Senate of The Philippines - Seat

Seat

The Senate currently meets at the GSIS Building in Pasay. Built on land reclaimed from Manila Bay, the Senate shares the complex with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The Senate previously met at the Old Congress Building in Manila until May 1997. The Senate occupied the upper floors while the House of Representatives occupied the lower floors, with the National Library at the basement. When the Congress Building was destroyed in World War II, Congress met at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse in Manila; the Senate met at night while the House of Representatives met at daytime. Congress returned to the Congress Building on 1950. When President Ferdinand Marcos dissolved Congress in 1972, he built a new legislative complex in Quezon City. The unicameral parliament known as the Batasang Pambansa eventually met there on 1978. With the restoration of the bicameral legislature on 1987, the House of Representatives inherited the complex at Quezon City, now called the Batasang Pambansa Complex, while the Senate returned to the Congress Building, until the GSIS Building was finished in May 1997. Thus, the country's two houses of Congress meet at different places in Metro Manila.