President of the Senate of the Philippines

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.

According to the Rule 3 of the Rules of the Senate, the Senate president has the powers and duties to:

• To preside over the sessions of the Senate on the days and at the hours designated by it; to call the Senate to order and, if there is a quorum, to order the reading of the Journal of the preceding session and, after the Senate shall have acted upon it, to dispose of the matters appearing in the Order of Business in accordance with the Rules;
• To decide all points of order;
• To sign all measures, memorials, joint and concurrent resolutions; issue warrants, orders of arrest, subpoena and subpoena duces tecum;
• To see to it that all resolutions of the Senate are complied with;
• To have general control over the session hall, the antechambers, corridors and offices of the Senate;
• To maintain order in the session hall, the antechambers, corridors and in the offices of the Senate, and whenever there is disorder, to take appropriate measures to quell it;
• To designate an acting sergeant-at-arms, if the sergeant-at-arms resigns, is replaced or becomes incapacitated;
• To appoint the subordinate personnel of the Senate in conformity with the provisions of the General Appropriations Act;
• To dismiss any employee for cause, which dismissal in the case of permanent and classified employees shall be in conformity with the Civil Service Law; and
• To diminish or increase the number of authorized personnel by consolidating or separating positions or items whenever the General Appropriations Act so authorizes and the total amount of salaries or allocations does not exceed the amount earmarked therein.

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:

• to issue calls for the meetings of the commission;
• to preside at the meetings of the commission;
• to preserve order and decorum during the session and, for that purpose, to take such steps as may be convenient or as the commission may direct;
• to pass upon all questions of order, but from his decision, any member may appeal to the commission; and,
• to execute such decisions, orders, and resolutions as may have been approved by the commission.

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.

The Senate was created on 1916 with the abolition of the Philippine Commission as the upper house with the Philippine Assembly as the lower house. The Senate and the House of Representatives comprised the Philippine Legislature (PL). Representation was by senatorial district; Manuel L. Quezon was elected senator from the now-defunct 5th legislative district.

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

#	Portrait	Senate president	Party		Tenure of office	Legislature
1		Manuel L. Quezon[1] Senator for the 5th Senatorial District (1878–1944)		Nacionalista	August 29, 1916 – November 15, 1935 (19 years, 78 days)	4th Legislature
						5th Legislature
				Nacionalista Colectivista		6th Legislature
				Nacionalista Consolidado		7th 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 leaders of the National Assembly, see Speakers of the National Assembly.
2		Manuel Roxas[3] (1892–1948)		Liberal	July 9, 1945 – May 28, 1946 (323 days)	1st Commonwealth Congress
3		Jose Avelino (1890–1986)		Liberal	May 28, 1946 – February 21, 1949 (2 years, 269 days)	2nd Commonwealth Congress
						1st Congress
4		Mariano Jesus Cuenco (1888–1964)		Liberal	February 21, 1949 – December 30, 1951 (2 years, 312 days)	2nd Congress
5		Quintin Paredes (1884–1973)		Liberal	March 5, 1952 – April 17, 1952 (43 days)
6		Camilo Osias (1889–1976)		Nacionalista	April 17, 1952 – April 30, 1952 (13 days)
7		Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr. (1883–1964)		Nacionalista	April 30, 1952 – April 17, 1953 (352 days)
(6)		Camilo Osias (1889–1976)		Nacionalista	April 17, 1953 – May 20, 1953 (33 days)
8		Jose Zulueta (1889–1972)		Liberal	May 20, 1953 – November 30, 1953 (194 days)
(7)		Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr. (1883–1964)		Nacionalista	November 30, 1953 – April 5, 1963 (9 years, 126 days)
						3rd Congress
						4th Congress
						5th Congress
9		Ferdinand Marcos (1917–1989)		Liberal (until 1965)	April 5, 1963 – December 30, 1965 (2 years, 269 days)
				Nacionalista (from 1965)
10		Arturo Tolentino (1910–2004)		Nacionalista	January 17, 1966 – January 26, 1967 (1 year, 9 days)	6th Congress
11		Gil Puyat (1907–1980)		Nacionalista	January 26, 1967 – September 23, 1972 (5 years, 241 days)
						7th Congress
The legislative functions of Congress were absorbed by the president from 1972 to 1978, when the unicameral Batasang Pambansa was formed during the Fourth Republic. For leaders of the Batasang Pambansa, see Speakers of the Batasang Pambansa. After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, the president held legislative powers until a restored bicameral congress could be elected into office.
12		Jovito Salonga (1920–2016)		Liberal	July 27, 1987 – January 18, 1992 (4 years, 158 days)	8th Congress
13		Neptali Gonzales (1923–2001)		LDP	January 18, 1992 – January 18, 1993 (1 year, 17 days)
						9th Congress
14		Edgardo Angara (1934–2018)		LDP	January 18, 1993 – August 28, 1995 (2 years, 222 days)
						10th Congress
(13)		Neptali Gonzales (1923–2001)		LDP	August 29, 1995 – October 10, 1996 (1 year, 42 days)
15		Ernesto Maceda (1935–2016)		NPC	October 10, 1996 – January 26, 1998 (1 year, 108 days)
(13)		Neptali Gonzales (1923–2001)		LDP	January 26, 1998 – June 30, 1998 (155 days)
16		Marcelo Fernan (1927–1999)		LDP	July 27, 1998 – June 28, 1999 (336 days)	11th Congress
17		Blas Ople (1927–2003)		LAMMP	June 28, 1999 – July 12, 2000 (1 year, 13 days)
18		Franklin Drilon (born 1945)		Independent	July 12, 2000 – November 13, 2000 (124 days)
19		Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (1933–2019)		PDP–Laban	November 13, 2000 – June 30, 2001 (229 days)
(18)		Franklin Drilon (born 1945)		Independent (until 2003)	July 23, 2001 – July 24, 2006 (5 years, 1 day)	12th Congress
				Liberal (from 2003)
						13th Congress
20		Manny Villar (born 1949)		Nacionalista	July 24, 2006 – November 17, 2008 (2 years, 116 days)
						14th Congress
21		Juan Ponce Enrile (born 1924)		PMP	November 17, 2008 – June 5, 2013 (4 years, 200 days)
						15th Congress
–		Jinggoy Estrada (born 1963) Acting		PMP	June 5, 2013 – July 22, 2013 (47 days)
(18)		Franklin Drilon (born 1945)		Liberal	July 22, 2013 – June 30, 2016 (2 years, 344 days)	16th Congress
22		Koko Pimentel (born 1964)		PDP–Laban	July 25, 2016 – May 21, 2018 (1 year, 300 days)	17th Congress
23		Tito Sotto (born 1948)		NPC	May 21, 2018 – June 30, 2022 (4 years, 40 days)
						18th Congress
24		Juan Miguel Zubiri (born 1969)		Independent	July 25, 2022 – present (298 days)	19th Congress

• List of Senators of the Philippines
• Roll of Senate Presidents