day
record of the proceedings of congress.
The following are matters required to be entered in the Journal:
a. Yeas and Nays on any question shall, at the request of one fifth of the member
present;
b. Yeas and Nays on the third and final reading of a bill;
c. Yeas and Nays on the re-passing of a bill vetoed by the President;
d. Veto message of the President
7. Discipline of Members
a. Suspension
b. Expulsion
 AGENCIES IN THE CONGRESS

1. Electoral Tribunal
The purpose of the constitution creating the Electoral Tribunals was to
provide an independent arid impartial tribunal for the determination of contests to
legislative office, devoid of partisan considerations, and to transfer to that
tribunal all the powers previously exercised by the legislature in matters
pertaining to contested elections of its members.
A. Composition of the Electoral Tribunal
Each electoral tribunal shall be composed of nine (9) members:
1. House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET)
2. Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET)
3. Commission on Appointments
a. Function
b. Composition
a. Composition
The commission is composed of twenty-five (25) members, the senate president
as ex-officio chairman, twelve (12) Senators and (12) members of House of
Representatives. Like in the electoral tribunal, the members of the commission are
also chosen on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties
and the parties or organizations registered under the party-list system.
b. Function
The commission on Appointment, which was originally, embodied in the 1935
constitution functions as a check on the appointing power of the President, by
approving or disapproving appointments to important offices in the government
submitted to it by the President. It shall act on all appointment within thirty (30)
days from their submission. In considering nominations submitted to it by the
president, the chairman shall not vote except in case of a tie.
 POWERS OF THE CONGRESS

• The congress plays an important role in the Philippines political system. The congress
control major decisions on measures to help solve substantive problems, national
budget, taxes, trade policy and even appointees to cabinet posts which are all crucial
to the workings of our republican government.

The principal function of the congress is lawmaking, that is, enactment of laws serving
as binding rules for all Filipinos. However, the constitutions also grants certain non-
legislative functions to the congress such the power to declare the existence of war,
the power to remove the president and other high officials through impeachment.
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE POWERS OF
CONGRESS
a) Enumerated Powers – Refer to those specifically or expressly conferred
to the congress by the constitution.
b) Implied Powers – Refer to such other powers as are necessarily implied
from the given powers (Government of the Philippine Island vs Springer,
50 Phil. 259 [1927]).
c) Inherent Powers – Are those that are neither granted not implied their
from, but rather they refer to those that grow out from the very existence of
congress.
 THE GENERAL LEGISLATIVE POWERS
• The general legislative power of the congress refer to its lawmaking powers. Specifically
these refers to the authority of the congress to enact. These powers carry with it right to
amend and repeal them. This is considered the important congressional function. It was
mentioned in the early part of the previous chapter that this power of the congress is
plenary, subject only to those provided under the constitutions. However, it must be
noted that the manner of enacting legislation. It demonstrates the system of checks and
faces through the participation of the president in the lawmaking process. Under the
constitution, before a bill is approved by the Senate and the House comes a law, it shall
be presented to the president for his approval. Laws used by the congress are called
statutes or Republic Acts. An understanding of the lawmaking powers of the congress
requires knowledge on the limitations and the elaborate process of how laws are made.
 LIMITATIONS
• Although it would appear from the grant of plenary power that the congress
exercise powers, like the boundaries of the ocean, are unlimited, the
authority of the congress, however, in make laws is subject to certain
limitations. The following are the limitations on the law making powers of
the congress:
1. Substantive Limitations – these refer to the content or subject matter of the
low passed by the congress.
a) Expressed Limitations – these are limitations that are expressly provided
under the constitution like the provision in the bill of rights on non-passage
of laws abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press,
non-impairment of the obligators and contract, non passage of ex post facto
law and bill o attainer.
b) Implied Limitations – Those that can be implied from the nature and
character of a legislative power under our system of government such as the
passage irrepealable laws and the non-delegation of legislative power.
 However, delegation of legislative powers are permissible in five
instances:
1. Delegation of emergency powers to the president
2. Delegation to tariff powers to the president
3. Delegation of administrative bodies
4. Delegation to local government
5. Delegation directly to the people
2. Procedural Limitation – These refer in the process or manner of passing
law.
The following are the procedural limitations provided under the constitution:
 Every bill passed by the congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be
expressed in the tittle thereof. The purpose of the constitutional directive that the subject
of a bill should be embraces in its tittle is to apprise the legislators of the purposes, the
nature and scope of its provisions, and prevent the enactment into law of matters, which
have not received the notice, actions, and study of the legislators or of the public
 No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless its has passed three readings
on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its
members 3 days before its passage, except when the president certifies to the necessity
of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.
 B. LAW MAKING PROCESS
• The basic procedure in enacting laws is not provided under the constitution
in detail. The particular procedure now adopted by our congress is quite
similar to those observed in the US congress and at the same time the
result of parliamentary usage and custom.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE BASIC STEPS IN THE
PROCESS OF LAWMAKING:
• ORIGIN OF BILLS
The first step in lawmaking process is the creation and introduction of the bill. A bill is
a draft of a proposed statute or law submitted to the legislature for enactment. A bill is
introduced by a member of the House of Representatives for senate except to those
which the constitution requires exclusively in the senate.
 PART OF A BILL
A bill passed by Members of Congress contains the following parts:
1. Title
2. Preamble
3. Enacting clause
4. Body of the Statue
5. Effectivity clause.
Procedure in the Approval of a Bill

It shall first pass three (3) readings on separate days with the
exception those which the President will certify as necessary to
meet public calamity.
The first reading consists of reading the title and author(s) and its referral to the
appropriate committee(s). The committee then studies the bill and either submits
it to the Committee on Rules or is laid on the table.

