I. Nature of “Congress” vs. “Session” in Philippine Legislative Practice

In the Philippines, the term Congress refers to the three-year term of the House of Representatives (Article VI, Section 4, 1987 Constitution). Each Congress begins at noon on the 30th day of June next following the election of House members and ends exactly three years later.

The Senate, having staggered six-year terms, spans two Congresses (half the senators are elected every three years).

Each Congress is divided into three regular sessions (Article VI, Section 15):

First regular session: begins on the 4th Monday of July following the election and ends before the next year’s session.
Second and third regular sessions follow the same pattern.

A session is therefore a one-year working period within a single Congress. A new Congress begins only after national elections for the House and half the Senate.

II. The General Rule: Bills and Resolutions Do Not Carry Over to the Next Congress

The settled rule in Philippine congressional practice is:

All pending legislative measures — bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions — automatically lapse upon the expiration of the Congress in which they were filed.

They do not automatically carry over to the succeeding Congress. They must be re-filed (re-introduced) in the new Congress if the proponents wish to continue pursuing them.

This rule is explicit in the rules of both chambers.

House of Representatives

The current Rules of the House of Representatives (adopted at the beginning of each Congress, e.g., 19th Congress Rules, Rule XIX, Section 124) uniformly provide:

“Upon the expiration of a Congress, all pending matters and proceedings shall terminate and shall be archived. No business of the previous Congress shall be carried over to the succeeding Congress except as may be provided by these Rules or by the Constitution.”

Earlier versions (17th, 18th, 19th Congress rules) contain substantially identical provisions (usually under the section on “Unfinished Business” or “Effect of Expiration of Congress”).

Senate

Senate Rules (Rule LI, as amended in the 19th Congress) state:

“All pending matters and proceedings in the Senate or in its committees shall, upon the expiration of a Congress, terminate, and shall be filed in the Archives of the Senate.”

The Senate has consistently maintained this rule since the 1987 Constitution.

III. What Carries Over Within the Same Congress?

Bills do carry over from one regular session to the next within the same Congress.

A bill that has passed second reading in the 1st regular session automatically remains alive when the 2nd regular session opens.
Committee reports, amendments, and sponsorships remain valid.
The bill retains its number and continues from the stage it reached in the previous session.

This intra-Congress continuity is expressly provided in both House and Senate rules (usually under “Unfinished Business” or “Carry-Over of Business”).

Thus, the distinction is crucial:
Carry-over between sessions of the same Congress = YES
Carry-over to a new Congress = NO

IV. Exceptions to the Non-Carry-Over Rule

There are no general exceptions. The following have been raised in debates but have never been accepted as valid exceptions:

Impeachment complaints
The House has repeatedly ruled that even impeachment complaints lapse at the end of a Congress.
Example: In the 15th Congress (2010–2013), several impeachment complaints against then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Chief Justice Renato Corona were filed. Those not acted upon lapsed. The successful Corona impeachment was filed and transmitted in the 16th Congress (2013–2016).
The Supreme Court has never ruled that impeachment proceedings survive beyond a Congress.
Bills already approved by one house and transmitted to the other
Even if a bill has passed third reading in the House and is pending in the Senate (or vice versa), it still lapses at the end of the Congress. It must be re-filed and re-approved by the originating house in the new Congress.
Bills certified as urgent by the President
Presidential certification affects only the three-reading rule on separate days (Article VI, Section 26(2)). It has no effect on carry-over.
Appropriation/revenue bills
They also lapse. The General Appropriations Bill must be filed anew every Congress.
Proposed constitutional amendments (via constituent assembly or people’s initiative)
Resolutions proposing amendments lapse at the end of the Congress (see Senate Rule XXXV and House precedents).
Treaty concurrence
The Senate’s concurrence in a treaty is an act of the Senate sitting as a continuing body for this purpose, but pending treaties not concurred in still lapse in practice, although the Senate has occasionally treated treaty concurrence as surviving because the Senate is a “continuing body” (a doctrine used only for organizational matters and treaty ratification).

The only true exception is organizational continuity of the Senate (election of officers, committee memberships of continuing senators), but this does not extend to pending bills.

V. Practical Consequences and the “Refiling” Tradition

Because of the strict lapse rule, it is standard practice for legislators to refile their priority bills at the start of each new Congress.

Bills are often refiled with the same title and substance as in the previous Congress.
Proponents frequently cite the previous Congress bill number (e.g., “This is the refiled version of House Bill No. 1234 of the 19th Congress”).
Committee chairmen sometimes adopt the committee report of the previous Congress to accelerate the process (allowed under House and Senate rules as a discretionary act of the committee).

This refiling culture explains why major reform bills (e.g., Freedom of Information, Anti-Dynasty, Bangsamoro Basic Law/RA 11054, Divorce Bill, SOGIE Equality Bill) are repeatedly introduced across several Congresses before eventual passage.

VI. Rationale Behind the Non-Carry-Over Rule

Political turnover – A new House (and half the Senate) is elected, representing a new mandate.
Clean slate principle – Allows the new Congress to set its own legislative agenda without being burdened by the unfinished business of the previous one.
Accountability – Forces legislators to actively pursue their bills rather than letting them linger indefinitely.

This is in contrast to parliamentary systems (e.g., United Kingdom, Canada) where bills can sometimes be carried over, or to some U.S. state legislatures that allow carry-over.

VII. Comparison with the United States Congress

The Philippine rule is identical to the U.S. federal Congress: bills die at the end of each two-year Congress and must be reintroduced in the next. The U.S. has no carry-over between Congresses (e.g., 117th to 118th), even within the same session structure.

VIII. Conclusion

In Philippine law and practice, bills do not carry over to the next Congress. They lapse upon the final adjournment sine die of the third regular session, are archived, and lose all legal effect. The only way for a legislative proposal to continue beyond one Congress is for it to be re-filed in the succeeding Congress.

This rule, consistently applied since the Commonwealth period and reaffirmed in every Congress under the 1987 Constitution, remains one of the most inflexible features of Philippine legislative procedure.