2025 Philippine House of Representatives elections


The 2025 Philippine House of Representatives elections were the 37th lower house elections in the Philippines, and 27th as House of Representatives. It was held on May 12, 2025, within the 2025 Philippine general election. All 318 seats in the House of Representatives were contested in this election, including one seat for each of the 254 congressional districts in the country and 64 seats representing party-lists apportioned on a nationwide vote.
Lakas–CMD remained the most dominant party in the House of Representatives, with its candidates securing 103 seats for the 20th Congress, adding they would continue to support the presidential administration of Marcos. Akbayan topped the party-list vote with 2.7 million votes, and won the maximum three seats allowable under the law.
Martin Romualdez of Lakas defended the speakership, facing no opponents, and being elected overwhelmingly.

Background

In the 2022 election, parties aligned with the UniTeam alliance and eventual president Bongbong Marcos secured a supermajority of seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. Political observers noted that among those elected to the chamber, most came from "wealthy and influential families", which was associated with the vote-buying incidents observed in the election.
Upon the opening of the 19th Congress of the Philippines, Representative Martin Romualdez of [Leyte's Taguig–Pateros's 1st congressional district|1st congressional district|Leyte's 1st district], a cousin of President Marcos, was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives unopposed. Media outlets have noted that a number of positions in the house leadership were assigned to representatives related to the Marcos family, including senior deputy majority leader Sandro Marcos, the son of President Marcos, and chair of the accounts committee Yedda Marie Romualdez, the wife of Speaker Romualdez.
The 19th Congress saw considerable political realignment, with House representatives abandoning the former ruling party PDP–Laban for Lakas–CMD of Romualdez and Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of Marcos.

Electoral system

The Philippines uses parallel voting for its lower house elections. For this election, there are 317 seats in the House of Representatives; 254 of these are district representatives, and 63 are party-list representatives.
The 1987 constitution mandates that there should be one party-list representative for every four district representatives. District representatives are elected under the first-past-the-post system from single-member districts. Congress has the power of creating congressional districts. The constitution originally had 200 districts, but had increased in number since then to the current 254 that will be disputed in this election.
Party-list representatives are elected via the nationwide vote with a 2% election threshold, with a party winning not more than three seats. The party with the most votes usually wins three seats, then the other parties with more than 2% of the vote two seats. At this point, if all of the party-list seats are not filled up, the parties with less than 2% of the vote will win one seat each until all party-list seats are filled up. The electoral system, with the 2% threshold and the three-seat cap, encourage vote splitting; and encourage sectors to up separate party-lists for every sector so as not to waste their vote on just one party.
Political parties competing in the party-list election are barred from participating district elections, and vice versa, unless permitted by the Commission on Elections. Party-lists and political parties participating in the district elections may forge coalition deals with one another.

Redistricting

In the Philippines, Congress has the power to create new congressional districts. Congress can either redistrict the entire country within three years after each Philippine census, or create new districts from existing ones piecemeal, although Congress has never redistricted the entire country wholesale since the approval of the 1987 constitution. Congress usually creates a new district once a place reaches the minimum 250,000 population mandated by the constitution.
New districts can also be created by creating new provinces and cities; in this case, it also must be approved by the people in a plebiscite in the affected places.

Changes from the previous Congress

These are the districts, not contested in 2022, created by the 18th Congress that were either signed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte or had lapsed into law:

Changes from the outgoing Congress

  • No redistricting laws were passed by the 19th Congress.

Other changes made

A Supreme Court decision regarding the Makati–Taguig boundary dispute, and the creation of new municipalities from the Special Geographic Area of the Bangsamoro caused changes in congressional apportionment.

Summary of changes

On June 21, 2024, the Commission on Elections confirmed that there will be 254 congressional districts to be contested in the election and 63 seats apportioned among the party-lists.
CategoryTotal
Congressional districts in the current Congress253
New districts from redistricting laws from previous Congress1
Congressional districts in the next Congress254
Party-list seats for the next Congress63
Total seats for the next Congress317

Participating parties

In both chambers of Congress, members are organized into "blocs", akin to parliamentary groups elsewhere. In keeping with the traditions of the Third Philippine Republic which was under a two-party system, there are two main blocs, the majority and minority blocs; this is although the country is now in a multi-party system. Those who voted for the winning speaker are from the majority bloc, while those who did not will vote amongst themselves on who will be the minority bloc. Those who belong to neither bloc shall be the independent minority bloc. Members can also be from the independent bloc. Each bloc can have members from multiple parties. Only the majority and minority blocs have voting privileges in committees.
In the 19th Congress, the majority bloc is aligned with the administration of President Marcos.

