The 2010 Philippine House of Representatives elections were held on May 10, 2010, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Philippines to serve in the 15th Congress of the Philippines from June 30, 2010, to June 30, 2013. The Philippines uses parallel voting for seats in the House of Representatives; a voter has two votes: one for a representative from one's legislative district, and another for a sectoral representative via closed lists under the party-list system, with a 2% election threshold and 3-seat cap, when the parties with 2% of the national vote or more not meeting the 20% of the total seats, parties with less than 2% of the vote will get one seat each until the 20% requirement is met.

In district elections, 229 single-member districts elect one member of the House of Representatives. The candidate with the highest number of votes wins that district's seat. In the party-list election, parties will dispute 57 seats. In all, the 15th Congress will have 286 members, with 144 votes being the majority. No party entered candidates in all districts, but only Lakas Kampi CMD entered enough candidates to win an outright majority.

By May 21, GMA News and Public Affairs, based on their partial and unofficial tally, had Lakas Kampi CMD with the party with the most seats with 109, followed by the Liberal Party with 43, the Nationalist People's Coalition had 33, and the Nacionalista Party had 25. The other parties garnered 13 seats. This includes candidates who switched parties after the campaign period has begun, while excluding party-list representatives.

In the party-list election, Ako Bicol Political Party topped the election getting 5% of the national vote and won three seats, but their proclamation was delayed as a disqualification case against them was brought up; their first three nominees were subsequently seated with the dismissal of the case. As much as 43 other parties qualified to win seats, and all but two were yet to be seated due to pending disqualification cases.

Despite being the party leader and winning a congressional seat in Pampanga, Lakas Kampi CMD leader and sitting president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had reportedly declined to run as Speaker and is fielding Edcel Lagman of Albay on the basis of term–sharing with Danilo Suarez of Quezon if they win the speakership. Meanwhile, the Liberals will be fielding in former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City, who was also a former Lakas Kampi member. Incumbent Speaker Prospero Nograles is barred from seeking office in the House after serving three consecutive terms; he was defeated in the Davao City mayoralty election, although his son successfully kept his father's seat.

Notable celebrities who won include Imelda Marcos (KBL, Ilocos Norte–2nd), Lani Mercado (Lakas Kampi, Cavite–2nd), Lucy Torres (Liberal, Leyte–4th) and Manny Pacquiao (PCM, Saranggani).

With the Liberals, Nacionalistas, the NPC, a faction of Lakas-Kampi, other minor parties and most of the party-list groups voting for him, Belmonte was easily elected as Speaker, with 227 votes, as compared to 29 votes of Lagman.

Redistricting Reapportioning (redistricting) the number of seats is either via national reapportionment three years after the release of every census, or via piecemeal redistricting for every province or city. National reapportionment has not happened since the 1987 constitution took effect, and aside from piecemeal redistricting, the apportionment was based on the ordinance from the constitution, which was in turn based from the 1980 census.

A total of 10 new seats were created, most notably with Cavite increasing the number of its districts from three to seven.

Changes from the previous Congress

Division of Malabon–Navotas's at-large district to two districts Navotas attains cityhood and becomes its own at-large district. Malabon becomes its own at-large district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9387. Approved in a plebiscite held on June 24, 2007. Creation of Quezon del Sur Quezon's 1st and 2nd districts becomes Quezon del Norte and its own two districts. The 3rd and 4th districts becoming Quezon del Sur and its own two districts. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9495. Defeated in a plebiscite held on December 13, 2008.

Changes from the outgoing Congress

Division of Agusan del Sur's at-large district to two districts Agusan del Sur's northern municipalities and Bayugan becomes the 1st district. The southern municipalities becomes the 2nd district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9508. Division of Bulacan's 1st district to two districts Malolos becomes its own at-large district, while keeping the rest of the 1st district intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9591. Nullified by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Reapportionment of Camarines Sur from four districts to five Camarines Sur's northwestern municipalities becomes the 1st district, The western municipalities and Gainza becomes the 2nd district The rest of the old third district was left intact. This also renumbered the rest of the districts, with the old 2nd district becoming the new 3rd district, the old 3rd district becoming the new 4th district, and the old 4th district becoming the 5th district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9716. Division of Cavite's 2nd district to two Dasmariñas attains cityhood and its own at-large district. The rest of the 2nd district was left intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9723. Approved in a plebiscite held on November 25, 2009. Division of Lanao del Norte's 1st district into two districts Iligan becomes its own at-large district The rest of the 1st district was left intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9724. Division of Camarines Norte's at-large district to two districts Camarines Norte's western, mostly Tagalog speaking municipalities becoming the 1st district. The eastern, mostly Central Bikol speaking municipalities becoming the 2nd district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9725. Division of Cebu's 6th district to two districts Lapu-Lapu City becomes its own at-large district. The rest of the 6th district was left intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9726. Reapportionment of Cavite from three districts to seven Cavite's northern municipalities and Cavite City becomes the 1st district. Bacoor becomes the 2nd district Imus becomes the 3rd district Dasmariñas becomes the 4th district Dasmariñas's cityhood law was approved in a plebiscite later, partially repealing this law. Eastern Cavite becomes the 5th district Central Cavite becomes the 6th district. Western Cavite and Tagaytay becomes the 7th district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 9727. Malolos, which was supposed to have its own congressional district from Bulacan's 1st district, but it was nullified with finality by the Supreme Court for having insufficient population. However, the ballots for both Malolos and the 1st district excluding Malolos were printed after the decision was finalized. As such, the elections for representative in Malolos and the 1st district were deferred, and voting done on May 10 was invalidated, and an election will be scheduled solely for the representative's position (all positions elected were upheld, with Malolos' first eight councilor candidates winning seats in the City Council, as opposed to the ten originally provided in the enabling law).

