Rowegie Abanto

Gabriela condemns Ferdinand Topacio's "misogynistic" remark on Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago. Photos by Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File; Sarah Elago on Facebook

Article (news)

Gabriela condemns Ferdinand Topacio

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772780925990composites 2 (1) (3).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Gabriela condemns Ferdinand Topacio&#x27;s &quot;misogynistic&quot; remark on Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago. <em>Photos by Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File; Sarah Elago on Facebook</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Gabriela Women&#x27;s Party on Friday said it is considering legal action against lawyer Ferdinand Topacio over a disparaging remark he made about Rep. Sarah Elago. </p><p>In a recent radio episode, Topacio sought to defend Quezon City 4th District Rep. Jesus &quot;Bong&quot; Suntay, who drew flak for mentioning actress-host Anne Curtis in narrating a sexual fantasy while defending Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s &quot;imagined&quot; threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at a House impeachment hearing.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/4/women-s-groups-want-sanction-vs-rep-suntay-over-lewd-remark-1307">Women&#x27;s groups want disciplinary action vs Bong Suntay over his lewd remark</a></div><p>Topacio told Elago, who had condemned the lawmaker&#x27;s remarks in a statement, that Suntay&#x27;s analogy was &quot;relevant&quot; to the discussion.</p><p>&quot;Lalaki &#x27;yan, &#x27;wag na tayong magplastikan, ang mga lalaki nagnanasa &#x27;yan talaga,&quot; Topacio said. </p><p>(Let&#x27;s not kid ourselves, he&#x27;s a man. A man really has sexual desires.)</p><p>In defending Suntay, Topacio said men are &quot;wired&quot; to have sexual desires and it would be hypocritical to say otherwise.</p><p>He added he even used to lust after Elago, a representative for Kabataan Party-List before running under Gabriela, and said he did not care if people got mad at him for it.</p><p>Suntay had already apologized for his words and <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/5/bong-suntay-on-anne-curtis-remarks-i-deserve-the-backlash-1127">acknowledged that he could have used a better analogy</a> to prove his point at the hearing.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>TOPACIO, &#x27;MANYAK&#x27;</strong></div><p>In a statement, Gabriela denounced Topacio&#x27;s &quot;misogynistic&quot; and disparaging statement against its representative at the House and openly called him a &quot;manyak&quot; or a pervert. </p><p>&quot;Hindi na ito nakakagulat mula sa isang abogado kuno na may mahabang track record sa panre-redtag at pambabastos sa kababaihan,&quot; the party-list group said.</p><p>(We are not surprised that these words came out from a lawyer who has a long track record of red-tagging and insulting women.)</p><p>Lawyers like Topacio should not be allowed to continue practicing if they only use their profession to vilify women who fight abuse and corruption, it added.</p><p>&quot;Pinag-aaralan namin ang mga posibleng ligal na hakbang upang mapanagot si Topacio. Hindi ito katanggap-tanggap, at lalong hindi dapat pinapalampas,&quot; Gabriela said.</p><p>(We are studying possible legal actions to hold Topacio to account. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.)</p><div> </div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZDuCAgDAtLM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ykVjDVmwQRg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Gabriela Women's Party on Friday said it was studying legal action against lawyer Ferdinand Topacio after he issued a "misogynistic" remark on Rep. Sarah Elago.</p>

Gabriela Women's Party on Friday said it was studying legal action against lawyer Ferdinand Topacio after he issued a "misogynistic" remark on Rep. Sarah Elago.

'Manyak na abogado': Gabriela calls out Topacio remark vs Elago

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'Manyak na abogado': Gabriela calls out Topacio remark vs Elago

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 06, 2026 03:37 PM PHT

Read More:

Ferdinand Topacio

Sarah Elago

Bong Suntay

Gabriela

Gabriela Women's Party

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