The Asenso Manileño, the dominant local political party in Manila, held its convention Friday evening to formally proclaim its slate for the May 2025 local elections at the jampacked San Andres Sports Complex.

Leading the slate are party leaders, re-electionists Mayor Honey Lacuna and Vice Mayor Yul Servo, along with candidates for Manila’s six congressional seats and 36 seats in the City Council.

During the convention, Lacuna announced that Manny Lopez will be the party’s candidate for congressman of Manila’s First District. A former sports executive, Lopez is the son of the late Manila Mayor Mel Lopez and served as Congressman from 2016 to 2022.

Lopez joins five of the six Manila Representatives in Congress who are allied with Asenso Manileño and the Lacuna-Servo tandem.

All five are House committee chairpersons: Rep. Rolando Valeriano (2nd District of Manila), Chair of the Committee on Metro Manila Development; Rep. Joel Chua (3rd District of Manila), Chair of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability; Rep. Edward Maceda (4th District of Manila), Chair of the Revision of Laws Committee; Rep. Irwin Tieng (5th District of Manila), Chair of the Banks and Financial Intermediaries Committee; and Rep. Benny Abante (6th District of Manila), Chair of the Committee on Human Rights.

In the current City Council, a majority of 20 councilors representing the city’s six districts are with the Asenso Manileño bloc.