House Speaker Martin Romualdez (front row, in black) chats with Davao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Alan Dujali. Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2nd from left) gazes at the crowd. (Speaker’s office)

Tagum City, Davao del Norte--Over half of the House of Representatives attended the Speaker Martin Romualdez-led Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) here on Friday, June 7, in what could be interpreted as another political statement on the part of the congressmen.

A total of 167 House members gathered on stage at the Davao del Norte Sports Complex for the event, which was billed as the biggest BPSF yet.

This means that the congressmen had enough warm bodies here to hold a session, since they had a quorum. A quorum is achieved with simple majority among the 306 active solons.

Romualdez, Leyte's 1st district representative, arrived here at past 9:30 a.m.

Perhaps the most eye-catching person on stage aside from Romualdez himself was former president. Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was Arroyo's first time to attend a major BPSF event.

"Salamat sa inyong pagbisita sa Tagum City (Thank you for visiting Tagum City)," Mayor Rey Uy told Arroyo in his short welcome speech.

Arroyo's presence says a lot, given her somewhat complex relationship with Romualdez that has had its ups and downs. But as it stands, the two top-ranked Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) officials are on the same page.

Romualdez, in his speech, acknowledged Arroyo as his "mentor" as well as being the chairperson emeritus of Lakas-CMD. Romualdez is Lakas-CMD president.

“Hindi po natutulog ang ating pamahalaan (Our govenrment isn't sleeping). We continue to find ways to alleviate the condition of Filipino families, especially those who need assistance to tide them through many difficult days," he said.

The BPSF is an all-encompassing, traveling service fair that's meant bring various government services closer to the people, and in just one location. While it is essentially a project of the current Marcos administration, Romualdez's office is one of its main organizers.

"This is the grandest serbisyo fair under the administration of President Marcos," declared Davao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Alan Dujali in his own speech.

Davao del Norte is deep within the bailiwick of former president Rodrigo Duterte, arguably the most influential among the critics of President Marcos. Despite this, thousands of locals managed to fill up the stadium here.

(Speaker's office)

Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, a close ally of Duterte, was nowhere to be found at the event.

A total of P913 million worth of services and government aid were expected to be given away during the two-day Tagum BPSF. The target beneficiaries is 250,000, the largest in the program’s short history.

Tagum was the 19th installment of the BPSF. It was the eight iteration in the whole of Mindanao, next to Zamboanga City, Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Davao de Oro, and Tawi-Tawi.