The Assembly Hall of the House of Representatives

After decades of planning since the post World War II era, the dream of having a national government center finally materialized under the regime of Former President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.

Renowned Architect Felipe Mendoza was commissioned to design a modern legislative building in the 70s. He was the 3rd and last architect to design the proposed legislative building after Architect Federico Ilustre and Anselmo Alquinto.

The proposed legislative building that would be known as Batasan Pambansa Complex sits atop Batasan Hills in Quezon City based on the original master plan initially laid out by Architect Federico Ilustre in the mid-1950s.

Regarded then as one of the highly sophisticated government architectures, the contemporary legislative building in Quezon City was inaugurated on June 12, 1978, coinciding with the 80th year of independence of the Philippines from Spain. On the same day, the interim Batasan Pambansa (originally known as the “Interim National Assembly” prior to the imprimatur of PD No 1296 or the Revised Code of 1978) started to convene.

Thereafter, all laws crafted under the new legislative setting were called or publicized as “Batas Pambansa” in lieu of the “Republic Act.”

Also, it was during this time when the former President and Strongman divided the country into regions represented by elected assemblymen.

Since 1978, the building has been used as the venue in the delivery of State of the Nation Address of Presidents from the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos to the incumbent President, Rodrigo Roa Duterte.