Pasig City congressional candidate Christian “Ian” Sia on Wednesday, April 9 told the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that his statements about single mothers did not violate or discriminate against women.

Sia stated this in his response to the show cause order (SCO) issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), maintaining that the remarks he said during the campaign period "were not made to discriminate, exclude, restrict, demean or harass female solo parents.”

"While the words may sound brash, my speech, in its entirety, fall within my freedom of speech,” Sia insisted.

The poll body issued the SCO against Sia after he said during a campaign sortie that single mothers who still have their period and who are lonely may sleep with him once per year.

Sia was asked to explain by the Comelec’s Task Force SAFE to explain why he should not be filed with an election offense or disqualification for violating Comelec Resolution No. 1116, which sets the anti-discrimination and fair campaigning guidelines for the 2025 national and local elections (NLE), over his remarks.

In response, Sia questioned the constitutionality of Comelec Resolution No. 1116.

“Resolution No. 11116 suffers from constitutional infirmity. Resolution No. 11116 was promulgated pursuant to Section 13 of Republic Act No. 9006,” he said in his reply.

“However, Section 13 of Republic Act No. 9006 provides that rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto must be for the implementation of said law, which is in relation to equal time and opportunity in relation to the posting of election propaganda,” Sia said.

“Even assuming without conceding that Resolution No. 11116 is valid, I did not violate the same when I uttered the statements on or about 03 April 2025,” he pointed out.