House of Representatives of the Philippines

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The House of Representatives of the Philippines (Filipino: Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas) is the lower chamber of the Congress of the Philippines. The Senate is the upper chamber. The House is often informally called the 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 to a maximum of consecutive three terms. A congressman may be a district representative, which represents a particular geographical area. There are 212 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people. In addition, there are Sectoral Representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of Representatives.

The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the Batasang Pambansa (literally, national legislature) located at the Constitution Hill in Quezon City in Metro Manila. The building is often simply called Batasan.

[edit] 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 Congress of the United States was substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature.

In 1916, the Jones Law 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 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 1973 Constitution abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral Batasang Pambansa parliamentary system of government.

The 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines.

The presiding officer is the Speaker.

[edit] Speakers of the House

• 1907-1922 Sergio Osmeña (Philippine Assembly, House of Representatives)
• 1922-1933 Manuel A. Roxas (House of Representatives)
• 1933-1935 Quintin Paredes (House of Representatives)
• 1935-1935 Gil Montilla (National Assembly)
• 1938-1941 Jose Yulo (National Assembly)
• 1943-1944 Benigno Aquino Sr. (National Assembly, 2nd Republic)
• 1945-1946 Jose Zulueta (House of Representatives)
• 1946-1953 Eugenio Perez (House of Representatives)
• 1954-1957 Jose B. Laurel, Jr. (House of Representatives)
• 1957-1962 Daniel Romualdez (House of Representatives)
• 1962-1967 Cornelio Villareal (House of Representatives)
• 1967-1971 Jose B. Laurel, Jr. (House of Representatives)
• 1971-1972 Cornelio Villareal (House of Representatives)
• 1978-1984 Querube C. Makalintal (Interim Batasang Pambansa)
• 1984-1986 Nicanor E. Yniguez (Regular Batasang Pambansa)
• 1987-1992 Ramon Mitra, Jr. (House of Representatives)
• 1992-1998 Jose C. De Venecia, Jr.(House of Representatives)
• 1998-2000 Manuel Villar Jr. (House of Representatives)
• 2000-2001 Arnulfo Fuentebella (House of Representatives)
• 2001 Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. (House of Representatives)
• 2001-pres Jose C. De Venecia, Jr. (House of Representatives)

[edit] Latest election

[edit] District representation

Main article: Legislative districts of the Philippines

All provinces and several cities have at least one congressional/legislative district, whose residents vote for their own congressman. Each district covers a population of approximately 250,000 to 500,000 people. Provinces that have only one congressional/legislative district are divided into two provincial districts for the purpose of electing Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council) members. For provinces that have more than one congressional/legislative district, the provincial districts are identical to the corresponding congressional/legislative district.

[edit] Congressional/legislative districts in provinces

[edit] Congressional/legislative districts in cities

[edit] Sectoral representation

The party-list system is the name designated for the 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, COMELEC changed 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 a Supreme Court decision.

[edit] Biometric voting

MANILA, Philippines--When members of the House of Representatives return to work four weeks from now, they’ll be in for a "hi-tech" reception.

The House leadership is installing equipment for "biometric voting" to replace the traditional means by which the country’s 240 representatives cast their vote on pieces of legislation.

The new technology, already commonplace in many parliaments elsewhere, will allow lawmakers to vote by simply pressing the buttons "yes," "no," or "abstain," according to Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez.

The vote will later be verified using the individual fingerprints of the members of the House. The results will be flashed on a screen to be installed at the plenary hall.

Golez said the same technology would be used during roll call, a procedure that often eats up valuable minutes in plenary work.

"The beauty of this new technology is in its speed and accuracy," the Parañaque lawmaker told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Biometrics refers to "automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic," said the website of the US-based The Biometric Consortium.

"Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification solutions," the consortium said.

"As the level of security breaches and transaction fraud increases, the need for highly secure identification and personal verification technologies is becoming apparent," it said.

In the case of the House of Representatives, each of the gadgets, which would go with a fingerprint scanner, will be installed on every lawmaker’s table at the session hall.

The installation was the reason the House leadership decided to move the resumption of legislative work from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28.

Golez said the biometric voting system, reportedly costing P15 million, would be put to better use during voting on third reading.

At this stage, he noted that the common "nominal" voting—especially on controversial measures—was often long and arduous because each of the lawmaker had the option to explain his or her vote.

The problem with snail-paced voting was also apparent in the 13th Congress when the majority in the chamber voted to kill two impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Many of the members of the House then spent a significant amount of time delivering impassioned speeches to explain their votes.

"To me, the new system is very welcome considering that we are a very large body with 240 members," Golez said. "It will cure the problem with accuracy."

With the coming of new technology at the lower House, he said the body would apparently need to incorporate the biometric voting system in its rules.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

[edit] 2007 Congress of the Philippines Bombing

see also: 2007 Batasang Pambansa bombing

Basilan Province Lone District Representative Wahab Akbar was killed in a bomb attack at the House of Representatives of the Philippines, raising the death toll to two with at least 10 injured, hospital staff and radio reports said.

Three of the injured are members of Congress.

A session of Congress had just ended and members were leaving when the blast happened.

One witness says the explosion appeared to come from a car parked outside the Congress, which is just north of the capital, Manila.

A police chief says one of the people killed was the driver of a congressman who was sitting in a parked van near the building.

[edit] See also

• 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

[edit] External links

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