President of the Senate of the Philippines explained

Post:President
Body:the Senate of the Philippines
Flag:Flag of the Senate President of the Philippines.svg
Flagsize:160px
Flagborder:yes
Flagcaption:Flag of the Senate
Insignia:Seal of the Philippine Senate.svg
Insigniasize:120px
Insigniacaption:Seal of the Senate
Incumbent:Francis Escudero
Incumbentsince:May 20, 2024
Style:Mr. President
(informal; within the Senate)
The Honorable
(formal)
His Excellency
(formal, diplomatic)
Member Of:Senate of the Philippines
National Security Council
Commission on Appointments
Appointer:The Senate
Termlength:At the Senate's pleasure
Seat:GSIS Building, Pasay
Formation:October 16, 1916
Succession:Second
Inaugural:Manuel L. Quezon
Website:Senate
Reports To:Senate of the Philippines

The president of the Senate of the Philippines (Filipino; Pilipino: Pangulo ng Mataas na Kapulungan ng Pilipinas or Filipino; Pilipino: Pangulo ng Senado ng Pilipinas), commonly referred to 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 Francis Escudero. He was elected on May 20, 2024.

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:

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:

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

All senators from 1941 onwards were elected at-large, with the whole Philippines as one constituency.

No.PortraitName
Term of officePartyLegislature
1Manuel L. Quezon[1]
Member for the 5th Senatorial District
(1878–1944)
August 29,
1916
November 15,
1935
Nacionalista4th Legislature
5th Legislature
Nacionalista
Colectivista
6th Legislature
Nacionalista7th Legislature
8th Legislature
9th Legislature
Nacionalista
Democratico
10th Legislature
  • The Senate and the House of Representatives were merged into the unicameral National Assembly in 1935 at the onset of the Commonwealth period. The National Assembly was replaced by the bicameral Commonwealth Congress with the amendment of the 1935 Constitution in 1940, with the first election for the Senate elected nationwide at-large held in November 1941. However, the outbreak of World War II in the Philippines meant that the Commonwealth Congress did not convene until 1945.[2]
  • For the speakers of the National Assembly, see Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.
2Manuel Roxas[3]
(1892–1948)
July 9,
1945
May 28,
1946
Liberal1st Commonwealth Congress
3José Avelino
(1890–1986)
May 28,
1946
February 21,
1949
Liberal2nd Commonwealth Congress
1st Congress
4Mariano Jesús Cuenco
(1888–1964)
February 21,
1949
December 30,
1951
Liberal
2nd Congress
5Quintín Paredes
(1884–1973)
March 5,
1952
April 17,
1952
Liberal
6Camilo Osías
(1889–1976)
April 17,
1952
April 30,
1952
Nacionalista
7Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr.
(1883–1964)
April 30,
1952
April 17,
1953
Nacionalista
(6)Camilo Osías
(1889–1976)
April 17,
1953
May 20,
1953
Nacionalista
8José Zulueta
(1889–1972)
May 20,
1953
November 30,
1953
Liberal
(7)Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr.
(1883–1964)
November 30,
1953
April 5,
1963
Nacionalista
3rd Congress
4th Congress
5th Congress
9Ferdinand Marcos
(1917–1989)
April 5,
1963
December 30,
1965
Liberal
(until 1965)
Nacionalista
(from 1965)
10Arturo M. Tolentino
(1910–2004)
January 17,
1966
January 26,
1967
Nacionalista6th Congress
11Gil Puyat
(1907–1980)
January 26,
1967
September 23,
1972
Nacionalista
7th Congress
12Jovito R. Salonga
(1920–2016)
July 27,
1987
January 18,
1992
Liberal8th Congress
13Neptali Gonzales
(1923–2001)
January 18,
1992
January 18,
1993
LDP
9th Congress
14Edgardo Angara
(1934–2018)
January 18,
1993
August 28,
1995
LDP
10th Congress
(13)Neptali Gonzales
(1923–2001)
August 29,
1995
October 10,
1996
LDP
15Ernesto Maceda
(1935–2016)
October 10,
1996
January 26,
1998
NPC
(13)Neptali Gonzales
(1923–2001)
January 26,
1998
June 30,
1998
LDP
16Marcelo Fernan
(1927–1999)
July 27,
1998
June 28,
1999
LDP11th Congress
17Blas Ople
(1927–2003)
June 28,
1999
July 12,
2000
LAMMP
18Franklin Drilon
(born 1945)
July 12,
2000
November 13,
2000
Independent
19Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
(1933–2019)
November 13,
2000
June 30,
2001
PDP–Laban
(18)Franklin Drilon
(born 1945)
July 23,
2001
July 24,
2006
Independent
(until 2003)
12th Congress
Liberal
(from 2003)
13th Congress
20Manny Villar
(born 1949)
July 24,
2006
November 17,
2008
Nacionalista
14th Congress
21Juan Ponce Enrile
(born 1924)
November 17,
2008
June 5,
2013
PMP
15th Congress
Jinggoy Estrada
(born 1963)
Acting
June 5,
2013
July 22,
2013
PMP
(18)Franklin Drilon
(born 1945)
July 22,
2013
June 30,
2016
Liberal16th Congress
22Koko Pimentel
(born 1964)
July 25,
2016
May 21,
2018
PDP–Laban17th Congress
23Tito Sotto
(born 1948)
May 21,
2018
June 30,
2022
NPC
18th Congress
24Migz Zubiri
(born 1969)
July 25,
2022
May 20,
2024
Independent19th Congress
25Francis Escudero
(born 1969)
May 20,
2024
IncumbentNPC

Timeline

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DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/1916 till:12/31/2024TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1920

Colors = id:Vacant value:black 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

id:linemark value:gray(0.8) id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9)

Legend = columns:1 left:120 top:25 columnwidth:200

BarData = barset:sen barset:Marcos barset:sen2 barset:Drilon barset:sen3

PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:sen from:10/16/1916 till:03/04/1935 text:"Manuel L. 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:"José Avelino" color:LP from:02/21/1949 till:12/30/1951 text:"Mariano Jesús Cuenco" color:LP from:03/05/1952 till:04/17/1952 text:"Quintin 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 A. Rodriguez Sr." color:NP from:04/30/1953 till:05/20/1953 text:"Camilo Osias" color:LP from:05/20/1953 till:12/30/1953 text:"José Zulueta" color:LP from:01/25/1954 till:04/03/1963 text:"Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr." color:NP barset:Marcos from:04/03/1963 till:04/01/1964 color:LP barset:break from:04/01/1964 till:12/30/1965 color:NP text:"Ferdinand Marcos" barset:sen2 from:01/17/1966 till:01/26/1967 text:"Arturo M. 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 R. 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:"Koko Pimentel" color:PDP from:05/21/2018 till:06/30/2022 text:"Tito Sotto" color:NPC from:06/30/2022 till:05/20/2024 text:"Miguel Zubiri" color:Ind from:05/20/2024 till:12/31/2024 text:"Francis Escudero" color:NPC

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography of Senate President Quezon . February 8, 2019 . Senate of the Philippines.
  2. Web site: The Legislative Branch: Commonwealth of the Philippines, 1935 – 1946 . February 8, 2019 . . en-US.
  3. Web site: Biography of Senate President Roxas . February 8, 2019 . Senate of the Philippines.