High ratings spur House to work harder – Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday expressed his gratitude to the Filipino people for the high trust and performance ratings he received, as shown in a recent survey conducted by the OCTA Research group.

Romualdez vowed to work harder “to raise the standards of living in the country through legislation.”

According to the Dec. 10 to 14, 2023 survey, Romualdez obtained a satisfaction rating of 65 percent (from 61 percent) and a trust rating of 64 percent, up from 60 percent in the October 2023 poll.

“I would like to thank the people for their confidence in our work in the House of Representatives,” he said, adding this would serve as his motivation to work harder to help the economy and lift people from poverty.

“While surveys serve as a gauge of public sentiment, these should never be viewed as a reward for our hard work. Instead, these serve as a reminder of the responsibility we bear as public servants to ensure that every action we take is in the best interest of the people,” he said.

Romualdez obtained the highest increase in trust rating in the National Capital Region, from 48 percent to 63 percent.

In other parts of Luzon, the Speaker garnered a 12-percent increase in trust rating.

Meanwhile, Romualdez lauded the Marcos administration for easing inflation down to 2.8 percent in January from 3.9 percent in December.

The inflation figure is also much lower than the 8.7 percent posted in January 2023.

“It is reassuring that our inflation is within the bounds of the government’s forecast of 2 to 4 percent range. This is a relief to our people whose incomes have been chipped by rising prices of commodities,” Romualdez said.

“But we are not out of the woods yet. We have to bolster our efforts to temper inflation and other disruptions in the value chain amid global economic headwinds and climate change,” he added.