SENADO 2016, sino nga ba?

President, Lakas-CMD (Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats)

Born November 14, 1963

 

Ferdinand Martin “Martin” Romualdez, son of Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez and Juliet Gomez-Romualdez, was born on 14th day of November 1963. It can be said that he, the incumbent Representative of the First District of Leyte, was born with four P’s: prominence, protection, politics, and power.

 

Prominence

Martin was born in a family of politicians. His father, Kokoy Romualdez, was a former governor in the province of Leyte, and his mother, who was referred to as “the number one cheerleader of her children” by the Ulirang Ina citation, was the granddaughter of Don Esteban Gomez and Doña Josefa Pamintuan de Gomez of Pampanga. He has three siblings: well-known architect Daniel Andrew; Benguet Corporation president and CEO, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines president, and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Benjamin Philip (who is married to the president of the Inquirer Group of Companies Maria Alexandra “Sandy” Prieto-Romualdez); and international banker and investor Maria Remedios Paz “Marean” Romualdez-Pompidou.

 

His father was the brother of Ilocos Representative and wife of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, and his cousins include Tacloban City mayor Alfred Romualdez and senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., who is running for vice presidency in the upcoming May elections. Add to this is Don Miguel Lopez Romualdez, who was not only an assemblyman for Leyte, but also the first mayor for the City of Manila during World War II.

 

“Politics has always been a part of our family tradition,” Martin said in an article written for the official website of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa). “Our political history dates back to the time of my great grand uncle, Papa Miguel, who became the first mayor of Manila. Politics is, as they say, in our blood,” he added.

 

Protection

Kokoy and Juliet Romualdez were able to afford expensive yet quality education for their children.

 

Martin, who is the third of four children, took his Bachelor of Arts Government in Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1985, and his Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management in Harvard University in 1988. Four years later, he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City.

 

More than the financial and educational stability, Martin had strong relationships with various foundations, too. Before venturing into politics like many of his relatives, he served as a concurrent trustee and president of the Doña Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical and the Dr. Vicente Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation first. His being director and legal counsel for the CARPA Realty Development Corporation in 1995 and a trustee for Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation add up to many of his other credentials (including a stint as Chairman of the Board for Equitable PCI Bank among others).

 

Today, Martin Romualdez is the president of Philconsa, a group of individuals who aim to defend, preserve, and protect the Constitution. The group aims to “promote its growth and flowering for the good of the nation and its people”.

 

In June 2015, Philconsa filed two petitions at the Supreme Court against the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), deeming it as “repugnant” and invalid. According to an article by Tarra Quismundo in Inquirer.net, the group requested the termination of CAB and its precedent document, the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

 

“Petition seeks to avert the destruction of the Republic of the Philippines, the dismemberment of its territory, the fragmentation of its people, the despoliation of its natural and human resources, and the wreckage of its tripartite system of government,” the petition read.

 

Politics

Martin, like many government officials today, started from the bottom all the way up to where he is now. A little over 30 years ago, he was a Kabataang Barangay and a president for his home municipality in Tolosa, Leyte. Later, he became the KB provincial federation president.

 

“I’m very proud of my father’s achievements,” he said in the same article in official website of Philconsa. “However, I would like to make my own mark. I only use those achievements as a bar to aim for, if not surpass. I will not lean on those accomplishments and take the credit because I really had nothing to do with that,” he added.

 

Power

According to his official website, martinromualdez.com, Martin stands for four things: public service, constitutional advocacy, giving back, and fear of God and love of family.

 

“My father always said we owe everything to Leyte in the sense that it is a part of our heritage. Right now, it is a matter of giving back, and that’s what we’re prepared and eager to do. We who have been spared by Yolanda have an even greater role to play towards recovery,” he said in the website.

 

He has created and passed numerous bills such as House Bill 3133 or An Act Mandating All Private Colleges and Universities to Grant Scholarships to At Least Twenty (20%) Percent of its Total Tertiary Level Student Population, which is principally authored by Sigfrido Tinga and pending with the Committee on Higher and Technical Education since 2010; HB 6144 or An Act Instituting Regulatory Policies for Domestic Work, which was principally authored by Juan Edgardo Angara and ratified the CC report in 2012; and HB 5868 or An Act Upholding the Constitutional Right of the People to Information on Matters of Public Concern on Food Included in the List of Basic Necessities, which was principally authored by Reynaldo Umali and approved and received in 2012.

 

References:

<http://martinromualdez.com/whoiam/>

<http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/194240/juliette-gomez-romualdez-cheerleader-of-her-children-molder-of-character>

<http://manilastandardtoday.com/lifestyle/sunday-lifestyle/190793/a-glimpse-at-the-life-of-a-buena-familia-.html>

<http://crowdsource.verafiles.org/reports/view/246>

<http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/10/13/1510256/imelda-tow-romualdez-files-coc-senator>

<http://www.philconsa.org/?team=ferdinand-martin-romualdez>

<http://www.philconsa.org/?page_id=258>

<http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/699705/philconsa-leads-petitions-to-sc-vs-bbl-its-repugnant>

<http://martinromualdez.com/whatistandfor/>

<http://martinromualdez.com/whatido/>