The Senate of the Philippines (Filipino: Senado ng Pilipinas, also Mataas na Kapulungan ng Pilipinas or "upper chamber") is the upper house of Congress of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines with the House of Representatives as the lower house. The Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large (the country forms one district in its elections) under plurality-at-large voting.
Senators serve six-year terms with a maximum of two consecutive terms, with half of the senators elected in staggered elections every three years. When the Senate was restored by the 1987 Constitution, the 24 senators who were elected in 1987 served until 1992. In 1992, the 12 candidates for the Senate obtaining the highest number of votes served until 1998, while the next 12 served until 1995. Thereafter, each senator elected serves the full six years. From 1945 to 1972, the Senate was a continuing body, with only eight seats up every two years.
Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the president's signature to become a law, the Senate is the only body that can concur with treaties, and can try impeachment cases. The President of the Senate is the presiding officer and highest-ranking official of the Senate. They are elected by the entire body to be their leader, and is second in the Philippine presidential line of succession. The current officeholder is Migz Zubiri.
The Senate has its roots in the Philippine Commission of the Insular Government. Under the Philippine Organic Act, from 1907 to 1916, the Philippine Commission headed by the Governor-General of the Philippines served as the upper chamber of the Philippine Legislature, with the Philippine Assembly as the elected lower house. At the same time the governor-general also exercised executive powers.
In August 1916 the United States Congress enacted the Philippine Autonomy Act or popularly known as the "Jones Law", which created an elected bicameral Philippine Legislature with the Senate as the upper chamber and with the House of Representatives of the Philippines, previously called the Philippine Assembly, as the lower chamber.