Marcos' promise to keep PH territory intact propelled him to Palace--Romualdez
At A Glance
- For House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s campaign promise to keep Philippine territory intact was one of the main reasons why the latter won the Palace seat last year.
BRP Cabra's (right) port side is bumped by Chinese maritime militia vessel (CMMV) 00003 during a resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal on Oct. 22, 2023. (Courtesy of National Task Force for West Philippine Sea
For House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s campaign promise to keep Philippine territory intact was one of the main reasons why the latter won the Palace seat last year.
"I believe this was one of the main reasons why Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. won a historic majority mandate in May 2022," Romualdez, Marcos' top ally in the legislative, said in a statement Sunday, Nov. 5.
Romualdez was referring to an interview back in February 2022 wherein then-former senator Marcos declared that the Philippines "will not lose an inch" of its territory should he be chosen to lead the country.
In the presidential election three months later, Marcos garnered a mind-boggling 31 million-plus votes en route to a rare majority victory. He beat the second-placed Leni Robredo, then the incumbent vice president, by over 16 million votes.
"We support the President 100 percent in this declaration," Romualdez said.
"Rest assured that as solons who possess the power of the purse, we will use the national budget to the fullest in protecting our maritime interests," added the Speaker.
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The House submitted to the Senate Saturday, Nov. 4 the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or the proposed national budget for 2024.
The budget measure contained P194.5 billion worth of institutional amendments or realignments--a good chunk of which was funneled to security and intelligence agencies for the purpose of protecting interests in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Romualdez is the president of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party, the biggest party in the House of Representatives.