Center for Legislative Development International

Philippine Congress

Philippine Senate

United Nations Development Programme

World Bank

United States Agency for International Development

Ford Foundation

Asia Foundation

Suite 1603 MPO, Bldg. San Miguel Ave. Ortigas Center Pasig City

Tel.: (632) 6872083

Telefax: (632) 6872082

The Beginings...

The year was 1988, two years after the EDSA Revolution toppled the Marcos Regime. A year earlier, a New Constitution was ratified, providing the legal framework for the newly restored democracy. The first free elections were held after the end of authoritarian rule. Elections were held for 200 seats in the House of Representatives and 24 in the Senate. But the country was still very much in transition, threatened by rightist and leftist rebels.

Amidst this backdrop, different sectors of society were busy taking advantage of their new democratic space. Non-government organizations, which until now had played a rather peripheral role in the Philippines, were mushrooming in response to the great needs of the country facing a brand new season.

Working with former US Congresswoman Barbara Boxer in 1987 inspired Dr. Socorro Reyes to set up a legislative support structure in the Philippines a year later

In September of 1987, Dr. Socorro Reyes returned from Washington D.C., fresh from a nine-month Congressional Fellowship Program in the U.S. Congress under the auspices of the American Political Science Association with funding support from The Asia Foundation. She had worked with former California Congresswoman (now Senator) Barbara Boxer and Minnesota Senator David Durenberger as legislative assistant in the areas of Women and Health Care.

Looking back, Dr. Reyes says that it was a "confluence of personal and political factors" that led to the setting up of a legislative support structure here in the Philippines. During her fellowship, she was greatly assisted by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the U.S. Congress which provided research-based information and analysis on a broad range of domestic and international policy issues. She was so inspired by the role it played in the work of U.S. legislators that she began thinking of setting up a similar organization in the Philippines.

The first democratically elected Congress after the Marcos dictatorship had just taken its seat and it was a strategic time to start a legislative support organization.