SPEAKER Martin Romualdez has taken the “moral high road” by keeping silent while he is at the receiving end of Vice President Sara Duterte’s “vicious insinuations,” Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said yesterday.
Barzaga said Romualdez has never said a bad thing about the Vice President despite being the obvious subject of her insinuations following deputy speaker Gloria Arroyo’s alleged attempt to oust him.
“The Speaker held his horses and remained focused on his job as the leader of the House of Representatives amid this political rift,” said Barzaga, chair of the House committee on natural resources and former president of the National Unity Party (NUP), the second largest political party in the majority coalition.
Barzaga also said political bickering is the last thing the country needs, especially since President Marcos Jr. ran and won on a platform of unity with Duterte, who has resigned from the ruling Lakas-CMD, of which Romualdez is the President and Arroyo, the chairman emeritus.
Barzaga said Romualdez “tremendously” helped in pushing for Duterte’s vice presidential candidacy.
“The Speaker worked hard for then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s vice presidential bid because he genuinely believed that she will make a difference. Their rift is sad news and I hope that it will be mended soon,” he said.
Reacting, Duterte said Romualdez, who was one of her campaign managers in the 2022 national elections, “had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to run for vice president.”
“To say that he ‘tremendously helped in pushing for my vice presidential bid is acutely inaccurate – an insult to thousands of groups and individuals who incessantly implored me to reconsider an earlier decision not to join national politics,” she said in a statement.
Duterte said it was Sen. Imee Marcos, the President’s elder sister, “who eventually persuaded me to run as vice president – and it was a decision sealed only after President Bongbong Marcos agreed to the conditions I set before running for VP.”
“There was no Speaker Romualdez in the picture. Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. was obviously badly informed or made to believe a lie,” she said. “Meanwhile, a person who cannot distinguish between attack and humor has no place in politics – especially if one fails to understand that political bickering is just a facet of democracy and should not be used to equate with governance. On the one hand, how the recent political developments have become an opportunity for sycophants is quite amusing.”
Duterte reiterated her “all-out” support for the Marcos administration, saying it is “is stable and strong.”
“It has my all-out support and the support of the majority of the Filipino people,” she said.
The Vice President is a known ally of Arroyo who managed to pull off a coup in the 18th Congress against then-Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, with the help of the then Davao City mayor and presidential daughter.
Romualdez has also been close to the Vice President because he was among those who supported her candidacy and recruited her to join the ruling party.
Duterte last month posted a cryptic message on her social media accounts: “In your ambition, do not be tambaloslos” which Wiktionary defines as “a mythical creature with a large mouth and penis found in Visayan, Bicolano and Mindanao folklore.”
Last Monday, the Vice President refused to mention the President’s middle name, Romualdez, in her speech for the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s thanksgiving event for its partners dubbed Pasidungog (Tribute) at a hotel in Manila.
The President’s mother, former first lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, is the aunt of the Speaker.
Barzaga said the support of the various political parties for Romualdez’ leadership enabled the House to approve the priority bills of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), including the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, NUP president, said political discord would only put at risk the close working relationship of the Executive with the Legislative, which has passed in a year’s time majority of the administration’s priority bills.
He noted the House has managed to process an average of 30 legislative measures per session day in the first regular session, or a 10th higher than the chamber’s output in the 18th Congress.
The House was able to pass before adjourning sine die last week 33 of the expanded list of 42 priority bills drawn up by the President with the LEDAC.
