Congress of the Philippines

Congress of the Philippines Kongreso ng Pilipinas
17th Congress of the Philippines
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate House of Representatives
Leadership
President of the Senate	Aquilino Pimentel III Since July 25, 2016
Speaker of the House of Representatives	Pantaleon Alvarez Since July 25, 2016
Structure
Seats	321 (list) 24 senators 297 representatives
Senate political groups	List      Liberal (6)      UNA (2)      Nacionalista (3)      NPC (3)      Akbayan (1)      CIBAC (1)      LDP (1)      PDP-Laban (3)      Independent (5)
House of Representatives political groups	List      PDP-Laban (97)      NPC (38)      Liberal (35)      Nacionalista (22)      NUP (19)      UNA (8)      Lakas (5)      LDP (2)      Aksyon (1)      CDP (1)      Local parties (8)      Independent (1)      Sectoral (59)      Vacant (4)
Joint committees	Joint committees are chaired by senators
Authority	Article VI, Constitution of the Philippines
Elections
Senate last election	May 9, 2016
House of Representatives last election	May 9, 2016
Meeting place
Senate: Government Service Insurance System Building, Pasay House of Representatives: Batasang Pambansa Complex, Quezon City
Website
Senate of the Philippines House of Representatives of the Philippines

The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the national legislature of the Philippines. It is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate (upper chamber), and the House of Representatives (lower chamber) although commonly in the Philippines the term congress refers to the latter.

The Senate is composed of 24 senators half of which are elected every three years. Each senator, therefore, serves a total of six years. The senators are elected by the whole electorate and do not represent any geographical district.

The House of Representatives is currently composed of 297 congressmen. Sec. 5 Art. VI of the Constitution states that the House "shall be composed of not more than 250 members, unless otherwised fixed by law..." There are two types of congressmen: the district and the sectoral representatives. The district congressmen represent a particular geographical district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some composed of two or more representatives.

The sectoral congressmen represent the minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Also known as party-list representatives, sectoral congressmen represent labor unions, rights groups, and other organizations.

The Constitution provides that the Congress shall convene for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year. The President may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular legislative sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters.