1st Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

The First Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (Filipino: Unang Kongreso ng Komenwelt ng Pilipinas), also known as the "Postwar Congress" and the "Liberation Congress", refers to the meeting of the bicameral legislature composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, from 1945 to 1946. This Congress convened only after the reestablishment of the Commonwealth Government in 1945 when President Sergio Osmeña called it to five special sessions. Osmeña had replaced Manuel L. Quezon as president after the former died in exile in the United States in 1944.

Not much has been written about the First Commonwealth Congress, despite its historical and political significance. This owes mainly to the briefness of its existence (i.e., less than a year). However, the First Commonwealth Congress was significant in at least three key respects:

First, it brought an end the president's exercise of legislative powers under the wartime emergency act passed by the defunct National Assembly in 1941. The opening of Congress in 1945 allowed democratically elected representatives to pass legislation, especially to deal with the Philippines' postwar problems. It also provided an institutional check against executive power, including the presidential power to appoint top officials of the (postwar) government and appropriate funds for its operations.

Second, the First Commonwealth Congress gave birth to the two-party system in the Philippines, as the pro-Osmeña and pro-Roxas blocs or factions there eventually became the Nacionalista and Liberal Parties that alternated in power from 1945 until martial law was imposed in 1972. This Congress thus served as a well spring of political leaders under a two-party system of the soon-to-be independent Republic of the Philippines. Three Philippine presidents, Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino and Carlos P. Garcia were members of this Congress, as were postwar political party leaders like Senate President Eulogio Rodriguez, Speaker Eugenio Pérez, Senator Jose E. Romero and Senator Melecio Arranz. The patron-client orientation of the two-party system evolved in part from the resource constraints faced by members of the Congress right after the war.

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