SPEAKER Martin Romualdez yesterday said the UniTeam alliance of the Marcoses and the Dutertes stands as he expressed confidence that his relationship with Vice President Sara Duterte will eventually improve after the latter gave up her request for P650 million in confidential funds under the proposed P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024.
“We always work together, it’s still a UniTeam,” the Speaker told reporters. “The President always wants us to work together, not just in Congress with the Executive, but as a country so we will always strive for that.”
While there will always be differences even among political allies, Romualdez vowed that he would “always work towards resolving those differences for the service of the Filipino people.”
“That’s our primordial concern. We will band together and unite as one for the service of the Filipino,” said the Speaker, who celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday.
Romualdez, who has been at loggerheads with former president Rodrigo Duterte over the House’s decision to strip the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) of confidential funds next year, said the Vice President did the right thing in giving up her request and “we hail VP Sara’s decision.”
When asked if he is hoping that the House will still be able to mend broken fences with the Vice President, the Speaker said: “Always, always. I’m very, very hopeful.”
Romualdez, a first cousin of President Marcos Jr., has been defending the House from what he said were threats and intimidation from critics following the death threats made by the elder Duterte against members of the Makabayan bloc, particularly Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT).
In defending his daughter ‘s request for confidential funds last month, the former president was quoted as saying in an interview that the confidential funds for the DepEd requested by his daughter would be used for the reestablishment of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. (ROTC) and to fight off communist recruiters in the educational system.
The House of Representatives has realigned some P1.23 billion in confidential funds from several civilian government agencies to efforts to boost security in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which prompted the elder Duterte to retaliate by saying the chamber has hidden “pork barrel” and the most rotten institution in the country.
Among the agencies that were stripped of confidential funds under the House-approved version of the 2024 national budget were the OVP (P500 million) and the DepEd (P150 million).
The former president has been quoted as saying that he told his daughter that she should have been candid and told the Makabayan bloc that they are really the target of the confidential funds and that he wants to kill Castro and all groups he branded as communists.
He likewise accused Romualdez of attacking the Vice President for being perceived as a “good” presidential candidate in 2028 since the Speaker allegedly wants to run for president.
In response, the House, acting as a Committee of the Whole, last week adopted Resolution No. 1414 “upholding the integrity of the House of Representatives and expressing appreciation, solidarity and support to the leadership of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.”
The House leadership also removed Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo as Deputy Speaker for not signing the resolution denouncing the allegations of her staunch ally, the elder Duterte.
The Pampanga lawmaker has said she was not able to sign the resolution because she was out of the country, stressing that it “does not contain anything new for me, because I have always supported his leadership as speaker.”
Isabela Rep. Antonio Albano was elected deputy speaker to replace Arroyo while Lanao del Sur Rep. Yasser Alonto Balindong was elected deputy speaker to replace Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, another known Duterte ally at the House.
The row between the Vice President and the Speaker, who was her campaign manager during the 2022 national elections, first came to light after the younger Duterte resigned from the ruling Lakas-CMD, denouncing the “political toxicity” and “political power play” in the House when Arroyo was initially ousted as senior deputy speaker last May for allegedly plotting a coup against Romualdez, who is the president of Lakas, of which Arroyo is chairman emeritus.
Since then, the Vice President, who is the concurrent Education secretary, began making derogatory remarks believed aimed at Romualdez, who kept mum amid the attacks.
The two were perceived to have already patched things up after they were seen walking arm in arm during President Marcos Jr.’s sendoff to Malaysia last July, until the House stripped the OVP of its confidential funds.
