Heeds clamor of constituents

HEEDING the clamor of his constituents, House Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez filed on Thursday afternoon his certificate of candidacy (COC) for reelection as he thanked President Rodrigo “Rody” Roa Duterte for considering him as a viable vice-presidential candidate.

“Today, I filed my certificate of candidacy for Representative of the First District of Leyte. I decided to seek reelection in response to my constituents’ clamor for me to continue serving them as their congressman,” Romualdez, president of the growing Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) political party, said after filing his COC at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Provincial Office in Tacloban City.

“I thank President Rodrigo Duterte for considering me as a viable and worthy candidate for the vice-presidential post. His repeated endorsement and words of encouragement truly serve as an inspiration. For believing that I have what it takes to occupy the second highest post of the land, I will be eternally grateful to the President,” added Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Rules.

Romualdez, a lawyer from University of the Philippines (UP) and president of Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), the oldest and most respectable association of legal luminaries in the country, said he chose to continue his unfinished work as a legislator and representative of his district.

“Much as I would have loved serving the Filipino people in higher office, I chose to pursue another term in Congress to continue the work left unfinished in my district,” said Romualdez, head of the House Independent Bloc during the 16th Congress.

“Mas higit po akong kailangan ng mga kababayan ko sa Leyte sa oras na ito. Hindi ko po sila kayang iwan sa panahon ng kagipitan,” added Romualdez, also a member of the 14th. 15th and 16th Congress.

Romualdez finished his undergraduate studies with a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1985.

In 1988, he obtained a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.

He proceeded to law school, earning his Bachelor of Laws from the UP College of Law at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, in 1992.

Before his stint in government, Romualdez served as concurrent trustee and president of the Doña Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation and Dr. Vicente Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation.

In 1995, Romualdez started working as director and legal counsel for the CARPA Realty Development Corporation, and as trustee for Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation.

Romualdez was the former chairman of the Board for Equitable PCI Bank, as well as Director for a host of stellar companies, among them Philippine Commercial International Bank, Equitable Card Network, EBC Investments, Inc., Equitable Savings Bank, PCI Leasing Corporation, and PCI Capital Corporation, among others.

One of the laws principally authored by Romualdez was Republic Act (RA) No. 10754, which exempts more than 1.5 million persons with disabilities (PWDs) from the payment of 12-percent value added tax (VAT) on certain goods and services. It was enacted in the 16th Congress or during the time of the Aquino administration.

This 18th Congress, Romualdez is the principal author of the following laws: RA 11463 or Malasakit Centers, RA 11589 or Modernization of the Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP), RA 11569 or An Act Extending the Period of Availment of the Estate Tax Amnesty, RA 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan Act 1), RA 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), RA 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, RA 11510 or An Act Institutionalizing the Alternative Learning System in the Basic Education for out-Of-School Children in Special Cases and Adults, RA 11517 or An Act Authorizing the President to Expedite the Processing and Issuance of National and Local Permits, Licenses and Certifications in Times of National Emergency, RA 11525 or An Act Establishing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program Expediting the Vaccine Procurement and Administration Process, RA 11465 or 2020 national budget, RA 11518 or 2021 national budget, RA 11466 or An Act Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits, RA 11467 or An Act Institutionalizing Good Manners and Right Conduct and Values Education in the K to 12 Curriculum, RA 11566 or the Conversion of the Schistosomiasis Control And Research Hospital in Palo, Leyte into a general Hospital to be known as the Governor Benjamin T. Romualdez General Hospital and Schistosomiasis Center and increasing the hospital’s bed capacity from 25 to 100, RA 11567 renaming the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City into Eastern Visayas Medical Center and increasing the hospital’s bed capacity from 500 to 1,500 beds, among others.