PARLIAMENTARTY PROCEDURE

OPENING SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 17TH CONGRESS

- DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

- ACTING PRESIDING OFFICER/MR. CHAIRMAIN - ACTING FLOOR LEADER
- SECRETARY GENERAL - MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE

DEPUTY SEC. GEN : The acting presiding officer is about to enter in the Plenary Hall.
(The presiding will enter with the Hall Security)

PRESIDING OFFICER : (3 beats of gavel) Honorable Members of the House of Representatives, today is the __ of
September 2017. The day the Constitution mandates that congress convince to commence its opening
session, I hereby call the opening session of the 17 th congress to order (1 beat of gavel).
: Please rise for the singing of the national anthem. (National Anthem)
: Please remain standing for the invocation to be delivered by the Hon. __________,
representative of the ___ district of _____________.

MEMBER 1 : As we started the opening session of the 17 th congress ……………..Amen.

PRESIDING OFFICER : You may now take your seats.

: The deputy secretary general will now call the roll of members of the House of :
Representatives elected from their legislative districts aportioned among the provinces, cities,
municipalities and partylist organizations in alphabetical order (1 beat of gavel).

DEPUTY SEC. GEN : __ district of ________, Hon. Abas………..B…….C……Mr. Chair, __ members responded to the
call.

PRESIDING OFFICER : There being _ __ members who responded to the call, the Chair declares the presence of a
QUORUM. (1 beat of gavel) To ensure the orderly proceedings, the Chair designates the
Hon.____________ of the __ district of _________ as acting floor leader. (1 beat)

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Presiding Officer, I move for the adaption of the rules of the house of 16 th congress as a
provisional rules of the house to govern its proceedings until adaption of the rules of the house of the
17th congress with an amendment to the 1 st sentence of section 94, rule 12 entitled “Decorum and
Debate” to read as follows:
Members shall wear proper attire which is barong-Filipino, coat and tie, or business attire for
men and business suit or Filipiniana dress for women and observe proper decorum during sessions and
committee meetings.

PRESIDING OFFICER : Is there any objection? The Chair hears none, the rules of 16 th congress of the House of
Representatives is hereby adapted as amended as the provisional rules of the House of Representatives
in the 17th congress. (1 beat)

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Presiding officer, I move that we now open the table for nominations for the position of
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

PRESIDING OFFICER : There is a motion to open the table for nominations for the position of Speaker of the House of
Representatives, is there any objection?
MEMBER 2 : Mr. Chair, I’d like to be allowed to ask some clarificatory questions before we elect our
Speaker. If the floor leader will answer, I would gladly appreciated, if he wouldn’t answer, that is his
prerogative.

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Chair, there’s a pending motion, so let us first proceed with the nomination and after
everybody’s nominated then we can answer queries from the floor. We will go into that in a proper time
but we are still in the process of opening the table for nomination, so when that is right for a question,
then we will answer and assure the gentleman that before proceeding to the election, we will answer all
his queries.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The Chair adapts the ruling of the majority floor leader, may we request the gentleman from
___________partylist, before asking a question , after we have presented the motion for nomination for
Speaker of the House is acted upon by the house. (1 beat)

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Presiding officer, I move that the gentleman from the ___ district of ________ be
recognized to make his nomination.
(Sudden interruption due to the raise of point of inquiry)

MEMBER 3 : Mr. Chair, before we proceed, may I raise a point of inquiry?

PRESIDING OFFICER : What is the point of inquiry of the gentleman?

MEMBER 3 : We are now proceeding with the election of the speaker and in the order of business, Roman
Numeral No. 8, we have here the oath taking of the members of the house. The speaker is a member of
the house , so it is anomalous for us to elect a speaker who is not yet taking his oath as a member so
may we please proceed first in the oath taking of members before we proceed with the election.

PRESIDING OFFICER : Your Honor, under the rules of the House of representatives as amended , it is the speaker of
the house that administers the oath taking and new members of the congress, so it is by Parliamentary
tradition and practice, and under the rules of the house as amended and adapted by this assembly that
we should first proceed to the nomination and the election of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives for the 17th congress, this is the ruling of the Chair! (1 beat)

MEMBER 3 : Mr. Speaker, may I move for the suspension of the session for a few minutes to clarify first the
order of business?

PRESIDING OFFICER : With due respect to the gentleman who has taken the floor and has been recognized, the Chair
has already explained fully the point of order that has been raised by the gentleman and we are ruling
that we are setting it aside and we ask that we proceed with the nomination of the Speaker of the
House. (1 beat)

FLOOR LEADER : First of all, the gentleman cited a point of order but he did not cite any rule which is being
violated. In fact, the rules are very clear, it says in Section 1, rule 1, “first meeting and organization of
the house”. Unfortunately, the gentleman is invoking a point of order but he is the one who wants to
digress from our rules, so I think the gentleman is not in order.

PRESIDING OFFICER : May I request the floor leader to proceed with the nominations of the speaker of the house?

