This is a complete list of senators of the Philippines during the 12th Congress of the Philippines listed by seniority from June 30, 2001, to June 30, 2004.
The criteria for seniority used in this article are derived from the cumulative length of service of a member of the Senate prior to the current Congress. Although an official roster ranking senators by seniority is not publicly available, their total cumulative years of service have been used to determine seniority. It has long been customary, following the practice of the United States Senate, to elect the most senior senator as either president of the Senate or president pro tempore, although this practice has become less common in the modern Senate. Furthermore, seniority is traditionally considered in the selection of chairpersons of major Senate committees.
In cases where senators have equal cumulative service, seniority is determined by the following criteria, in order: Longest uninterrupted period of service Earlier date on which the cumulative length of service was achieved Alphabetical order of surnames
In this Congress, John Henry Osmeña was the most senior senator, having previously served 11 years in Senate, while Manny Villar was the most junior senator.
List of senators by seniority Rank Senator Party Length of previous tenures Notes Start of Congress End of Congress 1 John Henry Osmeña NPC 11 years, 268 days 2 Edgardo Angara LDP 3 Blas Ople LDP Resigned on July 29, 2002, upon being appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 4 Ramon Revilla Sr. Lakas 5 Tito Sotto LDP 6 Nene Pimentel PDP–Laban 8 years, 0 days 7 Rodolfo Biazon LDP Liberal 6 years, 0 days 8 Franklin Drilon Independent Liberal Senate president 9 Juan Flavier Lakas Senate president pro tempore (from August 12, 2002) 10 Gregorio Honasan Independent Elected on May 14, 2001, to succeed Teofisto Guingona Jr., who was appointed as Vice President of the Philippines on February 7, 2001. Took office on June 30, 2001. 11 Ramon Magsaysay Jr. Lakas 12 Serge Osmeña PDP–Laban 13 Tessie Aquino-Oreta LDP 14 Robert Barbers Lakas 15 Rene Cayetano Lakas Died on June 25, 2003. 16 Loren Legarda Lakas Independent 17 Robert Jaworski Lakas 18 Joker Arroyo Lakas Independent rowspan="7" 19 Noli de Castro Independent Resigned on June 29, 2004, upon taking office as Vice President of the Philippines. 20 Loi Ejercito Independent PMP 21 Panfilo Lacson LDP Independent 22 Kiko Pangilinan Liberal 23 Ralph Recto Lakas Nacionalista 24 Manny Villar Independent Nacionalista Senate president pro tempore (until August 12, 2002)
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