Speaker Romualdez breaks silence on 'rift' with VP Duterte
From left to right: President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and Vice President Sara Duterte (RTVM screenshot)
House Speaker Martin Romualdez finally broke his silence Thursday, July 27 on the alleged rift between him and his erstwhile party-mate, Vice President Sara Duterte. Interviewed by Manila-based reporters in Malaysia, Romualdez was asked, "How are you with Vice President Sara?" "[A] picture is worth a thousand words. Siguro nakita mo na yung picture (Maybe you've seen the picture)," the Leyte 1st district representative answered. "We're good...we're good," he added, referring to himself and the vice president. The picture Romualdez was referring to were screenshots from an Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) pre-departure video of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. just before stepping on the plane to Malaysia. In the video, Romualdez and Duterte were seen very chummy with each other, with the latter seemingly refusing to let go of the latter's arm. Roughly two months ago, the two high-ranking officials allegedly had a falling out with each other over the alleged coup attempt against Romualdez in the House of Representatives. It was during this time that Duterte resigned from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party. Romualdez is the president of the Lakas-CMD. Thursday was the first time that the House leader personally addressed the "issue" between him and Duterte. And according to him, all is well. Romualdez acted as one of then-Davao City Mayor Duterte's two campaign managers when she ran for vice president in the May 2022 national polls. Duterte will have to appear at the House of Representatives in the next few weeks for the budget deliberations of the Office of the Vice President. Romualdez was part of Marcos' official delegation on his three-day state visit to Malaysia.