Elago officially returns to Congress as Gabriela lawmaker

Gabriela party-list Representative Sarah Elago took her oath as the newest member of the House of Representatives before Speaker Francisco “Bojie” Dy III on Tuesday.

Elago’s oath taking happened after the Commission on Elections declared Gabriela as the winner of the 64th or the last seat allocation for the party-list groups.

“It is hard to win an election in a party-list system packed with political dynasties, big-time contractors and red-tagging, on top of smear campaigns. Our leaders are being surveilled, faced trumped up charges. But these won’t deter us. Nandito pa rin kami lumalaban at handang magpanalo ng agenda ng mga kababaihan at labanan ang korapsyon,” Elago, who previously served as Kabataan party-list representatives from 2016 to 2022, said ahead of her oath taking. 

The 1987 Constitution mandates that 20% of the members of the House of Representatives should come from the party-list groups.

There are 317 members of the House of Representatives, making 64 as the threshold for 20%.

This means that Elago’s assumption to office did not take away the three House seats won by the Duterte Youth party-list in the May 2025 polls.

These three seats remain unoccupied since the Comelec nullified Duterte Youth party-list’s registration due to its failure to comply with the mandatory requirements of publication and hearing in relation to its candidacy in 2019. —AOL, GMA Integrated News