House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Speaker’s office)




House Speaker Martin Romualdez thanked health workers for their sacrifices and common Filipinos for their discipline following Malacañang's lifting of the country’s Covid-19 public health emergency status. He did so during an interview in Makati City Saturday afternoon, July 22, a few hours after news broke out that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. had issued Proclamation No. 297. Romualdez said the lifting of the public health emergency status showed that, indeed, the Philippine economy is "fully open". "Nagpapasalamat din po tayo sa lahat ng mga health workers, sa Department of Health (DOH), yung buong kooperasyon, well the whole of government approach dito, talaga tumulong dito at saka yung kooperasyon ng mamamayan," said the leader of the House of Representatives. (We also thank all of the health workers, the Department of Health, the entire cooperation and the whole of government approach, it truly helped, and the cooperation of the people.) "Naalala mo naman eh, sa Pilipinas isa sa pinakamabigat at pinaka-strict na lockdown at nakiktia po natin ang ganda talaga ng disiplina ng Pilipino," added Romualdez. (You can recall that the Philippines had one of the toughest and strictest lockdowns, and we saw the great discipline of Filipinos.) "So congratulations talaga sa ating mga Pilipino sa nagawa natin. And it’s timely nga po kasi nakita mo naman sa buong mundo yan naman ang direksyon, ayan naman ang trend," the Leyte 1st district congressman further said, alluding to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. (Congratulations really to us Filipino on what we accomplished. And this is timely because as we can see in the entire world, this is the direction, this is the trend.) Romualdez also thanked all the countries that assisted the Philippines in terms of building up its Covid-19 vaccine supply. "We have now adequate information, medical support and health care to provide for any potential or future outbreaks, so tuwang-tuwa po kami na yan ang nangyayari (we are very happy that it happened)," he further said.