House of Representatives of The Philippines

The House of Representatives of the Philippines (Filipino: Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas; also known in its Spanish name Camara de Representantes de Filipinas) is the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines. The Senate is the upper house. The House is often informally called Congress. Members of the house are called Congressmen (mga kinatawan or mga konggresista) and their title is Representative. Congressmen are elected to a three-year term and can be reelected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms. Around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. There are 229 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people. There are also sectoral representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of Representatives.

Aside from having its concurrence on every bill in order to be passed for the president's signature to become a law, the House of Representatives has the power to impeach certain officials, and all money bills must originate from the lower house.

The House of Representatives is headed by Speaker, currently occupied by Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of Quezon City. The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the Batasang Pambansa (literally, national legislature) located at the Batasan Hills in Quezon City in Metro Manila. The building is often simply called Batasan; the word has also became a metonym to refer to the House of Representatives.