It is the country’s legislative department (Art. VI, Sec 1)

Congress is _______

Upper house is ________

Lower house is _______

It is the power or competence of the legislature to enact, ordain, alter, or modify, repeal, or abrogate existing laws.

It is the Upper House of the Congress. It is composed of twenty-four (24) senators elected at large by the people.

It is a kind of Members of the House of Representatives that is elected directly and personally from the territorial unit he is seeking to represent.

It is a kind of Members of the House of Representatives that is chosen indirectly, through the party he represents, which is the one voted for by the electorate. This is to give an opportunity to weak sectors to have their voices heard.

It is the lower chamber of the Congress of the Philippines. The House, often informally called “Congress,” is composed of not more than 250 members popularly known as “Congressmen.” They are elected from legislative or congressional districts and through a party- list system.

are filled by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.

Kind of election for members of Congress that shall be held on the second Monday of May. Congress may, by law, provide otherwise.

Kind of election for members of Congress that may be called in case a vacancy arises in the Senate or House of Representatives to fill such vacancy in the manner prescribed by law.

- Offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment. - While Congress is in session.

- Remarks must be made in connection with the discharge of official duties. - While Congress is in session.

To enable members of Congress to discharge their functions adequately and without fear. It is true that the privileges may be abused. However, the harm which would come from its abuse is considered slight compared to that which might arise if the privileges were not given.

- Office which mat not be held by a member of a Congress outside the legislative department. There is a need for members to devote their time and attention to the discharge of their legislative responsibilities.

- Office which a member of a Congress may not be a beneficiary by reason of being a participant when said office was created. Hence, a member of Congress shall not be eligible for appointment to such office even if he resigns. - To avoid conflicts of interest and undue influence, Senators are prohibited from appearing as counsel before any court of Justice, Electoral Tribunal, or quasi-judicial or any other administrative bodies, and they may not intervene in any matter before any office of the Government. - They are also prohibited from having any financial interest in any contract, franchise or special privilege granted by the Government, including government-owned and controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, and they may not hold any other incompatible offices in the government, including government-owned and controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, during their terms of office.

- a number of membership which is competent to transact its business; is at least one-half plus one of the members of a body.

the official record of what is done and passed in a legislative assembly and the proceedings occurred from day to day.

- Three Justices of the Supreme Court designated by the Chief Justice - Six shall be Members of the Senate or the House of Representatives - The chairperson of the SET is always a Justice of the Supreme Court.

- It acts as a legislative check on the appointing authority of the President. For the effectivity of the appointment of certain key officials enumerated in the Constitution, the consent of the Commission on Appointments is needed.

- The power of the ___________ is to approve or disapprove appointments submitted to it by the President. It must act on all such appointments, by a majority vote of all the members, within 30 session days of Congress from their submission.

It is one the primary and specific aim of which is to make appropriations of money from the public treasury. A bill of general legislation which carries an appropriation as an incident thereto to carry out its primary and specific purpose is not an appropriations bill

It is one the primary and specific purpose of which is to raise revenue;

It is as used in the Constitution, it has reference to one imposing customs duties for revenue purposes

one which creates public indebtedness such as a bill providing for the issuance of bonds and other forms of obligations;

one affecting purely local or municipal concerns like one creating a city or municipality or changing its name;

one affecting purely private interest, such as one granting a franchise to a person or corporation, or compensation to a person for damages suffered by him for which the government considers itself liable.

- A budget is the financial program of the national government for a designated calendar year, consisting of statements of estimated receipts from revenues and expenditures for the calendar on which it is intended to be effective based on the results of operations during the preceding calendar year.

- A bill is a draft of the legislative before it becomes a law. It is a proposed law. No bill may be embraced in more than one subject to be expressed in the title. The subject referred to here is the main subject. As long as the bill contains only one main subject, the constitutional requirement is met even if the bill covers supplementary details. It is a draft of a law submitted to the consideration of a legislative body for its adoption.

It means that “all taxable articles or properties of the same class shall be taxed at the same rate.” - Different articles (or other subjects, like transactions, business, rights, etc.) may, therefore, be taxed at different rates or amounts provided that the rate (not necessarily the amount) is the same on the same class everywhere.

- Aside from the requirement that the rule of taxation shall be uniform, the Constitution also mandates that it shall be equitable. - It requires that such apportionment be more or less just in the light of the taxpayer’s ability to shoulder the tax burden.