House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Speaker’s office)

Ranking House members from Mindanao have vowed to “work even harder” following the high trust and performance ratings Speaker Martin Romualdez received in a recent survey, which has given the chamber a further boost in morale.

Davao De Oro 1st district Rep. Maria Carmen “Maricar” Zamora, who chairs the House Special Committee on Strategic Intelligence, said Romualdez deserves all his accolades for working hard since the start of the Marcos administration in 2022.

“The Speaker’s high ratings incentivizes us even more. We are now on a high morale because these figures further boost our morale,” Zamora said in a statement.

“At least we know that we’re reaping the fruits of everybody’s labor—from the quad-committee (quad-comm) to the committee on good government and so on,” she added.

Based on the September results of OCTA Research’s Tugon ng Masa survey, the House Speaker had an overall trust rating of 61 percent and a performance rating of 62 percent.

For his part, Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the positive survey results of Romualdez gave congressmen the motivation to “work even more”.

“It gives us the motivation precisely because we see that people appreciate the efforts of the House leadership to uncover the real truth behind the lies on every issue that have been peddled to us before,” said Adiong, referring to the quad-comm’s ongoing probe.

“Under the Speaker’s leadership, we have shown that congressmen are hardworking and are ready to take the challenge, like spending long hours in hearings if only to ferret out the truth. We strictly observe and apply Congress’ oversight functions,” he added.

The quad-committee (quad-comm), which has been investigating the alleged links between illegal drugs, Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the Duterte administration, was lauded by Speaker Romualdez for pursuing legislative solutions to uphold the rule of law.

Adiong, an assistant majority leader, said his fellow lawmakers are ready to do “whatever it takes” to push for measures that will ease the heavy burden to a vast majority of the population, especially the underprivileged.

“Rest assured, this House will not rest with its laurels,” he stressed.