In congressional districts

Complete list

These parties put up candidates at least in one congressional district.
National parties:
Local parties:

In party lists

Complete list

These are the party-lists that were approved by the COMELEC to appear on the ballot, ordered by ballot number.

Retiring and term-limited incumbents

Each representative is limited to three full consecutive terms in office, with voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full term for which he was elected.

Term-limited

A total of 51 representatives have been elected three consecutive times in regular elections and are barred from seeking another congressional term in 2025.

Retiring members

The following members of Congress are eligible for another term, but have chosen to retire or seek other positions.

Candidates

On January 14, 2025, the Supreme Court ordered the COMELEC to add several aspirants on the ballot after disqualifying them. This includes congressional candidate Edgar Erice in Caloocan's 2nd district, and Charles Savellano in Ilocos Sur's 1st district. The commission announced that they will comply with the court's order, and ordered the reprinting of ballots that did not have the names of the petitioners.
For the first time in Philippine history, the COMELEC second division on May 7, 2025 disqualified a candidate, Ian Sia, who is running to represent Pasig's at-large district for making discriminatory remarks during campaigning. Sia appealed the case, saying his admitted violation of the Safe Spaces Act is not an election offense and should not be grounds for his disqualification. The COMELEC also suspended the proclamation as winners on candidates who have pending disqualification cases, including Marcelino Teodoro, who defeated Senator Koko Pimentel in Marikina.
On October 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed Erice's disqualification, affirming Erice's victory, ruling that the commission had no authority to disqualify a candidate violating the Omnibus Election Code, only the courts.

Marginal seats

Elections in congressional districts

These are the marginal seats that had a winning margin of 5% or less in the 2022 elections, in ascending order via margin:

Party-list election

The following party-lists won less than 2% of the vote in 2022, and only won one seat each because all of party-list seats have not been filled up by the parties that did win at least 2% of the vote. These are sorted by number of votes in descending order.
Less than 2% of the vote, but greater than or equal to 1%:
Less than 1% of the vote:

Campaign

On February 5, the final session day before Congress goes on recess for campaigning, the House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte. The Senate then received the articles of impeachment later in the day, an hour or so before the Senate went on recess. Sara Duterte then endorsed the candidates that are going up against those who signed the impeachment complaint against her. On February, Duterte endorsed Team Deretso of the Radaza family in Lapu-Lapu City against Cynthia Chan's ticket; Chan voted for impeachment, but she is switching places with her husband Junard, the incumbent mayor. On April, Duterte visited the Duranos in Danao, Cebu, but did not endorse anyone. A few days later, Duterte did endorse the Duranos, including Danao city mayor Mix, who is the opponent of impeachment signer Duke Frasco.
In Manila's 3rd district, Duterte endorsed Apple Nieto, the opponent of Joel Chua, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that led the investigations on Duterte's alleged misuse of her confidential funds that led to her impeachment. In the sixth district, Duterte campaigned against Benny Abante, endorsing his opponent Joey Uy. In the 2nd district, Duterte campaigned against Rolando Valeriano; Valeriano was the congressman who delivered a speech that led to the investigation onto the alleged confidential funds misuse.
Duterte also endorsed Dan Lim's slate in Bohol, including congressional candidates Modesto Membreve and McAldous Castañares, opponents of Vanvan Aumentado and Alexie Tutor, respectively. Duterte remarked "I don't let politicians become godparents to my children. You never know when one of them might stab you in the back." One of Aumentado's children has Duterte as a grandmother. In Zamboanga City, Duterte endorsed the Team Zamboanga slate of the Olasos, including the congressional candidacies of Kaiser Adan Olaso and Jerry Perez. In Basilan, Duterte endorsed the Basilan Unity Party slate, including the congressional candidacy of Hanie Bud. In Batangas, Romualdez backed Gerville Luistro against Raneo Abu, who is being backed by Duterte.

Results

The COMELEC originally announced that there were 317 seats up for this election, of which 254 came from congressional districts, and 63 from the party-list system.
In September 2025, five months after the election, the COMELEC announced a 64th party-list seat was available, increasing the number of seats to 318.

