The legislative districts of the Philippines are the divisions of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

and

cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

for representation in the various legislative bodies. Congressional districts are for

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, while there are districts for

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Sangguniang Panlalawigan (abbreviated as SP; ), commonly known as the Provincial Board, are the legislatures in Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces. They are the legislative branches of the provinces, and their powers and responsibi ...

, and some

Sangguniang Panlungsod The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislature, legislative body of a Philippine city, city government in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Filipino language, Filipino words "''sanggunian''" ("council") � ...

. For purposes of representation, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, most

Sangguniang Bayan The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Go ...

Sangguniang Barangay The Sangguniang Barangay, known in English as the Barangay Council is the local government of a barangay, the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Each of the 42,004 barangays in the country has its respective Sangguniang Baran ...

and

Sangguniang Kabataan A Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a community council that represents the youth in a barangay in the Philippines. Established to provide young people with a platform for civic engagement and participation in Local government in ...

are all elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

, although there were districts for the Senate from 1916 to 1935. The first composition of legislative districts was enshrined in the Ordinance appended to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Changes in the composition of legislative districts were later added as new provinces and cities were created, and the composition was modified through laws enacted by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. Apportionment on local legislatures is also possible.

History

Representation to the legislature traces its origin to the Spanish era, when the Philippines was granted very limited representation to the Spanish Cortes. During the American period, when the Philippine Bill of 1902 was enacted, the first Philippine Assembly was established as the lower house and the then-existing Philippine Commission as the upper house. Representation in the assembly was apportioned among the provinces with respect to their population, provided that no province shall have less than one member. In 1916, the Philippine Legislature was reconstituted with a Senate as the upper house and the Assembly retained as the lower house. The Senate elected members through Senatorial Districts, a grouping of provinces and areas of the country, while the Assembly retained its way of representation. During the Commonwealth period, the Philippine Legislature was abolished, and a unicameral

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

was established, with representation being like that of the Philippine Assembly, each province having at least one member depending on its population. With the passage of the 1940 Amendments to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress was established with a

and a

. The House of Representatives way of representation was like that of the Philippine Assembly, while the Senate's members were elected at large. With the coming of the Interim

Batasang Pambansa The Batasang Pambansa Complex, or simply the Batasan (), is the seat of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. It is located along the Batasan Road in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. The complex was initially the home of the Batasang Pa ...

and the regular Batasan during the Marcos regime, representation was done in many ways: most members were elected by regions, some by appointment from the different sectors of the society such as youth and labor, and some were members of the Cabinet appointed by the President. However, with the advent of the 1987 Constitution, the Batasan was scrapped and the Congress was restored. The present way of electing delegates to the House of Representatives is through legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities and the Metropolitan Manila Area and through a party-list system of registered national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations.

Senatorial districts

From 1916 to 1935, the Philippines was divided into 12 senatorial districts. Each district except for the twelfth senatorial district elected two senators to the

. The senators from 12th senatorial district were appointed by the U.S. Governor-General. Since 1941, when the Senate was restored, all twenty-four senators have been elected at-large in intervals.

Congressional districts

;

Local districts

As per the

Bangsamoro Organic Law The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL; ), also known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), and officially designated as Republic Act No. 11054, is a Philippine law that provided for the establishment of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mu ...

, representation in the Bangsamoro Parliament is based from its own parliamentary districts which is distinct from the congressional districts used to determine representation in the national House of Representatives. However the current composition of the parliament is interim in nature and all members are appointed by the President with no regard to the current districts established in February 2024. Representation via provincial boards, known as

are also via congressional districts except for a few instances, such as

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

's 4th provincial board district includes San Jose del Monte, while its congressional district does not. The province's income determines how many seats it is entitled to, with 6 seats being the least. If a province only has one congressional district, the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

then divides the province into two districts based on population and geography. If a city is split into several congressional districts, representation via its city councils, known as

, follows the districts as set by the congressional districts; otherwise, representation is via an

district. At-large representation is also used in municipalities through their

(except in Pateros, where it is split into two districts), and in

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s through their

and

. At-large representation is always via

plurality-at-large voting Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates div ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legislative Districts Of The Philippines Subdivisions of the Philippines House of Representatives of the Philippines

History

Senatorial districts

Congressional districts

Local districts

See also

References