Win some, lose some: How key House personas fared in 2025 polls

MANILA, Philippines — To say that the partial results of the 2025 midterm elections is surprising may be an understatement: to some, it was confusing and incomprehensible why it seems that the unofficial tally have shown an odd balance between supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte, former Vice President Leni Robredo, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

A perfect example to prove this point will be the party-list race: Robredo-aligned Akbayan, from being outside the top 10 in pre-election surveys, suddenly shot up to the first spot according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial and unofficial count.

READ: Akbayan expresses gratitude to supporters for over 2M votes

Curiously, Akbayan is followed by Duterte Youth party-list, which as the name suggests, has been supportive of Duterte and his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte. Behind those two is Tingog, endorsed by House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez who is also Marcos’ cousin.

This anomaly of candidates from the Duterte-Robredo-Marcos blocs emerging victorious continues up to the Senate race. At the top of the unofficial senatorial count is Senator Bong Go, a close ally of former president Duterte, followed by Robredo’s campaign manager in the 2022 presidential race, former Senator Bam Aquino.

Behind Aquino is another Duterte ally, Senator Ronald dela Rosa. Next is Lakas-CMD stalwart and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo, a known supporter of the administration, who ran under the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate.

Another Robredo ally follows: former Senator Kiko Pangilinan, and then a Duterte supporter, Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta.

With a list as complex as this, it may be easy to overlook how candidates in the congressional races fared, especially for key House members. Did Vice President Duterte’s efforts to criticize members of the House Majority work?

House leadership

Romualdez on Tuesday touted the victories that Lakas-CMD gained, with 104 of its 128 candidates for congressional races winning in the midterm polls. Romualdez himself was successful in reelection, while the House’s second-highest official, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr, technically won after his daughter emerged victorious from the Pampanga third district’s congressional contest.

READ: Lakas-CMD retains dominance in the House with 104 bets winning

Deputy Speaker David Suarez ran unopposed in Quezon province. Another key Lakas-CMD official, Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, also had no opponent.

Gonzales and Suarez were key members of the House quad committee, a combination of four panels that investigated illegal activities in Philippine offshore gaming operator hubs, the illicit drug trade, and the supposed rights violation in the past administration’s drug war.

But not all Lakas candidates were fortunate: Majority Floor Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe lost to Zamboanga City 1st District Rep. Kmyher Olaso for the mayoral race in the city.

Former Albay governor and incumbent 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda lost his gubernatorial bid, while Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon, who moved to Lakas-CMD, fell to Tabaco City Mayor Krisel Lagman in the first district race.

READ: Rosal proclaimed Albay governor; Salceda legal plea dismissed

Bongalon was a mainstay during House quad committee hearings and the House committee on good government and public accountability hearings—which probed the alleged anomalies in the confidential fund (CF) expenditures of Vice President Duterte’s offices.

Bongalon was often heard criticizing the past administration and Vice President Duterte, saying last September 2024 that she can leave her post if she is not interested—after Duterte shunned budget deliberations in the House.

READ: VP Duterte can resign if she’s not interested in post, says lawmaker

Salceda meanwhile is a known as a supporter of Duterte in the 2022 presidential elections. He was the chairperson of the House committee on ways and means, and was the lead presiding officer for the quinta committee that discussed issues involving high prices of basic goods.

Quad committee

Losses were not only felt within Lakas-CMD: none of the four chairpersons of the quad committee will be part of the 20th Congress.

Three of the quad committee chairpersons are term-limited:

• House committee on dangerous drugs chairperson and quad committee lead presiding officer, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers
• House committee on public order and safety chairperson and Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez
• House committee on public accounts chairperson and Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano.

Of the four, only Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. made a reelection bid, but he lost to candidate Joey Uy, who ran under Manila mayor-elect Isko Moreno’s slate.

But Fernandez also lost, this time to former broadcast journalist Sol Aragones, for Laguna’s gubernatorial post. Abang Lingkod is also in danger of not getting any congressional seat, currently placing 50th at the partial and unofficial tally.

If it is any consolation for the quad committee, Barbers’ wife, Bernadette Barbers, won the race for Surigao’s second legislative district. It was a relatively close race however, as only quad committee senior vice chairperson and Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop won comfortably—running unopposed.

Acop is also part of the prosecution team for the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte.

Duterte’s impeachment

Speaking of Duterte, it is unclear though why lawmakers directly linked to the investigation of CF issues hounding her offices still won, even if the Vice President herself campaigned against them at the local level.

Lakas-CMD member and committee on good government and public accountability chairperson, Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, made a successful reelection bid, defeating Aksyon Demokratiko’s Apple Nieto. Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano, who filed the resolution asking for an investigation of the CF irregularities, was also victorious.

Chua and Valeriano’s victories, however, were slim. Chua led by just around 3,700 votes, while Valeriano was ahead by 6,200 votes.

Several other key members of the good government panel who figured during the CF probe, and who have been critical of the Vice President, won:

• Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro
• La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V
• Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)
• Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun
• 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)
• San Juan Rep. Ysabel Zamora
• 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)

Zamora’s sister and fellow Duterte critic, incumbent Taguig 2nd District Rep. Amparo Maria Zamora, failed in her reelection bid.

Makabayan

The Makabayan bloc, from a three-person line-up in the 19th Congress, may shrink further: as of now, only Kabataan has a good chance of getting a seat in the party-list race, if partial results will hold true.

Kabataan is currently ranked 40th with 308,161 votes as of 5:25 p.m. Gabriela meanwhile is at the tail end, ranked 55th with 254,048 votes.

The worse news for Makabayan is that Bayan Muna, from being the topnotcher in the party-list race during the early 2000s, will be delisted after failing to land seats in the party-list race for two consecutive national elections.

Despite these, Bayan Muna said it thanks their supporters who stood by them even in the face of criticisms and misinformation campaigns.

“We extend our deepest gratitude to the thousands of Filipinos who voted for and stood with Bayan Muna in the recent elections. In the face of overwhelming odds, your votes are not just numbers—they are declarations of resistance, solidarity, and hope for genuine change,” the group said on Tuesday.

“Despite these setbacks, we remain undeterred. Bayan Muna will never be silenced. Our commitment to serve the Filipino people continues—inside or outside Congress. The struggle for land, wages, rights, and justice cannot be confined within parliamentary walls,” it added. /cb