Which lawmakers filed the most number of House bills in the 19th Congress?

Six members of Congress authored more than 500 bills each, way above the average of 165 in the 19th Congress

Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez proposed the most number of bills in the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress, Rappler’s research found.

The Mindanaoan lawmaker primarily authored a total of 831 bills in the first half of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., based on data available on the House of Representatives website.

Rodriguez is a veteran congressman with 15 years of experience in the legislature. He was reelected in May and is now on his third consecutive term.

In the last three years, Rodriguez was most notable for advocating for the revision of the 1987 Constitution, in accordance with his duty as chairperson of the constitutional amendments committee of the House. While the bill passed the House, it did not gain support in the Senate and eventually just died.

Next to Rodriguez on the list is Camarines Sur 2nd District Representative LRay Villafuerte, who primarily authored 793 measures.

Villafuerte, a dynast, has exhausted his three terms and successfully sought the gubernatorial seat in his province in 2025. He will be succeeded in the House by his son, former governor Luigi Villafuerte.

The older Villafuerte was among the key advocates of the bill seeking to legalize the use of a non-addictive strain of marijuana for medical purposes. The measure passed the House but languished in the Senate.

Ranking third with 602 bills filed is Parañaque 2nd District Representative Gus Tambunting, who lost reelection to Bicol Saro Representative Brian Yamsuan.

In the House, he was notable for presiding over the legislative franchises committee, which moved to revoke the franchise of doomsday evangelist Apollo Quiboloy’s broadcast network SMNI.

Rounding off the top six with over 600 bills authored each are Quezon City 5th District Representative Patrick Michael “PM” Vargas, Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co, and Baguio Representative Mark Go.

Go tried but failed to unseat Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong last May, while Vargas fended off a congressional challenge from Pharmally-linked businesswoman Rose Nono Lin.

Go headed the higher education committee, and filed numerous bills — some of which became law — seeking to alleviate underprivileged students’ burden in financing their college education.

Co had been the chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations until the move was declared vacant in the plenary in January this year. Co later said he stepped down due to health reasons.

Co’s high legislative output is partly due to the fact that many bills went through his committee for appropriations needs. After they passed through his committee, he becomes listed as a primary author too.

What’s with this metric

The 1987 Constitution explicitly gives Congress legislative powers, and the rules handbook of the House says it is the primary duty of a lawmaker to “prepare, introduce, and work for the passage of legislative measures to effectively address social, political, and economic needs and concerns.”

There are other ways to determine whether legislators toiled during their three years in the House — attendance records, participation in committee hearings, voting record on crucial legislation, and constituency representation.

No metric though is as straightforward as the number of bills and resolutions they filed, on top of the fact that it is the data that is most accessible to researchers and journalists.

The act of filing a bill or resolution — no matter the quality — is an indication that at the fundamental level, lawmakers are doing their primary job.

This data story has some disclaimers though:

• It measures the quantitative output of the lawmaker, but obviously not the quality of bills he or she filed.
• Veteran lawmakers are at an advantage in this metric because they can easily refile bills and resolutions that failed to hurdle the legislative mill in past congresses.
• Dynasts and their allies are also at an advantage because they can refile bills of relatives who came before them in past Congresses.
• Members of Congress holding key chairmanship posts in active committees are also at an advantage because they are often included as primary authors in bills that hurdle their panel.
• This computation only takes into consideration the number of bills that lawmakers authored primarily, as it usually means they are responsible for either drafting the measure or defending it in at least one level of the legislative process.
• We decided not to write a data story based on the number of bills successfully passed into law by legislators. While it may reflect their capabilities to negotiate, it is also heavily influenced by other factors — especially the priorities of the majority — putting members of the minority at a significant disadvantage regardless of their individual efforts.
• We excluded resolutions from the list, as many of them which tend to inflate a lawmaker’s legislative output are merely congratulatory or sympathetic messages of condolence to certain individuals.

(For a detailed explanation on the nuances behind the numbers, read our previous story: ‘Your congressman filed either hundreds of bills, or just a few. So what?’)

Other prolific lawmakers

Legislators filed an average of 165 bills in the 19th Congress.

Other lawmakers whose legislative output in terms of bills filed exceeded the 300-mark are the following:

7. Camarines Sur 1st District Representative Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata (461 bills)
8. Camarines Sur 5th District Representative Miguel Luis Villafuerte (418 bills)
9. Cagayan de Oro 1st District Representative Lordan Suan (386 bills)
10. Benguet Representative Eric Yap (381 bills)
11. Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda (387 bills)
12. Bulacan 6th District Representative Salvador Pleyto (372 bills)
13. Nueva Ecija 2nd District Representative Joseph Gilbert Vialogo (360 bills)
14. Agusan del Sur 1st District Representative Alfelito “Alfel” Bascug (357 bills)
15. Laguna 2nd District Representative Ruth Hernandez (350 bills)
16. APEC Representative Sergio Dagooc (348 bills)
17. Zamboanga City 2nd District Representative and Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe (345 bills)
18. Tingog Representative Jude Acidre (344 bills)
19-20. Leyte 5th District Representative Carl Nicolas Cari (336 bills)
19-20. Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Quimbo (336 bills)
21. ACT Teachers Representative France Castro (332 bills)
22. Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville “Jinky” Luistro (329 bills)
23. Quirino Representative Midy Cua (327 bills)
24. Calamba Representative Cha Hernandez (324 bills)
25. Ang Probinsiyano Representative Alfred delos Santos (323 bills)
26. Bulacan 5th District Representative Ambrosio Cruz Jr. (321 bills)
27. Muntinlupa Representative Jaime Fresnedi (319 bills)
28. La Union 2nd District Representative Dante Garcia (313 bills)
29. Zamboanga Sibugay 1st District Representative Wilter Palma (311 bills)
30. Cavite 5th District Representative Roy Loyola (308 bills)
31. Bohol 1st District Representative Edgar Chatto (305 bills)
32. PACMAN Representative Michael Romero (304 bills)

(To be continued) – with research from Jayvee Viloria and LA Agustin/Rappler.com

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Jayvee Mhar Viloria is a development communication student at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and a reporter of Tanglaw, the student publication of UPLB College of Development Communication. He is currently a Rappler intern.

LA Agustin is a journalism and a pre-law student from Bulacan State University. She is currently a Rappler intern.