The

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

has been governed by legislatures since 1898. The country has had different setups, with legislatures under the

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

and the

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

, and with legislatures having one or two chambers. The first national legislature in the

was the

Malolos Congress The Malolos Congress (), also known as the Revolutionary Congress () and formally the National Assembly, was the legislative body of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. From 1898 to 1899, prior to the Philippine Declaration of I ...

that convened in the Barasoain Church at Malolos,

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

. Convened after the declaration of independence from Spain at the height of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

, the Congress ratified the declaration, and drafted a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. With the capture of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Emilio Aguinaldo Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who became the first List of presidents of the Philippines, president of the Philippines (1899–1901), and the first pre ...

during the ensuing

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

, the unrecognized

First Philippine Republic The Philippine Republic (), now officially remembered as the First Philippine Republic and also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was a state established in Malolos, Bulacan, during the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish ...

fell. The Americans then sent several commissions to assess the situation; these eventually became the Philippine Commission. With the passage of the Philippine Bill of 1902, the Philippine Commission eventually became an appointive

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of the new

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 legislative branch of the Insular ...

, of which the wholly elected Philippine Assembly was the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

. The passage of the Philippine Autonomy Act instituted a mostly elective

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as the upper house, with the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

as the lower house. This set up continued until the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was set into force, creating a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

under the

Commonwealth of the Philippines The Commonwealth of the Philippines (; ) was an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States that existed from 1935 to 1946. It was established following the ...

. Amendments that took effect in 1941 restored the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

setup, creating the Commonwealth Congress. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

intervened, and legislators elected in 1941 were not able to serve. The invading Japanese set up the

Second Philippine Republic The Second Philippine Republic, officially the Republic of the Philippines and also known as the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, was a Japanese-Axis powers, backed government established on October 14, 1943, during the Japanese occupatio ...

that convened its own

. The Allies reconquered the Philippines and the legislators elected in 1941 who are either still alive or are not arrested for collaboration convened in 1945. The Americans granted independence on July 4, 1946, and the Commonwealth Congress was renamed as Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. This will continue until the declaration of martial law by President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

on September 23, 1972, which effectively dissolved Congress. Marcos then exercised legislative power; his 1973 Constitution created the

Batasang Pambansa The Batasang Pambansa Complex, or simply the Batasan (), is the seat of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. It is located along the Batasan Road in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. The complex was initially the home of the Batasang Pa ...

, a

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The Batasang Pambansa first convened in 1978, and will continue to exist until the 1986 People Power Revolution that overthrew Marcos from power. President

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

appointed a constitutional commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution which restored the bicameral Congress with the

of government.

List

Per legislative term

Per party

These are at the start of every legislature. A politician may switch parties mid-term. Appointed members appear after the plus sign (+).

Senate

House of Representatives

= 6Party-list elections

= This includes all parties that have won at least 2 seats in any election.

Graphical timeline

;Legend

Senate

* Gaps refer to instances when the legislature was unicameral.

House of Representatives

* Gaps from 1946 to 1971 refer to instances when there was no lower house election for it was a midterm election (senators have 6-year terms with

staggered elections Staggered elections are elections where only some of the places in an elected body are up for election at the same time. For example, United States senators have a six-year term, but they are not all elected at the same time. Rather, elections ...

every two years, while representatives have 4-year terms). Starting in 1995, a midterm election includes both upper and lower house elections (senators have 6-year terms with staggered elections every three years, while representatives have 3-year terms).

Chronological timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:100 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1898 till:06/30/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1900 Colors = id:Vacant value:white id:USA value:brightblue id:abolished value:gray(0.6) id:Common value:green id:2nd value:claret id:3rd value:purple id:4th value:red id:5th value:yellow id:linemark value:gray(0.8) id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9) BarData = barset:PM PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM from:09/15/1898 till:11/13/1899 text:"Malolos Congress" color:abolished from:09/01/1901 till:10/16/1907 text:"2nd Philippine Commission" color:USA from:10/16/1907 till:05/20/1909 text:"1st Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:03/28/1910 till:02/06/1912 text:"2nd Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:10/16/1912 till:02/24/1916 text:"3rd Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:10/16/1916 till:02/08/1919 text:"4th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/21/1919 till:02/14/1922 text:"5th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/16/1922 till:02/08/1925 text:"6th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/16/1925 till:11/09/1927 text:"7th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/16/1928 till:11/07/1930 text:"8th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/16/1931 till:05/05/1934 text:"9th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:07/24/1934 till:11/21/1935 text:"10th Philippine Legislature" color:USA from:11/25/1935 till:08/30/1938 text:"1st National Assembly" color:Common from:01/24/1939 till:12/10/1941 text:"2nd National Assembly" color:Common from:10/17/1943 till:02/02/1944 text:"National Assembly of the Second Republic" color:2nd from:06/13/1945 till:12/20/1945 text:"1st Commonwealth Congress" color:Common from:05/25/1946 till:07/04/1946 text:"2nd Commonwealth Congress" color:Common from:07/05/1946 till:12/13/1949 text:"1st Congress" color:3rd from:12/30/1949 till:12/08/1953 text:"2nd Congress" color:3rd from:01/24/1954 till:12/10/1957 text:"3rd Congress" color:3rd from:01/27/1958 till:12/13/1961 text:"4th Congress" color:3rd from:01/22/1962 till:12/17/1965 text:"5th Congress" color:3rd from:01/17/1966 till:06/17/1969 text:"6th Congress" color:3rd from:01/26/1970 till:09/23/1972 text:"7th Congress" color:3rd from:09/23/1972 till:06/11/1978 text:"Abolished (President exercised legislative powers)" color:abolished from:06/12/1978 till:06/05/1984 text:"Interim Batasang Pambansa" color:4th from:07/23/1984 till:03/25/1986 text:"Regular Batasang Pambansa" color:4th from:03/25/1986 till:07/27/1987 text:"Abolished (President exercised legislative powers)" color:abolished from:07/27/1987 till:06/11/1992 text:"8th Congress" color:5th barset:break from:07/27/1992 till:06/30/1995 text:"9th Congress" color:5th from:07/24/1995 till:05/28/1998 text:"10th Congress" color:5th from:07/27/1998 till:06/30/2001 text:"11th Congress" color:5th from:07/21/2001 till:06/11/2004 text:"12th Congress" color:5th from:07/26/2004 till:06/08/2007 text:"13th Congress" color:5th from:07/24/2007 till:06/30/2010 text:"14th Congress" color:5th from:07/26/2010 till:06/30/2013 text:"15th Congress" color:5th from:07/22/2013 till:06/30/2016 text:"16th Congress" color:5th from:07/25/2016 till:06/30/2019 text:"17th Congress" color:5th from:07/25/2019 till:06/30/2022 text:"18th Congress" color:5th

List

Per legislative term

Per party

Senate

House of Representatives

= 6Party-list elections

Graphical timeline

Senate

House of Representatives

Chronological timeline

See also

Notes

References

Further reading