BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Seven Negros Occidental solons were among the 282 members of the House of Representatives who voted Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez as the new Speaker during the opening session of the 19th Congress yesterday.
Of the 309 House members, 282 voted for Romualdez, the first cousin of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., while four abstained and 22 did not vote.
Those from Negros Occidental who voted for Romualdez as Speaker of the House were Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya, Rep. Gerardo Valmayor (1st district), Rep. Alfredo Maranon III (2nd district), Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez (3rd district), Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer (4th district) and Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (6th district).
Rep. Emilio “Dino” Yulo (5th district), who attended the opening session of 19th Congress virtually due to testing positive for COVID-19, yesterday said that he also voted for Romualdez.
Abang Lingkod partylist Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, however, said he did not participate during the voting.
In his acceptance speech, Romualdez said he would not engage in favoritism and would always put public interest first.
“I ask you all to accept the duty of service to the people. We are entering the endemic stages and we are confident that with the unity that our President has espoused, we can actually overcome the crippling effects of this pandemic, the political differences that occurred in the recent elections, as well as the global impact [of policies], such as the Ukrainian war,” he added.
“The tasks ahead of us may seemingly be daunting, but our synergy is the seed that will nurture us for the ensuing years,” Romualdez said.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri was elected by 19 out of the 24 senators as Senate President of the 19th Congress.
Negros Island solons are pushing for creation of Region V1-B, which will be composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, as well as Siquijor. Zubiri had earlier pledged to sponsor a bill creating Negros island region in the Senate.*
