House Majority leader and Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin G. Romualdez’ New Year’s message
MY dear kababayans, I join you all in ushering the New Year full of hope that the coming days will offer a better life for every Filipino family. The year 2021 may be unkind to some of us who lost family members due to the global health emergency caused by COVID-19. Our fellow countrymen in the Visayas and Mindanao have yet to fully recover from the devastation brought by Typhoon Odette.
But I have reasons to believe that a brighter future awaits all of us in the year 2022. For the past two weeks, I had the privilege of joining the BBM-Sara UniTeam in their Humanitarian Mission for victims of Typhoon Odette. The affected areas in eight provinces we had visited were almost flattened to the ground. I have seen up close, however, that despair does not have enough sting to kill the Filipino spirit.
Never have I seen a people so united in casting aside gloom to rebuild their lives and their communities. For once, our leaders set aside their political differences to join the people in bringing aid to the needy. No colors. No religion. Just the good, old Filipino spirit of bayanihan at work.
This rare display of unity offers us hope that Filipinos can still remove the shackles of political divide to chart a new and better course for the next generation. I have no doubt that this showcase of unity will be replicated in other parts of the country in the days to come. Sa pagkakaisang ito, naniniwala ako na kaya nating bumangon muli.
Happy New Year, my friends, and may God continue to bless us all!
