Joint session of the Congress of the Philippines | |
|---|---|
  Seals of the Senate (left) and of the House of Representatives (right) | |
| Leadership | |
| Seats | 340 voting members
|
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Batasang Pambansa Complex, Batasan Hills, Quezon City, Philippines | |
A joint session of the Congress of the Philippines is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the government of the Philippines: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
A joint session can be convened for the following:
| Congress | Date | President | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First made before a joint session | 1st (Commonwealth) | June 9, 1945 | Sergio Osmeña |
| Most recent | 19th | July 24, 2023 | Bongbong Marcos |
Special joint sessions can also be convened to facilitate visiting foreign leaders' addresses to Congress. [4]
| Congress | Date | Foreign dignitary | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Country | Title | |||
| 4th | June 15, 1960 | Dwight Eisenhower | United States | President | Eisenhower spoke about the two countries' cooperation and mutual opposition toward communism. [5] |
| 12th | October 18, 2003 | George W. Bush | United States | President | Bush underscored the military alliance of the United States and the Philippines as well as pledged to help the Philippines modernize its military. [6] |
| 13th | April 19, 2005 | Pervez Musharraf | Pakistan | President | Musharraf addressed the Moro people to disavow terrorism and abandon secessionism. He also pledged Pakistan's support for Philippines' bid for observer status in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. [7] |
| April 27, 2005 | Hu Jintao | China | President | Hu announced a "golden age" in Sino-Philippine ties and assured China is a good neighbor. He also emphasized the growth of the economic ties between China and ASEAN. [8] | |
| February 6, 2006 | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | India | President | Kalam showcased the "Indo-Philippine Cooperation Roadmap" which proposed bolstering economic ties between India and the Philippines. He encouraged the Philippines to develop its solar power industry. [9] | |
| 19th | November 4, 2023 | Fumio Kishida | Japan | Prime Minister | Kishida pledged to further military cooperation between his country and the Philippines. He also touted cooperation between the two countries alongside the United States in guaranteeing "freedom in the South China Sea" (See Territorial disputes in the South China Sea). [10] |
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The Congress of the Philippines is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter, and an upper body, the Senate. The House of Representatives meets in the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City while the Senate meets in the GSIS Building in Pasay.
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