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.

#	Image	Senate president	Party	Tenure of office	Legislature or Congress	Era	Ref.
1		Manuel L. Quezon, Sr.	NP	August 29, 1916 – November 15, 1935 (19 years, 78 days)	Fourth	Insular Government	[1]
					Fifth
					Sixth
					Seventh
					Eighth
					Ninth
					Tenth
The Senate and the House of Representatives were merged into the unicameral National Assembly in 1935 at the onset of the Commonwealth period. It was replaced by the bicameral Commonwealth Congress (CC) with the amendment of the 1935 Constitution in 1940, with the first election for a senate elected 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. For the leaders of the National Assembly, see Speakers of the National Assembly.						Commonwealth	[2]
2		Manuel A. Roxas, Sr.	NP (Liberal wing)	July 9, 1945 – May 28, 1946 (323 days)	First		[3]
3		José Avelino	Liberal	May 28, 1946 – February 21, 1949 (2 years, 269 days)	Second
					First	Third Republic
4		Mariano Jesús Cuenco		February 21, 1949 – December 30, 1951 (2 years, 312 days)
					Second
5		Quintín Paredes		March 5, 1952 – April 17, 1952 (43 days)
6		Camilo O. Osías	NP	April 17, 1952 – April 30, 1952 (13 days)
7		Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr.		April 30, 1952 – April 17, 1953 (352 days)
—		Camilo O. Osias (second time)	LP	April 17, 1953 – April 30, 1953 (13 days)
8		José C. Zulueta		April 30, 1953 – November 30, 1953 (214 days)
—		Eulogio A. Rodriguez, Sr. (second time)	NP	November 30, 1953 – April 5, 1963 (9 years, 126 days)
					Third
					Fourth
					Fifth
9		Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.	LP	April 5, 1963 – December 30, 1965 (2 years, 269 days)
NP
	10		Arturo M. Tolentino, Sr.	January 17, 1966 – January 26, 1967 (1 year, 9 days)	Sixth
	11		Gil J. Puyat, Sr.	January 26, 1967 – September 23, 1972 (5 years, 241 days)
					Seventh
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 can be elected into office.						Fourth Republic
12		Jovito R. Salonga	LP	July 27, 1987 – January 1, 1992 (4 years, 158 days)	Eighth	Fifth Republic
13		Neptali A. Gonzales, Sr.	LDP	January 1, 1992–January 18, 1993 (1 year, 17 days)
					Ninth
14		Edgardo J. Angara		January 18, 1993 – August 28, 1995 (2 years, 227 days)
					Tenth
—		Neptali A. Gonzales, Sr. (second time)		August 29, 1995 – October 10, 1996 (1 year, 42 days)
15		Ernesto M. Maceda, Sr.	NPC	October 10, 1996 – January 26, 1998 (1 year, 108 days)
—		Neptali A. Gonzales, Sr. (third time)	LDP	January 26, 1998 – June 30, 1998 (155 days)
16		Marcelo B. Fernan		July 27, 1998 – June 28, 1999 (336 days)	Eleventh
17		Blas F. Ople	LAMMP	June 29, 1999 – July 12, 2000 (1 year, 13 days)
18		Franklin M. Drilon	Independent	July 12, 2000 – November 13, 2000 (124 days)
19		Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.	PDP–Laban	November 13, 2000 – June 30, 2001 (229 days)
–		Franklin M. Drilon (second time)	Independent	July 23, 2001–July 24, 2006 (5 years, 1 day)	Twelfth
–			LP
					Thirteenth
20		Manuel B. Villar, Jr.	NP	July 24, 2006–November 17, 2008 (2 years, 116 days)
					Fourteenth
21		Juan Ponce Enrile, Sr.	PMP	November 17, 2008 – June 5, 2013 (4 years, 200 days)
					Fifteenth
–		Franklin M. Drilon (third time)	LP	July 22, 2013 – June 30, 2016 (2 years, 344 days)	Sixteenth
22		Aquilino Martin L. Pimentel III	PDP–Laban	July 25, 2016 – May 21, 2018 (1 year, 300 days)	Seventeenth
23		Vicente C. Sotto III	NPC	May 21, 2018–Incumbent (2 years, 258 days)
					Eighteenth

[9]

[11]

As of February 2021, there are four living former Senate presidents.

[12]

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