Filipino Legislature
The Philippine legislature is called the second freely elected parliament in the Philippines , which for the first time consisted of a Senate and a House of Representatives, whose members were only Filipinos. The basis for this was the entry into force of the Philippine Autonomy Act (Jones Law), which was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on August 29, 1916 . The Philippine legislature replaced the previous parliamentary system, which consisted of the Taft Commission and the Philippine Assembly . The first elections were held on October 10, 1916. This legislature was abolished with the entry into force of the Tydings-McDuffie Law ( Philippine Independence Act ) on May 1, 1934 and replaced by the Commonwealth Congress in 1935.
construction
The Philippine legislature was a bicameral system that consisted of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate consisted of 24 members, with two senators from each of the 12 constituencies. The first electoral term lasted six years, the remaining terms lasted three years. Two members of the Senate were appointed by the American Governor General and represented the non-Christian populations of the Philippines in southern Mindanao and the Mountain Province, now the Cordillera Administrative Region . In the period from 1916 to 1935, 67 senators were elected, with members such as Manuel Quezon holding a senatorial seat from 1916 to 1935. Sergio Osmeña was not elected to the Senate until 1922.
The House of Representatives consisted of 80 members and basically the Filipino Assembly was simply renamed. The terms of office were designed analogously to that of the Senate. The seat of the House of Representatives was the My Untamiento House in Intramuros until 1927 , after which it moved to Quezon .
Powers
The Philippine Autonomy Act gave parliament expanded powers to regulate the internal affairs of the Philippines. The exceptions were that all laws related to the content regulations on immigration, currency, customs regulations and their amount, land distribution, forest use and mining activities, these required the approval of the President of the United States . The Philippine legislature was completely left out in matters of national defense, budget law and government organization. With the entry into force of the Philippine Autonomy Act, the Philippines were granted semi-autonomous status by the USA.
Web links
- History of the Senate of the Philippines Website of the Senate of the Philippines (English)