Summary of changes As there are now 229 districts; therefore, there are 57 party-list seats (at least 20% of the total), an increase from 53. The 18th Congress shall then have 286 representatives. CategoryTotalCongressional districts in the outgoing Congress218New districts from redistricting laws from previous Congress1New districts from redistricting laws from outgoing Congress10Congressional districts in the next Congress229Party-list seats for the next Congress57Total seats for the next Congress286 Retiring and term-limited incumbents

As of now, there are 68 House representatives that are either term-limited or retiring from Congress.

Campaign

Campaigns in House of Representatives elections are usually conducted on a district-by-district basis; there is no nationwide campaign. The races are between local politicians in the districts, and their allegiances and parties may switch from their announcement on the intention to run, registering as a candidate, printing out of ballots, election day and from the convening of the 15th Congress. The sitting president's party usually controls the House of Representatives no matter the election result.

The Lakas-Kampi titular head, President Arroyo, became the first president to run for a seat in the House of Representatives after her term as president; the party had the most number of candidates, and was the only party that can win an outright majority as the other parties did not run in a majority of the seats. Lakas-Kampi aimed to secure enough votes to impeach (96) as leverage if their presidential candidate Gilberto Teodoro does not win.

The Liberal Party chose former Lakas-Kampi stalwart and Quezon City mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as their candidate for the speakership. Belmonte, a former speaker while being a member of Lakas-CMD (one of the two parties that formed Lakas-Kampi), defected to the Liberals before the election. The Nacionalista Party would also field a candidate for the speakership. The Nationalist People's Coalition usually supports the policies of the sitting president, while the sectoral representatives, except for those leaning to the left, also support whoever is in power. The other parties that fielded candidates on the presidential election would support their own presidential candidate, but it is unknown if they would've supported the party of the winning president; these parties fielded candidates in a minority of seats.

Notable races

Ilocos Region

Ilocos Norte–1st: Incumbent Roque Ablan Jr. is ineligible for reelection after serving three consecutive terms. His son, Kristian Ablan is running against former Representative Rodolfo Fariñas. Fariñas is running under the Nacionalista Party and is backed by the Marcos clan. Fariñas won with just over 50% of the vote. Ilocos Norte–2nd: Former First Lady Imelda Marcos is running for Congress once again this time in her son's seat. Incumbent Bongbong Marcos is retiring and running for the Senate. Imelda was formerly the representative for the 1st District of Leyte from 1995 to 1998. Marcos won with 80% of the vote. Pangasinan–1st: Arthur Celeste is not seeking reelection. As such, six candidates are vying the open seat. The main candidates are Arthur's brother Jesus running under the Lakas-Kampi-CMD and former GMA Network investigative journalist and reporter Maki Pulido running under the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino. Celeste beat Pulido by around 25,000 votes while failing to win via majority. Pangasinan–2nd: Liberal incumbent Victor Agbayani is running for Governor of Pangasinan. The Liberals are fielding Arthel Caronoñgan as their nominee for the seat. Seven candidates are running for the open seat. Former Citizen's Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list representative Kim Bernando–Lokin of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) will face notably former Philippine National Police Director and colonel Leopoldo Bataoil of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD. Bataoil, despite having 36,000-vote lead against Lokin, only got 39% of the vote. Pangasinan–4th: Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has served for three consecutive terms, and is thus ineligible for re-election; his wife Gina de Venecia will run for his seat in the fourth district under the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC). She will face two independent candidates namely Alejandro Dacano and Celia Lim. De Venecia won with just under two-thirds of the votes cast.

Cordillera Administrative Region