| Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines | |
|---|---|
| Ispiker ng Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas | |
 Flag of the Speaker of the House of Representatives | |
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| House of Representatives of the Philippines | |
| Style |
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| Member of | House of Representatives of the Philippines National Security Council |
| Seat | Batasang Pambansa Complex,Quezon City |
| Appointer | House of Representatives |
| Term length | At the House's pleasure; elected at the beginning of the new Congress by a majority of the representatives-elect, and upon a vacancy during a Congress.[a] |
| Inaugural holder | Sergio Osmeña |
| Formation | October 16, 1907; 118 years ago (1907-10-16) |
| Succession | Third |
| Deputy | House Deputy Speakers |
| Salary | Vary from ₱325,807 to ₱374,678 monthly[1] |
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 Philippines portal |
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines (Filipino:Ispiker ng Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas),[2] more popularly known asHouse Speaker, is the title of the presiding officer and the highest-ranking official of the lower house ofCongress, theHouse of Representatives, as well as the fourth-highest official of the government of the Philippines.[3]
The speaker is elected by a majority of all of the representatives from among themselves. The speaker is the third and last in theline of succession to the presidency, after thevice president and theSenate president.
A speaker may be removed from office in a coup, or can be replaced by death or resignation. In some cases, a speaker may be compelled to resign at the middle of a Congress' session after he has lost support of the majority of congressmen; in that case, an election for a new speaker is held. Despite being a partisan official, the speaker (or whoever is presiding) does not vote unless inbreaking ties in accordance with the Rules of the House of Representatives.[4]
The 29th and current speaker of the House isBojie Dy, a member ofPartido Federal ng Pilipinas fromIsabela'ssixth congressional district.[5]
When the office of speaker is vacant (usually at the beginning of a new Congress), thesecretary-general of the House sits as the presiding officer until a person is elected. A speaker is usually elected via majority vote viaroll call of the representatives, after nomination at the start of each new Congress.[6] Usually, despite the current multi-party system used, only two representatives are nominated, with nominations being agreed upon before each Congress during caucuses between the administration and opposition coalitions, with the chosen candidate of the majority coalition being almost certain to win by a large margin. The two competing candidates by tradition vote for each other; those who voted for the speaker-elect is assigned as the "majority" coalition while those who didn't are the minority coalition, with the losing candidate usually being named as minority leader.
In the2013 election for the speakership, there were three candidates.[7]Feliciano Belmonte Jr. was elected speaker overRonaldo Zamora andMartin Romualdez. In this case, the candidates did not vote for each other, and the second-placed candidate, Zamora, became the minority leader and headed the minority bloc. Romualdez, who placed third, became the leader of the "independent minority" bloc.[8] Only the majority and minority blocs were given seats in committees. There was a possibility that neither candidate would secure a majority of votes; it is undetermined what procedure would be followed in such an event.
The first officeholder to serve as the presiding officer of an elected deliberative assembly in the Philippines wasPedro Paterno, who was elected to theMalolos Congress in 1898. He was styled as thePresident of the Congress, which was theunicameral legislature of thePhilippine Revolutionary Government and later theFirst Philippine Republic.[9]
When the bicameralPhilippine Legislature was established in 1907,Sergio Osmeña was elected speaker of the lower house, known as thePhilippine Assembly,[10] until it was renamed theHouse of Representatives in 1916. Osmeña resigned in 1921, and the power of the speakership was given to a steering committee of the House.[11]Manuel Roxas succeeded Osmeña in 1922, serving from the6th to the9th Legislature, and was briefly followed byQuintín Paredes in 1933 after Roxas' ouster from the speakership.[12]
The 1935 Constitution then provided for a unicameral legislative body, effectively abolishing theSenate, and succeeding speakers headed theNational Assembly during the early years of the Commonwealth period and theSecond Republic underJapanese occupation from 1943 to 1944.Gil Montilla was elected speaker of theFirst National Assembly in 1935. On the opening session of theSecond National Assembly, future chief justiceJosé Yulo was elected by the chamber as its speaker. TheJapanese-sponsored Assembly during the presidency ofJose P. Laurel hadBenigno Aquino Sr. as its speaker, until the republic was formally dissolved.
Thepostwar Commonwealth Congress first convened on June 9, 1945, with the House of Representatives electingJose Zulueta as its speaker. TheLiberal Party, composed of members from the breakaway liberal wing of theNacionalista Party, obtained a congressional majority in the1946 general elections and electedEugenio Pérez as speaker.[13] The Liberals lost their majority by 1953 to the Nacionalistas, withJose Laurel Jr. becoming the new speaker when the3rd Congress convened. Formerspeaker pro temporeDaniel Romualdez succeeded Laurel, whoran for the vice presidency in 1957, during the4th Congress and served as speaker until he was unseated byCornelio Villareal in 1962. Laurel regained his congressional seat in 1961 after his vice presidential defeat toDiosdado Macapagal and was re-elected as speaker in 1967. Villareal became the last speaker of the House upon his election in 1971, before presidentFerdinand Marcos’ declaration ofmartial law effectively led to the dissolution of Congress.
