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18th Congress of the Philippines

The 18th Congress of the Philippines (), composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives, met from July 22, 2019, until June 1, 2022, during the last three years of Rodrigo Duterte's presidency. The convening of the 18th Congress followed the 2019 general elections, which replaced half of the Senate membership and the entire membership of the House of Representatives.

Leadership

Senate

House of Representatives

Sessions

  • First Regular Session: July 22, 2019 – June 5, 2020
  • July 22 – October 4, 2019
  • October 5 – November 3, 2019
  • November 4 – December 20, 2019
  • January 20 – March 13, 2020
  • March 14 – May 3, 2020
  • First Special Session: March 23, 2020
  • May 4 – June 5, 2020
  • Second Regular Session: July 27, 2020 – June 4, 2021
  • July 27 – October 12, 2020
  • Second Special Session: October 13–16, 2020
  • November 16 – December 18, 2020
  • January 18 – March 26, 2021
  • May 17 – June 4, 2021
  • Third Regular Session: July 26, 2021 – June 3, 2022
  • July 26 – September 30, 2021
  • November 8 – December 17, 2021
  • January 17 – February 4, 2022
  • May 23 – June 1, 2022

Meeting places

Composition

Both chambers of Congress are divided into parties and blocs. While members are elected via parties, blocs are the basis for committee memberships. Only members of the majority and minority blocs are accorded committee memberships. This is how blocs are determined:

  • Majority bloc: All members who voted for the Senate President or Speaker during the Senate presidential or speakership election.
  • Minority bloc: All members who voted for the second-placed candidate during the Senate presidential or speakership election.
  • Independent minority bloc: All members who did not vote for the winning or second-best nominee during the Senate presidential or speakership election.
  • Independent bloc: All members who abstained from voting during the Senate presidential or speakership election.
  • Not a member of any bloc: All members who have not voted during the Senate presidential or speakership election.

Senate

House of Representatives

Members

Senate

The following are the terms of the senators of this Congress, according to the date of election:

House of Representatives

Terms of members of the House of Representatives started on June 30, 2019, took office on July 22, 2019, and ended on June 30, 2022, unless stated otherwise.

Committees

Constitutional bodies

Senate committees

House of Representatives committees

Agenda

Death penalty

As of July 2019, bills seeking to reinstate capital punishment in the Philippines have been revived in the Senate ahead of the opening of the 18th Congress.

COVID-19 pandemic

The 18th Congress enacted the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and Bayanihan to Recover as One Act as response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

ABS-CBN franchise renewal

In May 2020, the House of Representatives acted on the pending franchise renewal bills of ABS-CBN that has been pending since July 2019.

House Speakership crisis

In 2020, the position of Speaker was disputed, which in the latter part of the year threatened the passage of a bill legislating the national government's budget for 2021. The dispute involved then-speaker and Pateros–Taguig representative Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque representative Lord Allan Velasco. This started in July 2019, when the two had a "term-sharing agreement" which was brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte. Under that deal, Cayetano would serve as House Speaker for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, or until October 2020. Cayetano was to step down from his position as speaker in order to give way for the election of Velasco as speaker.

Cayetano, in March 2020, accused Velasco and his camp of a conspiracy to remove him from his position as House Speaker. Velasco denied Cayetano's allegation of supposed ouster plot, stating it "baseless." Cayetano initially oversaw deliberations on the 2021 national budget but tensions in the lower house of the Congress grew by September 2020. His camp abruptly ended sessions in which some legislators criticizing the move which prevented them from scrutinizing proposals on the 2021 budget.

Cayetano offered to resign but his camp claim that majority of the House of Representatives declined his resignation. On October 12, 2020, Lord Allan Velasco and some legislators convened at the Celebrity Sports Complex in Quezon City and conducted a house session where positions including the speakership was declared vacant and appointed Velasco as house speaker. Velasco's camp claimed that 186 lawmakers voted for his appointment as house speaker. Cayetano's camp declared the session a "travesty" and questioned the legality of the session itself. Cayetano maintained that he remains as house speaker. On the other hand, Cayetano called the appointment of Velasco as a speaker a "fake session" as he added that there was no prior plenary resolution authorizing the holding of a session outside the Batasang Pambansa and insists that the House of Representative mace used in the meeting is illegal.

On October 13, 2020, during the start of the special session of the House, Velasco's election as House Speaker on October 12, 2020 was formally ratified by 186 representatives assembled in the Batasang Pambansa. At the same time, Cayetano tendered his "irrevocable" resignation as House Speaker on his Facebook Live paving the way for Velasco to assume his position undisputed.

Changes in membership

House of Representatives

District representatives

Party-list representatives

Legislation

Republic Acts

The 18th Congress passed a total of 311 bills which were signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte. 119 of these laws were national in scope, while 192 were local:

Treaties

One treaty has been approved by the Senate:

Notes

References