FLOOR LEADER : I now move that we recognize Hon._______________ to make his nomination for the position
of Speaker.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished gentleman from ___ district of ____________, Hon. ______________ is
recognized. (1 beat)
MEMBER 4 : Esteem colleagues, on behalf of _________ Party, it is an honor and privilege today to
nominate Hon._________________ as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 17 th congress.
He served as the vice-chairman of the committee on transportation and communication in the past 11 th
congress because of his experience and expertise in the transportation sector, he was afterwards
promptly tapped to lead the Department of Transportation, one of the biggest Departments in our
government as secretary under the administration of Former President Arroyo. I stand here in august
chamber to declare my and the liberal party support for the speakership of
Cong.___________________.

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Presiding officer, I move that the gentleman from ___ district of _______________ be
recognized to make his nomination.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished gentleman from ___ district of ______________, the Hon.
________________ is recognized. (1 beat)

MEMBER 5 : On behalf of the members of our party, PDP- Laban, I second the nomination of the Hon.
________________ as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

FLOOR LEADER : I move that the lady from ___ district of ____________, Hon. __________________ be
recognized to make her nomination.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished lady from ___ district of ______________, the Hon. ________________ is
recognized. (1 beat)

MEMBER 6 : Mr. Presiding officer, on behalf of the members of our party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition,
I second the nomination of Hon. ________________, as the Speaker of the House.

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Chair, I move that the gentleman from ___ district of _____________, Hon.
______________be recognized to make his nomination.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished gentleman from ___ district of ______________, the Hon.
________________ is recognized. (1 beat)

MEMBER 7 : Mr. Presiding officer, in behalf of the officers and members of the NUP, National Unity Party , it
is my esteemed privilege and honor to second the nomination of the distinguished gentleman from the
__ district of _____________, Hon. _____________ as a Speaker of the House, so moved, Mr. Presiding
Officer.

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Chair, I move that the gentleman from the partylist Kabayan, Hon. _______________ be
recognized to make his nomination.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished gentleman from partylist Kabayan the Hon. ________________ is
recognized. (1 beat)

MEMBER 8 : Mr. Presiding Officer, ladies and gentlemen, it is my Honor and privilege to nominate Hon.
_______________ for the Position of Speaker of the House.

FLOOR LEADER : I move that the lady from ___ district of ____________, Hon. __________________ be
recognized to make her nomination.

PRESIDING OFFICER : The distinguished lady from ___ district of ______________, the Hon. ________________ is
recognized. (1 beat)
MEMBER 6 : Mr. Presiding officer, on behalf of the officers and members of our party, LAKAS, I second the
nomination of Hon. ________________, as the Speaker of the House.

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Chair, I move that we now proceed with the election of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.

PRESIDING OFFICER : There is a motion to proceed with the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
is there any objection? The chair hears none, the election of the Speaker is now in order. (1 beat)
: The deputy secretary general will now call the roll of members, may we request every member
to state the name of the candidate you are voting for a Speaker of the House upon being called. (1 beat)

DEPUTY SEC. GEN. : Roll call vote for the election of the speaker, Honorable Congressmen and Congresswomen,
A……B……C…
(Proceed to the election)

MEMBER 7 : I vote for the Hon. ____________________

MEMBER 8 : I Vote for the Hon. ____________________, as a Speaker of the House….

MEMBER 9 : Good morning Everyone, I choose to abstain, thank you.

MEMBER 10 : I now vote for Cong. _________________, as a Speaker.

MEMBER 11 : This representation votes for the Hon. ________________ as Speaker.

MEMBER 12 : Representing the _ district of _________, I vote for the Hon. ____________

MEMBER 13 : Mr. Speaker, as a representative of lone district of ___________, I vote Hon.___________ for
the speakership.
(Counting of Votes)

PRESIDING OFFICER : With __ members, abstaining from the vote, _ member registering a no vote, the results of the
voting show that the gentleman from __ district of _____________, the Hon. ________________
garnered ___ votes and the gentleman from the __district of ____________, the Hon.
_________________ garnered ___votes.
: With __ votes, the Chair declares the gentleman from the __district of ____________, the Hon.
_______________ as a duly elected speaker of the House of Representatives in the 17 th Congress. (1
Beat)

FLOOR LEADER : Mr. Presiding Officer, I now move that the committee of __ members composed of
Representatives, _____________, ____________, ____________, ______________, ____________,
_____________ be constituted to notify Rep.__________________ of his election as a Speaker of the
House Representatives and thereafter to escort the Speaker-elect to the raustroom for oath taking
rights.

PRESIDING OFFICER : Is there any objection? The Chair hears none, the notification committee is hereby constituted
the members of the House so named I hereby appointed to the notification committee and they are
requested to inform the Speaker-Elect, the Hon. ______________________ of his election and to escort
him to the raustroom. The chair invites the family of the Speaker-Elect to join him at the raustroom as
he takes his oath of office. The Session is suspended. (1 beat)