A special election will be held in Antipolo's 2nd congressional district on March 14, 2026, to fill the district's vacant seat in the House of Representatives of the Philippines for the remainder of the 20th Congress.
The vacancy arose when Romeo Acop, the incumbent, died on December 20, 2025. This is the first election since Hagedorn vs. House of Representatives case, where the Supreme Court ruled that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) can call a special election even without notification from the House.
Each congressional district of the Philippines sends one representative to the House of Representatives. An election to the seat is via first-past-the-post, in which the candidate with the most votes, whether or not one has a majority, wins the seat.
Based on Republic Act (RA) No. 6645, in order for a special election to take place, the seat must be vacated, the relevant chamber notifies the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) the existence of a vacancy, then the COMELEC schedules the special election. RA No. 7166 supposedly removed the condition of the chamber informing the commission of the vacancy, but the COMELEC still has always waited on the chamber's resolution before scheduling a special election. [1]
After the Hagedorn vs. House of Representatives decision by the Supreme Court in 2025, this is the first special election where the commission no longer has to wait for a congressional resolution to call for a special election. The case arose after then incumbent of Palawan's 2nd district, Edward Hagedorn, died, and that the House of Representatives did not issue a resolution mandating the COMELEC to hold the special election [2]
Meanwhile, according to Republic Act (RA) No. 8295, should only one candidate file to run in the special election, the COMELEC will declare that candidate as the winner and will no longer hold the election. [3]
Antipolo's 2nd congressional district has the most number of voters in the Philippines, with about 300,000 voters. [4]
Since Romeo Acop's victory in the 2010 elections, he or his wife Resurreccion, had held the district. Resurreccion died in 2021, less than a year before the 2022 elections, [5] where her widower Romeo won. He defended the seat in 2025, running unopposed. [6]
Romeo, a former police officer, died on December 20, 2025. [7] His National Unity Party called a special election to be held, citing RA No. 7166, and the aforementioned Hagedorn case. [8] On January 14, 2026, the Commission on Elections scheduled the special election on March 14. The COMELEC informed Speaker Bojie Dy of the matter, and asked the Office of the President for a budget of 98 million pesos, as the 2026 budget, which was signed by President Bongbong Marcos days earlier, only gave the commission a budget of 11 million pesos for special and recall elections. [9]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romeo Acop | National Unity Party | 131,925 | 100.00 | |
| Total | 131,925 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 131,925 | 74.78 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 44,496 | 25.22 | ||
| Total votes | 176,421 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 242,872 | 72.64 | ||
| National Unity Party hold | ||||
Previous special elections involving Antipolo:
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