Editing District (section)

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{{Main|Legislative districts of the Philippines}}

A constituency with a representative in the lower house of [[Congress of the Philippines|Congress]] is a [[congressional district]].  However, the term [[congressional district]] has become synonymous in local parlance with 'representative district,' because, just like in the US, the word 'congress' ({{lang|fil|konggreso}}) has come to refer specifically to the lower house (the [[House of Representatives of the Philippines|House of Representatives]]).

A legislative district, which has an average population of about 250,000 to 500,000, may be composed of:

(a.) an entire province,
(b.) within a province, a group of municipalities and cities (sometimes even including independent and highly urbanized cities geographically located in the province),
(c.) a single city,
(d.) a group of geographically adjacent independent cities and independent municipalities (currently the only example is the [[Legislative district of Pateros-Taguig|Pateros-Taguig]], or
(e.) a group of [[barangay]]s within a city.

Each province is guaranteed at least one representative to the lower house, even though it may not come close to having the same population as other legislative districts. Only voters within each district are allowed to vote in the election for the member of the House of Representatives from that district.

From 1916 to 1935, the Philippines were divided into 12 senatorial districts, of which 11 elected two members each, for a total of 22 out of the 24 members of the upper house of Congress (the [[Senate of the Philippines|Senate]]). Since 1935 senators have been elected at large.