President of the Senate of the Philippines

The president of the Senate of the Philippines ( fil, pangulo ng Mataas na Kapulungan ng Pilipinas or ), commonly known as the Senate president, is the presiding officer and the highest-ranking official of the Senate of the Philippines, and third highest and most powerful official in the government of the Philippines. They are elected by the entire body to be their leader. The Senate president is second in the line of succession to the presidency, behind only the vice president and ahead of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The current Senate president is Juan Miguel Zubiri. He was elected on July 25, 2022, the first day of the 19th Congress.

Election

The Senate president is elected by the majority of the members of the Senate from among themselves; Since there are 24 senators, 13 votes are needed to win the Senate presidency, including any vacant seats or senators not attending the session. Although Senate presidents are elected at the start of each Congress, there had been numerous instances of Senate coups in which a sitting Senate president is unseated in the middle of session. Term-sharing agreements among senators who are both eyeing the position of the Senate president also played a role in changing the leadership of the Senate, but in a smooth manner, the peaceful transition of power and this was done two times in 1999 and in 2006.

Unlike most Senate presidents that are the symbolic presiding officers of the upper house, the Senate president of the Philippines wields considerate power by influencing the legislative agenda and has the ability to vote not just in order to break ties, although the Senate president is traditionally the last senator to vote. 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.

Powers and duties

According to the Rule 3 of the Rules of the Senate, the Senate president has the powers and duties to:

* To preside over the sessions of the Senate on the days and at the hours designated by it; to call the Senate to order and, if there is a quorum, to order the reading of the Journal of the preceding session and, after the Senate shall have acted upon it, to dispose of the matters appearing in the Order of Business in accordance with the Rules;
* To decide all points of order;
* To sign all measures, memorials, joint and concurrent resolutions; issue warrants, orders of arrest, subpoena and subpoena ''duces tecum'';
* To see to it that all resolutions of the Senate are complied with;
* To have general control over the session hall, the antechambers, corridors and offices of the Senate;
* To maintain order in the session hall, the antechambers, corridors and in the offices of the Senate, and whenever there is disorder, to take appropriate measures to quell it;
* To designate an acting sergeant-at-arms, if the sergeant-at-arms resigns, is replaced or becomes incapacitated;
* To appoint the subordinate personnel of the Senate in conformity with the provisions of the General Appropriations Act;
* To dismiss any employee for cause, which dismissal in the case of permanent and classified employees shall be in conformity with the Civil Service Law; and
* To diminish or increase the number of authorized personnel by consolidating or separating positions or items whenever the General Appropriations Act so authorizes and the total amount of salaries or allocations does not exceed the amount earmarked therein.

The Senate president is also the ''ex officio'' chairman of the Commission on Appointments, a constitutional body within the Congress that has the sole power to confirm all appointments made by the president of the Philippines. Under Section 2 of Chapter 2 of the Rules of the Commission on Appointments, the powers and duties of the Senate president as its ex-officio chairman are as follows:
* to issue calls for the meetings of the commission;
* to preside at the meetings of the commission;
* to preserve order and decorum during the session and, for that purpose, to take such steps as may be convenient or as the commission may direct;
* to pass upon all questions of order, but from his decision, any member may appeal to the commission; and,
* to execute such decisions, orders, and resolutions as may have been approved by the commission.

And if other impeachable officers other than the president such as the ombudsman is on an impeachment trial, the Senate president is the presiding officer and shall be the last to vote on the judgment on such cases according to the Senate Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Trials the Senate adopted on March 23, 2011.

In the Senate, he supervises the committees and attended its hearings and meetings if necessary and such committee reports are being submitted to his/her office.

List of Senate presidents

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 (PL). 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.

Timeline

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id:None value:black
id:abolished value:black
id:NP value:drabgreen legend:Nacionalista
id:LP value:yellow legend:Liberal
id:UNIDO value:blue legend:LDP
id:PDP value:yelloworange legend:PDP-Laban
id:LAMMP value:orange legend:LAMMP/PMP
id:NPC value:green legend:NPC
id:Ind value:gray(0.9) legend:Independent

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width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
barset:sen
from:10/16/1916 till:03/04/1935 text:"Manuel Quezon" color:NP
from:03/04/1935 till:07/09/1945 text:"Abolished" color:abolished
from:07/09/1945 till:12/30/1946 text:"Manuel Roxas" color:NP
from:05/25/1946 till:02/21/1949 text:"Jose Avelino" color:LP
from:02/21/1949 till:12/30/1951 text:"Mariano Cuenco" color:LP
from:03/05/1952 till:04/17/1952 text:"Quentin Paredes" color:LP
from:04/17/1952 till:04/30/1952 text:"Camilo Osias" color:NP
from:04/30/1952 till:04/17/1953 text:"Eulogio Rodriguez" color:NP
from:04/30/1953 till:05/20/1953 text:"Camilo Osias" color:LP
from:05/20/1953 till:12/30/1953 text:"Jose Zulueta" color:LP
from:01/25/1954 till:04/03/1963 text:"Eulogio Rodriguez" color:NP
barset:Marcos
from:04/03/1963 till:04/01/1964 color:LP
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from:04/01/1964 till:12/30/1965 color:NP text:"Ferdinand Marcos"
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from:01/17/1966 till:01/26/1967 text:"Arturo Tolentino" color:NP
from:01/26/1967 till:11/23/1972 text:"Gil Puyat" color:NP
from:11/23/1972 till:07/27/1987 text:"Abolished" color:abolished
from:07/27/1987 till:01/18/1992 text:"Jovito Salonga" color:LP
from:01/18/1992 till:01/18/1993 text:"Neptali Gonzales" color:UNIDO
from:01/18/1993 till:08/28/1995 text:"Edgardo Angara" color:UNIDO
from:08/29/1995 till:10/10/1996 text:"Neptali Gonzales" color:UNIDO
from:10/10/1996 till:01/28/1998 text:"Ernesto Maceda" color:NPC
from:01/26/1998 till:06/30/1998 text:"Neptali Gonzales" color:UNIDO
from:07/27/1998 till:06/28/1999 text:"Marcelo Fernan" color:UNIDO
from:06/29/1999 till:04/12/2000 text:"Blas Ople" color:LAMMP
from:04/12/2000 till:11/13/2000 text:"Franklin Drilon" color:LAMMP
from:11/13/2000 till:07/23/2001 text:"Aquilino Pimentel Jr." color:PDP
barset:Drilon
from:07/23/2001 till:07/24/2003 color:Ind
barset:break
from:07/24/2003 till:07/24/2006 color:LP text:"Franklin Drilon"
barset:sen3
from:07/24/2006 till:11/17/2008 text:"Manny Villar" color:NP
from:11/17/2008 till:06/05/2013 text:"Juan Ponce Enrile" color:LAMMP
from:07/22/2013 till:06/30/2016 text:"Franklin Drilon" color:LP
from:07/22/2016 till:05/21/2018 text:"Aquilino Pimentel III" color:PDP
from:05/21/2018 till:06/30/2022 text:"Vicente Sotto III" color:NPC

Sources

List of Senators of the PhilippinesRoll of Senate Presidents

References

{{Philippine Senate

Legislative speakers in the Philippines
Philippines
Philippines
Political office-holders in the Philippines