1.
Senate of the Philippines
–
The Senate of the Philippines is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, the Congress, the House of Representatives 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, 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 obtaining the 12 highest number of votes served until 1998, thereafter, each senator elected serves the full 6 years. The Senate Presidency is currently held by Aquilino Pimentel III, the Senate has its roots in the Philippine Commission of the Insular Government. At the same time the governor-general also exercised executive powers, the Governor-General stayed on as head of the executive branch of the Insular Government. Then-Philippine Resident Commissioner Manuel L. Quezon encouraged Speaker Sergio Osmeña to run for the leadership of the Senate, Quezon then ran for the Senate and became Senate President for the next 19 years. This setup continued until 1935, when the Philippine Independence Act or the Tydings–McDuffie Act was passed by the U. S, 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, 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. 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 chamber of Congress from thereon until the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972. 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. Meanwhile, the Senate President, Senate President pro-tempore, the Majority Floor Leader, 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. With such perspective, the Senate is likely to be more circumspect, or at least less impulsive, 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 backrooms where much political horse-trading occurs, thus, the absence of regional or proportional representation in the Senate exacerbates a top heavy system of governance, with power centralized in Metro Manila. It has often suggested that each region of the country should elect its own senator 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 more effectively. A senators performance, accountability, and electability become meaningful to a more defined, the Senate Electoral Tribunal composed of three Supreme Court justices and six senators determines election protests on already-seated senators
2.
Manuel L. Quezon
–
Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina was a Filipino statesman, soldier, and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines, Quezon was a Spanish Filipino, with both his parents being Filipino mestizos. Quezon was the first Senate president elected to the presidency, the first president elected through an election. During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the countryside and he established a government-in-exile in the U. S. with the outbreak of the war and the threat of Japanese invasion. It was during his exile in the U. S. that he died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake and he was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery until the end of World War II, when his remains were moved to Manila. His final resting place is the Quezon Memorial Circle, President Benigno Aquino III, and María Zeneida Quezon Avanceña, who is 94 years old and the daughter of the former President, were duly informed about this recognition. Quezon, was born in Baler in the district of El Príncipe and his parents were Lucio Quezon and María Dolores Molina, both of whom were Spanish-Mestizos with distant ethnic Tagalog origins. His father was a grade school teacher from Paco, Manila. Quezon started life in a province of the Philippines as the son of a rice farmer. He went from governor of his local Tayabas region to president of the country in 10 years and he was influential in revising a key law that gave Filipinos a majority in the Philippine Commission and negotiated the Jones Act that allowed Filipinos to be self-legislating. He later boarded at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran where he completed secondary school, in 1899, Quezon cut short his law studies at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila to participate in the struggle for independence against the United States, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. During the Philippine–American War he was an Aide-de-camp to Emilio Aguinaldo and he rose to the rank of Major and fought in the Bataan sector. However, after surrendering in 1900 wherein he made his first break in the American press, Quezon returned to the university and passed the bar examinations in 1903, achieving fourth place. He worked for a time as a clerk and surveyor, entering government service as an appointed fiscal for Mindoro and he became a councilor and was elected governor of Tayabas in 1906 after a hard-fought election. Manuel Quezon was a personality who dominated the political scene. His active involvement in the destiny of his country was felt both in the Philippines and the United States. From 1909 to 1916, he served as one of the Philippines two resident commissioners to the U. S. House of Representatives, lobbying for the passage of the Philippine Autonomy Act or Jones Law. He headed the first Independent Mission to the U. S. Congress in 1919, building a long-term friendship with American Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur was vital to many of his achievements
3.
President of the Senate of the Philippines
–
He/she is elected by the entire body to be their leader. The current Senate President of the 17th Congress of the Philippines is Aquilino Pimentel III, the Senate President is second in line in succession for the presidency, behind the Vice President of the Philippines and in front of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. Although Senate presidents are elected at the start of each Congress, a tied vote, therefore, means that the motion is lost, and that the Senate President cannot cast a tie-breaking vote since that would mean that the presiding officer would have had voted twice. In the Senate, he supervises the committees and attended its hearings and meetings if necessary, the Senate was created on 1916 with the abolition of the Philippine Commission as the upper house with the Philippine Assembly as the lower house. The Senate and the House of Representatives comprised the Philippine Legislature, representation was by senatorial district, Manuel L. Quezon was elected Senator from the now-defunct 5th Legislative District. All Senators from 1941 onwards were elected at-large, with the whole Philippines as one constituency, currently there are seven living former Senate Presidents, Living Former Senate Presidents Legend, Boldface means still an incumbent Senator. List of Senators of the Philippines Roll of Senate Presidents
4.
