Concept
The House of Representatives of the Philippines (Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas, Kamara or Kamara de Representantes from the Spanish word cámara, meaning "chamber") is the lower house of Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the Senate of the Philippines as the upper house. The lower house is usually called Congress, although the term collectively refers to both houses. Members of the House are officially styled as representative (kinatawan) and sometimes informally called congressmen or congresswomen (mga kongresista) and are elected to a three-year term. They can be re-elected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms except with an interruption of one term like the senate. Around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. The 19th Congress has 253 congressional districts. Party-list representatives are elected through the party-list system which constitutes not more than twenty percent of the total number of representatives. Aside from needing its agreement to every bill in order to be sent for the president's signature to become law, the House of Representatives has power to impeach certain officials and all franchise and money bills must originate from the lower house. The House of Representatives is headed by the speaker (Ispiker). The position is currently held by Rep. Martin Romualdez. The speaker of the House is the third in the presidential line of succession, after the vice and senate presidents. The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the Batasang Pambansa (literally "national legislature") located in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. The building is often simply called Batasan and the word has also become a metonym to refer to the House of Representatives. Philippine Assembly At the beginning of American colonial rule, from March 16, 1900, the sole national legislative body was the Philippine Commission with all members appointed by the President of the United States.
