Lawmakers on Monday said Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez’s impressive trust and performance ratings were less of a surprise and more of a validation of the lower chamber’s brand of hard work.
Deputy Majority Leader and PBA Party-list Rep. Margarita Nograles, Davao Oriental Rep. Cheeno Miguel Almario, and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Lordan Suan referred to the September results of OCTA Research’s Tugon ng Masa survey.
According to the survey results, Romualdez garnered an overall trust rating of 61% and an overall performance mark of 62%.
“I thank Speaker Romualdez for humbly crediting the entirety of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives for his survey scores. The truth is that his dedication is infectious, and his leadership inspires all of us to get the job done swiftly and properly,” Nograles said.
Almario agreed with Nograles and said that House members of the 19th Congress have more than proven their worth in terms of legislation and their oversight function on the laws that have been passed.
“I’m proud to be associated with the bigger chamber of Congress, which in the past two and a half years has proven that our output or production can combine quantity and quality. The OCTA Research survey numbers show that Filipinos appreciate the House’s quiet but passionate work ethic,” Almario said.
Suan said that the House of Representatives has ditched the unfortunate dramatics that Philippine politics is at times known for the sake of achieving President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.’s vision of economic progress.
“Our terms as congressmen are short because we’re only guaranteed three years after an election. But the House under Speaker Romualdez has refused to be limited by this and chose to make every session day count. Kahit nga bakasyon trabaho pa rin. We believe in this mindset and gladly follow it,” Suan said.
In the current 19th Congress, the House of Representatives has accomplished months in advance the priority measures identified by President Marcos in both his State of the Nation Address (SONA) speeches and in the meetings of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
This year, the House again approved promptly the proposed General Appropriations Bill (GAB), specifically the P6.352-trillion outlay for 2025.
In August, four House committees banded together to form the Quad Comm.
It has since carried out nine marathon hearings on the alleged interconnected issues of Philippine offshore and gaming operators (POGOs), extrajudicial killings (EJKs), the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs, and money laundering.