Francisco Tongio Liongson
–
Francisco Tongio Liongson belonged to a generation of Philippine colonial subjects who struggled to evolve a national identity for their homeland in the fringes of the Spanish Empire. Late in the 18th century, the concept of being a Filipino was still nebulous, the name did not even originally apply to all the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago, but to a small group of Spaniards born there. Liongson was one of these Filipino students in Madrid and he walked among peers who would one day become Philippine National Heroes. Scion of the Philippine sugar gentry, Liongson was born in Pampangas ancient capital, Villa de Bacolor to Emigdio Liongson and it was an exciting time in colonial Philippines. The Suez Canal opened a month earlier on November 17,1869 establishing a steamship service between the Philippines and Europe. The implementation of the Education Decree of 1863 saw the establishment of a school for boys. The resulting boom in trade and influx of new ideas gave rise to an educated and moneyed elite. To broaden his knowledge further, he trained in different hospitals in Paris while studying at the famous Institut Pasteur. During his sojourn in Spain, Liongson was actively involved with the Filipino colony in Madrid interracting with fellow paisanos like his hero, the death of La Solidaridads Jose Maria Panganiban affected him deeply. In a eulogy to the propagandist, he wrote, From this tombstone and he became a member of the Grande Oriente Español Masonic Lodge Solidaridad No.53 of Madrid under Marcelo H. Del Pilar as the Venerable Master. His love interest in the Spanish capital was centered on Maria Dolores Alonso y Castro and he returned to the Philippines with his bride in November 1895. Ten months later, the Philippine Revolution was unleashed, Spanish Governor General Ramon Blanco y Erenas declared 8 Philippine provinces to be under a state of war, and Pampanga was one among them. Liongson joined the Katipunan and offered his services to the Philippine Revolutionary Army. He was commissioned Capitan del Cuerpo Sanidad and his Spanish wife died shortly leaving a son, Francisco Alonso Liongson. The return of Emilio Aguinaldo from his exile in Hong Kong highlighted a new phase of the revolution and Liongsons marriage to the daughter of Balbino Ventura, during the Philippine-American War, he was promoted to Comandante and attached to the brigade of Gen. Tomas Mascardo. His timely and diplomatic intervention amicably resolved the anticipated armed confrontation between his superior, Mascardo, and his friend from the Filipino colony in Spain, General Antonio Luna, the surrender of Gen. Mascardo on May 15,1901 officially ended hostilities in the province. Liongsons work, however, was not over, Pampanga was the scene of many armed conflicts and the province suffered severe physical and economic hardships. The proliferation and rise of diseases in epidemic proportions became a concern of the United States military health board
5.
Legislature
–
A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
6.
Insular Government of the Philippine Islands
–
The Insular Government of the Philippine Islands was a territorial government of the United States of America created in 1901 in what is now the Philippines. The name reflects the fact that it was an administration under the authority of the Bureau of Insular Affairs. The government was organized in the newly acquired territory by the executive branch of the American government in order to replace military governance with civilian. In 1916, Philippine Organic Act was replaced by the Jones Law, finally, in 1935, the Insular Government was succeeded by the Commonwealth of the Philippines, still under the American government, as a previsionary step towards full independence in ten years. Delayed by World War II, the Philippines gained full sovereignty in 1946, the Insular Government evolved from the Taft Commission, or Second Philippine Commission, appointed on March 16,1900. This group was headed by William Howard Taft, and was granted powers by President William McKinley in September 1900. The commission created a system, an educational system, a civil service. The legality of actions was contested until the passage of the Spooner Amendment in 1901. The Insular Government saw its mission as one of tutelage, preparing the Philippines for eventual independence, on July 4,1901, Taft was appointed civil governor, with Military Governor Adna Chaffee retaining authority in disturbed areas. On July 4,1902, the office of governor was abolished. The Philippine Organic Act disestablished the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines as the state religion, in 1904, Taft negotiated the purchase of 390,000 acres of church property for $7.5 million. This land was resold to tens of thousands of peasants, who received low-cost mortgages, two years after the completion and publication of a census, a general election was conducted for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly. An elected Philippine Assembly was convened in 1907 as the house of a bicameral legislature. Every year from 1907, the Philippine Assembly passed resolutions expressing the Filipino desire for independence, Philippine nationalists led by Manuel L. The Jones Bill was rewritten and passed Congress in 1916 with a date of independence. The law, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act but popularly known as the Jones Law and its preamble stated that the eventual independence of the Philippines would be American policy, subject to the establishment of a stable government. Filipinos suspended the campaign during the First World War and supported the United States. After the war they resumed their drive with great vigour
7.
