THE Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) has formalized its support for the speakership bid of outgoing House majority leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a cousin of incoming president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The NPC made its endorsement of Romualdez official during a fellowship dinner hosted by party secretary general Mark Llandro Mendoza and Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga at the Makati Diamond Residences.
“With the authority given to me, I hereby declare that the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) in the House of Representatives will support the speakership of Martin Romualdez. I mentioned it before, but tonight (Saturday) we make it official,” said outgoing Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who is the chairman of the NPC.
Sotto assured party members “that this party has always been there, strong, will remain strong under the leadership of the new Speaker Martin Romualdez.”
“I’m sure that we will have a very good 19th Congress in the House of Representatives,” Sotto said, adding that the NPC has always been the second largest and the most loyal political party in the country.
NPC stalwart Rizal Rep. Jack Duavit said the party is a solid partner of Romualdez in pursuing the legislative agenda of the incoming administration.
“We’d just like you (Romualdez) to know that we are not just going to be your partners, we are always your friends, you can count on our support because we know that your cousin and yourself are out to rebuild this nation and we want to be a part of that and we want to be a part of that success,” Duavit said in his speech.
Outgoing Sorsogon Gov. Francis Chiz Escudero, who is returning to the Senate for a fresh six-year term, also assured Romualdez that NPC will be his steady partner in the next Congress.
“Naniniwala ako malaki ang papel na puwedeng gampanan ng mga miyembro ng NPC para isulong ang iyong mga mithiin bilang bagong Speaker ng Kamara de Representantes (I believe that NPC members will have a huge role in pushing for your advocacies as Speaker of the House of Representatives),” he said.
The NPC bloc, composed of 39 House members, has promised to support Romualdez’s proposed Bayan Bangon Muli or BBM stimulus package bill, which is poised to become the first pandemic-response measure of the Marcos government.
Senators-elect Sherwin Garchalian, JV Ejercito and Loren Legarda also attended the event.
Romualdez, for his part, thanked the NPC for its trust and confidence in him and told Sotto that “I have always admired you from afar, because at the Lower House, we would always watch what you would do, a true leader, a consensus-builder.”
“You have steered the Senate through troubled waters and you always navigated [in the right direction]. That’s why we admire you and the party, the NPC that you symbolize and represent. Maraming-maraming salamat po sa lahat ng tulong at suporta,” Romualdez said.
“We are very inspired and we are very elated sa mga sinabi mo (Duavit) that you would like to be part of the nation-building with President-elect Bongbong Marcos,” Romualdez said. “It will be very important to hit the ground running so to speak.”
During the meeting, the NPC congressmen also reiterated their May 15 statement supporting Romualdez.
In their statement, they said Romualdez “has the experience and aptitude that will effectively unify the House of Representatives in the passage of important and crucial legislative reforms for the country and the Filipino people” under the Marcos administration.
The other political parties in the House that have also expressed their support for the House leader include PDP-Laban, National Unity Party, Party-list Coalition Foundation, Inc., Nacionalista Party, Liberal Party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, Lakas-CMD, the group of independents, and neophyte or first-term congressmen.