The second reading comes after the bill has been included in the Calendar of
Business by the Committee on Rules. This is when sponsorships, debates, and
amendments take place. A vote is taken after all the debates and amendments,
after which the bill is either archived or goes through a third reading.

The third reading happens when the bill goes through a final check and vote via
roll call. If it’s approved, it is then sent to the other house, where it goes through
the same procedures. If not, it gets archived.
 BICAMERAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

The conference committee of both houses ratifies the bill

and submits it to the President for signing. If, however, there
are conflicts in the provisions proposed by both Houses, a
Bicameral Conference Committee is called upon to reconcile
them.
 WHEN A BILL BECOMES A LAW

There are three ways in which a bill becomes a law;

a. when the President approves and signs it after Congress has resented the bill
to him;
b. when the President does not act upon the bill within thirty (30) days after it has
been presented to him. It shall become a law as if he had signed it; and
c. when a bill is vetoed by the President and sent back to the House where it
originated which shall enter the objections at large in the journal, the bill becomes
a law when Congress by a vote of two-thirds of its members agree to override the
veto.
 PRESIDENTIAL VETO

A veto is the power of the President to reject a bill passed by

the Congress. As a rule, the President must veto the entire bill.
HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW
 PREPARATION OF THE BILL

The Member or the Bill Drafting Division of the

Reference and Research Bureau prepares and drafts the
bill upon the Member's request.
 ACTION ON VETOED BILL

The message is included in the Order of Business. If the Congress

decides to override the veto, the House and the Senate shall proceed
separately to reconsider the bill or the vetoed items of the bill. If the bill
or its vetoed items is passed by a vote of two-thirds of the Members of
each House, such bill or items shall become a law.
 POWER OF LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATION

The Congress conducts investigation to determine if legislation is

needed, to gather facts relevant to legislation, to assess the efficiency
of executive agencies, to build public support, to expose corruption,
and to enhance the image and reputation of its members. A legislative
body cannot legislative wisely or effectively in the absence of
information respecting the conditions, which the legislations intended
to affect or change.
1. POWER OF LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT

Part of the power to conduct investigation in aid of legislation is the

oversight function of Congress. Oversight refers to the
responsibility to question executive branch officials to see whether
their agencies are complying with the wishes of the Congress and
conducting their programs efficiently.
 2. LIMITATIONS ON THE POWER OF INVESTIGATION

The exercise of this power is subject to the following limitations:

a. Must be in aid of legislation;
b. Must be in accordance with its duly published rules and
procedure; and
c. The rights of persons appearing in or affected by such
inquiries shall be respected.
3. POWER TO PUNISH WITNESS FOR CONTEMPT

In the exercise of the power of legislative investigation, the Congress

may punish witness for contumacy or disobedience. Said power must
be considered implied or incidental to the exercise of legislative power
or necessary of effectuate said power.
 POWER OF APPROPRIATION
The constitution provides that no money shall be paid out of the treasury in pursuance
of an appropriation made by law. This is a recognition that power to appropriate
government funds for the operation of our government to congress. The power of
appropriation sometimes referred to as the purse, is exercised by the congress through
the enactment of an toriation law.

1. Classification of Appropriate Law

a. General appropriation law. The general appropriations law is the government’s
annual budget.
b. Special appropriations law. Appropriations designed for a specific purpose.
2. Limitations on Appropriations Measure
a. public funds may be used only for a public purpose; therefore appropriations must
be devoted to a public purpose. It is a general rule that the legislative is without power to
appropriate public revenues for anything but public purpose.
b. the amount appropriated must be certain, which means that the sum authorized to
be released should either be determinate or at least determinable.

3. Constitutional Guidelines on Appropriations

1. The congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the president for
the operation of the government as specified in the budget. In the preparation of the
general appropriations, congress uses as a basis the budget submitted by the president.
The budget is proposed.
2. The form, content, and manner of preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.

3. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill unless

it relates specifically to some particular appropriation therein. Any such provision or
enactment shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it relates. This
provision will eliminate the inclusion in the general appropriations law of riders or a
provision not germane to the subject matter of the bill, and is new and completely
unrelated provision attached to the bill.

4. The procedure in approving appropriations for the congress shall strictly follow the
procedure for approving appropriations for the other department or agencies.
5. No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer for appropriations, however, the
president, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house representatives, the chief
justice of supreme court, and the 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. No public money or property shall be appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly

or indirectly, for the use, benefits, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian
institution, or system of religion, or of the priest, preacher, minister, or other religious
teacher, or dignitary as such, except when such priest, preacher, minister, or dignitary is
assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution, or government orphanage or
leprosarium.
 POWER OF TAXATION

The power of taxation is the power to impose taxes. Taxes are what we
pay for civilized society. The revenue raised in taxation is used to
maintain the operation of our government. The constitution vests in the
legislature the exercise of the power of taxation. It must be noted that
even without an expressed constitutional grant, the power to tax
together with the police power and power of eminent domain are
inherent and indispensable power of the government. Without which,
the government may not exist.
 NON-LEGISLATIVE POWERS

The congress is also vested under the constitution such other powers,
non-legislative in nature such as the power to declare the existence of
war [section 23 (1)], the power to concur in presidential
amnesties(Section 21, Article VII),
the power to impeach the President,etc.