Philippine Legislature
–
The Philippine Legislature was the legislature of the Philippines from 1907 to 1935, during the American Colonial Period, and predecessor of the current Congress of the Philippines. It was bicameral and the branch of the Insular Government. In 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established and the National Assembly of the Philippines replaced the Philippine Legislature, the Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 stipulated that a Philippine legislature would be established after several conditions were met, such as the end of the Philippine Insurrection. The legislature was to have a house consisting of the appointed Philippine Commission and a lower house. The two houses would share legislative powers, although the house alone would pass laws relating to the Moros. Two Filipino Resident Commissioners were sent to Washington to attend sessions of the United States Congress, the act also extended the United States Bill of Rights to the Philippines. The Philippine Legislature convened its first session on October 16,1907 at the Manila Grand Opera House, conflict between the bodies, the American-majority Commission and the all-Filipino, Nacionalista-led Assembly, were not uncommon. Such conflicts came to an end when the Jones Law created a legislature composed exclusively of Filipinos. Its members, both American and Filipino, were appointed by the US President, beginning in 1907, it acted as the upper house of a bicameral legislature. On July 30,1907, the first elections for the Philippine Assembly were held, two political groups dominated the elections—the Nacionalista Party and Nationalist Progressive Party. Minority parties and independent candidates also competed, the Nacionalista Party, which espoused immediate and complete independence was headed by future Philippine president Sergio Osmeña, captured a majority of the 80–seat Assembly. The Assembly was the first fully elected legislative body. The Jones Law of 1916, also known as the Philippine Autonomy Act, the Philippine Commission was abolished and replaced by the elected Senate of the Philippines. The Philippine Assembly was also reorganized and renamed the House of Representatives, the new Philippine Legislature was inaugurated on October 16,1916. History of the Philippines Zaide, Sonia M, the Philippines, A Unique Nation, All-Nations Publishing Co. ISBN 971-642-071-4 Philippine Assembly An article published in an American newspaper examining the membership, an online article made available by Filipiniana. net Philippine Bill of 1902 A US Congress Act establishing the Philippine Assembly. An online article made available by Filipiniana. net
8.
Jones Law (Philippines)
–
The Jones Law was an Organic Act passed by the United States Congress. The law replaced the Philippine Organic Act of 1902 and acted as a constitution of the Philippines from its enactment until 1934, the Jones Law created the first fully elected Philippine legislature. The law provides that the grant of independence would come only as soon as a government can be established. The law also changed the Philippine Legislature into the Philippines first fully elected body, the 1902 Philippine Organic Act provided for an elected lower house, while the upper house was appointed. The Jones Law provided for both houses to be elected and changed the name of the Assembly to the House of Representatives, the executive branch continued to be headed by an appointed Governor General of the Philippines, always an American. Elections were held on October 3,1916 to the newly created Philippine Senate, elections to the Philippine Assembly had already been held on June 6,1916, and those elected automatically became members of the House of Representatives. In 1898, the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the United States, the ultimate goal for the Philippines was independence. U. S. Woodrow Wilson said, during the 1912 election campaign which made him US President, The Philippines are at present our frontier but I hope we presently are to deprive ourselves of that frontier. Even before the 1912 elections, U. S. House Committee on Insular Affairs Chairman William Atkinson Jones attempted to launch a bill which set a date for Philippine independence. Manuel L. Quezon was one of the Philippines two resident commissioners to the US House of Representatives, Jones delayed to launch his bill, so Quezon drafted the first of two Jones Bills. Wilson had informed Quezon of his hostility to any fixed timetable for independence, the bill passed the House in October 1913 and went to the Senate, backed by Harrison, US Secretary of War Lindley Garrison, and Wilson. A final version of the bill was signed into US law by Wilson on August 29,1916, after amendment by the Senate, among the provisions of the law was the creation of an all-Filipino legislature. It created the Philippine Senate to replace the Philippine Commission, which had served as the chamber of the legislature. Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act Commonwealth of the Philippines Jones–Shafroth Act The Philippine Autonomy Act, corpus Juris online Philippine law library
9.