Elections on congressional districts

After the election, Lakas–CMD emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, securing 104 seats. Speaker Martin Romualdez said that it "is a vote of confidence not just in our candidates, but in the kind of leadership and unity that Lakas-CMD represents." If Romualdez's pronouncments hold, Lakas' seats actually decreased from prior the election, as they had 109 seats by then. Jude Acidre later said that 100 of the 115 members who had voted to impeach Sara Duterte successfully defended their seats. Several figures in the impeachment, such as Rolando Valeriano and Joel Chua of Manila, as well as Gerville Luistro of Batangas successfully won their seats despite Duterte's endorsement of their opponents. However, other figures also lost, such as Mannix Dalipe of Zamboanga City. In addition, Danilo Fernandez was also defeated in the Laguna gubernatorial election.
On June 18, 2025, the COMELEC second division ruled that the certificate of candidacy of Joey Uy, who was vying for the seat of Manila's 6th district, was void ab initio, and declared incumbent Benny Abante as the duly elected representative for the district. Uy's motion for reconsideration was then dismissed by the COMELEC en banc on June 30, affirming Abante's victory, and ordering the latter's proclamation as the rightful winner. Uy filed a case in the Supreme Court when the House of Representatives disallowed his inclusion in its roster of members, citing the COMELEC decision. Abante was proclaimed the winner on July 8.
On June 25, 2025, the COMELEC en banc affirmed Marcelino Teodoro's victory over Koko Pimentel for the seat of Marikina's 1st district. The COMELEC then lifted its suspension of Teodoro's proclamation as the rightful winner. Pimentel said he will appeal to the Supreme Court. Teodoro was then proclaimed as the winner, and took his oath of office on July 1.

Party-list election

The COMELEC was expected declare winners at least a week after the election. The COMELEC, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, first convened on May 13, a day after the election, to canvass the local absentee voting results. The commission canvassed 159 certificates of canvass by Wednesday after the election, on what was said to be record speed, leaving just 16 certificates. Initial calculations had Akbayan, Duterte Youth, Tingog Party List and 4Ps Partylist as winning the maximum three seats, ACT-CIS Partylist and Ako Bikol poised to win two seats, while 47 other parties are set to win 1 seat each.
After the COMELEC finished canvassing the votes on May 16, Akbayan emerged as the party with the most votes in the party-list election, and is poised to win three seats.
Philreca Party-List, the first party that may not win a seat, petitioned COMELEC, pleading that there should be 64 seats contested for party-list representatives, as opposed to 63 as originally announced. The COMELEC then asked all relevant parties for opinions in regard to this, and to the seat distribution.
On May 19, the COMELEC proclaimed 52 party-lists, for 59 of the 63 seats, with Akbayan indeed winning three seats, 4Ps just winning two seats, Philreca being the last party-list to win a seat. They postponed the proclamation of Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon due to pending disqualification cases. Duterte Youth's disqualification case was initiated in 2019 and is still unresolved up to now. Based on the results, Duterte Youth is entitled to three seats, while Bagong Henerasyon is entitled to one.
The commission proclaimed Bagong Henerasyon with one seat on June 5 after dismissing the disqualification case against it. On June 18, the commission's second division cancelled the registration of the Duterte Youth by a vote of 2–1. This decision granted the petition filed by youth leaders in 2019, on the grounds that the commission en banc had approved the party-list's registration that year without publishing its petition and without conducting a proper hearing on the application. On August 29, the commission en banc affirmed the second division's cancellation of Duterte Youth's registration, with a vote of 5–1, with 1 recusing, disqualifying them. As the party can still appeal to the Supreme Court, the commission deems the decision not yet final and executory.
The COMELEC asked permission from the House of Representatives to declare a 64th seat, as the party-list act mandates that party-list representatives should comprise 20 percent of all House members. COMELEC chairman George Garcia said that the secretary-general replied that "the power of the House is merely ministerial. This means that they will accept whoever is proclaimed". The commission then proclaimed Gabriela Women's Party as the 64th party-list member on September 17. On October 2, the commission proclaimed Abono Partylist, Murang Kuryente and Ang Probinsyano Party-list as winners, in lieu of Duterte Youth's supposed three seats. Later that month, it was revealed that the Supreme Court denied Duterte Youth's request for an injunction against COMELEC's disqualification order on them.