In 1973,a new constitution was ratified, abolishing Congress in favor of another unicameral body later known as theBatasang Pambansa. Former chief justice and Region IV assemblymanQuerube Makalintal was elected speaker of theInterim Batasang Pambansa in 1978, followed byNicanor Yñiguez of Southern Leyte upon the inauguration of theRegular Batasang Pambansa in 1984.[14] After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, presidentCorazon Aquino issuedPresidential Proclamation No. 3, which abolished the Batasan and vested legislative powers in the president.
When the House of Representatives was reestablished in 1987,Ramon Mitra, a member ofLakas ng Bansa (which later merged with theCojuangco faction ofPDP–Laban to formLaban ng Demokratikong Pilipino), was elected speaker.[15]
Jose de Venecia Jr. led the House during the presidency ofFidel V. Ramos from 1992 until 1998, when he was succeeded byManny Villar.
After the House impeached presidentJoseph Estrada, representative Harlin Abayon ofNorthern Samar moved to vacate the speaker’s chair, andArnulfo Fuentebella was elected over Villar on November 13, 2000.[16] Estrada was then overthrown by theSecond EDSA Revolution in 2001, and the House was reorganized whenAlan Peter Cayetano of Taguig moved to vacate the chair once more, leading to the election ofFeliciano Belmonte Jr. as the new speaker four days intoGloria Macapagal Arroyo’s presidency.[17][18] De Venecia was reelected during the12th,13th, and14th Congresses until he was removed in favor of fellowLakas partymateProspero Nograles in 2008.
Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who became a member of the Liberal Party in 2009, was reelected as House speaker in 2010 and 2013.[7][19]
At the beginning of the17th Congress,Pantaleon Alvarez, an ally andPDP–Laban partymate of presidentRodrigo Duterte, was elected by the majority of House members.[20] He served until shortly beforeDuterte’s third State of the Nation Address, when the House informally convened to install former president and Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as speaker.[21] Arroyo became the first and only woman to serve as speaker, and the lone female to preside over either house of Congress. Alvarez disputed her appointment, as his allies adjourned the session to block the declaration of the leadership as vacant. The address was delayed for about half an hour while the president met with both representatives separately, resulting in an agreement that Alvarez would sit at the rostrum during the address, with Arroyo’s election formalized afterwards through a resolution.[22] This marked the only instance in Philippine history where the speaker-elect who had taken the oath before the president’s address did not sit beside the president.
Alan Peter Cayetano was elected at the opening of the18th Congress.[23] Anotherleadership dispute arose in October 2020, amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, when 186 members convened at the Celebrity Sports Plaza to elect Marinduque representativeLord Allan Velasco, ousting Cayetano.[24] Cayetano questioned the legality of the session, arguing that no proper resolution had been adopted at the plenary to authorize a session outside the Batasan, that the officialHouse mace was in the custody of thensergeant-at-arms Ramon Apolinario, and that an unofficial blue mace was used during Velasco’s election.[25][26] A special session was subsequently held at the Batasan to ratify Velasco’s election by the same representatives who attended the previous day’s session,[27] after which Cayetano formally resigned.[28]
At the start of the 19th Congress, newly elected presidentBongbong Marcos’s cousin,Martin Romualdez, was elected unopposed as speaker and retained the position in the start of20th Congress.[29][30] He stepped down as speaker on September 17, 2025 after being implicated in thecontroversy regarding flood control projects.[31] On the same day,Bojie Dy was elected speaker of the House, succeeding Romualdez.[32]
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According to Section 15 of Rule IV of the House Rules, the speaker of the House has the following duties and powers:[33]
Furthermore, according to Section 16 of the Rule IV of the Rules of the House, the speaker must "be the permanent head of delegation and representative of the House in all international parliamentary gatherings and organizations: Provided, that the speaker may designate any member to be the representative of the speaker. The speaker shall also determine, upon the recommendation of themajority leader, in consultation with the chairperson of theCommittee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Diplomacy, who shall constitute the House delegation to any international conference or forum of parliamentarians and legislators and the secretariat support staff to be mobilized for the purpose.
The speaker also presides on the part of the lower house injoint sessions of Congress. InState of the Nation Addresses, the speaker is traditionally seated to the right of the president on the rostrum.
The Speaker does not have an official residence inQuezon City where the House is holding its sessions but it maintains a residence (cottage) in Wright Park Road,Baguio City.[34]
| Order of precedence | ||
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| Preceded by | 3rd in line | Last |
| Malolos Congress |
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| Philippine Assembly |
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| House of Representatives | ||
| National Assembly | ||
| House of Representatives | ||
| Batasang Pambansa |
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| House of Representatives |
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