House Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. (Facebook)


For Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr., House Speaker Martin Romualdez's high approval marks in recent surveys reflect a large public support for the lawmakers' economic Charter  change (Cha-cha) initiative. Gonzales, a deputy speaker in the ongoing 19th Congress, has himself proposed certain amendments to the 1987 Constitution’s “restrictive” economic provisions. “I think there is sizable public backing for our initiative that is focused on changing the language of the economic provisions so there would be flexibility in attracting more foreign capital that would create more income and job opportunities for our people,” he said in a statement Thursday, April 20. Thursday saw the release of the results of the Tugon ng Masa (TNM) Q1 2023 survey of Octa Research. Among the officials covered by the poll, Romualdez scored the biggest increase in trust rating, gaining 17 percentage points compared to the TNM October 2022 survey. The Leyte 1st district congressman also earned the highest gain in performance rating, or 15 percentage points, between the two survey periods. Results of the TNM Q1 2023 survey showed that 55 percent of Filipino adults trust Romualdez. Meanwhile, 59 percent of Filipino adults are satisfied with the performance of the House Speaker, according to the same survey. Gonzales, a member of the supermajority in the House of Representatives. said the public is also cognizant of the “unconditional support” the Speaker has committed to the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., thus the high ratings. Marcos is himself a very popular leader, with trust and approval ratings of 83 percent and 80 percent, respectively, based on the TNM Q1 2023 survey. “We in the House have approved majority of the administration’s priority measures, starting with the 2023 national budget. The House is the chamber that principally allocates the budget, and we hope that the people feel the impact and benefits of projects, programs and activities we fund in the national spending program,” he noted the Pampanga solon. Romualdez is arguably the President's top ally in the legislature, aside from being closest and most trusted lieutenant.