Defeated incumbents

Elections in districts

These include incumbents who ran and lost while running within a congressional district.
  1. Aklan–2nd: Teodorico Haresco Jr.
  2. Albay–3rd: Fernando Cabredo
  3. Batangas–1st: Eric Buhain
  4. Bohol–1st: Edgar Chatto
  5. Caloocan–2nd: Mitch Cajayon-Uy
  6. Cebu–4th: Janice Salimbangon
  7. Cotabato–1st: Joel Sacdalan
  8. Dinagat Islands: Alan Ecleo
  9. Eastern Samar: Maria Fe Abunda
  10. General Santos: Loreto Acharon
  11. Maguindanao del Sur: Tong Paglas
  12. Misamis Oriental–1st: Christian Unabia
  13. Parañaque–2nd: Gustavo Tambunting
  14. Quezon City–4th: Marvin Rillo
  15. Rizal–4th: Fidel Nograles
  16. South Cotabato–2nd: Peter Miguel
  17. Taguig–2nd: Pammy Zamora
  18. Zamboanga Sibugay–1st: Wilter Palma
  19. Zamboanga Sibugay–2nd: Antonieta Eudela
The following were incumbent party-list representatives, but ran in congressional districts and lost:
  1. Jil Bongalon
  2. :Ran as Lakas candidate in Albay–1st and lost.
  3. Jorge Antonio Bustos
  4. :Ran as an independent candidate in Pampanga–4th and lost.
  5. Migs Nograles
  6. :Ran as an independent candidate in Davao City–1st and lost.

Party-list election

These include incumbents who have not been elected in the party-list election, either because their party lost all seats, or lost enough seats, including the incumbent's own.
  1. Angelica Natasha Co
  2. Lex Anthony Colada
  3. :Ran as nominee of Angkasangga and lost
  4. Rudys Caesar Fariñas
  5. Anthony Golez
  6. :Ran as nominee of TICTOK and lost
  7. Marissa Magsino
  8. Jose Gay Padiernos
  9. Ray T. Reyes
  10. Ron Salo
In addition, Yedda Romualdez was its #6 nominee, and would not have won a seat unless third to the fifth nominees declined. The nominees did renounce the nominations, paving the way for Romualdez's affirmation of her election.

Speakership election

Allies of outgoing speaker Martin Romualdez are thought to back him to be reelected, and are also thought to have the numbers to keep him on that position. Toby Tiangco, the campaign manager of Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial ticket, said that the House's last-minute impeachment of Sara Duterte hurt the chances of the administration ticket from winning more seats in the Senate election. He also floated his name as a potential candidate for House speaker. When asked about this, he said "I will do whatever is best for the President. If its best for the President that Martin Romualdez remains Speaker, I will support what he thinks is best for him." Jude Acidre, a close Romualdez ally, belied Tiangco's pronouncements, saying 100 out 115 lawmakers who voted for impeachment defended their seats. including 36 out of 44 pro-impeachment lawmakers in Mindanao. After a meeting on May 16, David Suarez, with around 240 congressmen have signed the manifesto supporting Romualdez, he said that "It's over. The Speaker has the numbers.
In a separate TV interview, Tiangco revealed that Sandro Marcos, the president's son, got caught up in voting for Duterte's impeachment. Tiangco declined to share details, as he said that Marcos did not initiate what happened and to just leave him out of it. Marcos, when earlier interviewed on February, did not sound coerced when asked on why he was the first person to sign off on the impeachment.
Meanwhile, Sara Duterte said she had asked her brother Paolo to run for speaker; if he loses, he can be minority floor leader instead. The vice president said she was not approached by anyone to be her candidate for speaker or for the Senate presidency. Other possible candidates include Albee Benitez, who first lady Liza Araneta Marcos is reportedly in favor of, and Angelo Marcos Barba. There were even reports of Sandro Marcos replacing Romualdez on its lame duck session, but ranking congressional leaders denied efforts to remove Romualdez from office. On May 26, Suarez said they have already secured formal declarations supporting Romualdez from 278 representatives, with a total of 285 expressing support.
On early June, Duke Frasco was expelled from the National Unity Party for refusing to support Romualdez for the speakership. Frasco then joined President Bongbong Marcos on his working visit to Japan to attend Expo 2025. This led to rumours that he is candidate for speaker. By late June, Frasco denied he was targeting the speakership, saying that he'd rather vote either for Tiangco or Benitez.
On the convening of the 20th Congress in late July, Romualdez was reelected speaker, with 269 voting for him, and 34 abstentions. Suarez nominated Romualdez, who was seconded by Sandro Marcos. Benitez, Frasco and Tiangco all abstained from voting. The three Duterte congressmen walked out during the election without voting. Benitez said that he, Frasco and Tiangco were planning to form an independent bloc in the House, outside the majority and minority blocs. Marcelino Libanan was then unanimously elected by the minority as their floor leader.