Gabriela Women’s Party condemned several male candidates for their recent anti-women statements during campaigns. These include Misamis Oriental gubernatorial candidate Peter Unabia, Pasig congressional candidate Christian Sia, and Duterte’s party senatorial candidate Jimmy Bondoc.

GWP formally submitted a letter to the Commission on Election urging the agency to take action against sexist and misogynistic statements and to amend the Omnibus Election Code to prohibit candidates from making discriminatory and degrading remarks about women and LGBTQ+. In Sia’s case, Gabriela is now working to have him sanctioned as a lawyer.

“COMELEC must take these incidents seriously and establish stronger accountability mechanisms to punish offenders,” GWP first nominee Sarah Elago said. “The government should have no place for those who disrespect women and promote discrimination. We will actively monitor candidates’ statements and immediately report those who are rude and abusive.”

GWP called “outright disrespect” Sia’s invitation for “single mothers” to “sleep with him” once a year, and Unabia’s remark to employ only “beautiful” women as nurses so male patients don’t die.

“Dissecting Sia’s joke reveals his true contempt for women,” Amihan Women secretary general and Gabriela Women’s Party second nominee Cathy Estavillo said. “It is time we elect honorable individuals to Congress and the Senate, those who come from the majority of the population long victimized by discrimination, belittlement, exploitation, and violence by politicians and dynasties. It is time to vote for lawmakers who genuinely value women’s contributions to society and the nation.”

Estavillo said 15 million are solo parents in the Philippines, 95% or over 14 million of whom are women. Most solo parents are in rural areas where rampant plundering of natural resources, land-use conversion of agricultural lands, and reclamation result in early marriages.

Meanwhile, current Congress GWP representative and Makabayan senatorial candidate Arlene Brosas called Unabia’s statement “misogyny and discrimination.”

“Being a nurse is based on skill, knowledge, and compassion—not appearance. The problem with our health system is not their physical appearance but the government’s ‘ugly’ governance and neglect in addressing public health,” she said.

Brosas and women earlier condemned senatorial candidate Bondoc for his sexist remark that he would not debate with a news anchor because of her beauty.