Philippine Commission
–
The Philippine Commission was the name of two bodies, both appointed by the President of the United States to assist with governing the Philippines. The first Philippine Commission was appointed by President William McKinley on January 20,1899 to make recommendations, the second Philippine Commission, also known as the Taft Commission, was a body appointed by the President to exercise legislative and limited executive powers in the Philippines. It was first appointed by President McKinley in 1900 under his executive authority, in 1902, the Philippine Organic Act was passed by the United States Congress which enshrined into law the Commission legislative and executive authority. The Jones Act of 1916 ended the Commission replacing it an elected Philippine Senate as the Legislatures upper house, between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws. A judicial system was established, including a Supreme Court, the 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, on 4 July 1901, Taft became governor of a civil administration for the Philippines. This regime, called the Insular Government, administered the country until 1935, the two houses would share legislative powers, although the upper house alone would pass laws relating to the Moros and other non-Christian peoples. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos, in July 1907, the first elections for the assembly were held, and the legislature opened its first session on October 16,1907. Philippine House of Representatives Congressional Library The Presidents of the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines, the LAWPHiL Project - Philippine Laws and Jurisprudence Databank. NB, very little material actually online Acts of the Philippine Commission, NB, very little material actually online
10.
Upper house
–
An upper house, sometimes called a Senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the house is usually smaller. Examples of upper houses in countries include the UKs House of Lords, Canadas Senate, Indias Rajya Sabha, Russias Federation Council, Irelands Seanad, Germanys Bundesrat, a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. An upper house is different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects, Powers, In a parliamentary system. Therefore, in countries the Upper House votes on only limited legislative matters. Cannot vote a motion of no confidence against the government, while the house always can. In a presidential system, It may have equal or nearly equal power with the lower house and it may have specific powers not granted to the lower house. For example, It may give advice and consent to some executive decisions and it may have the sole power to try impeachments against officials of the executive, following enabling resolutions passed by the lower house. Status, In some countries, its members are not popularly elected, membership may be indirect and its members may be elected with a different voting system than that used to elect the lower house. Less populated states, provinces, or administrative divisions may be represented in the upper house than in the lower house. Members terms may be longer than in the house. Members may be elected in portions, for staggered terms, rather than all at one time, in some countries, the upper house cannot be dissolved at all, or can be dissolved only in more limited circumstances than the lower house. It typically has fewer members or seats than the lower house and it has usually a higher age of candidacy than the lower house. In parliamentary systems the upper house is seen as an advisory or revising chamber. Some or all of the restrictions are often placed on upper houses. No absolute veto of proposed legislation, though suspensive vetoes are permitted in some states, in countries where it can veto legislation, it may not be able to amend the proposals. A reduced or even absent role in initiating legislation, additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as perfect bicameralism or equal bicameralism. An example is the British House of Lords, bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month
11.
Pedro Guevara
–
Pedro Guevara, was a Philippine soldier, lawyer and legislator and Spanish writer who became Resident Commissioner from the Philippine Islands during the American colonial administration. Born in Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines on February 23,1879 and he attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated from Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Manila, in 1896. He joined the Filipino forces during the Philippine Revolution and assisted in promoting the peace agreement of Biak na Bato at San Miguel, Bulacan in 1897. He later rejoined the Filipino forces during the revolution, and also served throughout the Spanish–American War, later, he became a journalist for the Spanish language newspaper Soberania Nacional and Vidas Filipinas and a municipal councilor of San Felipe Neri, Rizal in 1907. He studied law at La Jurisprudencia and became a lawyer in private practice and his political life started when he became a member of the Philippine House of Representatives from 1909 to 1912 and a member of the Philippine Senate from 1916 to 1922. In 1921, Guevara was chair of the Philippine delegation to the Far Eastern Bar Conference at Beijing and he later was elected as a Nationalist Resident Commissioner to the House of Representatives of the Sixty-eighth United States Congress for a three-year term and four succeeding three-year terms. During this time, Guevara worked tirelessly for the approval of the Tydings-McDuffie Law which would establish the Philippine Commonwealth, later, he served as delegate of Laguna during the Constitutional Convention of 1934 which framed the 1935 Philippine Constitution. His term ended on February 14,1936 when a successor qualified in accordance with the newly established Commonwealth of the Philippines was selected, upon retirement, Pedro Guevara resumed his law practice. He died of an attack on January 19,1938, in Manila. Laguna State Polytechnic University United States Congress, biographical Directory of the United States Congress
