The 2016 Philippine House of Representatives elections were the 34th lower house elections in the Philippines, and 24th as House of Representatives. They were held on May 9, 2016, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The winning candidates were to comprise the House's contingent in the 17th Congress of the Philippines that would serve from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2019.

The House of Representatives elections were part of the 2016 general election where elections for President, Vice President, Senators, and all local officials, including those from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, were also held.

The Philippines uses parallel voting in its lower house elections. There are 297 seats in the House; 238 of these are district representatives, and 59 are party-list representatives. The law mandates that there should be one party-list representative for every four district representatives. District representatives are elected under the plurality voting system from single-member districts. Party-list representatives are elected via the nationwide vote with a 2% "soft" election threshold, with a 3-seat cap. The party in the party-list election with the most votes usually wins three seats, the other parties with more than 2% of the vote two seats, and the parties with less than 2% of the vote winning a seat each if the 20% quota is not met.

Electoral system The election for seats in the House of Representatives is done via parallel voting. A voter has two votes: one for one's local district, and another via the party-list system. A candidate is not allowed to stand for both ballots, and parties participating in the district elections would have to ask for permission on the Commission on Elections, with major parties not allowed to participate, in the party-list election.

Election via the districts

Each congressional district sends one representative to the House of Representatives, with the winner having the highest number of votes winning that district's seat (i.e., single-member district). The representatives from the districts comprise at most 80% of the seats.

Election via the party-list system

In the party-list system, the parties contesting the election represent a sector, or several sectors, or an ethnic group. In determining the winners, the entire country is treated as one "district". Each party that surpasses the 2% election threshold automatically wins one seat, they can win an additional number of seats in proportion to the number of votes they received, but they can't have more than three seats. The representatives elected via the party-list system, also known as "sectoral representatives" should comprise at least 20% of the seats. However, since the winners from the parties that surpass the 2% threshold had not reached the 20% quota ever since the party-list system was instituted, the parties that received less than 2% of the first preference vote are given one seat each until the 20% quota has been filled up.

Campaigning The parties contesting the district elections campaign at the district level; there is no national-level campaigning. While no party has been able to win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives since the 1987 elections, the party of the incumbent president had usually controlled the chamber in the phenomenon known locally as the "Padrino System" or patronage politics, with other parties aligning themselves with the president's policies in exchange for pork barrel and future political favors.

Usually, a gubernatorial candidate has a slate of candidates for vice governor, board members and representative. Gubernatorial candidates, aside from supporting a slate of national politicians, may also have slates in the individual cities or towns for mayors, vice mayors and councilors. These slates are usually under one party, but multi-party alliances are not uncommon.

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.

Changes from the outgoing Congress These are the 5 new districts that was contested for the first time in 2016:

Creation of Davao Occidental province Davao del Sur's 2nd district's southernmost municipalities becomes the new province of Davao Occidental with its own at-large district. Three northernmost municipalities being retained with Davao del Sur, and that province reverting to as an at-large district. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 10360. Approved in a plebiscite held on October 28, 2013. Division of Laguna's 1st district to two districts Biñan becomes its own at-large district. The rest of the 1st district is kept intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 10658. Reapportionment of Batangas from four districts to six Batangas City becomes the 5th district. Lipa becomes the 6th district The original four districts were left otherwise intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 10673. Division of Cebu's 2nd district to two districts Cebu's 2nd district's municipalities facing the Tañon Strait, except Samboan and Santander, becomes the 7th district, The rest of the 2nd district were left intact. Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 10684. The creation of Davao Occidental didn't create new districts, as it only split off from Davao del Sur's 2nd district. The other redistricting laws created four districts, of which 2 came from Batangas, and one each from Laguna and Cebu.

Summary of changes As there were 238 districts, and there should be one party-list seat for every 4 districts, this means there are 59 party-list seats, and 297 total seats. CategoryTotalCongressional districts in the outgoing Congress234New districts from redistricting laws from previous Congress0New districts from redistricting laws from outgoing Congress4Congressional districts in the next Congress238Party-list seats for the next Congress59Total seats for the next Congress297 Retiring and term limited incumbents

There are 69 open seats in the House from incumbents that are term-limited and were not running.

Results

President Benigno Aquino III's Liberal Party emerged with the party having the plurality of seats in the House of Representatives, winning more than a hundred seats. Meanwhile, in the presidential election, Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) emerged with an insurmountable lead over the Liberals' Mar Roxas.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist People's Coalition finished second in number of seats won, followed by the Nacionalista Party, National Unity Party, United Nationalist Alliance, Lakas–CMD, PDP–Laban, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and Aksyon Demokratiko. Several local parties also won seats, along with a handful of independents.

While PDP–Laban just won three seats, several members of the Liberal Party immediately abandoned that party in favor of PDP–Laban. PDP–Laban also signed coalition agreements with all major parties, including the Liberal Party, ensuring that they would have the numbers once the 17th Congress of the Philippines opens in late July.

Congressional districts results

By district