Dwayne Pelagio

House Speaker Martin Romualdez has sworn in to Akbayan Representative Percival V. Cendaña on Sept. 25, ending a 5-year House seat drought since the 2022 election.

Photo Courtesy of Akbayan/Rappler.

The lower chamber will welcome another opposition member, with Akbayan’s comeback.

This was made official after the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the ruling of the cancellation of the registration of An Waray party-list due to violation of the Party-list System Act.

An Waray second nominee Victoria Isabel Noel, with the party’s knowledge and consent, took her oath and assumed office as second nominee of An Waray even though she was entitled to only one seat.

“The Commission, after due deliberation, resolved, as it hereby resolves to adopt the herein recommendation of the Law Department to issue a Certificate of Proclamation to Percival V. Cendaña as Akbayan party-list Representative in the 19th Congress,” Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said in the certificate proclaiming LGBTQ+ advocate and former youth commissioner Percival V. Cendaña as the representative of the newly-seated party-list.

Akbayan was ranked 57th in the 2022 elections, just one place out of 56 winning groups.

Akbayan was one of the first groups to win the party-list race in 1998, even reaching its peak when it secured three seats in 2004.

In the 2019 midterm elections, Akbayan lost for the first time and continued to fall short in 2022 when the party was 2,000 voters shy of getting the last winning spot.

“Our victory is not a product of legal technicalities but the result of the hard work of our members, supporters, partners, and allies in bringing our brand of leadership and governance back to Congress,” Akbayan President Rafaela David said in a statement.

‘Struggle for the seat’

Akbayan’s House comeback is not just a small victory.

The democratic socialist party was in a critical moment because under the party-list law, groups that fail to obtain two percent of the total ballots cast in two consecutive elections may have its registration nullified. 

Until the proclamation of the poll body saved the critical lifeline of the party, giving Akbayan a huge chance to run again for the 2025 midterm elections.

Akbayan is the home base of Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the only opposition candidate to get a spot in the Senate. 

Akbayan affirmed itself as the main opposition party in 2025.

It is yet to unfurl its Senatorial Slate to counter the Marcos administration slate, but is seen to endorse former senators Bam Aquino and Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, and lawyer Chel Diokno.

Akbayan’s comeback adds another group to the opposition in the lower chamber, which has been reduced to the Makabayan bloc and a handful of Liberal Party members since President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.  began his term.

Despite having less than a year to serve, their entry comes just as the ongoing talks regarding Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment continue to raze the lower chamber.