Former President and returning Pampanga Second District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday personally conveyed her support to House Majority Leader Rep. Martin G. Romualdez’s bid to be Speaker of the incoming 19th Congress.
Macapagal-Arroyo and Romualdez met at a San Juan City restaurant to discuss challenges the Congress and the nation in general would face in the years ahead.
In a news statement, Romualdez said he was counting on the former president’s advice in shepherding the House of Representatives.
Arroyo’s expression of support followed a similar pronouncement from incumbent Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
In an earlier statement, Arroyo said, “Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and I have been working together for decades in a joint effort to do our best to serve the Filipino people. Since 2010, our partnership involved our service as fellow members of the House of Representatives.”
“I will be returning to the House on June 30, 2022. I would, therefore, like to advise the members of the Lakas-CMD that I am throwing my support for Majority Leader Martin Romualdez to be elected as House Speaker in the next Congress. I urge all members of our party to do the same,” she said.
Arroyo also served as House Speaker in the previous 17th Congress.
Party-list lawmakers and neophyte House members from the National Unity Party, PDP-Laban, Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Hugpong ng Pagbabago have endorsed Romualdez, of Leyte First District, to be their leader in the next Congress.